#at one point they were the munks and tuggers and demeters and bombas

[millenari]

if you aren't tired of "bitching" about the broadway revival, what are your thoughts on the changes to tugger's number? i find a lot of the characterization in the choreography got destroyed but i'd like to hear your take

My first problem with Tugger's number happens before the song even starts.

It's that little bit they changed, where Munk sings the 'Jellicles ask because Jellicles dare / who will it be?' and then Tugger echoes him for the start of his song. I get why they added that bit (to strengthen the plot, to remind the audience that the Jellicle Choice is the point of all of this) but I've mentioned why I dislike the idea that the cats are ALL competing for the Choice before, and of all of the cats I think reasonably Tugger ought to be least interested in the honor. So having him echo Munk as if indicating interest in being the Choice is bleh to me.

Believe it or not I don't hate Tugger's new number… I don't like it, but I don't dislike it as much as Jenny's number. Given that John Partridge's Tugger in particular is so iconic & beloved, nothing they were going to do was going to satisfy me (or most of us tbh) and I admire that they tried to go at Tugger's character at another angle instead of trying to blindly recreate something they knew they wouldn't be able to recreate.

That being said. I don't like it. In Cats, the way a cat moves is indicative of their personality. The styles they're assigned speaks of their nature, I mentioned that in the Gumbie post: Jenny has tap because it has more of a militant vibe than flowy ballet. Victoria's very romantic and sensual subplot does get flowy ballet. The dances/songs that Bomba leads are all jazzy and sensual and provocative like her. I could go on. Tugger in particular is based off of the glam rockers of the 70s and 80s. He's a rockstar, and like those rockstar figures he's sexual, provocative, unapologetic, wild, fierce, ambiguously bisexual--

He's confident and horny. Let’s put it at that. And the way he moves and dances reflects that. He doesn't crawl much, (In 98 he doesn't crawl ever I don’t think), he struts when he moves, his 'default' position has his hands on his belt right near his crotch, like a solid 30% of his choreo in Lynne's version is hip thrusts… That's how he's been characterized for a long time. In the Bway revival, they take him in a different, less slutty direction.

& to be frank, you usually would have immediately lost me at 'less slutty' but I'll admit that some of the heavy-eye-contact-plus-pelvic-thrust elements of 98 are a little. Weird. So I do protest removing the sexuality from his number (not only because I'm pro-horny and not only because I respect Gillian Lynne's horndog vision but also because I think it's vastly unfair that the Macavity number is barely touched but this one is toned down pretty aggressively. Even in the Bombadance the female dance is present and just as sexual (you know, the bending over part) but the bit where the boys join in is pretty much removed. Why are women shaking their asses as objects to be admired acceptable but abstract depictions of actual sex/sexual elements aren't? Ugh.) buuuuut I see why they would have wanted to change it. Less slutty doesn't inherently mean less good, after all, right? And he is still a little slutty, it's not like they Kids Bop'd him.

But then they also add this element of insecurity to him. Where original Tugger is oftentimes unshakable, Revival!Tugger tries to slap the shit out of Munk and Alonzo for delivering the 'terrible bore' line (And usually I prefer Misto having this line but plenty of productions give it to these two instead so whatever), he hisses at the group of cats sliding up on him near the end, and you can see him kind of primping in the background when Old Deut is announced, like he's nervous.

This… is fine, I guess. Giving your characters more depth is usually not a bad thing, but I protest Tugger + insecurity on the grounds that

A) Bomba and Demeter's (the main Female Horny Cats) sole interesting skill is apparently flirting, and yet Tugger (the main Male Horny Cat) has to have all these hidden depths, and

B) this element in addition to how they seemed to be deliberately casting (for the bway revival AND us Tour 6) Tugger as younger-sounding and also kind of sillier, he comes off more to me as somebody's lost fratboy who needs therapy instead of a famous star. And it really leaves me questioning why all these characters are supposed to like him so much when, again, he kind of gives the impression of being a bratty frat boy.

So yes, I agree on the characterization. I admire that they tried something new, but I just don't really care for what they tried, and I think the changes actively work against the core of the character, which is: the obnoxious horny guy with so much charisma and confidence that he keeps pulling anyways.

But enough on Tugger, onto the actual song.

I really like the layout of the classic Tugger number because everyone is pretty finely split up by how they think of him. You've got:

his baby fangirls on his left doing their cute little fangirl dance

his hornier, older fans just to his right (Plato in the front) who are doing a dance that's a bit more provocative

his backup buddies on the far right who seem to be less attracted and more deferential to him

a group of cats just behind him doing a dance that strikes me as neither particularly sexual nor particularly platonic (who melt into the previous two groups during certain sections of the song)

the elders in the far back, watching on with disapproval

Bomba, Munk, and Misto, who each watch on alone(ish), indicating perhaps that each of them has a unique relationship to Tugger there.

(Sometimes there are additional watching cats, depending on how the number is set up. In 98, Alonzo also watches him alone, as well as Cori).

But I love how after only a minute or so of watching, you can tell what the majority of the cast thinks of Tugger, and who agrees with who. It's super efficient storytelling. In Broadway Revival Tugger, pretty much everyone is one of Tugger's backup dancers. There are some elements of Elder Disapproval (Jenny standing up to him, Skimble trying to shoo others away) and you can see some sections of the dance are the girls fawning over him while some are the boys backup dancing for him, but they're real quick. The song has a lot of [group of cats do a dance near Tugger] [group of cats move away] [Tugger spends a couple seconds there just kind of doing nothing] [another group of cats come up] [repeat]. Compared to the classic, there's not a lot going on, and yet it still feels more disjointed.

So anyways, the song starts, Tugger poses for Google Earth, (always taking pictures), some cats come and go & backup dance for/with him, Alonzo and Munk do the terrible bore and nearly get slapped for it, Jenny and Skimble try and fail to interrupt, and then Bomba's section happens.

I don't like this part especially; it bothers me that Tugger and Bomba don't really dance with each other during her section. They just sing their lines while staring at each other and kind of walking around. Not only does it feel kind of boring, but I really love that butt-to-butt dance they do in the original, and it makes me so sad that it was removed. [smacks fist against desk] it was SO bisexual. So, so bisexual…. Plus having Bomba kneel in front of Tugger for the following 'nah' is so strange, because honestly it looks more sexual than Tugger dipping her, and makes it way less obvious that he's rejecting her after (potentially) leading her on. I'm not sure a first-time viewer watching from far away would even realize he's saying no to her. Also this section includes the entire(ish) cast lining up behind Tugger in two different ways over the course of like 15 seconds. Why.

Then Tugger admires himself in the mirror after 'Horrible muddle'— which is fine, but I like it less in conjuncture with the self-esteem thing. After that comes the little dance break, which is my favorite part of the whole song.

First, I love having Plato and Victoria doing a little dance in the background, it kind of builds up to their later dance and I think the idea of them bonding over liking Tugger is the cutest. Second, I love the Tuggoff dance that happens at the same time.

It's weird, because a lot of the time I look at the bway changes and I can't really figure out if the new choreo means anything or is trying to say anything the way the original often was. (Like that screenshot I posted just a couple paragraphs up. Why is everyone lining up behind Tugger? To show that they're all on his 'side' in regard to his interaction with Bomba? Why do they do it twice? The answer is probably just 'because it looked cool'. Tragically.) But this little Tuggoff dance is weird because it’s one of the few sections where I can easily make a guess as to what they were trying to say do/say with the choreo. I talked about it in the tags on this post, I won't type it all up again.

Tugger deliberately passing by his attention-hungry fans and grabbing Misto chilling off by himself, and then pulling him into the literal spotlight is just so on point to their relationship I made a post about the same concept not too long ago. Like this whole idea of Misto being the only one to give Tugger the space he needs and Tugger returning that sentiment by giving Misto all of the attention and spotlight he needs, is just. 10/10. No notes.

After that point I don't have much commentary. Everyone dances together for the end: I don't love that part but that's mostly just me not liking the overarching style of the new choreo than anything to do with this number in particular. I also don't like the new ending but I can't really pin down why, so I think it's just me not liking change? I'm not sure.

So yeah, don't love it, don't hate it. I have to say though: I think it's kind of incredible how this choreo has already aged in comparison to the original. The bit after the mirror where Tugger basically nae-naes makes me want to beat my head against the wall due to Cringe, and that choreo is only like 8 years old! The original is nearly 40, and it still stands up fine! It's just wild how much effort they put into making Cats 'modern' and before a decade has passed those changes are already dated!

(Though I think the cats taking a 'selfie' with the big prop camera at the end was kind of hilarious. Maybe we can have some modernization.)

#cats fan on main #jelliclerants

[theimpossiblescheme]

Now I get to finally type out the notes I took during the show (and fill in any blanks I might have forgotten to originally write down)--this is my account of the Cats US tour experience!

If you’re a Tussandra, Demelurina, Alonzostrap, or Skimbledots shipper, this is your show.  The first two flirted constantly, especially during Tugger’s song (Bomba actually had to push Cass out of the way to get Tugger’s attention), and the other pairs were basically attached at the hip throughout the show.  Alonzo and Munk were so perfectly in sync at times they really did feel like a singe unit, and there was a cute moment where Skimble and Jenny stood on the car boot during the Jellicle Ball and looked like they were fussing over the kittens.

Nora DeGreen is such a wonderful Demeter who feels like they’re still getting the hang of life in the Junkyard again.  They’re starting to loosen up and have fun, and they’re even quite comfortable around Tugger, but their social battery has a time limit (mood, honestly) and always runs back over to Bomba for comfort.  Bomba really feels like Demeter’s security blanket here, and it’s really sweet.

Plato and Victoria are also adorable--they feel like that couple at prom who are so obviously and obnoxiously in love and find every excuse they can to snuggle.  Yuka Notsuka is an absolutely precious Victoria, and her solo in Act One was lovely.

One of my notes just says “Cryptid!Cassandra.  That’s it--that’s the comment.”  I love Lexy Bittner’s energy as the character.  She almost feels like I would expect a good Mistoffelees to feel--mysterious and aloof, but quirky and unpredictable at the same time.  We also got a fair bit of Protector!Cass, which is always nice.

Hank Santos is a fucking delight as Tugger--some of the best moments in the show for me came from his interactions with the other cats.  This one’s probably my favorite: he briefly gets his number hijacked by a high note from Jellylorum (which got some mid-song applause from the audience, so much that the orchestra stopped), but he kisses her paw during the outro to let her know all is forgiven.  She’s flattered and beaming at him, but she remembers to be Scandalized(TM) when Jennyanydots rejoins her.

Speaking of Jenny, Megan Arseneau played her spacing out before the tap section like she was just staring out the window at something, and at one point she got this big smile on her face like there was a particularly enchanting bird out there.  All oblivious to Misto trying to get her attention, of course.  She’s such a fun Jenny--definitely the Cool Mom of the Junkyard.

Tumblebrutus really felt like Skimbleshanks’ son here.  They had all kinds of cute background interactions, and Skimble had to literally wrestle Tumble away from dancing with Tugger during his song.

Sam Buchanan’s Plato is so adorably earnest, and he has some great “Protector in Training” moments that made my heart grow three sizes.  My favorite was right at the end of Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer’s number--he and Munkustrap make eye contact over grabbing their swag bags, and it’s like Munk’s saying, “All right, just like we practiced...”

Victoria is also shocked--shocked, I tell you!--that Jerrie and Teazer were caught stealing, and she looks like she’s rooting for them to escape.

There were a lot of little... what I can only call moments of reassurance between Skimble and Munk, where they would make eye contact over the other cats’ heads or Skimble would grab Munk’s paw.  I got the impression of Skimble being like a mentor or parental figure to Munk in a way, and it was very sweet.

Kade Wright’s Munk is also a lot gentler than I’ve seen other Revival Style!Munkustraps, and he’s very attentive to the other cats.  He doesn’t shoo Jerrie and Teazer away after the Invitation, instead giving them little back skritches before gently waving them off and taking a second for the others, and he and Tugger have a beautiful moment of connection during the “Old Deuteronomy” duet.  His and Santos’ voices blend together so well (though on the whole I prefer Santos’ voice).

When Grizabella comes back on the second time, Gus gives her a... very curious, sort of coolly reserved look as she passes.  Not like he’s shunning her, but more like he doesn’t know what to make of her.

Speaking of Grizabella, holy hell, does Tayler Harris have a gorgeous voice.  Recordings don’t do it justice--I got chills multiple times listening to her.  She’s a very proud Grizabella, but one who’s also aware of how utterly unfair her situation is and has a lot of quiet righteous anger about her, and she refused to back down any time one of the other cats got in her face.  I wish dearly that I could pick hers and Kade Wright’s brains, too, because the relationship between Griz and Munk was fascinating.

Right at the top of Act Two, Coricopat and Tantomile went directly over to Old Deuteronomy, and it looked like Tanto was almost sitting in his lap as they had a moment regarding Grizabella.

Can John Anker Bow’s Gus adopt me?  He was absolutely lovely--I remember seeing him in a much smaller part the US tour of Ragtime when it came to my university years ago, and it was wonderful to see him again.  He seemed to have taken a cue from Christopher Gurr’s playbook of Gus not particularly wanting to have this song, even no-selling Jelly’s attempts to rib him about his pub habits, but eventually warming to the idea.  His relationship with Allyson Duarte’s Jelly was adorable, too, always taking her paw or her shoulder whenever one of them needed a moment.

The kittens loved Gus, too (except for Tumble, who checked out after Gus’s comments about The Kids These Days)--Sillabub was hanging on his every word, and Pouncival reached out and very cutely touched his paw on the line “I could do it again...”  And right as everyone got up to get ready for “The Pekes and the Pollicles”, Pounce and Sillabub did a little celebratory mirroring dance.

Also, Gus and Demeter, of all cats, had some really sweet background interactions--I can think of at least two moments where Demeter grabbed his shoulder and he reached back and squeezed their paw.

Also also, Gus and Skimble both do this adorable half-hug shoulder clasp thing with Old Deuteronomy at various points.

On Skimble’s “button you cold turn to make a breeze” line, it looked like Misto was trying to play a little prank on Demeter by summoning a cold wind to blow, but when they actually shivered he shrunk back and looked sorry.

I really really love Erica Lee Cianciulli’s voice as Bombalurina.  It has this very distinctive raspiness to it that’s hard to describe, but I could listen to hers and DeGreen’s rendition of “Macavity the Mystery Cat” all day long.

Sillabub spends most of Macavity’s song sitting on the tire and listening to the other queens sing, only getting up for the last chorus.  It felt like this was the first time she’d heard about Macavity in this much detail.

I’m not entirely sure if I caught this right, but it looked like Bomba was the one who helped Munk to his feet after the Macavity fight, even putting her shoulder under his and lifting him upright.  Meanwhile, Tanto had gone to shield Demeter after Macavity let go, and then she helped them to safety once he was gone.

Alonzo’s moment of steeling himself to fight back for Demeter was fantastic, too.  Sammy Fossum plays a really great “gallant and brave, but has his moments of doubt when he’s alone” Alonzo, and it made me wish he could have a shot at playing Goldenlonzo.  Ah, well... all Revival Style!Alonzos are Goldenlonzos at heart to me.

