#CATS Vienna Revival 2019 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

uppastthejelliclemoon · 2 years

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I wished that they cast a black or Asian actors to play munkustrap and rum Tum Tugger. Could that ever happen?

for anyone seeing this: this list is very long, so i'm apologizing in advance if i've missed any actors!! i've gone through the entire cats wiki for both characters and did my best to compile a thorough list, but ofc let me know if there's any mistakes!

Tugger:

Richard Lloyd King (1980s London)

Tee Jay (1980s London)

Yuichiro Yamaguchi (1980s Tokyo Tugger)

Mayo Kawasaki (1980s Tokyo)

Gregory McKinnon (1980s Vienna Tugger - Cover)

Takanori Shimomura (1995 Tokyo)

Eric Clausell (1993 Australia)

Masaru Yamaki (1999 Nagoya, Osaka 2001)

Tsutomu Arakawa (1995 Tokyo, 1999 Nagoya, Osaka 2001, Tokyo 2004, Yokohama 2009)

Kiyomichi Shiba (1995 Tokyo, 1999 Nagoya Osaka 2001, Tokyo 2004, Yokohama 2009, Fukuoka 2014)

Shoichi Fukui (Tokyo 2004, Yokohama 2009)

Shinya Tanabe (Tokyo 2004, Yokohama 2009, Sapporo 2015, Osaka 2016)

Kim Sungrak (Osaka 2001, Tokyo 2004)

Yoichiro Akutsu (Tokyo 2004, Yokohama 2009, Sendai 2013, Shizuoka 2013, Fukuoka 2013)

Toshihide Kaneda (Tokyo 2004)

Kan Muto (Tokyo 2004)

Masaru Kanamori (Yokohama 2009)

Li Tao (Yokohama 2009, Hiroshima 2012, Sapporo 2015)

Tatsuro Iida (Yokohama 2009, Hiroshima 2012, Sendai 2013, Sapporo 2015)

Gino Emnes (Dutch Tour 2006)

Stanley Burleson (Dutch Tour 2006)

Daesung (South Korea 2008/2011)

Kim Jin-woo (South Korea 2008/2011)

Ra Jun (South Korea 2008/2011)

E Nok (South Korea 2008/2011)

Jung Min (South Korea 2008/2011)

Earl Gregory (South Africa 2009, Asia Tour 2014)

Antoine Murray-Straughan (London 2014)

Marcquelle Ward (London 2015, UK Tour 2016)

Jordan Shaw (London 2014)

Ahmad Simmons (Broadway 2016)

Retsu Kanehisa (Shizuoka 2013, Fukuoka 2014)

Takumi Omine (Sapporo 2015, Osaka 2016, Tokyo 2018)

Kenji Nishio (Osaka 2016)

Kazuya Kamikawa (Osaka 2016, Tokyo 2018, Fukuoka 2021)

Mizuki Omori (Tokyo 2018, Fukuoka 2021, Nagoya 2022)

Jin Sakuma (Tokyo 2018, Fukuoka 2021)

Togo Kaminaga (Tokyo 2018, Fukuoka 2021)

Liu Lingfei (China 2012)

DevinRe Lewis Adams (RCCL Cast 12)

Jason Derulo (2019 Movie)

Todrick Hall (US Regional - La Mirada Theatre 2014)

Munkustrap:

Shintaro Sonooka (Tokyo 1983)

Kenkichi Hamahata (Tokyo 1983)

Osami Iino (Tokyo 1995)

Shoichi Fukui (Nagoya 1999, Osaka 2001, Tokyo 2004, Yokohama 2009)

Kiyomichi Shiba (Nagoya 1999, Osaka 2001, Tokyo 2004, Yokohama 2009)

Yuji Aoyama (Nagoya 1999, Tokyo 2004)

Masuo Nonaka (Osaka 2001, Tokyo 2004)

Takashi Saimon (Tokyo 2004)

Yuichi Tamura (Tokyo 2004)

Tsutomu Arakawa (Tokyo 2004)

Shouma Kanzaki (Tokyo 2004)

Kan Muto (Yokohama 2009)

