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This was my first time ever seeing CATS live on stage! I had been a video fan for the longest time and had been dying to go see it on stage. We were originally going to go see it in London, but after 9/11 well...it seemed pretty unlikely that we were able to go... A few months passed and Christmas came. One of my Christmas gifts from my mother (and this is the best out of all of them) was tickets to go see the touring production of CATS!!! The tickets were for Febuary 12, 2002...a whole three months away. During this time I surfed the 'net looking for information on the tour. I came across the website of Bryce Bermingham. I was able to e-mail him and we went back and forth for a while before I gathered up the courage to ask if there was any way we could get backstage when we saw the show. He replied yes and told us how. Now I REALLY couldn't wait to see the show. Febuary 12, 2002 7:00 rolled around and we made our way to the theatre...FINALLY!!!!!! When we entered, the place was PACKED! We quickly bought a program (DUH!) and found our seats. We were A row mesinine (sp?). I was a little disapointed that we didn't have floor seats, but I'm not gonna complain! The theatre had draped lights all over it and the stage was a giant junkyard! It was SO cool! I'd never seen it before! Some people were taking pictures of the set before the show started. I thought it was a little rude at first, but then shrugged it off. 7:30, the lights dimmed and the anouncer lady came on saying turn off all cell phones and stuff. Overture! This was REALLY cool! I won't go into GREAT details, b/c to be honest, I forget most of the night. ::kicks herself:: The lighting effects for this song were great! Then the cats came down the aisles with the green eyes on their heads! I think Sillabub, played by Sara Shudde, (yes Sillabub, not Jemima. Aren't you guys proud of me?) came down the aisle first. Then the other cats followed and they all turned around to show off the eyes. It was cool! Jellicle Songs One thing I have to point out was that there were no Coricopat and Tantomile. During this song Mungojeryie and Rumpleteazer (Pamela Rainey) took on the role of Cori and Tant. They did a REALLY good job with that! I was proud of myself, I contained myself from singing along with the cast. I didn't flip out or anything...until Mistoffelees (McCree O'Kelley) made his first appearance. Then I bounced in my seat and grabbed onto Mommy's arm. I was like: hehehe...it's him, it's him IT'S HIM!!!!!!! Naming of Cats ...is a difficult matter... This was great! The guy who played Gus/Growltiger/Bustopher Jone (William Hartery) was very involved with the choreography and the rest of the show, not just for his own numbers. He slide down the stage and stared at a guy and said: "There's a man over there...." blah, blah, blah, you all know what he says. Then Munkustrap (Grant Turner) came up, said his line and the whole cast was in shock. Their faces were PRICELESS! It was like: What? Where have you been? It was great! They all did a great job with that! Invitation This is where I get a little POed. Victoria (Shylo Smith) did a great job! As did Mistoffelees, but when Misto came out to dance along with Vicki and sing his lines, Munkustrap sang for him! I'm like: NO! You're not supposed to do that! That's Misto's part! You don't do that! Can you tell I was a little shocked and POed? But it was great because they didn't shorten it like in the video! Gumbie Cat Hehehe! Jennyanydots (Julie Garnye) did a great job with this! She was so peppy and looked like she was having a blast doing this! I was really excited to see this because the video TOTALLY chopped the song up with all the really bad editing and stuff. So it was a treat for me...heck, the WHOLE NIGHT was a treat for me! At the end when everyone in lines doing that little 'kick thingie' (I'm not sure what you call that) When everyone stopped, Jenny kept going and she was so into it! She realized everyone stopped and was acting all cute and stuff. Then at the very end when all the cockraoches got off stage, Munkustrap tried to give Jenny her big fluffy coat back, but she kept avoiding him, so he finally just threw it ontop of her! Rum Tum Tugger RTT started and it was kinda funny because Tugger (Stan Stanley) had a voice like no other guy! It was unbelieveably high! It was cool though! The girls were all swooning over him and following him around and stuff. Then later on, after he sings, "...'cause there's nothing I enjoy like a horrible muddle." He runs off the stage, into the audience and starts to dance with this lady who didn't really wanna be dancing with him! hehe! When I could, I had my eyes on Mistoffelees most of the time. And whenever