Tugger looked like he was going to cry when Misto brought Old Deut back, and he pointed to himself and looked at everyone around him on “And we all say...” as if to say, “I told you so.”  It really gave off the impression of “I knew it was going to work, but holy shit, it actually worked.”  He also had a little cuddle with Victoria as Misto hugged Old Deut--it was such an adorable moment all around.

Demeter started off “Memory” all curled up on the ground and slowly unfolded as the song went on.  Their reactions to the song were heartbreaking, and I so badly wish I could have met Nora DeGreen to tell them what a beautiful job they did.

Tayler Harris’s crescendo up to “Touch me” was... man, I wish I could bottle that moment.  Again, chills.  I wish I could have met her, too, even if I wouldn’t have been very articulate about it. 😄

Munk also looked like he was going to cry when Griz was chosen, which... same, my guy.  And his earlier tone of awed happiness on “Now Old Deuteronomy just before dawn...” like he still can’t believe he’s back really had me choked up, too.

Also, they brought back the big shimmering claw for her ascent to the Heaviside!  I was so happy to see that again!

Cameron Schutza’s voice as Old Deuteronomy was so powerful, and listening to his “Ad-Dressing of Cats” really made it sink in for me.  Hearing that song live is really something special, and I’m so glad I got the chance!

#cats the musical #cats us tour 6 #the schemer speaks #I just need Harris; Bow; DeGreen; and Cianciulli to be in All Of The Things now. <3 #ETA: Now with corrected pronouns for the performers

[herooffire101]

So, this was inspired by my own memories of my family’s Cookie Day tradition while I was growing up. We would go to my grandma’s house the Sunday before Christmas (depending on what calendar day it fell on) and we would help my Grandma and Aunt bake cookies in her kitchen, and end up having Pizza for dinner (I can never forget that one year we somehow got the wrong sheet pizza with our order). Nowadays, this doesn’t happen due to my Grandpa’s death in 2016 (before I graduated, unfortunately on the night of my brother’s birthday. Neither him nor me knew until we got up for school the next day). He was the glue for us and Grandma. Nowadays, I bake the cookies myself, because I find it fun, and I like baking. We would bake mainly three different cookies, which are Press Cookies (which I have baked and posted here), Peanut Blossoms (also have baked and posted), and Thumbprint Cookies (haven’t baked yet mainly because it uses Raspberry Jam and I don’t like Raspberries), which sometimes a variance occasionally. (We have done cut-out sugar cookies before, but the dough somehow fucks up, thus we have banned it because it became Stupid Cookies.) Now, this does take place where Demeter and Bombalurina are sisters, because clearly, I haven’t shared how different the universe where they are not sisters was (someday I will). Also, I wanted to let the kittens loose with how they would act within a setting.

Let’s see, I haven’t done a Demeter point of view in a while. Might as well give some Demestrap love.

Jellicle Cats bake Christmas Cookies

December 18. 2011

When Demeter opened the door to Jenny’s home, she was greeted by not only the smell of cookies, but by the sounds of the kids (and Tugger) chattering. With Victoria and Misto taking off their boots and coats helped by Munk, a tiny red blur ran towards Demeter and hugged her legs. “Auntie Deme, you’re here!” Jemima enthusiastically greeted her aunt, her emerald eyes sparkling with happiness.

Demeter greeted her niece warmly. “Yes, I am, Jemmy. I see that you got into the cookies.” Kneeling down and brushed off some of the crumbs off her face.

“I only had one. Nana and Jenny won’t let me have any more, despite what Daddy is doing with Car’mel, Tumble, and Pounce.” Jemima pointed out, “Mommy is trying to wrangle Cettie into helping to decorate some of the press cookies.”

“And failing to do so.” Bomba added, coming into the foyer, as Victoria and Misto went to hug her, finally without their coats and boots. Smiling to her sister, she lifted her hands. “I would hug you, Deme, but my hands are stained with food coloring and still slightly slimy.”

Victoria giggled. “Does that mean that once you clean your hands, you’ll hug us?”

“Don’t want to mess up your shirt, ‘Tori.” Bomba agreed, “Remember, if you want me to hug you, then ask and I’ll oblige.”

“Victoria, Aunt Bomba has some issues with sticky stuff on her hands.” Demeter explained to Victoria, softly brushing some of Victoria’s blonde hair out of her face.

“Nana and Jenny are helping me with my sticky stuff thing too!” The five-year-old exclaimed, showing her aunt and cousins her green-colored stained hands, though hers actually looked dried compared to her mother’s, which were colored red and green.

Demeter gave Jemima a bright smile. “Well, I’m glad that you’re learning how to deal with your sticky stuff thing, Jemima. Do you think that you will have an easier time playing with your classmates if they are playing with playdough?”

“Nope!” Jemima said, giving a wide smile. That made Demeter wince internally and even Munk made a noise.

“Now come on, Jemmy, you have many friends in your class. You are a nice person. Anyone can be your friend.” Munk softly approached the subject.

Jemima shook her head at her aunt and uncle. “Most of my classmates think I’m weird. Pounce and Tumble are my only friends there.”

Even Bomba gave a wince and cringing smile. “We’ve already established that she is more like me than possible, minus what happened to me when I was her age.” Demeter nodded, agreeing that Jem was probably having a similar problem like Bomba and Tugger had in their school years. “Jemmy, why don’t you bring Victoria and Misto to the kitchen and see Nana and Jenny. I’m sure that they want to help decorate the cookies.”

“Okay!” Jemima nodded, having the twins follow her, leaving the three adults in the foyer.

Munk decided to broach the uncomfortable subject. “She’s not having fun in her 1st grade class?”

Bomba sighed, as Demeter moved to put her coat away. “Me and Tugger are trying to help her feel more comfortable, but she still gets alienated. The guidance counsellor and psychologist are helping, but her intelligence and her flavor of Autism is more like mine, which means…”

“Bullying and socialization problems like you had.” Demeter finished for her sister. “Does this mean that you’re leaning towards more homeschooling her and Charlie?”

Bomba nodded. “Yup. She has the intelligence, and her independent streak is there, which is causing her more problems in the classroom, especially when there are groups. Her teachers want her to work with some of the girls, but Jemima is being stubborn and choosing to work with Tumble and Pounce. They make her feel comfortable and safe.”

Demeter watched her partner have his thinking face on. “Tumble and Pounce know her, and she knows them.” Munk said, speaking out loud his thought process. She loved it when he worked through a problem. He gathers all the information he could and thought of different solutions that could work. “Have you thought that there might be a confidence problem due to the bullying, so maybe we need to help her with her confidence while also finding a solution to the ongoing bullying issue?”

“See, this is why we need to have our sounding board, Deme. We need to get together to produce solutions for Jemima’s schooling before it gets worse.” Bomba said, looking semi-relieved because clearly this was bothering her.

Demeter reach out to give her sister a hug. “Don’t worry, Bea. We’ll work together. She’s my niece and I want her to thrive as much as you do.” Bomba leaned into the hug, without hugging because of her hands. “Now go clean your hands before you give me a proper hug.” Bomba gave her a smile and went off.

Jenny then decided to come towards the couple. “Thank you for talking to her, you two. Now, come in! We tripled the press cookies because of all the kittens, so be prepared to help!” She said, ushering both of them to the kitchen, where Demeter saw that Victoria was sitting next to Plato, who was handing her some of the sprinkles that she wanted to use on the press cookies in front of her, while Misto was sneakily eating a warm cookie that Tugger oh so tried to hide him giving him one. Electra and Etcetera were clearly collaborating with their decorating while Jemima was on the other side of Plato, pointing out to her cousin that she mixed the colors into the dough that Victoria and Plato were decorating. “George is playing his DS in the living room, while Admetus, Thomas and Patrick are playing Mario Kart on the Wii with Charlie, though I think that Admetus is letting him win while the boys are playing against each other. Junior is with them, making sure that they are not hitting each other.” Jenny answered their unasked question of where some of the kittens and Demeter’s dad were.

“And Skimble?” Munk asked, looking around for him.

“Out getting more ingredients for the cookies. He never misses cookie day. Heaviside knows that we need to fulfill everyone’s love for Christmas cookies.” Mom explained, counting out how many cookies were ready to be put into the oven. “Hello dear. Grandpa is with Old Deut right now, so he’ll be around soon.”

Demeter went over to her mother Jellylorum and hugged her. “Hi Mom. How many cookies have you baked so far?”

“Well, this is the second batch of press cookies we’ve made today.” Hugging her second daughter and then glaring at Tugger, who decided to badly attempt that he was innocent, “Someone decided that giving several cookies to the younger kittens was okay, even though we told them no.”

Tugger decided to look affronted. “How can I say no to their faces?”

“Tugger, you always fall for them.” Demeter said, with a slight sarcastic tone.

“You just want them to smile and give us a hard time, Tugger.” Bomba cut in, gliding effortlessly towards them, making Tugger (as always) go goggle-eyed. She sauntered up to her partner and trailed a finger up his neck to his chin, him leaning towards her before she figuratively dropped him, booping him on the nose. “Travis, please don’t give them the cookies now. We already have to deal with a hyper three-year-old. I personally would like to have some of these cookies to last until after Christmas. How else are we going to have cookies for Santa?”

Tugger then caught Bomba in a flirty embrace. “Well, we can always bake more for Santa anyway.” He said, with a seductive tone in his voice.

Demeter rolled her eyes at him. “Oi. Can you not?” Demeter said, giving both of them a simmering glare.

“You’re a terrible bore, Uncle Tugger!” Misto cried, getting in between his mom and his Aunt and Uncle.

All four of the adults surrounding his laughed, with Tugger ruffling Misto’s black hair. “Then would you like to show me what you’ve done with the cookies?” Misto smiled and nodded, taking Tugger’s hand, and dragging him to the table where the girls, Munk and Plato were.

Demeter, Bomba, and their mom smiled at the lovely bond Tugger had with the kids. “Me and Tugger have been here for the first batch. Jem and Caramel loved decorating the cookies, and as you saw, Jem helped with coloring the second batch.”

“You did a good job too, Beatrice.” Mom said, “Jem helped you with the red very well.”

Demeter looked at her older sister. “Downplaying your involvement again, huh?”

“Demeeeeeter.” Bomba groaned, finally properly giving Demeter a hug.

Returning it, Demeter made sure that Bomba faced her. “I know that it’s harder for you to take praise willingly. Bomba, remember, you are an amazing mom.”

Jenny then poked in. “Demeter honey, would you like to help with coloring the third batch of dough. Munk has already claimed blue, and Victoria doesn’t want to mix the food coloring. I’m thinking that Jemima can help Tugger unwrap the Kisses for the Peanut Blossoms while you help me with the dough, Bomba.”

With a duet of ‘Yes, Jenny.’ From both Demeter and Bomba, they went to the semi-assigned tasks. Demeter went to where Munk was sitting, sitting right next to him. Misto sat himself on the other side of her.

“Misto, what kind of color do you want these cookies to be?” Demeter asked her boy his opinion because there were already yellow cookies cooling from the oven. It looked like Tugger made them, judging by his hands.

“Purple!” Misto enthusiastically said, his blue eyes glittering.

Demeter hummed. “Never had purple cookies before. Munku, may you please pass me the blue food coloring.”  Politely asking her partner for the blue food coloring that was sitting on the table on the other side of him.

Munk stopped mixing his portioned dough into a nice-looking blue and passed her the bottle “Of course, my queen.” Giving her a slight bow.

“Victoria, may you please pass me the red?” Demeter then asked her daughter, who was watching.

“Okay!” Victoria said, reaching for the red bottle and handing it to her mom. Demeter signed ‘Thank you’ to Victoria, making her smile.

Meanwhile, Tugger and Jemima sat side by side, unwrapping the many, many kisses that was coming out of the opened and turned sideways party sized Hershey Kisses. “Daddy, these Kisses are for the Blossoms, not eating!” Jemima told Tugger; her tone reminiscent of Bomba’s fake annoyance with Tugger. Tugger stuck his tongue out at his daughter.

“Tugger, stop eating the Kisses or we’re not going to have Peanut Blossoms.” Bomba told him off from her position of rolling the dough around in sugar and placing them on the baking sheet, not even turning around to face him.

“I was only having one!” Tugger sighed, his dramatic side showing up. Demeter rolled her eyes at her brother-in-law, Misto copying her as well. Demeter glanced at Misto, giving him a smile, making him giggle.

“Travis Jellicle, stop eating the Kisses!” Jenny snapped at him, giving the end all and be all to him.

“…Okay.” Tugger shrunk down, going back to unwrapping the kisses with Jemima.

Charlie, her golden-haired nephew and very much like Tugger in miniature (which is scary enough because she grew up with Tugger, how is this kid so much like him. Oh wait, Bomba’s his mother and Jemima is very much like Bomba) wandered in from the living room where she could hear the noise of Tumble and Pounce racing each other while Admetus was sighing at their antics. “Auntie, why are the cookie dough purple?” He asked, his blue eyes questioning.

“Because Misto wanted them to be purple, Caramel.” Demeter answered, making it noticeably clear that his cousin wanted purple press cookies. Charlie nodded and went to wander around the kitchen seeing everything. Demeter did remember Tugger doing that sometimes while they were growing up.

Demeter, after cleaning her hands enough, got the cookie press and put some of the dough in it. Once Misto chose a press shape from the collection of the cleaned ones, Munk pressed out the dough. “Do we have shiny yellow sprinkles?” Misto asked, looking around the cookie decorations collection.

Victoria found it and grabbed it. “Here they are, Misto!” She looked at the label and got a confused face. “Daddy, what’s gold?” she asked.

“It’s the color of Demeter.” Munk explained as he looked at Demeter, love shining clearly in his eyes.

“Oh, stop it!” Demeter jokingly brushed it off, laughing inwardly with his antics.

Tugger had that look in his eye. “Munk’s color is silver!” He declared, giving Bomba an opening.

“Silver and Gold, Silver and Gold~’ Bomba sang from her position, now pressing some of the unwrapped kisses into the peanut butter cookies that just came out of the oven.

Mom glared at her sister. “Beatrice, stop it. We’ve heard it enough from you over the years.” She scolded.

Bomba gave their mother a look of ‘come on’ “But it’s true! Demeter is gold and Munk is silver!”

“Jemmy, Mommy is being silly.” Electra murmured to her adopted sister.

Jemima rolled her eyes, which was adorable on her “Leckie, Mommy is silly. Wanna help me with the Kisses? Daddy is not helping.” Jemima offered to Electra, being savage to her father.

“Hey! I am helping!” Tugger declared, looking affronted. Demeter knew just by watching that he was playing it up.

Erica decided to be a tattletale at that moment. “Mommy, Tugger’s eating more of the Kisses.” She cried to their mom.

“I am not, Cettie!” Tugger denied, giving a mock glare.

Plato chosen without delay to be the deciding factor. “Dad, you did eat one more.”

Tugger gave a simmering glare to her foster son, knowing that he does it out of love. “Does this filled bowl look like enough to you?!? I only had one after we finished filling the bowl.” He said, gesturing to the filled bowl he was holding for Bomba as she squished them into the right out of the oven peanut cookies.

“He’s right, Jenny. Are we ever going to have that many blossoms?” Mom interjected, looking at the number of kisses bags that Jenny had strewn around in her kitchen.

“Not enough, knowing Gus and Asparagus.” Jenny reminded, knowing how much Dad and Grandpa loved peanut blossoms.

“I knew that there was a reason we have three party sized bags of Kisses.” Bomba said, glaring at Jenny. She must have realized how many Jenny was planning on baking when she started the cookies.