Takamasa Hagiwara (Yokohama 2009, Hiroshima 2012, Sendai 2013, Shizuoka 2013, Sapporo 2015, Osaka 2016)

Hong Gyeong-su (South Korea 2008/2011)

Jordan Shaw (London Revival - Munkustrap Cover)

Yuki Matsushima (Hiroshima 2012, Fukuoka 2014)

Susumu Kato (Fukuoka 2014, Sapporo 2015, Osaka 2016, Tokyo 2018, Nagoya 2022)

Kei Tokuyama (Sapporo 2015, Osaka 2016, Tokyo 2018)

Kenji Nishio (Osaka 2016)

Masaru Kitamura (Tokyo 2018)

Taijun Kanemoto (Tokyo 2018, Fukuoka 2021)

Shinya Iwasaki (Tokyo 2021)

Junpei Wakebe (Tokyo 2021, Nagoya 2022)

Tarquinn Whitebooi (Asia Tour 2014 - Munkustrap Cover)

Xia Zhenkai (China 2012)

Mao Haifei (China 2012 - Munkustrap Cover)

#rum tum tugger #munkustrap #cats the musical

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practical-busy-cheery · 3 years

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Jellylorum Week Day 1 - Favourite Jellylorum Actors

I LOVE every single Jellylorum actor (how can I not?), but I do have three favourites that come to mind.

Susan Jane Tanner - Original London Cast (1981-1982) Jellylorum/Griddlebone and CATS (1998) Jellylorum

She IS Jellylorum. She originated the character in London, and I adore her singing voice and the ways she portrays Jelly. She is so kind and gentle! Some people dislike her in the 1998 film due to her singing and the fact she is older, but those people are very much wrong. In my opinion she is underappreciated in CATS, as with Jelly as a whole.

I am not surprised to see that basically everyone has Susan as their favourite Jelly.

Bonnie Simmons - Original Broadway Cast Jellylorum/Griddlebone (1982-1992)

My other favourite Jellylorum, and my favourite Griddlebone. I ADORE her singing and wish I could have seen her perform! This is some footage of her as Griddlebone that I would recommend anyone watch, as Growltiger’s Last Stand on Broadway was an EVENT. I am also a big fan of the Braodway design for Jelly, which has influenced and carried on through the years in other productions and non-replicas.

Another very underappreciated performer, considering she was the third longest serving original cast member in the original Broadway production, behind only Susan Powers (1982-1997) and Marlene Danielle, who stayed for all 18 years until 2000!

Megan Ort - Oasis of the Seas Cast 4 (2016) Jellylorum/Griddlebone and Broadway Revival 2016-2017 Cats Chorus (cover Jellylorum, Grizabella, Sillabub, and Jennyanydots)

I can say with confidence that no one in this fandom loves Megan Ort more than me. Maybe a contentious pick as a favourite Jelly considering that she was only technically a fully casted Jellylorum for eight shows in the RCCL before jumping over to the Broadway Revival as a Swing/Booth Singer, but Megan has a absolutely phenomenal voice! I recommend watching her as Griddlebone in the RCCL because she is very talented, and is one of the best Griddlebone actors!

Megan performed over 70 shows on Broadway as Jellylorum, Grizabella, and Sillabub (mainly Jelly and Griz), and she loved playing Jelly! She also was a split track Jellylorum/Sillabub for one performance, where as Jelly she also sang the vocal parts of Sillabub, such as The Moments of Happiness and before and during Memory, which would have been amazing to have seen! She never went on as Jenny from what I can find. As an aside, Megan is a GORGEOUS Grizabella and definitely my favourite when it comes to overall appearance with the revival changes in 2014. I would have loved to see a JellylORTum day on Broadway!

I have some other wonderful Jellylorum actors (under the cut due to length) that also deserve some praise!

Clare Rickard - UK Tour 2013-2014 and London Palladium 2014-2016 Jellylorum/Griddlebone, Grizabella cover, and Dance Captain

Claire deserves a fair amount of praise! She has a fantastic voice and is one of only two Jelly actors (that I know of) who also were Dance Captains in their productions. She perhaps is the most talented Jellylorum ever casted in CATS! A true triple threat of singing, dancing, and acting, Clare is an amazing performer!