they could be seen, I watched Mungo and Rumple. Misto just kinda avoided the 'Tugger Crowd' and hung on the tire for most of it with Skimbleshanks (John Sechrist) Girzabella the Glamour Cat. First off, Grizabella (Gretchen Goldsworth) was AMAZING!!!!!! OMG, she was incredible! Her voice was just lovely! When she first appeared all the cats reacted the same way: "Grr...leave, we don't like you!" One thing that shocked me a little bit was that Mistoffelees hisses ALOT more than what I thought he would have! (But Great job anyway McCree!) Demeter (Jessica Lea Patty) and Bombalurina (Sharon Huneycutt) did a great job singing this. There's really not too much more I can say about this. Bustopher Jones This is what got me more ticked off. Isn't Mistoffelees supposed to be all happy and excited to see Bustopher? Here, it was Skimbleshanks who was all happy to see him. Again, I had the same response as before: NO! This is supposed to be Misto's part DANGIT! Can you tell I favor Misto...ALOT? Regardless, Bustopher Jones was a GREAT song. In the beginning, when he walked on, he threw a flower to a girl in the audience! She was like, "What the...??" But it was cute! Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer GOOD SONG!!!!!! These two were so great! hehe! Their costumes were more fluffy than the ones on the video, it was cool! They only sang one verse, but they did it with such pep and character that it really didn't matter! When they broke the Ming Vase and watched it fall, at first they were like, "Uh-oh!" But then they laughed and continues on with the song. The cartwheel thing was GREAT! It was really a job well done by these two! Old Deuteronomy After the other cats found Mungo and Rumple's 'loot', Mistoffelees sensed that Old D was nearby. (YAY!) I was so happy when he said, "Old Deuteronomy?" I know it's rather pathetic to get excited about him saying two little words, but I was glad that someone else didn't take it from him instead. HOWEVER, I was a little POed because Skimble, AGAIN 'stole' Misto's part. Skimble was the one to great Old D. But I have to admit, Skimble's expression was great! When he was about to jump into the audience, he realized that there were people out there. He turned back to Munku and pointed to the audience as if he were saying, "But Munku! There's people out there! Don't make me go!" Munku just pointed for him to go out to get Old D. Skimble took a deep breath and hissed at the audience. Old Deuteronomy was very nicely done by Jarrett Ali Boyd. His voice was great! Jellicle Ball I was a little disapointed that there were no Pekes and Pollicles, but Jellicle Ball was great anyway! I can't say too much about it because there was so much going on at once, I can't remember alot. (That and I was in shock most of the night). One thing that surprised me was during 'mating dance' Mistoffelees and Cassandra were together! At first I did a double take and was like, "Umm....yeah..." But then I thought ahead to Mr. Mistoffelees and remembered that he picks Cassandra to be his assistant. So it made sense. Memory Sillabub and Jellyorum (Wendy Bergamini) were great. Their voices were incredible! Sillabub was SO CUTE!!!! This song was short, but I really felt sorry for her. Whereas in the video I'm just like: "Oh, okay. Poor you." Now I was like: "Oh...I feel REALLY bad for you! C'mon Jellicles, let her come back!" She did a great job with this. Intermission After Memory, Grizabella walked off and Old D sat down on the tire....and didn't move the entire time! He stayed on the tire throughout the ENTIRE INTERMISSION! I was hopping that the cast would come out into the lobby for maybe pictures or something. My friends who saw it in the past said that they came out, I guess they don't anymore. Instead I went over to the souvenier stand. There were some REALLY nice sweatshirts and Tee's, but they were all like, $50 each! Mom gave me a $10 and told me to get something little. I gratefully took the money and got in the mile-long line. There were cute little character magnets that I wanted to get. There were four in a set for $20 (Rumpus, Munkustrap, Mistoffelees, and I think Demeter) or a single one for $6 (Rum Tum Tugger, or Bombalurina). I wanted a Misto one, but I had to buy the whole package if I wanted one. So I bought a ceramic magnet instead for $6. It is now proudly displayed in my locker! We went back to our seats and flipped through the program for a little bit. Every now and then looking up to see Old D still there on the tire. I was reading McCree O'Kelley's info in the playbill, when the cast started coming back on stage.... Moments of Happiness Old D can SING!!! Seriously! He's got such a great voice! It amazed me how high he could sing! Where Coricopat and Tantomile