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| August 25, 2001 -- Charlotte, NC |
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| Well, this is one CATS trip I'm sure I'm never gonna forget! Man, it was one wild weekend. |
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| To be honest, totaling the car on the way to Charlotte isn't really what this report is about, so instead of going into detail I'll leave it at this: my older brother and I were halfway there when we hit the back of the car in front of us when they stopped suddenly in the middle of a roadwork site, and the car behind us slammed into our back as well, leaving us sandwiched. Well, a 14-year old Ford Taurus stationwagon isn't gonna stand up very well in a sandwich, so after an hour talking to the cops and worrying to death that I was going to miss the show (shows where my priorities are, huh?), we hitched a ride on the tow truck to the nearest town and rented a car that got us the rest of the way to Charlotte. Heck, Mom was saying just yesterday that she had been wanting to get a new car... |
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| In short, we got to Charlotte, rented a room in a fancy Holiday Inn that was two blocks from the theatre, ate dinner, and while Greeneyes went to go visit a few of his friends who lived in the city, I went to the theatre. |
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| Besides being annoyed that the posters outside the theatre were using the CATS Video characters and they still had no tour picture books for sale, standing inside the lobby to the Belk Theatre that Saturday evening was weird. Now honestly I like doing things by myself, but being there without Demetria felt a little...strange. I had a great seat: front row center orchestra, on the aisle...but I wouldn't have anyone to whisper with during the show like I'd used to. Dem and I used to be like Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, but then that was before she went cheerleader on me. I'm not gonna mope over it, but I think I kinda missed her. Oh well. |
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| I'm not sure what I expected the set inside the auditorium to look like, nor was I sure what I thought of when I walked in and saw it...the stage was like any normal stage, the entire thing decked in junk much in the way of the Winter Garden, Christmas lights strung over around the balconies. I padded slowly down the aisle, sort of with this manner that I think appeared to say: "Alright, look...this is my show and I'm the biggest CATS fan here, so the rest of you better look at me now `cause someday I'll be up there, too." Okay, maybe that's a little much, but it's accurate. Grinning, I passed by the ushers and plopped down in my seat... |
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| ...and stopped. Wait just one stinkin' minute!! This wasn't right! This was a bally rip-off! Ugh, what happened was when I sat down the bottom half of the junkyard disappeared. The stage was taller than me when I sat down! In my seat I couldn't see the tire, the car trunk, the pipe, or any cat who happened to even sit down center stage. After realizing this I slumped down even further, bummed beyond belief that I wouldn't be able to see half of the show I so loved. By the time the lights dimmed and the overture music started, I had convinced myself that I could be content by being at least this close to any cats who happened to come to the stage's edge or down in the aisles. No easy task... |
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| Nothing spectacular really. Music I knew by heart, the same UFO-type lights coming down from the ceiling then go back up, the same cats making the first-time audience members cry out in surprise when they came down through the dark with their green-lit eyes. Mungojerrie came down to the front row, but faced the right side of the audience so all I saw was his striped back. Further back in the audience some woman actually screamed, but I just laughed to myself. |
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| I got mad again. Demeter came out first, but I could just see above her shoulders. Munkustrap slid out on top of the car, but when he crawled down I couldn't see him. Dangit! Frustrated already, I kicked off my shoes, and swung my feet up into my seat and sat on them for the rest of the show. I don't know if the people behind me appreciated it much, but hey: this was my show, remember? It really didn't help much anyway, and only succeeded in cutting off my blood circulation after the first song. |
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| Okay, this is on my mind, so I'm gonna go ahead and write it. Be careful, this next part's long, because I do like Munkustrap, y'know... |
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| I remember watching Munkustrap very closely. Other than the spotted (?!?) black and white leg-warmers, which kept drawing my eyes for some reason, he was the classic image. Tall, proud, and striped. I watched him as much as I could, every detail. I remember after Grizabella's first appearance, even when Jennyanydots started singing about Bustopher Jones when she left, Munkustrap was still staring after her. It took Skimbleshanks grabbing Munkustrap's arm and dragging him across the stage to meet Bustopher to bring him back. That struck me as pretty powerful...emotional-wise, I mean. I also remember right before the Jellicle Ball song, when Munkustrap is slinking around looking for Macavity, Alonzo came up behind him, and moving so that they stood together, as I saw it Munkustrap got a whiff of