Barbara Obermeier - Vienna Revival Jellylorum/Griddlebone and Grizabella cover (2019-Present)

Although I have not been fortunate enough to see Barbara either perform or sing, she is a fun person and she loves to perform. The fact that she is one of the cover Grizabellas in Vienna would indicate that she has a fantastic voice, and I would love to hear it!

Anissa Hartline - US Tour 5 Jellylorum/Griddlebone (2006-2008)

Anissa has a beautiful voice in her performances as both Jelly and Griddle, but one of the key reasons she is on here is that she is so loving and gentle during the performance of Gus the Theatre Cat. Her respectful admiration and cheerfulness for Gus is so soft, and she reminds me a lot of Susan Jane Tanner's performance in CATS (1998) (and then she comes out as Griddlebone and she can SING!). I also love her design and she deserves some praise!

Alice Batt - Asia Tour 2020 Jellylorum/Griddlebone

This list would not be complete without me mentioning the lovely Alice! She is a fantastic singer and I wish we could have seen her (and everyone) for a bit longer in the Asia Tour before it was abruptly closed! She is always cheerful and smiling in any picture I see of her, I also wish there was more footage of her! She also has my favourite UK based Jelly design, and I love that they made her more floofy than previous Jellys!

There are many other wonderful Jellylorum actors as well that I did not mention, but I do truly love every Jelly that I see!

I should also mention that I adore so many of the Jellylorum actors in the Shiki productions of CATS, but trying to pinpoint actors is very difficult due to the largely complex cast lists.

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la-felinosphere · 2 years

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19th April 2022, CATS at the Ronacher, Vienna

It was such a wonderful performance - it felt really classic - all of the performances were fantastic. Here I am wearing my 2002 London t-shirt… I might try and write up a few thoughts and cool things I noticed, but can’t put my emotions into words and how much of that time came flooding back again, if you know you know. I’m so so happy to have got to go.

#Cats the musical #cats vienna revival #cats vienna 2019 #productions #me #jestaariadne

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the-cat-at-the-theatre-door · 4 years

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WOC who have played Grizabella

Requested by anonymous

(Names and productions provided under the cut)

-Sharon Benson (1987, 1988 - London) -Ruth Jacott (1987, 1988 - Amsterdam / 1991 - Zurich) -María del Sol (1991 - Mexico) -Jacintha (1994 - Australia Tour) -Sayoko Hayami (1999-2001, 2003-2004, 2009, 2012-2016 - Japan) -Paula Lima (2010 - Brazil Tour) -Lea Salonga (2010 - Australasia Tour) -Liu Yang (2012, 2013 - China) -Joanna Ampil (2013, 2014 - UK / European Tour / 2016-2020 - UK/Intl Tour) -Beverley Knight (2015-2016 - London Palladium) -Leona Lewis (2016 - Broadway Revival) -Jennifer Hudson (2019 - Film) -Li-Tong Hsu (2019 - UK/Intl Tour) -Ana Milva Gomes (2019 - Vienna Revival)

(Note that this set does not include all examples of WOC who have played Grizabella in the past or present - just scratching the surface in some cases - but rather based on space and moreso on clear footage available in costume - ex. Nicole Scherzinger was not included because there isn’t much clear footage of her performing in costume. It also focuses moreso on Grizabellas in replica productions rather than non-replicas.)

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white-cat-of-doom · 1 month

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A memory from Hannah Kenna Thomas of her time in the Vienna Revival as Victoria, in celebration of World Theatre Day yesterday.

Photo © Diane Bauer

#CATS Musical #CATS the Musical #Victoria #Hannah Kenna Thomas #CATS Vienna Revival 2019

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junkyard-gifs · 1 year

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How do you define a non-replica?

So, a replica is a production that's licensed by RUG (= Really Useful Group = ALW's company) to perform CATS with full official regalia: that is, they are allowed to use Gillian Lynne's choreo and Napier's designs and so on, but they are also obliged to follow the official rules for whatever a current official production is meant to do.

However. 'Current' here means 'current at the time the licence was issued'.

