Finally we entered the theatre to go to our seats (Row J 32 and 33). I was amazed as I entered that the ENTIRE theatre was converted to the junkyard! Whilst walking to our seats we continued to stare around in amazement. Also at the start of the show we had the back of the revolving stage facing us and examined the props sitting there. There was a Skimble Pekes and Pollicles head sitting right in front of us and we were half joking, half serious as to whether we should move it or nick it! I can just imagine their reaction when they can’t find the dog head and then look into the audience and see me wearing it! Actually we’d probably be kicked out. We sat and looked through the programmes and !!! went and bought a littler one with the names of all the cast in. I would have done but had no money :(
Anyway we’d been sitting for about 5 minutes when the lights began to dim and the first notes of the overture burst out from where the orchestra were! We knew what to expect and were ready to be pounced on by a Cat with green flashing eyes! Unfortunately during the overture we didn’t get any really close encounters but we were in great seats for it. There was the block of seats on the revolving platform...then there was the aisle..then there was us. We were in an aisle seat and the one next to that (I nabbed the aisle one rather selfishly!). The Cats all ran past during the overture and ran up the aisle, brushing against me as they did. They’re cool seats for contact with the cast, but you really can’t beat the front row (as we discovered at the show in January!)
The car headlights shone through the theatre and the shape of Demeter could be seen scurrying away and leaping onto the mattress. Then out comes Munk followed by Cassandra, Tantomile, Cori and others. ‘Are you blind when you’re born?’ WOW the second David Ashley sang I knew he wouldn’t disappoint my high expectations of Munkustrap at all. He was massively tall and intimidating but looked very good in the make-up and costume which suited him perfectly. When Demeter sang, though I thought that she seemed good, she didn’t have as pleasant a voice as Aeva May from the Cats video. I’m not going to say everything in great detail but I’ll just put in cute and relevant bits. Once the naming of Cats started the Cats again descended (and some ascended up to the balcony) into the audience. To my delight a cat, unfortunately The Rum Tum Tugger (Tom Lucas, urg *shudder*) came and stood about an inch away from my aisle seat and proceeded with The Naming. I also remember Munk being quite nearby on the stage (I’m not sure exactly where!). I got lots of eyes contact with RTT during the naming and got a good look at his costume too. I just wish I’d had Misto standing there or Munk instead of the RTT!!! Yep Misto and Munkoholic I am!!
After the naming Victoria moved into her dance and we sighed enviously as we watched. Oh to be able to dance like that! David as Munk had some very sweet facial expressions as did Campbell McKenzie (yum Misto) during Gumbie Cat. His singing voice was shown off beautifully as he sang the opening and then we saw how good the girls (Jellylorum, Bombalurina and Demeter) were as they helped to sing about The Gumbie cat. It was great to see the full tap dancing number in the show as well as to see people moving normally rather than in the video where they appear and disappear quite regularly! Campbell looked adorable in this number as a tap dancing cockroach as did Carbucketty (Pouncival for all video fans) as the first cockroach! As the closing notes of this song rang through the theatre we heard a strange noise, kind of like dogs howling or something.
Then Rum Tum Tugger burst onto the scene. He literally did burst, straight through the back wall. I was disappointed by his performance even from the start as he came out and said in a rather gloomy voice... ‘meow’. Put some effort into it Tom! He pretty awful as the RTT. Not very enthusiastic to flirt with the kittens or Bomb or to interact much with audience members. I was disappointed that he didn’t follow the tradition of the RTT to pick an audience member to dance with. Maybe I’m being to hard on him but overall he definitely wasn’t any competition to John from the vid. He didn’t quite get the arrogant nature which is in the RTT across as well as the sense that the RTT knows he’s gorgeous and uses it to his advantage! Bombalurina got dumped as she tried to flirt with him but rather than being chucked to the floor with a ‘No!’ she got some experimental sniffs and then ‘Yes’ and then pushed away!
Grizabella appeared on the scene and the RTT flicked his ruff and left looking raaaather menacing. This Grizabella had a good enough voice but I wasn’t bowled over by her performance, she was still very, very good though. She sang her bit, whilst everyone else looked on, and then left looking very sad and tired. Demeter skidded down the ramp after her and ended up curled on the floor at the base of the ramp looking sad.
On came Bustopher for his bit and during this song we noticed what an amazingly good voice Jellylorum had with the very small bits she sang. She really was spectacular. A crash and sirens heralded the arrival of Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer. A thing that I didn’t like here was after the crash when everyone started running away Munk shouted at them ‘Stop, it may not be Macavity, come back.’ This ‘come back’ was directed towards Alonzo who promptly leapt off the stage and ran away. Rumpleteazer’s pleasant, if slightly demented sounding giggle rang through the theatre and the two burglars appeared. I enjoyed their performance VERY much. Mungojerrie (Matt Cross) was also extremely easy on the eyes!! It was good to see the song performed in full. I thought that the Rumpleteazer was pretty much just as good as Jo, but Jo deserves thanks for introducing us to the show. We knew she wouldn’t be there but after seeing her so much in Rocky we’d learnt about her being in Cats and decided to watch the video and then go to the show. I silently thanked Jo in my head as I sat there loving every minute of it! I was again rather disturbed at the end of this song when Munk yelled in an un-characteristically evil way ‘Let’s teach them a lesson’. Fortunately the two thieves were saved by the announcment of Old Deut by Misto.
We got to hear more of David Ashley’s wonderful voice as he sang ‘Old Deuteronomy’, Tom Lucas tried his hardest to ruin this song but we blocked our ears and ignored him! Old Deuteronomy appeared (groan!) and then began the Pekes and the Pollicles!
YAY! I adore this song. There is just so much going on. You have Munk singing and doing adorable angry facial expressions, you get Misto (mmm) being a cutey in his Scottish gear, you get the Cats looking sweet as dogs and imitating barks...you get the picture!! Rumpleteazer was adorable as the first Peke, her barking was so sweet and ickle!! She did these really cute barks and then looked so upset when the guys intruded on her barking. Carbucketty deliberately barked at the wrong time which she got all upset about! The Marching song of the Pollicle Dogs was groovy and the guys ended up getting tangled up at the back of the line and scrapping.
The Rumpus Cat (Stephen Wayne) catapaulted through the floor on the star trap and dogs scattered right and left! He proceeded to annoy Munk by not switching his red eyes on and then by pushing Munk to the side so he could dance!
Then came the great dancing in the Jellicle Ball. Outstanding people were Misto and Vic(Emma Kerslake) as well as little Jemima (Alex Jay) who was great. Mungo and Rumple were very talented as were Tant and Cori. Basically they were all fabulous! The ball ended with Griz tottering back on to sing Memory which she dealt with very well. Her voice was strong and emotional with maybe a tad too much vibrato on the low notes. After Grizabella had left once more it was interval time.
We sat in the auditorium during the interval as there wasn’t anything else we wanted to do. As Old Deutoronomy was still on stage we sat and watched him, whilst talking about how great the first half was. We had a great laugh whilst watching him though. He re-arranged himself where he was sitting and the set gave out a protesting creak as if to say ‘No, get off me please!’. Anyway nothing happened apart from that so back to the show.
The second half started with the cast appearing from various places in the theatre. Some people along the row from us jumped about a mile when Rumpleteazer and MungoJerrie popped up beside them and scared them silly!
The Moments of Happiness passed quickly (thank god!). No I didn’t think Old Deut was bad (well actually he was bad as well) but I just really get bored of his songs and him droning on!! Only my personal opinion of the character though I’m not at all criticising the actors who play Old Deut (I AM criticising Mark McKerracher though!) as I’m sure they’re all very good. Jemima stood up to sing her verse of Memory in a nice clear voice. Her voice wasn’t as crystal clear as the voice used for Jemima in the video but I though she sounded good. She sang the verse very pleasantly.
Then Gus totters onto the stage guided by Jellylorum. She sat him down and then began the best rendition of Gus the Theatre Cat which I’ve ever heard. OK I’ve only got Susan Jane Tanner from the video to compare to and lets face it I don’t think she’s good at all. No, seriously Jellylorum had a wonderfully good voice. I was in total envy, as was !!!, and I know I sat there feeling slightly shell shocked over how good she was. It was also nice to see that she wasn’t a tiny slim cat either, she had some shape to her. Anyway she was great. I barely noticed Gus singing but it was really nice to see Growltiger’s last stand.
Misto and Munk looked adorable as pirates and they had some great facial expressions. !!! and I both cringed and protested as Growltiger hit Munk hard in the groin. Looks like his kitten siring days are over!! Griddlebone was good too. The actress was over all brilliant as Jellylorum and Griddle! The siamese cats crept onto the ship and we noticed a rather fine looking Ghengis. Yep the loverrly MungoJerrie from earlier on! He amazed both !!! and I with his acrobatics and then Gus was dispatched into the sea.
Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat began in a very lively way with the whole audience getting into the spirit of things. This was an energised song and Skimble was played admirably well. Cute antics during that song came from the kittens imitating Skimble and then getting tapped firmly on the head as reprimand. I loved watching them assemble the train which they did brilliantly quickly. We also had confirmed that the wheel we had spotted earlier was indeed a wheel of the train as held by Munk! When the train fell apart everyone started laughing as the Cats grappled to stop the pieces escaping from them. It was particularly funny as Coricopat had just given his wheel a big kick. He dropped it to the floor but it span away and started escaping towards the front row. His face was horrified as he chased the huge wheel and grabbed it before anyone got hurt. I saw Cori exchanging looks with people too, as if this was definitely NOT supposed to happen!! They’d just begun a rousing encore of Skimble when... MACAVITY! The thunder crashed and the Cats looked terrified as they were confronted by the Napoleon of crime himself. Old Deut had a sack thrust over his head and was then dragged away (hoorrray!).
Heather Douglas was Bombalurina for this show but I found her protryal of the character annoying and slightly weak. I wasn’t very impressed by her singing in Macavity. Demeter was also not spectacular either. The two of them didn’t seem very into their roles (maybe tired?!) and therefore came off as a tad weak as the two characters. The fight was well choreographed and energetic. I did notice David slamming down VERY hard on the floor (ouch) after being thrown off by Macavity.
Then we got Tom Lucas (groan) singing Mr Mistoffellees (yay!). All I need to say about this is, get some enthusiasm Tom and GO Campbell!! Lots of little antics happening in the background too and Munk cheering Misto on very enthusiastically!
A nice enough rendition of ‘Moonlight...etc’ from Jemima with Campbell looking like he was about to suffer from a heart attack and panting away on the floor there. Then Grizabella interrupts again with ‘Memory’. Sorry, but it can get so dull this song! As we all know, Grizabella got accepted, everyone was happy, then there were some cute facial expressions for her being accepted. Little Carbucketty looked very put out that she ignored him when he held his paw out to her! Finally was the ‘Addressing of Cats’ with Bill Bailey drooling at the mention of caviar and Munk looking totally revolted at the mention of salmon paste!! Overall a very good first show and we definitely wanted more!!! But that will have to wait ‘til the next trip report!!
This very long trip report was written by ???, many thanks to her for her time and effort!
