Cats
OPENING: October 7, 1982
CLOSING: September 10, 2000
Seen: June 1985
LOCATION: Winter Garden Theatre
Is there anything better than seeing and discussing theatre with good friends?
As far as I am concerned, there is not. It is one of life’s greatest gifts to be able to pick a part of theater; what worked, what didn’t worked, what we liked what we didn’t….it’s delightful.
The downside to this is that among a group of friends, there will always be one performer that one person loves who the rest of the group will give her the side eye for….or a musical that divides the group. In my circle of theatre goers, there is a musical that clearly holds this title. To the point where when we were crossing 45th Street on our way to pre-show lunch last June, someone was making a joke about another girl and ended it with “That’s okay, we still love her, even if her favorite musical is Cats.” To which Rebecca responded “But I love Cats too!”
Don’t get me wrong – Cats has some good moments. It is a show that relies on spectacle, which is why Rebecca loves it and I can rip it to shreds without giving it a second thought. And this is why it ran for as long as it did and holds such a controversial place in musical theatre history.
On the surface, it’s easy to understand – a bunch of ally cats doing gymnastics, rubbing up against the audience like real cats would. But truthfully, the plot – if you can follow it – is a bit darker. Based on T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, it opens on the night of the Jellicle Ball, the night that all the cats gather to tell their stories to Old Deuteronomy in hopes of being the one chosen to ascend to the heavenside layer.
I have often said that ALW did many an illicit substance in his early career. I think this show is proof of that.
Alas, despite my wary nature of high spectacle on stage, Cats was lauded when it opened in London in 1981 and it transferred to Broadway in 1982. Despite being a London transfer, the transition was not a quick one. Set designer John Napier settled on the newly renovated Winter Garden Theater for Cats’s New York home only after he was given the okay to paint the gilded theater black, extend the stage, remove the asbestos safety curtain, and cut holes into the house floors and plaster. Were the Shuberts on board with this? Not initially.
And the audition and rehearsal process was also a grueling one. The production team needed to double the number of understudies needed for the sheer reason that the show, frankly, is a dangerous one for the dancers. The audition process also took months as Andrew Lloyd Webber and Trevor Nunn were meticulous about who was going to be attending the Jellicle Ball on Broadway. And once the cats were cast – the first few weeks were not spent dancing. They were spent crawling around the floor learning how to be cats.
But the payoff was immediate. It was unlike anything audiences had seen – cast members were popping out of trap doors in the house, rubbing up against audience members, and hanging from the mezzanine. Many audience members were enthralled by it; some were not. In a 2019 interview with Vulture magazine, original Broadway cast member Terrence Mann talks about how he attempted to pull legendary choreographer Bob Fosse on stage when he saw him in the audience during a performance one night. Fosse told him in no uncertain terms no. Forty years later, Mann is a legend in his own right – would Fosse be so quick to dismiss him? We will never know.
Cats was nominated for eleven Tonys and won seven, including Best Musical, Best Direction for Trevor Nunn, and Best Actress for Betty Buckley.
But the real triumph for Cats is its legacy. The show opened on October 7th, 1982….and did not close until September 10, 2000. That’s almost 18 years on Broadway. If Cats were a kid, it would have graduated high school. It beat out Chorus Line for longest running Broadway musical and held the record until Phantom of the Opera, another Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, overtook it on January 9, 2006. Currently, three other shows (the Chicago revival, The Lion King, and Wicked) have surpassed it, but at the time it was an absolutely astounding run that no one in 1982 could have seen coming.
By 1982, the era of experimental Broadway theater was in full swing. There is no denying it whatsoever. I think it is safe to say that shows like Cats cement this. What Cats also did was cement Andrew Lloyd Webber’s place in the Broadway landscape. By the time Cats opened in New York, Evita was still running, continuing his streak of having a show on Broadway that did not end until June 2023.
Did my Dad like it? I’m not sure. I can tell you he didn’t hate it – there was another show (A straight play) that season that he and my mom saw that he famously hated – and he does not have the Playbill for it, which means he threw it out in disgust. And that made me sad, because I had a friend in that cast and I actually went looking for it to see if my parents saw my friend and cast member. The Playbill for Cats survived, which means at the very least he did not have vitriol towards it.
As for me? Now that I’m older and can appreciate the sheer skill required for Cats, maybe I’ll give it another shot. Maybe I’ll understand it a little bit better. And maybe there will be another movie adaptation that’s not quite as creepy as the 2019 version – a version where they won’t have to change the ending once it’s in theaters.
Because let’s be honest – as Shubert producer Bernard Jacobs predicted: Cats, Now and Forever.
CAST: REPLACEMENT
ALONZO: Brian Sutherland
BUSTPOHER JONES/ASPARAGUS/GROWLTIGER: Timothy Jerome
BOMBALURINA: Marlene Danielle
CARBUCKETTY: Steven Gelfer
CASSANDRA: Charlotte D’Amboise
CORICOPAT/MUNGOJERRIE: Joe Antony Cavise
DEMETER: Jane Bodle
ETCETERA/RUMPLETEAZER: Paige Dana
GRIZABELLA: Laurie Beechman
JELLYLORUM/GRIDDLEBONE: BONNIE SIMMONS
JENNYANYDOTS: Anna McNeely
MISTOFFELEES: Michael Scott Gregory
MUNKUSTRAP: Claude R. Tessier
OLD DEUTERONOMY: Kevin Marcum
PLATO/MACAVITY/RUMPUS CAT: Scott Wise
POUNCIVAL: Wellington Perkins
RUM TUM TUGGER: Terrence V. Mann
SILLABUB: Denise DiRenzo
SKIMBLESHANKS: Robert Burnett
TANTOMILE: SUNDAY LEIGH LEAKE
TUMBLEBRUTUS: JAY POINDEXTER
VICTORIA: Valerie C. Wright
THE CATS CHORUS: JANENE LOVULLO, BILL NOLTE, SUSAN POWERS, JOEL ROBERTSON
UNDERSTUDIES: Brian Andrews (Alonzo, Carbucketty, Pouncival, Tumblebrutus); Rene Clemente (Alonzo, Coricopat/Mungojerriem Mistoffelees); Mark Frawley (Alonzo, Coricopat/Mungojerrie, Rum Tug Tugger, Skimbleshanks); Jack Magradey (Alonzo, Carbucketty, Coricopat/Mungojerrie, Munkustrap, Rum Tug Tugger, Skimbleshanks); Joel Robertson (Bustopher/Asparagus/Growltiger); Nora Brennan (Bombalurina, Cassandra, Tantomile); Deborah Henry (Bombarlurina, Cassandra, Demeter, