The Midnight Train Crossing

I'd never been to a show by the Modjeska Youth Theatre company before, so I didn't know what to expect. I'd also never been to the Modjeska theatre. It's a pretty cool theatre. Once upon a time it was a movie theatre, like... a long time ago.
My dad said he used to go there a lot.
The building was cool, but the lobby was a bit cramped.

I'm going to assume that the standard arrangement of who sings what songs is true when I talk about it. I hope I'm right.

There were some new kitties in the show, according to the cast list. In addition to the regulars, we had Carrottop Xtapa Zipara, Jumblegarnet, Cleopatra, Zippy, Whiskavaus, CoCo and my favorite, Delylalillybop.

Special recognition to Anthony Shine who played Growltiger and Quaxo. Without him we would not have gone. He did an awesome job as Growltiger.

Other highlights for me were Munkustrap (John Nadolny), Jennyanydots (Brianna Borouchoff) The Rum Tum Tugger (Kyle Taylor Parker) Mungojerrie (Zechariah Ruffin), Rumpleteaser (Amanda Ebert) Demeter (Liz Mistele) and of course, Grizabella (Jessica Pickering-Reyna). The Rum Tum Tugger also worked out the choreography according to the woman who gave the announcements at the beginning.

There were also an assortment of kittens - the younger kids - and they were totally adorable! Their costumes actually looked more like pajamas to me, and they had the ears on the hoods. The whole audience 'awww-ed' when they came onto the scene.

The opening was cute, all of the cats ran up and down the aisles and around the tables. (Yes, there were tables and chairs, then the orchestra pit, then the stage) They were pawing at people, mewoing and hissing. (I think Rumpleteaser hissed at me! That wasn't very nice of her :) )

Unfortunately, during the opening "Jellical Songs for Jellical Cats" they were plagued with sound trouble. This is a community theatre (more or less) and so it's prone to slightly more sound troubles than professional. A lot of the performers had the feline type movement down pat.

I generally zone out during "The Naming of Cats", the chanting is rather lulling, but this time around I was being entertained by the choreography, watching all of them move around in sync. It was nicely done.

My dad observed that during the opening scenes, even though Munkustrap was lurking around in the background he seemed to stand out, giving the impression that he's important. My dad knows nothing about CATS. I can't say for sure because I knew he was important ahead of time. Munkustrap's costume made him stand out a bit too. He was the only one wearing a vest. He had a nice voice during all of his songs. He also conveyed the right attitude for Munkustrap in my mind. He's the leader of the group, and he had the authority, but he also gave the sense that his job was, well, like herding cats.

Munkustrap demonstrated his nice voice during "The Gumbie Cat" I like the song but when Demeter, Bombalurina (Llana Cohn-Gomez) and Jellylorum (Stephanie Blasiani) came out with black bowler hats that completely sold me on the song. The kittens, that is the little kids, came out as the mice with bundles of yarn, and some of them were 'playing' with the yarn, kitten style. The beetles in the beetle tatoo looked like ladybugs. They had a rather impressive tap routine, three of them especially taking the lead. (No I cannot say who, but they were awesome).

The Rum Tum Tugger was rather spiffy. I liked his wig - reminded me a lions mane. It was longer than I've seen done before. He was very full of himself and not at all surprised by the girls all falling all over him. He also had a nice voice. I've always thought his song was fun to watch. He inserted a lot of little "Ha!"'s at various points during the show, adding his own little personal touch there.
The ending of his song, when he does the "abou-uut, abou - uuuuut abou- uou- uou-ouo- about it!" part was funny. One of the girls was kneeling higher than the others, and nuzzled against his hand. As he moved his hand in time with his singing, she'd shake her head, following his hand.

Enter Grizablla. I liked her costume too. She sparkled. Her voice was good, but she didn't blow me away until Memory. Demeter, on the other hand, demonstrated her good vocals when she sang.

Bustopher Jones and Mistofeeles were both played by the same actor, (Ryan Cappleman) I thought that was an odd way to arrange it, but it seemed to work out. He had a great entrance, several cats wheels a refrigerator on-stage and he stepped out, in his long back coat and with his cane. He did a good job sounding kinda upright and stuffy.
The girls all walked past with cardboard pictures of "cabbage, rice pudding and mutton" at the appropriate point. Another cat would follow him around (sorry, I don't know who it was), carrying his golf-clubs. Whoever it was was amusing to watch. I guess the clubs were heavy.

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteaser entered hiding in an old bathtub, and they seemed to startle the remaining cats on stage. The two of them were just cute. I think they were the cutest pair in the whole show. (And someone sitting a few rows behind me must have known them, for there was much cheering) 'Teaser kept playing with her pearls, and it was cute.
At the end of the song, the rest of the cats come out and 'catch' the two. Tugger and Munkustrap take their loot bags and go through them. Jerrie and Teaser look so disappointed, almost as though they were thinking "Aww, I thought we'd get away with it this time" Meanwhile, Tugger and Munkustrap had a look of "Not again".

Old Deuteronomy (Gustavo Chaviano) had a nice deep voice for the part, and in his song, Tugger and Munkustrap demonstrated that they have good harmony together.

They did the Awful Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles which was exciting - I've never seen it done on stage before. Only in the movie. The Pollices had shoe box hats and the pekes had sacks with yarn on them. Poor Munkustrap was having a hard time keeping order. I loved the Look he gave Tugger when he came through with his bagpipes.

The sound problems returned again during the Jellicle Ball, which was rather sad. I don't have too much to say about it, except that it seemed much shorter to me. This was good. The Jellicle Ball always seems to drag on forever, but this version was shorter, so it didn't. The kitties all did a good job though.

Grizabella sounded even better when she came out the second time around, and she glided the show nicely into intermission.

Old Deuteronomy demonstrated that he did indeed have a nice voice in "The Moments of Happiness". I still have no idea what that song means, but he sounded very nice singing it. One of the girl cats was lurking about on stage while he was singing, and she sang the Memory bit. The problem was, I have no idea who she was. She sang it again with Grizabella at the end, and I know that it's supposed to be Jemmina, but there was no one by that name in the cast. There was a Syllabub though, and I think that that's another one who traditionally sings Memory. Well, whoever it was, she had a lovely voice.

Here I thought it was odd because after the song, a bunch of cats came in, carrying some scenery. An announcer-cat said that they were going to do "Growltigers Last Stand" in honor of Gus. But... they hadn't done Gus the Theatre Cat" yet. From what I gathered, they were doing it as a tribute to Gus, who originated the role of Growltiger. Growltiger had a good nasty laugh. Not quite caboose-worthy, but definitely a wickersham.
But, as the song went along, they didn't mention Griddlebone, nor did they mention the ship being surrounded. Unless I wasn't paying attention... but I'm pretty sure I was.
They did the "Ballad of Billy McCaw"!! Which I have *never* seen! Griddlebone or Lily the barmaid (Elizabeth Kubis) was pretty in white and sparkly blue and Billy McCaw... well one of the cats (dunno who) was dressed in green with red, yellow and orange feathers and he stood up on the bar and cawed.
I thought that the verse about Lily settling fights was pretty funny as she calmly walked over and beat up two cats, all without setting her tray down.
And then Ghengis and his hordes attacked... in slow motion. Not exactly action packed. I think that they could have done this bit better. The girl that narrated it had a good voice, particularly on the "And Griddlebone she gave a screetch" Of course I don't know who that was either.

After that, came "Gus The Theatre Cat" Gus (Otis Bartlett) did a good job at seeming old. Jellylorum (Stephanie Blasini) had a lovely voice too. I always like this song. Gus had a particularly good expression on the line "And if someone will give him a toothful of gin" I think he wanted his gin.
At the end of his song, I just wanted to run up there and give him a hug. Poor Gus.

From Gus, right into "Skimbleshanks, the Railway Cat." When Skimble (Bryce Wiatrak) started to sing I was like "ah, so that's Skimble." They didn't construct the train, but they did have some hubcaps (Or pie plates, I wasn't sure) as wheels, and he led them around a lot in a train. At the end, the way the cats were arranged on the stage sort of suggested a train shape. If you used your imagination, and were looking for it.
They went into another verse of the song, and got a good way through it before the lights flashed and Macavity came on the scene. I liked the costumes of his hench-cats.
Once again, Demeter and Bombalurina showed off their wonderful voices. Demeter has some low notes that she has to hit, and she did it. For some odd reason, Macavity has to be done just right for me to properly enjoy the show, and it was great. The line "When the green house glass is broken/and the trellice past repair" was one that I remember vividly. (Yes I remember really random stuff)

When Macavity came on as Old Deuteronomy it was pretty darn obvious. His stripes were pretty clear through the coat. The fight scene was well done, although Macavity's exit wasn't that exciting. He just went down through a trap door and slammed the lid.

As much as I adored the Tugger, I thought he ran through the intro to Magical Mr. Mistofeeles a little too quickly. He didn't make it terribly dramatic at all. But once he started singing, he was fine. Especially at the end when his voice rises above the groups
Mistofeeles was way sparkly. I approved of his sparklyness. Some of his tricks were pretty cute. One of his "tricks" was to make a bunch of the kittens "appear" out of a pipe. Then he gestured at one of them with his wand and she did flips across the stage. The kittens were all little kids remember. She was adorable.
He also went into a box and one of the little kittens came out while he pranced back out on the stage. He also managed the traditional Mistofeeles jumps quite nicely.

Grizabella came back onstage for Memory and she NAILED IT! I think that I felt the theatre shaking when she belted out "Touch me! It's so easy to leave me all alone with the memory of my days in the sun." I was very pleased. The production passed the last test.
When the cats finally gathered around her, it was so sweet, they were hanging onto her hands and cuddling, and she had such a happy look on her face.

On her ascension to the Heaviside Lair, she climbed on a tire which was raised up, and a sparkly ladder descended from the ceiling. She grabbed the bottom rung and then it went dark.

I always think that the Ad-dressing of Cats is a funny song, because it sounds so serious, but the lyrics are so silly. But it was pleasant to listen to. Deuteronomy had a nice singing voice.

I loved the show (I think I end all my reviews that way) and now I am seriously considering looking more into this theatre company in the future...