usually were, Cassandra and I think Alonzo (Not sure) took their places. Most of the time, I had my eyes on Mistoffelees. (DUH!) McCree was so CUTE! He expressions were priceless...but he hissed alot... ::shrugs:: Gus the Theatre Cat My mom loves Gus. She thinks he's so cute! He really did a great job. When Gus sang about the kittens not being trained, all the kittens were like: "::Gasp:: What? Us not trained well? How dare he!" It was SO cute! Then Bomby and Mungo (who happened to be sitting near each other) started to play with Sillabub's wig! I started snickering and Mom gave me a strange look, so I had to stop. When Gus go to the end of the song and was about to go into Growltiger's Last Stand, I was SO excited! I couldn't wait to see this... Growltiger's Last Stand WAHOO! I've waited a long time to see this done, finally! William Hartery did SUCH a good job with this! I was trying so hard not to crack up laughing, it was GREAT! When the curtain opened to reveal the 'crew' (Munkustrap, Alonzo (I think), 'Swing' (I think) and Mistoffelees) sleeping on the job. When the song started they all woke up quickly and sprang to work. My eyes immediately were focused on Mistoffelees. He was in a rather furry pirate costume. It was really fuzzy and from where I was sitting it looked like he was a giant, fluffy bunny rabit! It was rather funny! But you couldn't mistake McCree's priceless expressions! Griddlebone did such a fabulous job with this! Her voice was beautiful! I loved it! The whole time she was just like: "Yay, I'm with a guy! Do I REALLY care about him? Not really..." The siamese were great too! Their costumes were great! I'd seen pictures of them online before, but they were REALLY cool! I was really happy to see this number, FIANLLY! Great job everyone who was in this! Skimbleshanks By this point I had an issue with Skimble, but I quickly got over it. It was a great peepy song! Skimble was asleep ontop of the big top hat that was used in Bustopher Jones. The song stuck pretty much to the way it was in the video. So we all know what happens, right? When Skimble sang "...and a crank to turn the window should you sneeze." Rumpleteazer sneezed and I felt like shouting out: BLESS YOU! Great peepy song! Macavity This was weird... I thought that this was done by only the queens of the tribe. Appartently not... During Demeter's part, another male swing (Not sure of name, I apologize) was dancing along with her. At first I thought he was mocking her and that Demeter was going to swipe at him any moment to tell him to get off! She didn't and he danced right along with her! I was shocked! What the heck? What's he doing there! This is Demeter's solo! Whatever.... It was a great song! Bombalurina was great too! I wanted to get up there and start dancing with them, but I knew I couldn't. The fight scene was well done! Munkustrap only fought for a little bit though, quickly was defeated, and then Alonzo took over. Alonzo did the majority of the fighting which seemed rather odd...but whatever! MR. MISTOFFELEES!!!!!! ::sarcastically:: Oh no I wasn't on the edge of my seat by this point! Holy Crap I couldn't wait! OMG, this is it! The song I've been waiting to watch all night! I had contained myself from singing along with the rest of the show for long enough. I started to mouth ALL the words! McCree came down on the rope (like in the video) and as he did the whole theatre lit up! He was incredibly amazing! His costume was completely black, there was no white in this one, but that's okay! He was awesome! I was in shock the whole time! When the 'magical cup' was thrown to him from offstage, he caught it sideways so the ribbon had fallen out almost completely. He had this look like, "Awe darnit!" He picked it up and tossed it into the air and continued on with the rest of the AWESOME song. During his solo (yes he did the WHOLE song) he did a split (OUCH!) and did 24 'conjuring turns'. In the end, he did choose Cassandra to be his assistant for his magic trick. When he brought Old D back, he jumped into his arms, and nuzzled him! (hehe it was so cute.) Then when everyone else gathered around him he looked around (still from Old D's arms) like: "Huh? Wha? Oh yeah...I gotta finish my song, don't I?" Then they all lined up and took a bow (I'm not sure why). He did the toe-touches and then he did the last one off of the tire. Then he jumped into the arms of a group of waiting cats ready to hold him up in the air. Then the song ended and a single spolight remained on McCree. The cats holding him up, slowly let him down as Mistoffelees was enchanted by the light. He began to play with it a little before making the ligh close around his face like a little box, and blew a kiss to the light. When he blew the kiss, the light disapeared and the song jumped into Memory. **AWESOME job McCree!