Alonzo's underarm and reeled. I do mean reeled! Alonzo then sniffed himself and didn't find anything wrong. Ha! A third incident (warning: head-sweller) was during the Invitation, when my favorite tabby was doing his narration, I must have caught his eye the moment he said "cut with a knife" in which I was mouthing the words in almost-perfect precision. He smiled suddenly and nodded in my direction. Who says ol' Stripes doesn't know how to have fun? Well, mebbe not, `cause I am definitely certain I remember during the first Macavity scare that he was standing rigid, glaring, when Bombalurina suddenly came up from behind and put her arms around him, nuzzling his shoulder. He got this look on his face...sort of a: "man-I-wish-I-could-drop-this-responsible-role-for-a-few-seconds-to-make-an-absolute-pig-of-myself". Then he pushed her away. Strap, Strap, Strap...what am I gonna do with you? There was also the fight scene, while Alonzo took over Munkustrap was off to the side, and if he didn't have everyone in that auditorium convinced that he was really hurt, then I'm Queen Victoria! And the Moments of Happiness...oh man, that face was gonna make me cry! Okay, moving on... |
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| Heheh...the song that scared me to death the first time I ever saw CATS (seems like ages ago). Mungojerrie was being played by an understudy that night, and he made some really weird faces. During the Naming he was on the bottom edge, right in front of me, and despite the smoke effects that made it difficult, we had a little staring contest. He won. He and Rumpleteazer together must have had the widest eyes in the world... Then the cats split up and came down into the audience. Oh boy... Skimbleshanks came down and sat right on the arm of my chair! Other than a quick "pet" on his arm, which he reacted to, I pretty much left him alone other than staring at his profile with the utmost admiration (Skimble, can I have your job?). Now, if it had been a girl sitting there...*evil grin*. |
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| Okay, let me say something. I was hoping I could go through each and every song, describe each and every thing I remember, but frankly I don't know if I can. I'm out of writing phrases, and in all honestly I just wanna get this over with, so I'll outline the majors... |
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| The Pekes and the Pollicles...didn't happen. Which was odd, because there was a Rumpus Cat listed in the Playbill, but they never did the song! |
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| During Intermission, Old Deuteronomy stayed up on-stage, sitting there as he did on Broadway. We weren't allowed to go up on-stage, but I found satisfaction in leaning against the stage edge, gazing up at the old tom and reaching over the edge to rub the dance floor. |
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| I wanted to be up there...wanted it more than anything in the world! I wanted to be up there singing and dancing along with my favorite characters, getting laughed at, admired, applauded, scrutinized, I didn't care. I just wanted to be up there. I didn't care who I was, what role I was playing, just to be up there... |
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| Gus was amazing! Alright, he wasn't exactly "thin as a rake" but he had this way of singing for Gus that made him (William Hartery) sound so shaken and pitiful, but on the last "could do it again" he changed entirely, going to a full flawless operatic baritone. Both as Gus and Growltiger he came towards the edge of the stage, beating back into my mind why I really likes Gus. |
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| There's something about Skimble...I don't know what it is...but there's something about him that I really like. (Even more than Munkustrap *gasp!*) I saw it in the Skimble on Broadway, and I saw it in this Skimble, too. This one (John Sechrist), though, seemed more like a kitten, while the one on Broadway (James Hadley) was my ideal image of the Railway Cat, and the Video...ugh, no comment. I think the London version of Skimble looks too, I dunno, stocky. It makes him seem old, while the Broadway and this Tour Skimble in my opinion were much more well-played. And this Skimble had really neat walk that he did. (I would call it cute, but that'd sound a little weird.) It was this sort of prance that he did, each step being a high kick, across the stage in almost can-can style. (I really don't know what to call it...my dance teacher is French and she knows all the technical dance terms, I've just refused to learn them.) It was also Skimble who was the Beetle Assassin on Jennyanydots's song, so that kind of annulled my theory of the two of them being siblings. And throughout the show I noticed that he was very...friendly. He was certainly very close to Sillabub on the beginning of the Gumbie Cat, and liked to rub against people's feet and legs, I noticed. From the way I saw the stage the Mating Dance was pretty much hidden from me, so who he was with then I don't know. |
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| Macavity....oh dear, what to say about Macavity? Let me put it as nicely as I can: I think he should have been a football player instead of a CATS dancer. I mean, the guy had the bulk, and in all honesty I'd never imagined Macavity as being that big. Don't get me wrong, he (Everett Taylor) could dance pretty good, but during the fight he just didn't seem to have that same energy as I saw in the Broadway Macavity, Keith Wilson. In the fight I was really disappointed. Munkustrap and Alonzo were great, but Macavity...eesh. |