“And five two-packs of peanut butter from BJ’s.” Demeter said, joining in the glaring. This was worse than last year, where there were six peanut butter jars and two party bags of kisses. ‘Just how many peanut blossoms Grandpa and Dad need?!?’ Demeter thought.

Charlie, however, was fascinated. “These are Grandpa Gus and Pops’s favorite cookies?” He asked, amazed.

“Yes, Charlie. Do you want to help put the kisses on the cookies when they get out of the oven?” Mom asked, kneeling down to her grandson. He nodded, and she lifted her three-year-old grandson to let him help his mom putting the kisses on the cookies.

A familiar orange head popped into the kitchen, making Demeter smile. “Are these cookies I smell?” Mungojerrie asked, bringing attention to himself.

“Jerrie! You’re here!” Demeter cheered; her favorite little guy had arrived. She stood up and hugged him, while the kittens cheered.

“Is Teaser with you?” Bomba asked, taking a break from the peanut blossoms. She also gave him a hug as a greeting.

He returned it and faced both of them. “Helping Dad. Is there a reason why there are ten bags of candy cane flavored Kisses?” Jerrie asked, looking at Jenny, curious why there was a lot of those kisses.

Bomba turned to glare at Jenny. “Candy cane kisses do not go with peanut butter.”

“What kind of cookies go with candy cane kisses?” Demeter asked, also curious on why there was candy cane kisses.

“We’re making chocolate cookies with them!” Jenny exasperated, her cheeks becoming red.

“Jenny, are we experimenting again?” Mom sighed, remembering the last time Jenny experimented with cookies.

“It won’t be like last time!” Jenny sputtered out.

“…I could taste the burnt cookie for a week…” Munk muttered, slightly shivering at the memory.

“You didn’t want to hurt Jenny’s feelings.” Demeter soothed, patting him on the back.

Rumpleteazer, her identical orange hair popped up beside her brother. “Hey Jerrie, is Mom experimenting again? I thought that we weren’t experimenting this year.” She asked, holding one of the said bags of Hershey’s Candy Cane flavored Kisses.

“Let’s not roll them in choco powder, okay Jenny?” Bomba declared, moving back to her place rolling the peanut cookies, Charlie reaching out to her to give her a kiss on her cheek.

“But…” Jenny sputtered, her face betraying her emotions.

“Aunt Jennyanydots, I know you enough to say this.” Bomba said, standing up to her full height of 5’ 9”. “I know that you get so enthusiastic about experimenting with baking, but can we at least stick with our normal cookies for the kittens?”

Jenny huffed and agreed. “I’ll try on a different day.”

Demeter, Jerrie, and Teazer all cheered. Bomba saved them all from a possibly bitter tasting cookie. Demeter noticed that Munk visibly relaxed. “Thank you Bomba for saving my taste buds.” He said, relief in his voice.

“Bomba, love, I am so glad that you were the best of us in chemistry.” Tugger complimented, love filling his eyes.

“Is that the reason why you love me, you curious beast?” Bomba quipped at him

“No, babe. Only glad.” Tugger clarified, giving her a full body hug. Charlie decided that Tugger had enough and started fussing at his dad hogging his mom, which made Tugger fuss right back at him.

Demeter smiled at their antics, as she sat back down with Munk. “You two are the same.” She said to Munk.

“Huh?” Munk said, curious, “How? He’s so annoying and an attention hog.”

“You both give us comfort in many ways.” And with that, she kissed him on the lips.

“Ewwww…” All the kittens at the table, including her twins, said, giggling as well.

“Oh, just you wait until you find someone who you want to kiss!” Demeter jokingly said to the kittens, smiling at them, making them giggle even more.

I promise there will be a part 2 to this. Just wanted to split it up a bit.

#cats human au #demestrap #tuggerlurina #rum tum tugger #bombalurina #demeter cats #munkustrap #jemima cats #electra cats #etcetera cats #jennyanydots #jellylorum #plato cats #cats mistoffelees #victoria cats #cats fanfic #christmas cookies #mungojerrie #rumpleteazer #they're at the end really #cats the musical

[missing-sock-misto]

Cats Show Review: Denver 5/24, 5/25, 5/28

So this is a bit late. 😅 These notes have been typed up for a solid 2 weeks, I just never got around to finalizing them. :P

I went on three different days (it was kind of a mistake of scheduling, long story, but I regret nothing), and this review is going to be covering all of them together. The cast was the same for day one (5/24) and two (5/25), but different for Saturday’s (5/28). So the first two shows were pretty much the same, and the third had the most differences. (I do refer to Saturday’s show as “the third day/show” because it was my third show. It was not chronologically the third show they performed.

(Note: Travis was Tugger all 3 days. They just forgot to put his name on the board as a cover for the first two).

Bows: 5/24/22 Bows: 5/25/22

I also use the Broadway 2016 Revival as my biggest point of comparison, along with comparing the shows with each other.

I do take the opportunity to talk about the Broadway Revival choreography. I do keep it generally positive though.

If I refer to a stage direction, I’m talking about the audience’s pov. Note: -I am a huge Misto stan, so I basically tracked Misto through the entire performance. Most of the notes are on him. I’m also a huge Tuggofflees shipper, [though I will say in this version, I’d probably read as a poly Misto-Tugger-Bomba. Very, “Hi, this is my boyfriend Tugger, and this is his boyfriend Misto”]

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(I did run into some formatting issues where paragraphs would get doubled, and if I deleted the duplicate a *different* paragraph would get deleted and doubled. If you see a paragraph get doubled, I’m sorry, I tried.)

I will start out by saying that I like the Revival choreography. While I enjoy the original choreography, (and there are some pieces that I do prefer the original for, or I’m sad that certain elements were removed), I overall really like the Revival choreography and the additions and changes it made, especially for Tugger and Misto’s songs. I think the Jellicle Ball is the one I feel the most conflicted about. It is absolutely ok if you do not agree with me on this, it is my opinion, but I do like it.

While Day One was good, I definitely thought it was the weakest performance. I’m guessing the altitude shift of going from sea level New York to “the Mile High City” of Denver combined with travel really hit the performers hard. I noticed people running out of breath during their performances or panting really hard at the end of a number.

However, by the second day, people seemed to have adjusted somewhat. And Saturday’s performance was fantastic. Definitely my favourite. Nick (Munk), Vinny (Alonzo) and Chelsea (Bomba) have deeper/lower registers, and having them there really helped increase the diversity of the vocal pallet. It’s still a very young sounding cast, but I definitely noticed a more filled out ensemble when they were there.

Plus, both Chelsea and Lauren (Demeter) have incredible voices, both powerful and show stopping but unique from each other. Having them together for Macavity and Glamour Cat was awesome.

I really enjoyed the cast

- Surprise standouts

Jennyanydots

Bustopher/Gus

Demeter

Due to the limitation of the tour set:

- No Aerial capabilities & no pyrotechnics

No trapeze,

No “climb up a wall”- with a cat scaling a wall on a wire, though Bill Bailey was hanging from the ladder

No aerial entrance for Misto

No wire removal for Griz

No pyrotechnics at the end of Misto’s number.

- Inflatable set so no trunk boot opening.

- Lighting- No “window” grids. Generally more limited lighting effects when compared to the Revival.

Overture- Invitation

Gorgeous lighting

Baby Griz gets the line “When you’re walking alone”.

Great enunciation. For the 98 film, I need subtitles in order to understand what they were saying. These guys, I could understand clearly.

Misto grabs the boot and passes it off to Tumble (I think).

Hand motions and symbols to represent the different “types of cats”. I thought this was a cute addition. For example:

Ie “Skeptical cats” the cats do a wide stance and put one hand on their chin, the other on their elbow.

Romantical Cats- Demeter & Munk hold hands and look at each other and smile. (I will say, while I preferred Nick’s voice, I think Taylor might have had better chemistry with Lauren).

Critical cats- they do a calculator typing motion?

Skimble takes the “There’s a man over there” line.

Gumbie:

First good look at Misto’s performance (well besides Invitation but run with me)

He has soo much energy, always smiling, and doing hard choreography. I have no idea how Paul is alive right now.

Due to the limitations of a tour setting, they took out several of Misto’s “magic tricks”. In Gumbie Cat, he’s supposed to create a light spot to conjure a window, spread the light open, and then open the car boot with magic. Misto does still create the light spot, but because of the lack of window grid lines, the light doesn’t look like it spreads? So he’s just twirling on the floor for what looks like no reason.

Plus, then the car boot doesn’t open with magic, she just crawls onto the boot, so he just goes “Ta Da!” It really makes Misto look like he’s showboating for no reason 😅

I don’t mind too much, because I love him, but it does look a bit off

 Michelle’s an amazing Jenny, she’s gorgeous, beautiful voice, great tapper, loved her. A number of Gumbie Cats I’ve seen can be very “shrill”, but Michelle’s voice is super sweet, I got “motherly” vibes from her rather than “Mother Superior” vibes.

The kittens mess with the Gumbie Trio’s tails while doing the “and tie it into sailor’s knots” piece.

They only have 3 cockroach costumes, but they look nice, more like wheels than garbage bags. They use them less though.

Misto DOES NOT like the cockroaches. When they came out he would go on all floors and hiss/bite at them, then look at Jelly for approval.

While some cats are scrubbing the floors, Misto on top of the oven scrubbing the top of it. Others are cleaning the sides and throw their rags to him.

No exercise balls (Revival). Honestly, this was a good adjustment for me. I thought the exercise ball dancing was a recipe for disaster. I don’t know if this is a permanent adjustment or a tour adjustment.

Rum Tum Tugger

All right, I went in with low expectations for Travis, ngl. I basically bought tickets after seeing Zach’s TikToks and loving them, and being like, “yeah, I can trust this guy to do a good Tugger performance”. So when Zach left, Travis had big shoes to fill, and I had a LOT of baggage about (and investment in) this character.

I’ll admit, I didn’t like him in his first performance. I started warming to him after his song finished, but I was still pretty wary of him. (In his first performance, he was at an 11 in theatrics and very nasally, which I’m not a huge fan of).

However, I liked him more the second day, once I knew what his deal was, and actually enjoyed him on the third day. It was also interesting, cause he changed his performance slightly each time. Each day he dialed it back a little bit more. The first day he was particularly nasally and “immature” and he laughed hysterically in his entrance. For the second, he toned it down a bit. On the third, he sounded more… pouty? He lowered his voice and it sounded like he was pursing his lips or something a bit more while singing. He also barely laughed when he came out (and didn’t say “boop” when he kicked Munk’s butt, like he did the first two days. [That was a shame, I liked the “boop” :P] ).

(Note, he’s changed his makeup. When it was first announced he was taking over for Zach, he had an extremely contoured face that made his chin very narrow. By the time he’s gotten to this performance, he made it more natural, doing the cheek stripes and following the shape of his face better, and didn’t use as extreme contouring. I think this is a plus, I didn’t care for his initial makeup look).

Overall, I enjoyed his performance, it just took me a while to actually warm up to him.

- Misto:

Tugger and Misto look at each other very affectionately while doing the “And there isn’t anything you can do about it” leg sashays.

FYI Misto does not smack Tugger’s bum, that is an illusion on uppastthejelliclemoon’s boot due to camera angle. HOWEVER, it is pretty dang suggestive. I would say it was more of a “Hey there” or “call me later” something? Hard to describe.

After his quick dance with Tugger, Misto was ogling Tugger on all fours from on top of the car boot. Around the “bureau drawer” line, Skimble comes out and Misto excitedly paws at him and points at Tugger, like “Isn’t he great 😍” and taps at himself. Then Skimble leans in and starts lecturing Misto, and Misto is clearly not internalizing this message, (On the first and second day, he just full on ignores Skimble and continues watching Tugger excitedly. But on the third day he has the decency to sit back and look a little less excited… until Skimble gets off to help Jenny, and Misto goes right back on all fours and stares at Tugger with huge heart eyes XD).

Tugger dances enthusiastically with Cassandra

During the mirror sequence: Misto does an extra jump. [vs Revival]

The cats surrounding the Mirror do not stare at Tugger, but instead face at the audience. [vs Revival]

Misto is doing the Big Boy Choreography with Munk and Alonzo on the right side (Skimble’s doing it on the left side)

Tugger mockingly does the Big Boy arm wave, then scrapes his foot at Munk before pulling in Misto to do the lighting dance.

He still does the hip thrust when Misto goes through his legs! [Ok, part of me wants to talk about the different styles of hip thrusts that he did on different days… but I also really don’t. But they were different].

Misto was Absolutely Enraptured when started Tugger doing the “abouts”. This cat wanted to hear his boyfriend riff.

For shooing away his fan club, on the first two days he does a more annoyed “Ah ah ah ah” like “Do you mind?”. The third day he laughed first, did the “Ah ah ah” again, though it sounded slightly less annoyed, and also some “Tss tss tssts”, with a final “Meow.” I laughed.

Glamour Cat:

Tayler my beloved. Her voice is incredible.

There seems to be an interesting history between Jenny and Griz in this version. Jenny is usually the first to approach Griz, before turning and running away. I didn’t know how to read it, and it kind of depends on the age you want to put Griz at. She could be an old friend who lost her way, or maybe a kitten Jenny had helped raise.

Munk literally gestures for Griz to leave the stage, like “There’s the door. Get out.” Before Demeter starts singing. (Lauren’s Demeter is incredible. Her voice is smokey and powerful and just awesome. I saw she got to go on as Griz in June and I’m so happy for her, she has the voice for it).

And Chelsea as Bomba 🤩.  These three powerhouses singing together, fantastic.

Bustopher Jones:

Is greeted by Alonzo, then later guided by both him and Munk

Misto slides off car boot and Victoria helps him fluff his fur

No street light for Misto to light up (Again, this kind of makes it weird that Misto gets a solo moment with a spotlight with Bustopher, because there’s no point for him to be the center of attention if you don’t know that that was a trick that was in the show).

I really like the dinner napkin flowing into a table illusion.

I like that they do the Macavity scare and then Bustopher says “Toodle Pip!” It makes the line make sense.

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer

Amazing performance. This performance helped me realize that [in my opinion], this is probably the hardest number of the show. It’s JUST these two, and they have to do some very tricky, physically intense choreography, while singing well. And they have to be in sync.

They have nothing to distract from them and no one to support them besides each other. Super tricky number, huge respect to these guys.

I adored Allison as Rumple, her voice is sweet but strong. And both Mungos (Max and Brian) were great!

Old Duet

Victoria crawls to the front stage right to greet Duet first and is waiting by the wings when Misto brings him back.

After the song ends, Tugger helps Deut sit, and nuzzles his fur

Jellicle Ball

This is the piece where I think the rechoreography is weakest for me.

They do significantly more lifts in this version, and also throughout the whole show. I like lifts, this is a positive. But they took out and changed a lot of things I’m fond of. 

After the Macavity scare, Alonzo Munk stay out, and Tugger is the first to come out when Old Deut starts singing. I am… not really a fan of this. It feels very, “the Big Boys are the brave ones” which feels more… stereotypical(?) than having the young and innocent girls (Victoria and Jemima/Sillabub) to be the first ones brave enough to come out.