Shiki (Japan) is replica in that it's fully licensed from RUG. But since they started in 1983 and have followed their own design path since then (with occasional external influences from more Western productions), they are actually more different from more modern replica productions than some modern non-replicas.

Similarly (though more recently), the Oasis production got its licence just before the UK and US revivals, and that licence is apparently still current, so it preserves some pre-revival performance traditions (and is, so far, immune to the new rules about makeup that came in with the new international and asia tours).

Other replica productions of the 80s and 90s (like OG Vienna, Amsterdam/Paris, Zurich/Euro, Hamburg) also developed their own traditions - and the Australasian traditions (starting in the late 1990s) persisted until the 2014 asia tour.

And that's a pertinent example: the australasian productions were not a continual production, so they had to renew their license for each 'season' (2014, 2015, 2017, 2020, 2022, etc). So they reflect the vagaries of ALW's revival trends, even while their production company (and often a lot of their cast) stay the same.

A non-replica, otoh, may be influenced by the traditional/replica productions, but they might get into trouble if their designs and choreo are too recognisable. For example, the 2013 and 2018 mexico revivals were a) based on the original Latin American productions in the 1990s - some of the cast and production team returned to lead the designs - and b) in the case of 2018, they were adapted to include elements of hte Broadway revival.

The end result was something that's much more recongisable as an extra-saturated version of Gillian/Napier's production, but. Though I don't know the terms of their contract. I know that the fact that they had that much of the original production gave them less freedom in terms of their contract, and that the 2018 production was obliged to close down in preparation for the release of teh 2019 film.

I would say that's symptomatic of ALW/RUG's increasing pedantic control over the appearance of The Brand of CATS and resistance to having any alternative versiosn around, but. That attitude isn't really new. According to some conversations I've had with old CATS alumni, 'omg ur doing ur own thing??? STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!!!' was basically the reason that the Hamburg production (1986–2001) was closed down.

and RUG's insistence on THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUE PRODUCTION comes in waves: most of the original productions and their various traditions were shut down in the late 90s and early 00s, and then, after regional US productions started to burgeon in the late 00s and on until the revivals, they cracked down on non-replicas again in the wake of the European and Broadway revivals.

tl;dr the definition of non-replica is about licensing and degree of freedom/control, with originality as a secondary consideration.

#anonymous #performance history #non-replica productions #andrew lloyd webber

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a-terrible-muddle · 3 years

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Learn now the ways of the Munkustance!

(I have been studying him. With a camera. 👀 I have catalogued the Stances for your education.)

1. Munkustance (classic), aka the Constipation Pose. (Patrick Hill, 2014 Asia tour.)

2. Straight-arm variant, aka Jenny Just Yelled 'POSTURE'. (Shiki 2018)

3. The Paw, aka Time For My Photo Op. (Luke Fraser Yates, International tour 2019.)

4 and 5: Explainy Up and Explainy Down, aka I Spend So Much Of My Time Grandstanding That I Need Multiple Stances For This. (Andy Huntington Jones, Broadway revival, and Alexander Auler, Vienna revival.)

6: The Declamatory, aka As Above Only More So. (Ivan Ozhogin, Moscow 2005.)

7. The Whisper You Can Hear From The Back Of The Auditorium, aka Munkustrap Why Are You Like This. (Dan Hoy, 2019 US tour.)

8. The Classic Reversed, aka Getting Tired Of Tugger's Shit And Pretending To Ignore Him. (Lloyd Davies, International tour 2019.)

9. The Accommodating, aka How Many Cats Can I Fit Between My Legs (needs accessory: at least one kitten). (Michael Gruber, 1998)

10. The Cuddly (for best results include two other cats), aka Tugger Is Too Tol To Cuddle Him Like This 🥺. (Shiki 2006, with Jemima and Sillabub.)

11. The Long Wiggle, aka Party Time! (Benjamin Colley, 2020 Asia tour.)

This has been an educational guide by your helpful neighbourhood Tugger. Off you go, kittens - go and practise your stances. Make sure it's right where he can see you. I'm hoping to add an Eyerolling At Tugger While Trying Not To Smile Soppily to my collection.