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| Now Bombalurina and Demeter, heheh....do I really need to say anything? |
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| Why do Mistoffelees dancers always seem so feminine? I don't mean to be cruel, heck they're the best male dancers in the show! But if I wasn't such a fan to know enough that Mistoffelees is a guy, then at first glance I would swear that Jacob Brent, Julius Sermonia, and the tour Mistoffelees (McCree Kelley) were girls. But hey, I have no complaints. Mistoffelees was awesome! Man, if I could only do half of those moves... |
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| I'm in love! I swear, Grizabella gets me every time. If I was a girl, that would be the role I would want to play. I was sitting there, watching Grizabella, chin in my hands, and during her earlier song she had crouched down right in front of me so I had gotten a good look at her. I sat there, staring at her, listening to her voice, and that was probably the closest I've ever been to falling in love...I think. Don't quote me on that, though... I like Grizabella, sometimes more than Demeter (but not often), which I think is a rarity among CATS fans-well, not all fans. You probably won't know it by reading this, but right now I'm getting pretty sentimental...so I'll shut up. |
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| I almost had Demeter....I SWEAR I ALMOST HAD HER!!!!! After their bows the cats came running down into the audience, and Demeter slipped up right in front of me! I reached out, wanting sooo much to get at least a touch of one of my favorite queens, but she met my face only a second before slipping on, and right through my hands. Talk about disappointment... |
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| I was one of the last people to leave the auditorium. |
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| It took me awhile to find my way out of the theatre (don't laugh!), but when I finally did I ran around back as fast as I could, and by then several of the cast members were already out there. I never got to see Munkustrap (Grant Turner) or Demeter (Jessica Lea Patty), but I got several autographs: Gus, Alonzo, Bombalurina, Grizabella (wooha!), and Tugger. |
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| I also asked Alonzo (Ronnie Nelson) out of curiosity: "So who is it? Bombalurina or Demeter?" Mainly this question developed because twice during the show I saw him as Alonzo approach Demeter, and both times she hissed him away. But then at the end, after the fight, they were the two who met in the spotlight and nuzzled, and from that point on were always together. But there was one point during the Mating Dance, when all the cats were, ahem, doing what cats will inevitably do, Alonzo and Bombalurina got a little friendly right in front of me. And lemme tell ya: you know you've gotten involved in too many CATS shows when Alonzo and Bombalurina do "it" not two feet away from you. That's all I'd like to say about that... |
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| Anyway, he said (quote/unquote) "Demeter, definitely," and in reply I could have either said "No! She's mine!" or "Yeah, I know what you mean," but all I managed was a lousy "Yeah," and moved on. |
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| I hadn't detected Bombalurina's accent on-stage, but now as I chatted with her while she signed my Playbill I didn't have to read her listing to know she was from somewhere in England. She was really nice, too. |
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| "Were you in the front row? Yeah, I saw you," she said to me, and she did a rather accurate imitation of me mouthing "Bombalurina" when I had hoped I caught her eye near the beginning of the show. Blushing, I nodded. |
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| "Yeah, that was me. Did he catch you? At the end?" |
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| "No, not tonight. I'm too quick for him." |
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| "Yeah, Bombalurina's the bomb!" And that was that. I asked Tugger the same thing. |
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| "Did you catch her? At the end?" |
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| "No, she's pretty quick." |
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| I also got to talk to Pouncival (David Blonn) though I didn't get his autograph. Actually getting to talk casual-like to the performers made autographs seem a little redundant. I told him who I was (on the Internet) and he said he would look for me. He did, too. =) |
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| To be honest I was really tempted to go up to the stage door when no one was back there and rip that CATS: Stage Door sign off and take it home, a sort of souvenir. I saw a group of people back there and a lady opened the door to let them in, and even from across the street I could hear the words: "back-stage tour." According to some cast members I'd heard from, they didn't allow those on the tour...but if I missed what I think I did I'm going to stop writing right now and kick myself. |
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| What did I think of the show overall? Well, to sum it up in a few words: "It's not Broadway, but I would have walked that extra thirty miles to Charlotte after the car wreck to see it." |
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| Hope that strangely-written report made some sense. |
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