Deut and Gus sing “Rollie Pollie” and “Gavotte and a jig!” I liked this, it made them seem like old chums who were jovial and got along,

Only Misto sings “Reserving our terpsichorean powers!” Not him and Munk together. (He also does a magic trick, I thought it was cool. He spins and moves the spotlight around the stage.)

Minuete- Tugger and Misto do a bit of the minuete together! The cats only do like one dance step, so it’s very quick, but I saw it and was very happy. 

Lol, on the Saturday performance, the audience did NOT know when to clap. They tried clapping twice when all the cats paused when in the triangle formation. But at least they wanted to clap!

They took out the Boy Ballet, I was not happy. I knew it would happen, but I like that sequence for obvious reasons. (Honestly, they seemed like they took out quite a bit of Misto’s dancing in the ball. They did increase Jerrie and Teazer’s roles though).

When Bomba does her sexy girl cat dance, All the boys stand to attention and do bobs and arm raises, and Misto just leaves. (While he’s not the only boy cat missing, he is the only one to actively leave, and he also kind of draws attention to it by doing an arm flourish) I laughed so much. This cat is too gay XD

Tugger and Bomba run off together to… presumably have some fun.

After Tugger comes back, Misto sits on the car boot with Tugger and they hang out. On the first day, when Misto gets up to join the back of this line for his choreography, he paw bumps Tugger and Tugger gives him a little encouraging wave.

They reduce the number of whirligigs to one. I like whirligigs, this is a big negative.

Griz comes out early on, and mimics Victoria when she’s doing the pre-Pas de Deux with Plato. I got the sense that she *was* the Victoria of her generation, and was reliving her youth. It was… melancholy. I liked it.

(I also like that they establish more Plato/Victoria moments throughout the ball. That way Plato doesn’t come out of left field with his petition. They seem very cute and earnest, very “young love”).

Misto looks paired off with Jelly during the ball?

God I like this Pas de Deux choreography so much better. You mean Victoria doesn’t need to get her breasts raked by a guy while lying on top of another guy every night? Thank you.

When Misto is drawing attention to Griz to scare her off, he lights up the area around her, then runs center stage to do the head bobbles. He, Jelly and some of the others try to scare Griz off in the background, while Deut is actively trying to stop them. It isn’t until Munk scratches Griz when she runs off. Deut looked shocked and disappointed. 

I did see/hear/read an interview where they said that Victoria is touched by every tom during the show. They did seem to keep this in place. (I paid attention when she and Tugger do a small bit of the choreography together and went ‘huh’. 

After passing Princess Louise and until Ecstasy, instead of having everyone dance in a mass, they basically broke it up so two-four cats would do a piece of the choreography before passing the next step to a different group. I personally think this takes away a bit of the impact of the choreography, because there is something awe-inducing of having 22 or so people just dancing in unison.

My friend who I saw two of the performances with disagrees with me, as they felt that breaking it up made the stage feel more active and dynamic. Just to give the perspective of someone who wasn’t hyperfixated on the show.

I do like in the end after they do the “Drags”, they collapse in like a circular staggered pattern. It felt cool and flowed appealingly.

Memory:

Goddamn it, Tayler has a fantastic voice. Like, I cannot stress how much I loved her delivery.

ACT TWO

Gus

John Bow is a Great Gus. His voice is deep and resonant, and he has a fantastic charisma that just pulls the audience in. (He also made me feel better about Griz getting picked. I could believe this cat could make it another year for the next Jellicle Ball).

The audience laughed at the appropriate moments.

Throughout the first performance, Misto and Tugger kept trading glances over jokes. Tugger liked the oven and would sit on top of it a lot. 

On the first day, when Gus prepped to do the “wail to bring on the ghost”, he coughed to clear his throat, and the audience broke out in a loud applause. Gus paused for a moment looking a bit confused, then went, “I haven’t done it yet!” in kind of playful exasperation. The audience settled, and then he did the wail, and the audience brought the roof down with their cheering.

By the second performance Gus learned his lesson, and didn’t clear his throat.

When Gus said the line, “I knew, how to act, with my back, and my tail”, Jenny flicked Skimble’s tail.

Pekes and Pollicles

Great dramatic lighting, very fun.

Am I a little sad that Munk didn’t get to be a director? Yes. But at least he was able to help, and frankly, anything that gets rid of Growltiger I’m all for. Plus they made little melody homages to Growltiger, which I thought was a nice touch.

When everyone’s getting ready to put on the show, Misto’s lighting the stage lights at the front, and in the back, Munk and Skimble are shooing Tugger off stage. He’s like “all right, all right, I’ll move XD”.

I might be reading too much into this, but screw it. So they have Misto and Tugger sit on the car boot together and they paw bump, so they’re obviously friendly. Then when the Pekes and Pollicles are coming out, they have Misto move so he and Tugger sitting in the back on opposite sides of Old Deut (Misto on tire, Tugger on car boot), like they’re trying to frame them as “opposites”. Idk, it feels like an enforcement of the “opposites attract” trope, which I’m here for. 

(A general note, it was very cute seeing how Misto interacts with Old Deut throughout the performance. They seem to have a good relationship, and Deut seems to care for him like a (4th) son.)

“Winsome Chinese” thank god. I like, sighed with relief every time I heard it, even though I knew it was coming.

No bagpipes 😔

Tugger actually seems pretty interested in the story. He kept smiling and leaning in and stuff. He sat with Old Deut and held his arm throughout the performance.

Instead of shaking, like the Pollicles did when the Rumpus Cat emerged, Tugger shimmied on the first two days.

Skimbleshanks:

Chris is a good Skimble! He’s energetic, has a good voice, I enjoyed him a lot. They kept most of the choreography the same, so I can’t say too much.

They did have it so that Skimble doesn’t fall asleep during Gus’ song, he is awake, says hi to Old Deut, and then goes on top of the car boot to mime being asleep. I like this, as it keeps more to his character of being perceptive and alert, rather than having him be actually asleep for his introduction.

Misto and Demeter were cute and playing with each other in the background.

(Paul’s Misto is such a cinnamon roll, he was *really* happy to be the light of the train. He also kept bopping around with Demeter who was one of the front wheels.

Catnapping

I significantly prefer the Macavity of the revival over the original. Like significantly. I like the costume design better, I like the catfight choreography better. There are some really neat parallels between Tugger, Deut, and Munk with Macavity in this version too. Instead of doubles, they had Macavity’s laugh echoing and moving around the theater. I also think it does a better job of establishing Macavity as having mind control powers, what with him puppeting the cats around. (As a kid, I had been very confused by the kidnapping scene from the original choreography. I was like “Why is no one doing anything?” This is much clearer) I also like how Munk tries to save Demeter from getting hypnotized.

Macavity:

Lauren and Chelsea are such a powerhouse couple. Fantastic rendition of Macavity.

Macavity fight While all the girl cats are grouped together in their ending pose, Macavity creeps in amongst them, and then jumps out, as if appearing from nowhere. (I think this was super cool, but I do think they need something to distract from center stage while he’s doing it, cause all the girls are very skinny dancers and don’t obscure his entrance super well).

- Macavity walks off stage with his henchcats and “Deuteronomy” is brought back.Demeter realizes it’s a fake, and does her hackles raised run. 

But what’s interesting is that when she passed between Macavity and Cassandra and Tugger, they stopped and started shaking their heads, and on the first two days put their hands to their heads. (Skimble was doing the same motions on the left side of the stage. I think there was a 4th in the lower corner, but I couldn’t tell who it was)

Then while she’s running to the other side, the four cats do like “On guard” poses, getting on all fours and planking, which they seem to do to communicate that they’re paying “intense attention” to something. (They do it during the Ball quite a bit when the girls are being sexy).

This was the first time I actually thought “Oh, Demeter is breaking the illusion.” At that point, it’s not fully broken until the disguise is removed, but the other cats are also able to sense that something is wrong.

It was really funny, because I just… had never thought of it as an illusion before? I don’t know what I thought it was. I think I just thought “stage magic. He was Old Deut, now he’s Macavity, let’s move on”.

Personal note: This is a fun element to support my head cannon that Tugger (and Munk) have low level magic. Cassandra is kind of mystically coded, and Skimble seems to have heightened senses (he’s the third to react to Griz’s presence in the Ball and is often quick to react/see something as wrong, but he’s usually sniffing the air. He also traditionally comes out sniffing the air during Jellicle Songs, like he can detect the audience. [They kind of enforce this by having him be the one who says the “man over there” line in the revival]. And because I follow the “Mac, Munk and Tugger are the sons of Deuteronomy” head cannon, and both Deut and Mac are pretty magical, I like the idea of the other two having low level emotion magic. And Tugger being one of the first that the illusion weakens for is something I’ll use for evidence :P

During initial reveal:

Tugger looked pretty distressed that it wasn’t his dad, (though it could be he was trying to hide his face to prevent getting mind controlled). But he crawled to the back onto the tire and kept his head down, staying crouched.

I think Sillabub was the only female kitten to not get mind controlled by Macavity. (Cough cough, I headcanon Sillabub as the daughter of Mac and Demeter, I’m using this as evidence that she’s more resistant to his magic).

Catfight:

Munk is absolutely eating it.

(He doesn’t do the thing where he’s also one of the mind controlled cats in the background and breaks himself out of it. He kind of, stands there and poses for a bit, like he’s about to attack, but hesitating. Personally I prefer it when he breaks out of the mind control.

Alonzo pulls at his own arms before intervening to save Demeter, like he’s breaking out of the mind control. After he breaks it, it seems like it breaks for the other cats soon after. I read it kind of like, Mac can control the masses, but once he loses one, it’s easier for all of them to break out of it.

In lieu of pyrotechnics, they set off strobe lights and play a crackling noise when Mac shorts the circuit. Honestly, I liked this a lot, it was very effective.

After confirming Macavity’s gone, Munk collapses, and everyone rushes to check on him.

He and Demeter nuzzle each other.

Mr. Mistoffelees

Alrighty here we go. My boy. My favourite song.

[Deep breath] [High pitched scream] I LOVE THIS CAT SO MUCH, Y’ALL!

Brief interlude to talk about Paul’s Misto. Listen, I don’t think Paul is the most technically (as in dance technique) proficient Misto. His flexibility is good, but not off the charts, and some of his leaps aren’t “effortless” looking or as clean as say, Ricky’s. But goddamnit I love him.

He’s SO energetic and enthusiastic. I think he took the “electric” word note and interpreted it as that. He’s Sooo Happy, smiling and grinning the whole time in the background. Plus, it’s super cute cause he’s all dignified and “aloof” (back straight, reserved facial expressions, calm nods and motions deliberate) whenever an older cat like Deut or Gus is around, and then TUGGER shows up for his song and Misto is the MOST Into it, (his motions compared to say Sillabub when Tugger’s preening in the mirror the first time is HILARIOUS, he throws his ENTIRE body into every action, I love it). He is over the moon for Tugger, it’s very cute. Plus he just becomes super excited whenever he gets to do something and  breaks his more “aloof” and “reserved” persona almost immediately. He’s just such a fun and enthusiastic character to watch.  So yeah, my heart melts every time I see him. I love him so much. Huge cinnamon roll.

- General notes on the choreography.

I really like the rechoreography for Misto’s number. (Again, this is my opinion, it’s ok if you don’t share it).

While I like the original, the bulk of it is one guy doing relatively simple choreography until you hit the conjuring turns. There’s really not a lot to look at. 

A lot of the serotonin I get is from my personal investment in the character, but if I wasn’t so hyper-fixated on Misto, I’d probably get bored 😅

Additionally, the other cats don’t really get a chance to react or interact much, cause everyone besides Tugger basically take a seat and watch.

I like the rechoreography because it:

Has awesome lighting effects

Gives Misto center stage, but incorporates the other cats to emphasize his actions and also the music beats.

Puts a lot of action on the stage, making the number exciting and dynamic.

The Broadway revival jacket is the best addition, you have no idea how much I love that jacket. They were like, “Ok, listen, we’re getting rid of the rainbow banner. But don’t worry, this entire cat is going to be rainbow, and he’s going to make the stage rainbow, and it’ll be great.”

(Fun fact, my friend also went to see Sunday’s performance. They said that Misto’s jacket was on the fritz, it wouldn’t stay lit during his number, and then it was going off during Memory XD. I was glad I wasn’t able to see that show, it would have made me sad :P )

Updates the Old Deut reveal, thank goodness. Even as a kid I was unimpressed by the blanket magic trick. I like that they have a blanket homage, with the seven kittens (also a very fun moment), but the new reveal is communal, interesting, and much snappier.

Plays up certain themes of community and actually includes the magical exhaustion trope. 

I like the ending of this song a lot better. With the original jump-splits, roll, then lift; unless it’s done extremely fluidly, it can be really easy for the audience to think the first sound cue is where they’re supposed to clap, because it’s a really dramatic choreography moment combined with a dramatic sound cue. But when he keeps moving for the roll and lift, you can hear the audience go “Oh wait, we messed up,” and it makes the ending lose some of its punch. By making it a musical reprise then solid music cue, rather than a double ending, it maintains the energy of the number and doesn’t make the audience feel bad for clapping, because it’s clear it’s not the ending. (Plus his ending pose being him holding his “bowtie” is cute 😝)

I like the idea that Misto tries bringing back Old Deut on his own with the Conjuring Turn (when his jacket is fully rainbow and pulsing, he’s at his max power), but he still doesn’t have the energy to do it. He collapses. So then he has to take a moment, regroup, and is like, “I can’t do this alone. I need the help of the Tribe.” So he distributes the magic to everyone (to charge individually or something), and together they are powerful enough to bring back Old Deut. 

I could talk more about my thoughts on this, but this section alone is 1000 words, so no.

- So:

No aerial entrance. But… here’s the crazy thing… I think I like this entrance more? It’s great, cause they don’t do the “I’m just going to walk in from the wings”, which is my least favourite entrance cause it’s so… boring?

What they do is they have Tugger start off center stage elevated when he starts his introduction. Then he walks off the tire, they focus the spotlight on Tugger and darken the ambient lighting. Then Tugger moves to the front left of the stage to give the “you have seen it one moment- out on the lawn” line. Then with the musical cue; Misto appears centerstage on top of the tire, jacket pure white, spotlight on him, stars and string lights in the background flashing briefly. I honestly loved it, it’s snappy, fast, and looks magical, especially if you don’t know it’s going to happen and don’t look for the dark glimmer of Misto getting into position in the background. I can’t believe I’m going to say it but I actually like it more than the aerial entrance.

{Listen, if you made it this far, here’s an extremely grainy gif, congrats}

Tugger was doing a very good job being a supportive boyfriend. Very “look at this guy, isn’t he amazing?” He was constantly smiling and gesturing at Misto throughout the number.

When Misto lights up Cass’ fur, the light effect does more of a “bloom” than it just appearing. I liked that. 

When Misto goes to the left to pass by Tugger before returning center stage to do the Conjuring Turn, he gives Tugger a little head bump.

Conjuring Turn: Ok, I know they took down the number of Turns from 24 to like 11. But I’m honestly really okay with this. It is a super hard move, and can be really hard to execute, and hard to execute well. And here’s the thing, in the original choreography, basically the whole song builds up to this one, extremely impressive, show stopping move. But… I’ve seen quite a number of Misto’s trip up here, and let me tell you, it sucks the energy out of the room. (Heck, it’s pretty rough on understudies, cause they don’t get to practice it as much.) I’d much rather have a more distributed spectacle, with a lot of things happening throughout the entire number, and have an easier Conjuring Turn that you’re going to get more reliable results with.

When Misto goes off stage to recoup, and all the cats are dancing, Tugger is dancing extremely enthusiastically in the background.

During the light flashes, after coming back from off stage, Misto does a few poses. I couldn’t tell what the first one was, but the second was the “paws together and extended” pose that Paul seems to like taking pictures doing, and the third he does a ‘tipping an imaginary hat’ move. When the lights come back on, he rubs his hands together in an anticipatory fashion, like “alright, here we go, try two!”

When Misto picks up the lights, there’s no one else besides Tugger on stage. Tugger looks around and starts waving people in so Misto can yeet lights at them.

After Old Deut is revealed, Tugger looks extremely happy, like “the mad lad actually did it look at that!”

Misto turns his back and starts preening, cleaning his fur, getting neatened up. Then Tugger says his name, he turns and does a dignified bow, then Deut does a “Get over here!“ hand gesture, and Misto does his running jump into Deut’s arms.

Before the hand hold step, Tugger and Misto shimmy at each other, and then Misto kind of combs his hand through Tugger’s ruff while he leans in like he’s nuzzling him.

They have my favourite hand holding orientation! Misto is centered, with Deut and Tugger on either side of him. (Demeter and Munk are holding hands on the second row). [My least favorite is when Deut is centered, then it’s Tugger, Cass and then Misto.]

Misto is SOO shiny, when they focused the spotlight on him, both in his reveal and his closing spotlight, his costume throws sparkles all over the theater. Like, you could see sparkles in the balcony, on the walls, it was great.

I had so much fun watching, I would literally just start shaking from endorphin overload XP

Memory- Heavyside layer

God, Tayler’s voice is so good. Her emotions, her vocal power, absolutely loved her. She killed it.

They have a paw shaped platform slide out from the left. I’m glad about that, I seem to prefer it if there is some sort of prop that takes Griz away, rather than her levitating away via wires.

--

So yeah, I really enjoyed the performance! If you got this far, congrats! Here’s a link to the boot I took on Saturday as a reward.  :P

Act 1

Act 2

#cats the musical #show reviews

[impeccablebackside]

ever thought of munk and bomba doing it?

I really do not think it would happen much, or really at all to be honest. I am really sorry for diminishing your valued thought so quickly.

The two of them have vastly different but equally powerful energies and attitudes that frame their dynamic. Munk is far more structured and focused with his responsibilities, while Bomba is certainly livelier and outgoing. They both have an immense respect for the other and share an almost professional friendship more than anything. Not necessarily an opposites type thing, but close to it. In my opinion, that would not translate well sexually, but as with anything, it could be possible to a very small degree.

Perhaps most likely as a threesome with Demeter, there could be some increased chemistry between Munk and Bomba in a more relaxed setting away from their roles in the tribe. Though, I do not see much of a sexual relationship between Deme and Bomba either. It is another one of those strong friendship-like bonds (that has become sisterly in all fairness) that does not get relayed sexually. At this point, Munk / Deme and Tugger / Bomba are defined couples too, and any swapping / sharing is not happening either.

I suppose the biggest way that Munk and Bomba would (have) come together would be if Deme never entered the junkyard. I think that could have maybe led to them becoming a couple.

Let me know what you were thinking please. Even though I do not see it, I would be keen to read what your perspective is.

#i obviously realize this was a non-answer but please send more ideas and questions if you have more #it is very rewarding to have another user pay attention to this blog and continually interact #thanks for that

[the-cat-at-the-theatre-door]

Oldie Squad Appreciation

#CATS Musical #CATS the Musical #CATS 1998 Video #Asparagus #Jellylorum #Bustopher Jones #Jennyanydots #Skimbleshanks #catsedit #my posts #aka everyone's favourite aunties and uncles #hey yeah so DAILY reminder that i love this group more than i love most other things #i can't describe the joy i get from thinking that like...depending on when you think they all came into the tribe #they grew up together #they've known each other for a long time #at one point they were the munks and tuggers and demeters and bombas #or if you want to go really far back - the tumbles and the pounces and the electras and the etceteras #and that makes me happy for some reason #i really like that there's an age group for everyone in this show - it's an all ages kind of cast #it's intergenerational and it should stay that way #i do not know where the compulsion to suddenly make this million times already giffed set came from but here we are #anyway send me your headcanons about them because i always want to talk about them tbh

[sevenkittensinatrenchcoat]

Misto’s Mating Dance Partners

Because the White Cat Lift AKA Mating Dance scene of the Jellicle Ball focuses mainly on Victoria and whoever she’s dancing with, what’s going on in the background is often ignored. But, there’s a clear pattern. The other cats pair off, go to the edges of the stage, forming a circle around Victoria and Her Man. They then do...whatever. There don’t seem to be official rules for what the pairs do, so some of them nap, some of the stare out into space, some of them cuddle...

And some of them blatantly fuck.

This scene is often called the Cat Orgy because of the blatant fucking that often occurs. So, you can watch the characters, see who pairs up with who and whether or not they fuck. Because Misto is my favorite character and one of the easiest to identify in even low-quality bootlegs, I went and watched him during this scene in every production in my bootleg collection.

Part One: Failure

In several of the older productions, I couldn’t see anything. Bootleggers and professionals alike tended to zoom in on Victoria and Her Man and stay there for most of the scene. Mexico 1991 mainly did this. Also, Vienna, with its Dark Voids and Weird Editing Choices was impossible to decipher.

Among the newer productions, Madrid was lost to Weird Editing Choices. Most of the dance wasn’t even visible! There were long close ups on Old Deuteronomy and Grizabella doing nothing when they should have been filming Victoria and Plato doing Something. It wasn’t even like they were distracted by an interesting background event. They just held the camera on characters who weren’t doing anything other than Reacting Slightly.

Part Two: Mistoria

Paris and Zurich paired Misto with Victoria for the Mating Dance. There was a slightly different dynamic with Misto and Victoria than there is when Plato or Tumblebrutus is Victoria’s Man. When Plato or Tumble, the most common choices for this part, approach Victoria, they’re awkward, but they still sort of take the lead. Victoria comes across as a bit shy at first, but she quickly gets into it. In the Mistoria versions, Misto is far more nervous approaching and often jumps back startled after touching Victoria. It feels like Victoria takes the lead in these versions, turning her back and basically being like “lift me”. Zurich Misto in particular is practically freaking out and the lift is kind of bizarre to watch because he looks so tiny!

Part Three: You’d Think Misto/Cassandra Would Be a Bigger Ship

Broadway-based productions, which paired Alonzo with Demeter, seemed to love pairing Misto with Cassandra for the Mating Dance. Troika and Buenos Aires did this and they did it in the same way. Misto and Cassandra practically have a dance of their own, performing the same motions when paired together. Usually, these pairs tend to seem like they’re improvising a little, but this specific couple has its own choreography.

The idea to pair Misto and Cassandra most likely comes from Misto later choosing Cassandra as his “lovely assistant” when he brings back Old Deuteronomy. In most productions, they don’t have much interaction outside of that. In Troika, Cassandra is also one of the cats who sometimes stands in for Coricopat and Tantomile, who were cut. Coricopat and Tantomile’s twin stuff was given to Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, while a lot of their psychic moments were given to either Demeter or Cassandra. So, in Troika, Misto and Cassandra are both mystical cats of some sort, which brings them together, because it’s something other cats don’t get.

I’m not super into this ship, because I generally don’t ship Misto with women, but the implications of the pairing in the Troika version are interesting.

Part Four: Lonely Misto

Hamburg, The German Tent Tour, and probably Moscow didn’t pair Misto with anyone. He just sat by himself. In Hamburg, there was a reason for this. Just like how Buenos Aires and Troika gave Misto’s role of fetching Old Deuteronomy to Skimble, Hamburg has a Mistotable instead of a Skimbletable.

I probably should’ve listed Moscow as a failure, but I’m still not sure what happened there.

The German Tent Tour just has Misto sitting by himself. He crawls to the Cuddle Pile, does a handstand, and no one cares.

But, the German Tent Tour shows signs of being part of a trend. While earlier, Broadway-based shows liked pairing Misto and Cassandra, newer productions never seem sure who to pair him with, so you have this scene of a lonely Misto surrounded by happy, horny straight couples and looking a bit out of place. This was probably unintentional, but it gives Misto an extra layer of gay coding.

Part Five: More Recent Stuff That Doesn’t Fit in the Other Categories

The 2013 UK Tour does something a bit interesting. Misto just sort of naps during the Mating Dance, but Carbucketty, who’s been following him around and imitating his dance moves for the past few minutes, lies down to nap at his feet. They don’t really interact and they’re barely touching, but it still counts as a pair. This is the closest I’ve gotten to finding a version where Misto’s paired with a tom. Of course, compared to most of the straight couples in any version of this scene, there is no horniness to be found. So, they’re two bros napping next to each other, but not quite cuddling ‘cause they’re not gay :(

Also I think Carbucketty might’ve ditched Misto for Rumpleteazer at the last second. We can never have nice things.

The Broadway Revival, having different choreography and staging for most of the Jellicle Ball is interesting in the way the Broadway Revival is usually interesting (kind of frustrating tbh). In the new choreography, everything from Bomba’s solo through the Mating Dance is basically one scene. Some queens dance, even more queens join them, a bunch of toms show up and pair up with them, the Boys Ballet and Whirlygigs are replaced with a romantic dance, everyone takes a hit of moonlight and things start to resemble other productions a bit more from there.

Because the pairs pair up quickly and stay together for a long time, it’s easy to see all of them. Only most of the cast is paired up, but I can identify, Tugger/Bomba, Munk/Demeter, Alonzo/Cassandra, Skimble/Jenny, Plato/Victoria, Coricopat/Tantomile (why do the siblings always stay together for the horny scenes?), Mungojerrie/Rumpleteazer (they’re probably not siblings in this version, so they get a pass), Pouncival/Electra, and Carbucketty/Sillabub.

Jellylorum, Tumblebrutus, and Mistoffelees are absent. They’re offstage until the Mating Dance properly starts. I have no idea where Tumblebrutus went, but this isn’t about him. Tugger crawls past Misto and they almost interact before Tugger leaves with Bomba. Jellylorum pairs up with Misto, presumably because neither one could find an actually date.

Now, the actress who played Jellylorum in this production has said in interviews that she played Jellylorum as the same age as Tugger. (The actors are besties irl so they made their characters besties too). So, this isn’t quite as weird as if feels when you first read it. Everyone’s the same age in this show, except for the kittens. Electra, Sillabub, and Pouncival were played as literal children in every scene but this one, because no one can escape the cat orgy (except Tumblebrutus, for some reason). But, unlike in 1998, which featured a lot of crack pairings during this scene (Tugger/Jenny, anyone?), pretty much every pairing in the 2016 orgy is the most obvious pairing possible. Anyone who didn’t have an obvious opposite gender counterpart was given one, except for Misto, Jelly, and Tumble. They could’ve brought back Peter (renamed Asparagus) from the opening to be Jelly’s obvious pairing, and then just had Tumble nap on Misto’s feet like 2013 Carbucketty, but they didn’t.

The result is that they created a bunch of comphet pairings but simply couldn’t do so for Misto. All his usual comphet pairing were taken. Cassandra’s with Alonzo and Victoria’s with Plato. Knowing that Tyler Hanes and Ricky Ubeda both shipped Tuggoffelees, they probably didn’t want to do the comphet thing either. Up until this point, this production had actually downplayed Tugger/Bomba, compared to other versions and added Tugger/Misto moments. I think, if it’d been allowed, Tugger and Misto would’ve been paired up there. Bomba can be like 1998, not having her usual partner and just going with whoever’s not paired up, which would be Tumblebrutus this time. Peter could be there for Jelly. Everyone’s happy!

But seriously, Gay Misto Mating Dance Scene when? Somebody get on that. People already find the horniness in Cats to be weird and adding gay horniness won’t make much of a difference.

#cats paris 1990 #cats zurich #mr mistoffelees #cats victoria #mistoria #cats buenos aires #cats troika #cats cassandra #missandra? #cats hamburg #cats german tent tour #cats uk 2013 #carbucketty #mistbuckety #cats 2016 #jellylorum #rum tum tugger #tuggoffelees #2016 misto cannot be comphet paired

[rice-pudding-slaps]

A WILD thought just crossed my head but a Cats High School Teachers AU? It would be ✨glorious✨

Just imagine!!

Jennyanydots would totally be a language teacher That's how we call it in my country lmao language and communications. It's basically grammar and literature ANYWAY that is also kind of a mother for kids who need help. She would totally and absolutely be that Miss Honey kinda Vibes™ teacher that always has a kind word for you and if she sees you crying, she will protect you with her life (And also maybe she has this huge bag filled with napkins and sweets). She's strict tho. But not in a mean way. She doesn't just gift grades, she makes you work for it. You can turn up your paper again, but it will have 300 corrections. But she will praise your efforts and help you overcome your difficulties.

Skimble gives me such Math Teacher That Always Has a Story and Rarely Actually Teaches The Class kinda vibes. His class is always on the most absolute of silence and no one ever DREAMS of pranking him. The kids knoooow that they can say "Hey, mr Skimbles I heard you were on a train once" and boom he will tell you all these stories about his time being in charge of the Northern Mail. He has told the story sooooo many times that the children once put on a play with one of the stories for Teachers Day or smtn. He was moved to tears

Demeter would absolutely be an art teacher and be the most understanding teacher ever. She's patient and kind and she will give you a day more to bring in your work if you need it. She also always has a way to find hurt kids. Coming from an abusive background herself, she's quick to act whenever she feels a child migh need any type of help. She ended up being That Teacher That Every LGBTQ+ Kid Befriends and she is proud to be helpful and provide love to those who need it. She's very close to Munk and is always helping with the props for the plays.

Bomba is a science teacher because I said so. And because she has a similar vibe to most of my science teachers when I was in school lmao. She's funny and charismatic and pretty laid back. And you never know what to expect from her. The kids love her bc she might spend some class talking all about formulas and next class is "Hey kids wanna learn how to make EXPLOSIONS??" they never actually blow up something, but she makes the lab classes the best thing.

Munkustrap is an absolute history teacher. No questions asked. The man knows how to narrate every historical moment like you were there. He has a silver tounge (pun intended). And he always tries to teach the most he can, because history is just so broad and there is so much to talk about. And he definetely would answer all the questions, even the more weird ones. He's called by kids the Protector because even when he's easly the most strict teacher ever, he would never let anyone bad mouth his students. No matter how chaotic the class was, he will always tell them that as long as they learned something, they won. He also works in the theatre departement, so the theatre kids are in love with the guy. They tried to set him up with Demeter in a play, but gave up after a half hour speech on how they shouldn't be involved in their teachers personal lifes.

Tugger is obviously a music teacher. He is that laid back, friendly and overall awesome teacher that everyone just loves. He plays any instrument you can think of and will teach you if you ask. As a joke, a whole class asked to learn the bagpipes and when next class this rockstar of a teacher appeared with a fucking bagpipe and a whole lot for the kids they fucking LOST IT. He will help you with practice and if you want to get into serious music, then he will absolutely root for you. He has a song composed for every teacher and absolutely everyone hates him for this. He's also with the theatre kids and always helps with plays maybe to mess with Munk, maybe he likes the attention. He's also in charge of music and dance presentations and he abuses his powers greatly. And everytime a class graduates he says that he doesn't really cares that much (is the circle of life, baby) but will shed silent tears everytime bc he's gonna miss the kiddies.