#tuggerstrap #munkustance #munkustrap #rum tum tugger #cats the musical

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missing-sock-misto · 2 years

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Table of Contents

I queue everything

✨ My Art: Missing-Sock-Misto-Art ✨

Spaces in hyperlinks are because I hit the hyperlink limit XD

General: like, fav, cats fanart, art, headcanons, fic, drabble, text post, cats humor (lol), cats analysis, cats bts, cats costume design, interesting, watch links,

Specific general: Actual cats, Art of Actual Cats, anthropomorphic design, cats human au, cats musical moodboards, cats cast tiktoks, show reviews, cats incorrect quotes,

Users/artists: thunderwhenhepurrs 💜, plzdontdart, sneakydraws, nunsongici, frozencatlady, popping greenbean, elisenel, saph-y, chocolama, sevenkittenstc, drygrasses 💕, missing sock misto art✨

Productions: catsedit (compilations), cats the musical, cats 1998,

Broadway: cats us tour 6.3, cats us tour 6, broadway revival

London: london 90s, 2014 revival, uk tour 2,

Vienna based: vienna, zurich, paris 1990, amsterdam

Asia: shiki, 2020, 2017, 2010, 2022,

Misc: vienna revival, dutch tour, 2019 international tour, moscow, madrid, oasis,

Nonreplica: thunerseespiele (Circus), Gothenburg, melbourne (1920’s), wichita, warsaw, kilworth house (WW1), cats 2019, (Drag Culture one??)

Characters/ Ships: Tuggoffelees, tuggoffelees fanart, misto fanart, tugger fanart, platoria, demestrap, mistocavity,

Mr mistoffelees: jacob brent, paul giarratano, ricky ubeda, xavier pellin, ibn snell, tion gaston, z downer, cj snide, sm allan, mj richardson, L chambers - mistoffelees song, cryptid misto, mute misto,

Rum tum tugger: john partridge, Hank Santos, Alex Snova, McGee Maddox, Tyler Hanes, Zach Bravo - the rtt song, terrible bore,

Other cats: munkustrap, macavity, deut bros, old deuteronomy, demeter, bombalurina, victoria (g pazcoguin), alonzo (dobinson), bustopher jones, monochromatic family, Skimbleshanks, Old gumbie cat song, gus , chaos twins, mungojerrie, rumpleteazer, psychic twins, coricopat, tantomile

#table of contents

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hysperia · 2 years

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Demeters Anonymous

This get's a bit meta and self conscious. Context: I HC that Rumpelteazer is the child of Growltiger and Lady Griddlebone and in secret the evil criminal mastermind, as she was brought up to be by her mother. Teazer is set up to replace Lady Griddlebone as the head of the Jellicle mob, and makes sure that Mungojerry gets all blame for her antics, while she pretends to be silly and innocent. Macavity is just one of the goons in service to Lady Griddlebone, and in extension to Teazer as well. In the Original London Cast recordings Demeter mentions “Mungojerry, Rumpelteazer, Griddlebone” as accomplishes to Macavity. Teazer isn't in the original poem, and is not mentioned in later versions of the song. Where the line is split between Demeter and Bombalurina and only Mungojerry and Griddlebone are named. As sort of revenge on revealing her as the criminal mastermind Rumpleteazer sends Macavity after all Demeters during the ball. Imagine how a Demeter therapy group would be:

With a a gloved hand she knocked on the door that was ajar. Multiple gasps and shrieks emerged from the room. She pushed the door open and poked her head in. “Excuse me, is this the annual Demeters Anonymous?” “Look at us. Skittish, black, gold, we look like you. Yes, this is the Demeters Anonymous come in, we just finished the introductions. Have a seat and introduce yourself.” Demeter found a chair and joined the circle. “Hi, I'm Demeter.” “Hello Demeter.” It sounded in unison. “I am from the Original London Cast.” “Du! Du bist es!” Hamburg Demeter jumped up from her seat angrily pointing at OLC. “We have talked about this Hamburg. We all speak English in the circle, so everyone can understand.” OBC intervened as one of the more older and experienced Demeters “It's her: she is the one that's the reason all of us get abducted every night.” Hamburg continued, with a slight German accent. “Hamburg is right.” US Tour 4 added. “All she needed to do was *not* snitch on you know who. We were warned of what would happen if we'd mention her. Do not speak that name and Macavity would stay away.” A loud thud interrupted coming from the room next door interrupted the conversation. “What was that?” London asked. “That, my dear, are the Munkustraps practicing their fighting moves. At least I hope it's them and not the Alonzos, dropping our stand in they're trying to rescue.” ‘98 film replied. “Because that hurts, ask me how I know." “How do you know?” a brown inconspicuous cat asked. “Wait, who is that? She's not one of us! All brown and no gold, she's not even wearing gloves and her nose is pink for crying out loud.” “I certainly am a Demeter. 2019 Movie, babe.” “There wasn't one of us in ‘19.” ’98 snapped. “Oh yes there wa-has!” '19 retorted. “Settle down '98. No judgement in the circle.” OBC defused the situation. Once all the queens settled down again. Vienna spoke up. “I have to agree with my sisters. Due to OLC over there, blabbing her mouth, we get Macavity trying to abduct us.” “This is why we can't have nice things!" US Tour 6 pitched in. Vienna continued. “But what has happened over 40 years ago cannot be undone. We will have to deal with it the best way we can. We know we get saved every night and that the tribe will fend off that brute. Even if they are oblivious about that terrible disguise of him at first." ‘98 Sighed. “Sure, you're right. It is our destiny, we can't change that. So let's put our best damsel in distress, get it over with and nuzzle with Munk.” Broadway Revival looked almost shocked. “You nuzzle with Straps?” “Yeah, don't you?” '98 looked puzzled. Amsterdam rolled her eyes. “Oh honey, what do you think Bomba means when she sings that we ons verpozen en opdoffen ... sorry, that we are making out toilette and take our repose? She ain't talking about going to the litter box." OBC stood up and raised her voice. “Sisters! it is time, the moon is rising. We know what we have to do. Sing about Grizz. Protect the kittens. Reveal Macavity. Be the damsel in distress. And nuzzle with Munk ...” OBC caught the looks of some of her fellow Demeters. “... or Bombalurina, whatever. Let's go do this!” Slowly the queens left the room one by one, wishing broken limbs to each other. “Not so fast '19! Come back here!” OBC called out after the outlier. “We need to have a talk.”

#cats the musical #breaking the fourth wall #self conscious #demeter

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cassandra-has-moonlit-eyes · 2 years

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Some ramblings on the female cats and the reason I believe Griz is an outcast (the second part wasn’t planned but just happened while writing)

Took the discourse on other Blogs as inspiration to ramble a little bit. I myself am a wlw (to nobody’s suprise) and one thing I absolutly love about Cats is that even thou most of the song cats are male, in most production you have an either 50/50 male/female cast and in smaller production you even have more female dancers. And even if there are only three women who are song cats (Grizabella, Rumpleteazer and Jennyanydots), the women sing a a lot of the songs and a surprising amout of them have their own arcs (I know Lynne isn’t perfect but I think we can thank her for that because she made the choreo).

The coming of age arc was given to a female cat, Victoria. Even thou it’s quite small she has two points in the choreo where she is allowed to shine. Firstly she has her Solo at the beginning and then she has the pas de deux with whomever during the Jellicle Ball.

And then we have Demeter who is also a very important character if we look at the text. She carries a lot of the little plot that is there. She is usually the first cat on stage, nowadays she sing the Old Gumbie Cat song, Grizabella’s song and the Macavity song while being one of the only cats who has a romance sub plot going on with Munkustrap (or Alonzo).

As someone who wrote quite a few papers on gender during their time at University (also to nobody’s surprise) I would also argue that the female characters are surprisingly well done compared to other musicals and to other media around the same time. They are complex characters who don’t only have one character trade or one function (me discussing this is mostly based on the 1998 movie and the Vienna Revival, because I know these two the best).