** Memory I could still see that McCree was TOTALLY out of breath, but his smile never left him and he still had the cutest expressions! Holy mother of God, Gretchen can sing! She is amazing! Her voice was so powerful and so rich that it put me in shock and my mother speechless! The song was so beautifully done. Sillabub was quiet and was no match for Grizabella's powerful voice, but Sillabub was so CUTE! Not too much more I can say about this song. Journey to Heaviside Layer Victoria touched Grizabella and this time it wasn't Misto who reached out to Grizabella first, I think it was Tugger, but I seriously forget...(sorry!!!!!) When it was time for the staircase to come down to bring Grizabella to heaviside layer, I wasn't sure what to expect. I had seen the giant golden staircase in the video, here on stage it was something quite different. The best way to describe it was a UFO! No offense but that's what it looked like! I thought that was pretty much the funniest thing I'd seen all night (except for Misto in the bunny costume ::giggles::) Ad-dressing of Cats ::cries:: End of the show. It was a great show and this was a great way to end it. It was pretty much the same as in the video and I hate making skimpy summaries, but I guess I have to in this case. Bows Each cat came out with their own bows. Tugger, Grizabella and Munkustrap all got the loudest applause. When Mistoffelees came out for his bow, I was the one who wanted to scream and shout: "WAY TO GO! I LOVE YOU MAN!" ...but instead gave a pitiful "Wahoo!" At the very end, when the cast had ran off, only Tugger and Bomby remained. Bomby called Tugger over, and then I think she slapped him or something (really not sure what happened. I think I sneezed or coughed or something...) He fell on his back and she walked over him, then licked her finger and touched herself. (You know, the "I'm so hot I'm sizzling" thing...) Then they ran offstage and the lights dimmed on stage and lit up in the audience.  WAIT! THERE'S MORE! After the show, Mom and I exited the theatre and tried to find the stage door. Mom saw someone coming out from one of the side doors from the theatre and asked him if there was a way we could get backstage. He said he worked for the tour, and brought us to the stage door area. He said, "Just tell the guard who you want to see." We thanked him and told the security guard that Bryce Bermingham e-mailed me saying that he would come out and sign an autograph for me. He said they were changing and that they'd be out soon. We waited with some other ladies and started talking while cast members started to leave. I wasn't sure what he looked like exactly so, I really couldn't tell who he was to ask for an autograph. The ladies met up with the person they were waiting for and they left. By now the theatre was pretty much empty. Then two people came out into the little area. By now I didn't care who signed my little notebook. I tried to think of someone in the cast. The only other person's name that I knew was McCree O'Kelley. I built up my courage and spoke up: "Excuse me, but does anyone know if McCree O'Kelley is still here?" One guy turned around, looked at me and said, "I'm he." Holy crap I don't know how I ever contained myself from screaming and pulling a spaz! I stammered to find the right words to say. I think I said something like, you were great, show was awesome, it's my first time going, may I please have your autograph? He said sure and signed my little notebook (which coinsidently has a black cat on the cover) He signed it: (My Name here), Best Wishes McCree O'Kelley I thanked him and then we all left. As we walked outside I saw McCree talking with another cast member. Mom suggested I try to get his autograph too. I approached him and asked him for his autograph too. Turns out the man I asked was Stan Stanley, Rum Tum Tugger. So that was my AWESOME trip to CATS on Febuary 12, 2002 TO CAST (If they're reading this) You were all incredible! Thank you SO much for a great evening! I can't say enough for how incredible you all are. I only wish that I could do something to thank you (Especially McCree and Stan) to thank you for a magical (hehe) and wonderful evening! Okay, I recently heard from Mr. Bermingham saying that he missed me. He said that he saw me, but didn't know that it was me who had e-mailed him, or something like that. Basically what happened while waiting for him was this guys comes out and sees me. He says, "Opps, you're not Karen!" and walks out. THAT WAS HIM! ::smacks forehead:: Oi...So I Could've met Bryce Bermingham, that great Mungojerrie, but instead I got to meet my favorite character: MISTOFFELEES!!!!!! (Thanks again McCree!!!!!)  Home |