Misto's obviously a dance teacher. Duh. He might be an ex student for the same school. He's fresh out of college and he sometimes doesn't know what to do, but he tries really hard. And he's harsh as fuck for the same reason. He always wears a tuxedo to class and a bowtie bc he tought it was a formal thing and now it's kind of like "his thing". He's kind of cold at first and doesn't talk really that much, the kids first tought he hated them, but later found out that he just goes non verbal sometimes and designed a whole system to communicate instructions and corrections. Misto was so happy. And that's why there is a board on the classroom they use to dance. He's also one of the teachers that every LGBTQ+ kid loves, and he tries his best to support each one. And yes, every day they ask "DO THE CONJURING TURNS MR. MISTOFFELEES" and he gladly does. There was this rumor that he was magic bc once a kid saw him in a presentation out of school and they swear he sparkled out of the blue. He knows, and sometimes he would do little tricks for the kiddos for funs, and other teachers just to mess with them. He also goes to the teathre departement and it's constantly working with Tugger so the music and dance kids do presentations together. The kids ship it so hard

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer are the best gym teachers ever. They also are very new to this, but they make class the most fun thing ever. They teach sports and gymnastics with ease. And they have no mercy on dodge ball. No. Mercy. They once were playing on the field with the kids and hit Tugger on the head. The legend says that they ran across the school for all night. The truth is that they outrun Tugger, but not Munk.

Jellylorum is the school's nurse. She always has a tecito de hierbas for you. And she will always hear you and try to get you to be better. She has infinite patience for eveyone. And she always carries pads and tampons for the kids who may need it. And if you ever need a shoulder to cry on? She's there too. She and Jenny have their officed flood on Mother's day because they are the second mothers of so many kids. She also catches up with ex-students and remember every name.

Gus is the official Theatre teacher. He is this old man who is so wise and strict, but just because he loves his craft so so much. Every year there is some kind of rumor that he might retire, but it never seemed to happen. He has a little office with so many photos and diplomas and it's just filled with memories. He is very harsh on the kids. Very. But they love him because he also can spend hours talking about his greatest performances on theatre. When he actually had to retire because he was starting to have very fragile health, everyone cried. They held a big play and he played Growltiger. No one had a dry eye that night. And he still visits the school from time to time. He goes to every play.

You might say that Old Deuteronomy is the principal and you would be very right. But this man was a teacher in his day. He taught philosophy and history and english and literature. He has more degreed that a high school teacher had to have, but he loved dearly the art of teaching. And he remembers every kid. Every morning he sits at the entrance and says to every one of them by name. He plays with the kids when his health let's him. He has a framed photo of him and Gus on their first years as teachers just along side a photo of the year Tugger joined Munkustrap on the school staff. And everyone is very sure that he might let Munkustrap take the position one day. He's also a kind soul. And will let kids tug on his beard. There was this christmas when he dressed up as santa and it was the sweetest thing ever.

Tantomille and Coricopat are philosophy teachers. They take turns doing classes and you will never know wich one taught you last class because they are in perfect sync. Their test are the most outlandish thing ever, and give points for "originality" wich is mostly just wich kid said the most weird but true thing. The kids are kinda scared of them. Just enough to not to mess up their classes.

I am not completely sure, but Alonzo being a spanish teacher just brings me so much joy. He's always teaching them songs and little games to learn spanish and the kids take total advantage of that just to mess with him. He never gets truly mad if they play a prank on him. And he's the Protector number 2 to the kids, bc he would absolutely turn up to a teachers reunion wet from head to toe and instead of tattle on the kids, he would just say it was an accident. Munk knows and always ends up catching the culprit, not always with Alonzo's help.

The Rumpus Cat is the school mascot.

#cats the musical #Cats 1998 #cats headcanons #Long post #I have tought way too much about this #Should I write a fic? #Cats teachers au

[jelliclesideblog]

Trying to come up with a family tree for my headcanons and boy does this get complicated ajsj

I don’t know how to insert a read more on mobile so be warned: long fucking headcanon post incoming

I hc the Jellicles as viewing sex and romance somewhat separately, so while there are several in committed romantic relationships, of which some are sexual relationships and some aren’t, there are also a lot of pairings that were purely sexual.

I’m only mentioning committed relationships and ones that resulted in children for the purposes of this post, because otherwise this would get Even Longer

Old Deut and Grizzabella had both types of relationship, for a while at least. Macavity and Tugger are their children.

Old Deut also had a sexual relationship with an unnamed white cat, which resulted in Munkustrap (making him and Tugger and Macavity half-siblings).

This white cat also had a sexual relationship with Bustopher at one point, resulting in Victoria and Alonzo (who are also half siblings with Munk, but not related at all to Tugger or Macavity).

Bustopher and Jenny had a sexual relationship (she would have liked it to be romantic, but it isn’t yet) which resulted in Demeter.

Jenny also had a relationship with Skimble (sexual and briefly romantic, but they’ve both since moved on) which resulted in Mungo and Teazer, Plato, and Etcetera.

Jenny and Jelly love each other romantically but not sexually.

Asparagus and Jelly have a committed, long-term sexual and romantic relationship, which has resulted in George, Pouncival, Tumblebrutus, and Electra.

Jelly is Gus’s daughter-in-law, Asparagus is Gus’s son.

Misto and Quaxo are brothers, who come from a line of show cats from another area. They aren’t related to any Jellicles.

Bomba isn’t related to anyone in the Jellicles, and has a committed sexual and romantic relationship with Demeter

Demeter had a sexual fling with Tugger, which resulted in Jemima (probably the least popular of my relationship headcanons—but I really like this idea. Demeter is a loving mother while Tugger is fairly absent, but since cats raise their children communally, this isn’t really a problem. Tugger was quite young when it happened and wasn’t really ready to be a father. There aren’t any hard feelings about this. Yes we have to ignore Jemima’s fawning in Tugger’s song for this to make sense and not be weird)

Coricopat and Tantomile are twins, of course, but not related to any other cat present.

Cassandra is not related to any other cat present.

Tugger and Misto have a very committed sexual and romantic relationship, but it’s not exclusive. Misto doesn’t have relationships with other cats, but Tugger does. There’s not much in the way of jealousy, though.

Teazer and Tanto have a committed sexual and romantic relationship (although they’re still in the flirting stage)

Mungo and Alonzo have a committed relationship which is sexual and close, but not romantic.

#I told y’all this was going to be long and complicated ajsj #headcanons

[0zzysaurus]

SPOILERS FOR THAT FIC THAT DOESNT EXIST YET!!

Notes were written in March:

OKAY so, very VERY quick summary:

- Mac and Munk are supposed to work as a coalition, but Macavity wants more power over the tribe and Munk won't give it to him

- Mac has been establishing a clan without Munk knowing about it on the side: This is where he picks up Bombalurina and Alonzo from the streets

- Jerrie is found trespassing on Macavity's territory after losing all his siblings, and he kind of has nowhere else to go - so he falls in with that group. Macavity spends a lot of time manipulating him.

- Demeter and Rumpleteazer (who I HC as Etcetera's older sister) are somewhat sympathetic to Macavity, making them more vulnerable to his persuasions

- Grizabella is mother to all three of the brothers, but is more sympathetic to Macavity because she thinks hes a stronger leader than Munkustrap. She works in the shadows with Macavity to establish his clan.

- A confrontation happens at the ball (the first ball Tugger takes part in and has his coming-of-age dance at), which leads to a divisive split occurring between some of the tribe members; Tugger subsequently feels guilty over the divide believing it was his fault

- Eventually, the coalition completely breaks down, and Macavity leaves - convincing Rumpleteazer and Demeter to come with him

- Once they're at Mac's clan, Demeter is quickly introduced to the rest of his harem and is expected to play along. Bombalurina defends her when she denies Macavity's advances and is swiftly punished for it, but eventually Demeter falls in line and accepts the treatment as something she just has to endure.

- Rumpleteazer is too feisty and utterly refuses to be part of Macavity's harem, and so he gives her to the henchcats, expecting them to sort of just have their way with her and dispose of her - turns out, Teazer is very headstrong and quickly adapts into a really valuable asset

- When she joins the henchcats, she meets Jerrie and the two kind of hit it off as friends, Teazer is actually quite protective of Jerrie, because she sees how often he's thrown about by Macavity - she's the one who ultimately convinces him to stand up for himself and helps to build his confidence. She’s ultimately the only true friend he’s ever had until this point who has never wanted to get anything out of him.

- Grizabella kind of acts as a sort of… I dunno like a “mothering” figure to Macavity’s harem? She has a complex relationship with Demeter and Bombalurina. both of them remind her of herself. She resents Bomba for her boldness and independent nature, but kind of empathises with Demeter. She cant really explain it herself but that's just how she feels

- Alonzo and Bomba look out for each other a lot, and do a lot of behind the scenes reconnaissance for Macavity. Alonzo discovers that Mac has plans to torch the junkyard, and Bomba tells Rumpleteazer about it because she knows Teazer’s younger sister still lives there. This spurs on Teazer’s desire to escape even more.

- Demeter also finds out that she's pregnant, and it's the last straw for all of them that they have to get out of there, or else Dem's kid isn't gonna stand a chance at living a normal life. They no longer care what happens to them, their only goal now is to get Demeter and her child OUT of this hell.

- Grizabella is constantly talking down to them and treating them like shit, but when she and Demeter have a private conversation and she discovers demeter is pregnant, she tells her about a secret passage way in the underground that she can use to escape. Griz might be haughty and stubborn, but she doesn’t want to see Demeter’s child be subjected to the same abuse they go through every day.

Pre-Climax

- Griz doesn't expect the entire group to desert them though, and when she finds out that Dem, Bomba, Lonz, Jerrie, and Teazer ALL plan on escaping, she rats them out and almost gets them killed

- They do all escape tho, and go back to the Junkyard, whilst also letting Munk know what's going to happen so they can prepare for an attack

Climax

- When Munk and Mac finally fight - the ex-Macavity group prove themselves to the Junkyard by fighting him off alongside the other Jellicles.

Epilogue segment

- Obviously Munk adopts the role of being Jemima's father figure, and although he and Demeter don't become mates they still end up very close and he’s an important part of Jemima’s life

- When Jemima finally gets older, she’s able to see how badly the entire experience left her family. Sometimes she’s afraid that she’s just a lingering, painful reminder of the horrible time her mother had there.

- Jerrie has the hardest time integrating out of everyone, because he's never lived in this sort of safe community before - but Teazer is a big support for him - he also gets on really well with Cettie as a sort of brother-in-law figure.

- Lonz obviously falls in love with Munkustrap because he has authority figure issues and Munk helps him understand what love is supposed to look like

- And Bomba and Tugger become proper besties

also, this for me is my set up on why Grizabella is hated and not accepted back. Yes, Demeter and Rumpleteazer left too, but they were young, hell, Teazer was barely an adult, they were manipulated and when they *did* come back, they'd brought back vital information with them and saved the tribe.

Grizabella ratted them out, tried to get them killed. She left, and only returned after Mac himself threw her out of the tribe for telling them about the escape tunnel in the first place.

Everyone rejects her, hates her. Except for Demeter.

Demeter is one of the only cats to EVER show a hesitant acceptence of Griz at the beginning. She clearly WANTS to touch Griz, to look her in the eye, to THANK her for telling her where they could escape, but remembering what she did... she just cant do it. (Bomba seems to sympathise with Demeter’s conflicted emotions - and never forces her away from Grizabella. She knows that Demeter is capable of making her own decision here, but she doesn’t want her to be in danger.)

Without Grizabella’s initial help, they could all still be at the compound - Jemima could have been born into it. Their lives could be entirely different and much worse. Ultimately, regardless of if Griz changed her mind, without her help they'd all probably be dead. That’s how Demeter sees it, and while the others struggle to come to terms with that - it’s her thought process.

(Last part is a screenshot for convenience)

#fanfiction #cats #cats musical #tw #abuse mentions #work in progress #0zzysaurus #notes #spoilers

[strawberry-jellicle]

um munkustrap and bombalurina

Munkustrap!! Dad!

• Munkustrap is a silver tabby-coon! He, also, is a middle child. Although, he prefers the term "eldest brother", referring to Tugger as his "only brother" and "younger brother"

• Grizabella was a part of his life until a litter after Tugger was born. Munk remembers heing a kitten and waking up as the jellicle moon set after a ball. He watched as his mother nuzzled his baby brother then nuzzled him, and told him to "be strong for your dad" and "always keep your chin up". He kept it up alright. How else would he watch his dad help her go to to Heaviside Layer many moons later?

• Munks puts SO MUCH pressure on himself to make things easy and smooth for everyone at the junkyard. He works himself to the bone, and his record is 72 hours without sleep before Bombalurina had to carry him back to their den

• Alonzo and Bomba took over patrolling for the next 3 nights

• As serious as he is about patroling, Munk can't help but be thankful for the quiet moments during the night patrol when him and Alonzo can just sit with their tails wrapped around each others

• Munkustrap offered up his den for Demeter and Bombalurina when they came back to the junkyard after escaping Macavity years ago

• The girls gave him back the den aftet a couple months of returning, insisting they could go stay in the den they found

• Present time Munkustrap shares the den with his, now, mates, Demeter and Bombalurina

• Munkustrap won't admit it, but he just cant resist the smell of those damned circular meat slices humans put on the hot cheese triangles

• Because he *is* part maine coon, he does need regular grooming. Luckily, he's got his partners to help him out!

• He cried when Jemima and Sillabub were born. They were just so small and he couldn't believe he was a dad!

~

Bombalurina!!! My Red Queen!

• Girlboss. Next question.

• I'm agreeing with fellow CATS bros here, but Bomba is the tallest jellicle. Mavacity and Old Deut being the only ones taller than her

• Her and Tugger are casual mates. Nothing romantic, all sexual. The two are practically inseparable, attached at the hip since Bomba came to the junkyard

• She's hot shit and she KNOWS it

• Her and Misto team up to prank Tugger when they get bored

• Bomba is a very touchy feel-ey cat. She LOVES contact and touch, platonic or otherwise. Catch this Queen sunbathing in a 12+ cat pile, or even just group dancing

• She's very good at using her charisma to her advantage; Munkustrap appoints her as the Weekly Jellicle Meeting Planner

• Bombalurina, in turn, assigns Jenny and Jelly for kit watching and updates on the Nursery (so she can report the findings to Munk, who always worries over the kittens)

• Matching her coat, her favorite colors are red, black, and gold (the last two because of a special Queen in her heart)

• Bomba has no issue speaking her mind, and is very blunt when getting a point/question across

• Bomba expected herself to be more of a "wine aunt", buuuut being a *not so perfect* influence on her's, Munk's, and Deme's kittens is so much fun!

• Bomba and Munk can never tell Jemima and Sillabub no, leaving Deme to be the one to do it. Munk can't say no to any kitten unless it's life threatening

• Munkustrap is one inch taller than Tugger, and it's all they feud about...all in brotherly fun of course

#jellicle ask #cats 1998 #cats musical #bombalurina #munkustrap #macavity #demeter cats #jemima cats #sillabub #the rum tum tugger #rum rum tugger #grizabella the glamour cat #alonzo cats #old deuteronomy #alonzstrap #munklonzo #munkmeter #demelurina #demebombastrap #demestrap

[herooffire101]

These thoughts came about basically last night while I was at work, under the assault of Christmas music, and I tried to get something down but it was the end of my break and Mariah Carey's Christmas song came on and I had to run away because I did not want to hear it again. Enjoy!