Take Bombalurina for example. She was designed to be the sexy woman, the “whore” (when we look at the madonna-whore complex, and yes as somebody from vienna I have to bring Freud into this), the femme fatale, if you want. But she differs from other “whore”-characters. Firstly she is well liked by most of the other cats, in some productions she also functions as protector and the toms usually respect her and want to be around her, want her attention and to dance with her. She also has some “madonna” in her. She is also caring, especially towards Demeter. And she is not cold in any way. “Whore” characters are ofthen portrayed as emoitanlly cold. She on the other hand is very warm and welcoming, she joins in a lot of the songs, not minding that she herself is not the center of attention. She gets her time to shine during the Jellicle Ball.

One reason why a character like her is possible is because after all they are cats and cats do not have the human concepts of “whores” or “madonnas”. When we look at the 2019 movie when can see that hollywood today is seemingly still unable to portray more complex female characters: Her “madonna” aspect vanishes and she simply becomes a “whore”. Now she is a woman who is only defiened by being “the sexy one” and whose only character trade becomes liking Macavity, while she is far more complex in the original text.

Another cat a absolutly adore is Cassandra (duh). In other media women like her would be shown as being despicable. She is proud, she is aloof, she doesn’t take shit from nobody, she is even haughty and still she is seen a part of the community and the other cats do like her (because they are cats and a lot of them are like that, no double standards for female and male here). Her being that way is accepted. Some of the male cats behave similar to her: Misto is described as being aloof, proud, a little bit stuck up (or in some production very stuck up), Alonzo too. The cats make no differentce between her and her male counterparts, just because she is a female cat. And she is also more than that. She can also be seen as being fun and having fun, joining Bomba in her dance, she can seen as being protective and caring (especially when Griz arrives and sometimes even with Macavity).

And then we have Demeter: Don’t get me started on Demeter. For me she carries the whole show. Jacob Brent said during his viewing that she fled from Macavity and is looking for shelter with the other Jellicle Cats. She is welcomed. She is understandably very scared of Macavity but she is still able to join the fun songs and play around with the younger cats. She also developes feelings for Munkustrap (or Alonzo), has her own little romance subplot and I also think that she is Macavity’s motivation for showing up. I think most fans agree that he just showes up because he is evil but with what Jacob Brent said, I think he really shows up because he wants Demeter back (but the tribe won’t give her back). Old Deut is kidnapped as a diversion. The toms leave and the queens stay back, Macavity returns to take her but Munkustrap/Alonzo can prevent that from happening. Without Demeter Macavity showing up would be even more random in my opinion.

She also has some conection to Grizabella. She is the only one of the adult cats who tries to touch her. She has a lot of compassion for her and I think they could be two explainations for that: Firstly she met Grizabella before and is friends with her (or even lovers, duh duh duh duhmm), secondly she can feel with her. Maybe she was an outcast too when she was with Macavity. So she knows how this feels, so she wants her to be welcomed back too. She knows that Grizabella has still a place with them and in this perspective is even smarter then Old Deut. It took him a whole song to realize that she is worthy of their love, while it took Demeter only one look.

Yeah, we can argue that compassion is a very “female” trade in most media and literature but here it is portrayed as the ultimate goal, as something that is right and at the end all the cats can see that (even the mean little goblins that tormented Grizabella before).

And let’s not forget that the main character of this whole show is a female cat: Grizabella sings what I would call the title track, the reason why some people even choose to watch this show. And while I myself never cried during “Memory” (my mum had and then explained me: you will understand when your older) I think the moment when Grizabella is welcomed back and one cat ofter the other touches her is so fucking strong. She is also the only female character in my opinion on whom we can see that there IS a double standard between how the cats treat male and female cats and that starts when they age.

I may be overdramatic here (and again I’ve read my fair share of feminist writings and they clearly influenced my view on Grizabella) but it also bugs me the wrong way that Grizabella is the outcast. That the two old male cats, Old D. and Gus, are very beloved while she is shunned by the others. This is gonna be a hot take and a reading with which a propably will be alone.

I’m not sure if I can explain this well (especially in english) but I try: For a long part of european history older women weren’t seen as worthy of love, time or even existing. Women fullfilled two function (and we are back to the madonna-whore-complex) being a attractive and desirable lover to men or being a mother. If she was old and had fulfilled both these functions she was seen as an abnormaly, as useless (we just need to look at witch trails and their hatred for older women).