Cute little Christmas things for Cats.

-Bombalurina, Tugger, Demeter, and Jemima have the same human family, consisting of a Grandmother (Tugger's preferred human), Two adult daughters (they're Demeter's favorites) with grandchildren (about three girls and two boys, Tugger is very tolerant of them, especially the girls who always dress him up and give him baths), a veterinarian son (Bomba's favorite human), and Jemima is still figuring out which one she likes (she does like the vet son and one of the young boys because of vibes). Munkustrap has different humans but they super support him visiting the family because of Demeter (they super encourage demestrap relationship)

-Tugger, Bomba, and Demeter have experienced Christmas with the family before, where Bomba was christened "the Christmas cat" because her favorite bed is a green plaid cat bed that is super soft and against her fur pattern made her coloring perfect for Christmas, making the children carry her around and actually do things to her that were Christmas-y. (She was tolerant enough to the point when she had enough she went to their uncle). Demeter fell into silver tinsel and caused the children to start singing "Silver and Gold" from Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer. This was brought up again when Munkustrap came over, making the children play with them. There was, on occasion, some fake cat marriages, but only between Tugger and Bomba, and Demeter and Munk. (the parents had a hand on enforcing that because of Demeter's annoyance with Tugger.)

-Jemima was actually given the name "Jemima" because she reacted to the grandmother reading off the back cover summary of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and she read Jemima. Bomba finds it hilarious because like Demeter, her Jellicle name is her human name. Bomba's human given name is Ruby, while Tugger's is Bill Bailey. Munkustrap's name with his family is Peter.

-With Jemima in tow, the cats come to the home before the family put up the tree. Demeter is the only one who is not playing/getting in the way as they are putting the tree up. The grandmother good naturally scolds the two cats and the kitten on "why can't you be nice like Demeter and wait until we finish the tree" The children are then given the task of "distract the kitties", which goes as well as you expect it (Doesn't work on Tugger, partially works on Bomba, and completely works on Jemima, though Tugger does distract Jemima by bringing her back to the tree. Tugger wants her to be at the tree, Bast-damn it!) ("Now Jem, the best thing about Christmas trees, is that humans decorate it with a lot of toys for us to play with." "Okay Daddy!" "Tugger, they are made to be looked at, not played with!" "But the best part is knocking them off the tree!" "Tugger, do you want to be locked in the bathroom again?" "…No." "Jem don't listen to your father. We can climb it just don't knock the ornaments or the tree itself down." "Yes, mummy and aunty Demeter.")

-Demeter loves the tree because it's bright but also a new hidy spot if it's too much for her. When Munk is there both of them can be found curled up beneath the tree. The children also intentionally moved Bomba's favorite bed from it's normal spot of in front of one of the bedrooms to next to the tree. Jemima always naps in that bed too because of Bomba's scent (and Tugger's because he sleeps in that too. It's a big bed).

-When the grandmother and children, alongside the mothers, bake cookies, Tugger is being his annoying usual self of getting in the way, while Bomba and Jemima (Jem is following Bomba's example) are just watching and being allowed to smell some of the ingredients and the cookies. Sometimes Demeter joins them, making a three cat-pile with Jemima being in the middle. Munkustrap is watching from a far. (If you ever watch Jun's Kitchen on YouTube, then Bomba, Demeter and Jemima are being like Haku and Nagi. Just a bit less fluffy.)

-Presents are crinkly wrapping paper, and the cats will go after it, even Bomba and Jemima because they know (Bomba tells her) that the humans will throw away the paper afterwards so it's okay for them to play with it until they can't stand it anymore. All the cats begrudgingly allow the children to dress them up in cringy Christmas things, and somehow they can spectacularly pull them off amazingly. They're not going to tell the rest of the tribe though.

-It's a bit after Christmas that the four cats slip away back to the junkyard, to join into the preparations for the Jellicle Ball.

Honestly, it wouldn't leave me alone for the rest of the night. May write a story involving this.

#cats the musical #cats headcanons #bombalurina #rum tum tugger #tuggerlurina #demeter cats #munkustrap #demestrap #jemima cats #christmas kitties

[therum-tum-misto]

TRANS SIBLINGS AU

In which Tugger and Munk are both trans and living their best lives

They both figured themselves out when they were really young. Surprisingly, Macavity helped a lot with this and was very chill about it.

They came out to Old D not long after, before they'd entirely figured it out even. One day out of the blue they ran up to him asking "Dad, can we switch genders?" To which Old D of course answered they could do whatever they liked and be whoever they wanted

As soon as Munk came out to Bomba they immediately hung a "no boys allowed" sign on their clubhouse. 

Tugger grew his mane out as soon as he could because it made his shoulders look broader. (Also with that much fluff no one will notice that you have boobs which is… a nice thing to avoid)

One day when they were teenagers, Tugger and Munk were having an argument. He called her a bitch, and their father yelled "DON'T YOU DARE TALK TO YOUR SISTER LIKE THAT" from the other room. Since they didn't really interact with many adults it was the first time someone had referred to Munk as "your sister". They were both smiling too much to finish their argument.

Once a few more pairs of siblings (Cori and Tanto, Jerrie and Teazer, Vicky and Misto) moved into the junkyard, Tugger noticed that Munk was a lot taller than him. He was the only tom his age who was shorter than his sister and he was. Bitter.

This is what prompted him to learn to walk in heels

Again they were teenagers, so he was still growing. The day he put on his shoes and realized he was taller than Munk was a glorious one. He bragged about it to everybody. 

When they were younger they'd  both get incredibly upset when Old D would introduce them, and it would be assumed that Munk was the son and Tugger was the daughter. Then they realized it could be worse. Misto and Vicky are identical twins. (More on this if you like)

They still get a Little upset but as adults they handle it far better. They've learned to gently correct people rather than shouting indignantly (Tugger) or glaring to kill a thousand suns (Munkustrap) 

When they were all kittens, Munkustrap and Macavity did… not get along. It got ugly a lot. Munk was Very glad when she realized she could now use the "you can't hit a girl!" argument because surprisingly, it worked.

(Macavity got progressively shittier as he got older but that's not what this is about)

Tugger and Munk are peak gay/lesbian solidarity 

Tugger decided he wanted to change his name when he first came out, even though Jellicle names aren't really gendered he just hated his. So yes, his name includes "The" at the beginning. He came up with it when he was like six.

Munkustrap decided to keep her name since it's a combination of family names, and she likes that. She's proud of her family in a way Tugger never really is

They share makeup, it's very convenient 

Gus once re-scored Growltiger's Last Stand so Munk could play Griddlebone 

Tugger is the best friend of everyone in the demebombastrap triad and at this point could be their marriage counselor because they all vent to him on the rare occasion something goes wrong

(Yeah you heard me, Tugger and Demeter are best friends. I love them and you can pry them from my cold, dead hands.) 

Tugger once offered to teach Munk to walk in heels, but she refused since it would make her taller than him again, and neither of them really want that. 

They can make terrible trans jokes back and forth for hours and at this point, every single other cat has had enough 

That's all I have off the top of my head, but PLEASE come ask me about it if there's anything else you want to know because I Will have the answer. Most of these are about both of them, but of course there's a lot happening with them as individuals as well!

They aren't the only trans cats of course. Other trans cats include, but are not limited to, Misto, Jenny, and Electra!

I'm probably going to write a fic about this at some point, possibly some point soon. Til then, feel free to talk to me about it because this au is my BABY.

#Seriously I'm so proud of this au and I love it so much #please send asks about it #I can't reply to comments on this blog so #Please #trans siblings au #rum tum tugger #munkustrap #cats the musical #trans tugger rights #trans munk rights #trans rights in general

[itsmyregularcat]

Influenced by @white-cat-of-doom, and his Cats dream cast (please check it out), I have made my own.

This is going to be a tough one to figure out, but here is my Cats dream team, as of today.

I wish to see more productions to be better informed in my choices, so I need to get on some bootlegs I guess! (Some choices are actually going to be based off of assumptions of how the actors portray them).

I already know a bunch of my choices are going to be from the Broadway Revival (because I really like that production), and almost all are going to be from newer productions because I am way more familiar with them.

In alphabetical order:

Admetus / Macavity: Thomas Inge (Asia Tour 2017/2020 and UK International Tour 2018/9)

I quite like the Macavity redesign for Vienna 2019 and Asia 2020, so he gets the nod just for this. Otherwise, he is an established Admetus and seems to have fun with it.

Alonzo / Rumpus Cat: Fletcher Dobinson (Asia Tour 2020)

I have never seen him perform as Alonzo, but he has this energy about him I cannot really describe. From short videos I have seen, he seems to have a 'snarky' side, and just has a hell of a time flirting about with everyone during curtain calls. He has the moves.

Bill Bailey / Tumblebrutus: Kolton Krouse (Broadway Revival 2016 / Cats 2019)

They can fly with the best of them. Their flip in with the ball during the end of the Old Gumbie Cat is a cool addition. No strong feelings for this character though.

Bombalurina: Rosemarie Ford (Cats 1998)

If anyone exemplifies what it means to be Bombalurina, I think Rosemarie wins. The duality of caring attitude and scornful nature, combined with her moves and her voice all make her a top pick. Also, slightly older Bombas I feel are better?

Honourable mentions: Christine Cornish Smith (Broadway Revival 2016) for sure, Suzie Melloy (Asia 2017/2020), and Tanya Valenzuela (Mexico 2018).

Carbucketty / Pouncival: Joel Morris (South Africa 2008 / UK Tour 2013 / Palladium 2014 / International Tour 2016)

He does a relatively good job being juvenile, but not annoying in his role. Him screwing around during Tugger's song, Moments Of Happiness, and Skimbleshanks is actually endearing to a point. No strong feelings for this character though.

Cassandra: Mariah Reives (US Tour 6)

Another pick I have never seen during performances, but she looks like a good Cassandra. She is really pretty and appropriately tall, so ¯\_( ツ)_/¯. Bonus points for her lighting up during Misto's song.

Honourable mentions: Jessica Buckby (2013 UK Tour), Danielle Cato (International Tour 2019), and Emily Pynenberg (2016 Broadway Revival)

Coricopat: Corey John Snide (2016 Broadway Revival)

He pairs up very well with my top Tantomile pick, and cannot realistically be separated. This legend was also a dance captain, involved with Cats 2019, and did a split track cover of Coricopat and Jennyanydots during his run.

Demeter: Zizi Strallen (London Revival / Palladium 2014)

Real talk, I love her as Tantomile in Cats 2019, and her singing voice is beautiful and distinct. Her as Demeter is a good bet, and she gives off a happy vibe during less serious points of the show. That happiness she puts in 2019 Tanto is what she did with 2014 Demeter.

Honourable mention: Lisette Pagler (Gothenburg 2006 / Stockholm 2009). The OG grey Demeter. She is absolutely beautiful, and her non-rep portrayal design is neat. She is also an actual singer in Sweden, so her voice is top notch. I really like her as Demeter. Also, Ella Nonini (International Tour / Asia 2020).

Electra: Leah Sue Morland (Cats 1998) or Lili Froehlich (2016 Broadway Revival)

I cannot reasonably pick one over the other, I have disproportionately strong feelings for both. Lili made me fall in love with Electra as a character (and I mean, look who my icon is!), and Leah cemented it before and after me seeing the Broadway Revival. They both make a modest ensemble cat seem so much more important. One of my favourite Cats across any production.

Etcetera: Jo Bingham (Cats 1998)

Boundless energy and happiness rolled into one bouncy cat. No one had a better time during Cats 1998, and for a cat that does not appear in many production afterwards, Jo just said f*ck it and did whatever seemingly came to mind to forge a legacy. Biting Coricopat’s ass remains a landmark moment in cinema. One of my favourite cats in the film without a doubt.

George: Frank Thompson (Cats 1998)

He is sort of always there, enjoying himself. If I would cut a cast member, George would be it. Sorry George.

Gus / Bustopher Jones / Growltiger: Rory Campbell (UK Tour / Zurich / London)

Dignified Busto. A good Gus that does not play off too much about being old and decrepit. If done properly, Growltiger (for the sake of Griddlebone) should make a return to more productions. Remove the total racism and the open misogyny inherent to many portrayals of Growltiger, and make it strictly about the lovers.

Grizabella: Jennifer Hudson (for real) (Cats 2019)

I know this one will ruffle feathers, but her sad sap performance is quite unrivaled in Cats. She brought the gloom and the dejection of being casted out to life. Her singing Memory is powerful as all hell, and filled with emotion. She wins the screaming match.

Jellylorum / Griddlebone: Freya Rowley (Cats 2019)

At this point you are probably thinking, ‘my lord, what the hell is this person on about?’. Freya does not sing in the movie, and is just a background cat, but my god is she the best cat there! During her time with actual stage productions, she was a principle Tantomile, and covered Demeter, Jelly, Jenny, and Cassandra as swing. I know she can sing (even though I have never heard it), and I want to hear / see her as the most novel Griddlebone around. Big orange energy - get with it.

Honourable mention: Sarah Jean Ford (2016 Broadway Revival)

Jemima: Veerle Casteleyn (Cats 1998 / London / Dutch Tour)

The most vanilla choice, but she was the face of Jemima / Sillabub and the Cats ‘franchise’ when the 98 film first came out, and rocketed her character to great importance and notoriety. They used her for promo shots after the movie came out realizing how popular her character had become. Veerle is the innocence of youth personified. By the way, I am taking her without the overdub.

Honourable mention: Arianna Rosario (2016 Broadway Revival / US Tour 6) and Dawn Williams (UK Tour 2013)

Jennyanydots: Eloise Kropp (2016 Broadway Revival)

A younger Jenny still as wild as any other. Her greater involvement during the show is also cool to see. The changes they made to the Broadway Revival may irk some, but the Gumbie Cat scene with the choreography change is my favourite I have seen so far. Eloise does a really good job, and has a chaotic energy that draws me to her.

Mistoffelees: Laurie Davidson (Cats 2019)

On my pursuit of pissing off the purists, here is another controversial choice. He provides a character development that I think would work out well on stage. Imagine it for a second, with Tugger or Munk hyping him up. No Mistoria though.

Honourable mention: Joseph Poulton (UK Tour 2013 / Palladium 2014)

Munkustrap: Jack Rebaldi (London / Madrid / Paris / Dusseldorf / German Tours)

The man is a serious Munk, who is versatile with his portrayals. He gets so into playing the character, and seems to be having a great time doing it. Plus, how the hell can someone do Munk in English, Spanish, French, and German in the course of three years? Madness.

Honourable mentions: Robbie Fairchild (Cats 2019) and friend-shaped Michael Gruber (Broadway / Cats 1998)

Mungojerrie: Drew Varley (Australia 1993 / London / Cats 1998)

One half of the chaotic duo present in Cats 1998, with an oustanding level of dumbassery and foolishness that encompasses Jerrie. He encapsulates that attitude very well, and pairs perfectly with my top Rumpleteazer.