Cats were written by two men: T.S. Elliot and AWL (and that one dude who reworked the lyrics for Memory). If we look at the lyrics of the song (not the costumes and the casting) we hear an old or older woman lementing her lost youth. Jemima begins the song with the “roses that wither away”. Somebody became older. And than during this song Grizabella sings following:

“I can smile at the old days I was beautiful then I remember the time I knew what happiness was”

Her happiness seems to be conected to her youth and her “beauty” (a very subjective category when we think about it). Two things that women need to have to be seen and respected. My mother often described the process of getting older as a women as becoming invisible to the people around you and I think that was one of the reason she cried, when I first showed her the movie. She really could feel what the older female cat was singing about. This feeling of only being worth something as woman when you are young, “fertile” and desireable by men.

We have no context, no clue to why Grizabella is cast out but when I look at the lyrics and the lyrics alone (I hear one of my profs screaming in the back of my head: Look at the text, don’t make shit up) it seems to me that Grizabella was cast out for one reason and one reason alone and it is a very shallow reason: That she is an old cat, that she doesn’t serve a function in the tribe any more. She WAS beautiful, she HAD her good times but now that she is old, these times are over.

And you may argue: But what about the old Gumbie Cat? She is old two. But when we look at the character and the og charatcter design firstly I think she isn’t as old as Grizabella. She is younger and she makes herself useful in and around the house (please remember the poemes are from the 20ies, the musical is from the early 80ies). She still has her worth, she functions as mother for the younger cats, or even is their mother. Her “beauty” may be a of the past too but she has still functions to fill.

Same with Jellylorum. She is also one of the older female cats but she is mostly portrayed as caregiver for Gus (”the elderly”).

I love Jenny and Jelly two and I too think they have more to their characters then just being caregivers for young and old. They also serve as protectors in some productions.

So for me the really sad part about Grizabellas backstory is not that “she’s a hoe” (it’s very clear in the musical that that’s not a problem for the cats) or that she worked for Macavity. For me the really sad part about Grizabella’s backstory is that she is treated different from her male counterparts (one of them being a performer too) with the only seeable reason being that she is female AND old.

Maybe that’s where the compassion from the younger female cats comes from, especially from Demeter. She knows and understands that she could become an outcast like Grizabella as soon as their beauty and usefuleness fades. She propably has been there (because of Macavity) and knows how it feels and is scared that it will happen again in her future. When they are young the female cats do not get discrimnated for their gender in their tribe but Demeter sees how that might change if they become older.

I think it is quite interesting that the younger toms are cruel to Grizabella and mock her while the female kittens show compassion and confusion. They don’t see a difference between her and for example Gus and the don’t understand why she shouldn’t be welcomed.

Of course when you read Grizabella’s character like that the ending has a bitter taste too. The solution is not treating her differently (the musical wouldn’t work that way, I know, I know) but giving her the chance to be young and beautiful again.

Honestly, I never vibed with Grizabella accending but I absolutly live the part where she is welcomed back into the tribe. I love it so much during the Vienna Revival. It feels so genuine and loving, especially when Bill Baily and Carbucketty walk up to her and nuzzle her legs (like they do with other adults) after being so mean to her. It feels so right? in a way.

Wow, that text dind’t go where I wanted it to. I actually wanted to write about wlw ships I love but that whole Grizabella part went out of porpotion and I think I just leave the post like that and write about my fave wlw ships on another post.

I also want to state that I do not believe that the creators planed her to be an outcast because of her being old AND female (they propably go with the “she’s a hoe” hc). I think that that’s a personal reading of mine that is greatly influenced by own readings, opinions and what my mother said about being an older woman in society (my mother got children “quite late” compared to other women, she is now in her late sixties). I thought abt not posting this but I spent too much time and because it is quite a long piece I think not many will read it so I just post it.

#cats the musical #demeter #bombalurina #cassandra #grizabella #yeah I post it #i'm sorry #it's too long and feels quite personal now #nobody read this proof not even me XD #it's also not a planned out well structured text it's just me rembeling

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