Honourable mention: Dante Hernandez (Mexico 2013 / 2018)

Old Deuteronomy: Nicholas Pound (London / UK Tours / Palladium 2014 / International Tour)

A bit of a different choice, considering most people would likely pick Ken Page (and for good reason). Mr. Pound has a great voice, and welcoming vibe. Behind the scenes, he is a chaotic Old D. Plus, his name is Dick Pound.

Rum Tum Tugger: John Partridge (UK Tour / London / Cats 1998 / Berlin / Dusseldorf)

Velvety smooth voice, swagger coming out the hip thrust, and a playfulness suitable for the rockstar cat. No contest with this choice. He also does not play of RTT as being childish or over the top (*cough 2016 Broadway Revival / US Tour 6*), which is appreciated. Sorry Tyler Hanes, your vlogs were delightful, but your Tugger was a bit too much.

Rumpleteazer: Jo Gibb (London / Cats 1998)

Jo Gibb is the reason I became super obsessed with Cats, and probably why my favourite character is Rumple. Having initially seen the 2019 movie before the 1998 film, seeing her smiling face and adorable portrayal made me sort of fall in love with her. She is a perfectly mischievous Rumple, and I feel is the benchmark for most others. Her engagements with other characters is awesome, and she is just the ideal actor. Also, Cockney accent Rumple is best Rumple I do not make the rules.

Honourable mentions: Every other Teazer. All of them. There is no bad one. They all have my heart.

Skimbleshanks: Steven McCrae (Cats 2019)

Big daddy Skimble, with the red pants and the moustache. Tap dancing and ballet powerhouse. WOO WOO. Enough said.

Tantomile: Emily Tate (2016 Broadway Revival)

Given all Tantos do not really have an opportunity to set themselves apart because they are more of an ensemble Cat, I liked Emily from the beginning I saw her, and I think she is really cute. Her, paired with CJS, make a pretty ideal Cori and Tanto. Maybe I am swayed by the amount of lifts and spins they do together during the show? They have a beautiful synchronization and grace with their movements. 

Weaponize your Tantomiles, helicopter her above your Coricopats and take over. Kill Macavity. Become the Everlasting Cat.

Honourable mention: Kaye Brown (London / UK Tour / Cats 1998), Melody Rose (US Tour 6), Helen Gulston (RCCL Cruise). Realistically, all Tantos are good. I like Tantomile.

Victoria: Georgina Pazcogiun (2016 Broadway Revival)

A prominent soloist with the New York ballet, renowned for her distinctive style, and you can appreciate that if you watched a 2016 bootleg show. She has also pushed out against ballet norms by being "The Rogue Ballerina" as a means of embracing the qualities that make her unique as a dancer, such as her 'bigger' (in terms of ballet) body type. Her unique style as Victoria makes her my choice. Plus, she be sneaky.

Honourable mentions: Hannah Kenna Thomas (UK Tour 2013 / Palladium 2014 / International Tour / Vienna Revival), Tyler Lotzof (Asia Tour 2020), Alicia Beck (UK Tour 2013), Phyllida Crowley Smith (London / Cats 1998). Realistically, all Vics are good.

Any way, there is my shitshow of a production.

#cats musical #cats the musical #cats movie #cats 1998 #cats film #admetus #macavity #bill bailey #tumblebrutus #bombalurina #demeter #skimbleshanks #mungojerrie and rumpleteazer #mungojerrie #rumpleteazer #victoria the white cat #tantomile #coricopat #coricopat and tantomile #rum tum tugger #old deuteronomy #munkustrap #mistoffelees #jennyanydots #jellylorum #jemima #sillabub #electra cats #etcetera cats #grizabella

[the-cat-at-the-theatre-door]

Talk more about character misinterpretations it's clearing my skin

I want to note that like...realistically there really *isn't* a wrong way to interpret characters in this show because they really don't have fully developed personalities beyond three words, randomized interactions and blocking, they're blank slates otherwise blah blah blah. That's the long and short of it.

That being said, though:

-Not so popular of a misinterpretation anymore, but the "All the older cats are homophobic so my tuggoffelees fic can have some drama" interpretation drives me up the wall and that trope better stay dead or so help me (Bomba and Munk got this a lot too, but I digress).

It's again falling into that same thing I've talked about before - you know, pushing the undesirable traits on someone else (particularly an authority figure or someone you do not like as much) to shift blame around. You know how you could have had the older cats disapprove of that relationship if you were desperate for a conflict? They don't like Tugger - they very obviously find him abrasive and rude. On the flip side, none of them seem to have any problem with Mistoffelees and celebrate him. There, done, there's your conflict - they don't think Tugger's good enough for him. Sheesh.

-Speak of the devil though, if your only interpretation of any of the cats that are reasonably 40+ is "mom" or "dad" (tongue in cheek not withstanding) and literally nothing else, then I have news for you, pal: you don't suddenly stop being a person after a certain age and you *certainly* don't after you become a parent. Jennyanydots literally has a military tattoo of bugs that she trains - you can't say anything more interesting about her than "caretaker"?? (Also on that note, how are Jenny's 3 words like: Motherly, Controlling, Contented or Fastidious, Complacent, Bossy but then Jellylorum is the one more commonly portrayed as inflexible with the stick up her butt? Make it make sense.) I am not saying they *cannot* be these things, I am saying that they are not *only* these things.

-You know what? Same goes for Munkustrap.

-This has been said before, but Tugger's not dumb. There is never any point in Tugger's song or his performance that indicates he's dumb. Not at all. He does *inconsequent* and *perverse* cat stuff, yes, no logical sense there, but the line literally goes "Artful and knowing". He does stupid stuff on purpose to cause mischief. He is not a himbo. The classification of himbo is dumb, beefy and handsome - Tugger is definitely not two of those things except for *very rare circumstances*.

Is it funny to call him one? Yeah sure. I have no issue with joking around. But again it falls into that "We took one shallow trait and ran with it as far as our legs could take us" crevice.

-Demeter's not helpless. She can hold her own. If any of the other cats are protecting her it's because they *care about her well being*, not because she *needs them to*.

-Also personal pet peeve that only I probably care about, but like, this idea that Demeter "wouldn't be able to stand Alonzo" or whatever when people argue against American and American adjacent productions in favour of demestrap is like...unfounded? The interactions...are identical in both cases. They just swapped the man out. How exactly are you interpreting them completely differently beyond personal preference? It falls back into that "she's unable to hold her own" idea. There is nothing wrong with having a preference for one over the other, that's valid, but...??? You don't need to justify it with an interpretation that is otherwise baseless.

-Grizabella's only real "sin" is that she's prideful. That's it. I will even go so far as to say maybe she's full of herself and a diva. She's not a villain and she's not a poor defenseless thing. She is a woman who has made choices in her life that led her to some bad places, she has reaped the consequences of whatever it was, and she's seeking forgiveness. You can give her further depth from there, but this consistent idea that she was just...terrible or irredeemable or didn't deserve to be forgiven is a misinterpretation of both the character *and* the text. It's the misogyny for me.

#robin's trying to get me cancelled you heard it here first #but like...i'm right #i feel like i have more #like in regards to mistoffelees and such - plus the others i tossed out this afternoon #but this got heated #honestly i have been sitting on these too long and i am just...i'm tired #i am so *sick* of the older cats being treated like nothing other than caretakers or antagonists #like grow up and *stop* it #jellicles ask because jellicles dare #sillybubs #also while i personally lean towards a generally softer demeter with a sharp edge - like any characterization of her that is *not* #all that soft #who is rougher around the edges - is not an incorrect interpretation #it is just as 'correct' as anything else

[bullseyegames]

Today at 1:00 PM EST I saw Cats the Musical at the Shubert Theater with my mom. Here’s the saga:

Overture:

Mistoffelees was right next to me in the overture with glowing cats eyes and I nearly died right there.

I started crying during the overture, my mom gave me a tissue. Going great so far.

I started screaming at the end of the overture, people are starting to realize I’m a crazy person.

Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats:

Omg they’re here and they’re real and I’m here! I’m crying again.

I pointed out Cassandra to my mom as she came up the aisle. Mom is questioning why I know all the cats names.

MISTO AND TUGGER ARE CUDDLING EACH OTHER HOLY SHIT

The guy the cats call out for being surprised was right in front of me he looked So confused and scared and I was just grinning behind him.

Naming of Cats:

I’m whispering the words along with the cats. Plato made eye contact and smiled at me. I’m crying again.

Watching Victoria in the background is so much fun. She’s getting really into this.

Victoria’s Dance:

Invitation to the Jellicle Ball:

Misto sneaking up on Victoria with a mischievous look in his eye is a mood.

Victoria looks so annoyed with him, they are literally me and my brother and it makes me so happy.

I love this Misto’s voice and he’s so fucking graceful and elegant and I love him!

MISTO AND TUGGER ARE DANCING TOGETHER OMG

Mungo and Rumple try to greet Munk and he rolls his eyes and tells them to go away. Jerre is very upset at this.

Gumbie Cat:

Looks like the trunk is either broken or not functioning in this space so Jenny just kinda slid out onto the top of it but she’s so beautiful so I don’t care.

Misto is being such a helpful and concerned boy whenever Jenny is around. He’s very concerned when Jenny spaces out for a solid minute.

The Gumbie trio are angels and I will take this belief to my grave.

Plato being a snarky little shit during the dance break made me laugh.

FOR SHES A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW

The Rum Tum Tugger:

He’s here and Skimble is not happy about it!

Misto and Skimble are arguing in the background. Looks like misto is saying Tugger is cute and Skimble is disagreeing.

Misto makes sure Skimble isn’t looking before joining the dance.

Skimble stop trying to pull cats away from Tugger he��s a big sexy magnet and you can’t stop those hips.

My mom is singing along, this makes me so happy.

Misto is just twitching and squealing like a kitten he loves his boyfriend so much.

Munk has given up, just rolled his eyes and walked off stage.

Skimble is now complaining to Jenny, Jenny is too busy staring at Tuggers ass to pay any mind.

Grizabella the Glamour Cat:

Oof. No one is happy rn.

George is extremely startled poor baby.

Munk is trying his best to keep Demeter away and she is not happy about it.

Bomba actually walked up with her arms extended only to hiss and scamper off at the last second. That’s cold girl.

Munk is being very protective of the cats around him. Tugger walked off and Misto ran after him.

Demeter has such a pretty voice and Bomba is so sultry and AH SHIT I’m crying again.

Platoria alert! PLATORIA ALERT!

Bustopher Jones:

Misto continuing to be an extremely helpful boy making everything glow.

The actor did a great job but I honestly prefer his Gus more but we shall get to him later.

First Macavity Scare:

AH SHIT ITS GETTING SPOOKY

Misto and Tugger reaching out to each other before running off in fear.

Bomba being the last cat onstage showing that she don’t give a damn.

Plato is protecting both Cassandra and Victoria. I’m noticing a lot of Plato and Cassandra moments and I’m not sure how I feel about that just yet.

Mungojerre and Rumpleteazer:

ENTER THE CHAOS GREMLINS!

I love them so much and they were extremely slinking baby bastards.

The cartwheel was better than my best dream I’m so happy I’m gonna cry again!!!

Munk and Alonzo ain’t too happy with their shenanigans.

Old Deuteronomy:

“Old Deuteronomy?”

Munk and Tugger duet. ;-;

Platoria cuddling. ;-;

MISTO SMILING AT ME AS HE PASSES. ;—;

Second Macavity Scare:

Everyone just fucking bolted. No protecting, no character interactions, just pure fuck this shit I’m out.

The Jellicle Ball:

This was the happiest I have been in a very long time.

The dancing was gorgeous and the character interactions are absolutley amazing throughout the entire sequence. It was truly a wonderful sight. And yes I did cry again, I’m running out of tissues.

Pas de Deux:

I love that there was no awkwardness or hesitation, just pure love and devotion and OH MY GOD HE ALMOST DROPPED VICTORIA.

Like everything was fine in the end but he visibly stumbled and old Deuteronomy looked very startled for a hot sec. Still very beautiful.

Memory:

DANGIT GRIZZABELLA I HAD JUST STOPPED CRYING!

In all honesty my favorite part was old Deuteronomy looking longingly at her in the background. He misses her so much. ;-;

INTERMISSION :3

Moments of Happiness:

Old Deuteronomy’s voice is so strong and his vibrato is simply heavenly.

Deut pats cori on the head, cori pats Jemima on the head, Jemima sings like an angel.

Look at all those angels!

Gus the Theater Cat:

Jellylorum has such a lovely voice and her gentle movements are lovely.

Gus insulting the kittens is absolutely adorable, they’re so insulted.

Gus playfully hissing at Jemima before booping her nose makes me so soft.

Cat puns making the audience laugh is always wonderful.

The Pekes and the Pollices:

Whispered to my mom before hand “get ready for some chaos”.

Winsome Chinese :3

Misto with a boot on his head is more hilarious than it should be.

Gus has such a wonderful voice and it’s very clear he’s having a blast up there.

Gus received the standing ovation he deserved. Bless that wiry cat man.

Skimbleshanks:

“SKIMBLESHANKS THE RAILWAY CAT”

Alonzo and Jenny playing cards in the background while Skimble sings has a very specific vibe to it.

Mungo is so happy to be dancing with his dad and is just running around like a kitten.

Misto has slipped away to unleash his inner laserpointer.

Macavity Kidnapping:

DEMETER IS DOWN FOLKS SHE IS OUT LIKE A LIGHT.

Munk trying to shield everyone’s eyes and accidentally looking at Macavity and passing out.

Aaaand there goes cat dad.

Macavity:

Deme baby looks so startled.

Bomba we get it you have the hots for Macavity stop biting your lip like that.

YES GURLS FUCKING WORK!!!

Macavity Fight:

Poor Munk getting thrown around like a rag doll, Plato too getting flipped over.

Alonzo like “BITCH LET GO OF MY BOYFRIENDS GIRLFRIEND!”

Mac trying to use his magic to rehypnoitize the cats and looking genuinely scared when it doesn’t work.

Black out!

Mr. Mistoffelees:

Tugger being like alright y’all shut up while I sing about my boyfriend.

PJ is so graceful and beautiful!!! His voice is also very gentle and lovely and him and Tugger being so touchy makes me so happy.

THEY HUUUGGED!!!!!

OH WELL I NEVER WAS THERE EVER A CAT SO CLEVER AS MAGICAL MISTER MISTOFFELEES?!?!! ;—;

Memory:

This was a simply gorgeous performance. This Grizabella made some wonderful character choices and there was a beautiful satisfaction when Victoria took her hand.

I did notice that even after he touched her Tugger looked very uncomfortable at Grizabella’s presence.

Journey to the Heaviside Layer:

Oh.. oh my god I didn’t realize the tire flew that high. OH MY GOD I DIDN'T REALIZE GRIZABELLA ACTUALLY FLEW AWAY.

Addressing of Cats:

Heavenly Deut voice, audience bursted out laughing at the “cat is not a dog” line and I can’t blame them. Crescendo, bows, and it’s over...

POST SHOW :O

After the show me and my mom went across the street to buy cookies and when we came out we saw them striking the set! Here’s them putting the tire in the truck! :3

Overall this was a magical experience and you bet your sparkly ass I’ll be looking out for when the tour comes back around to me. Now if you excuse me I need to buy more tissues.

#cats the musical #cats tour 6 #cats tour 2020 #It was so beautiful ;-; #Im going to be watching bootlegs all night to relive the expierence #;-;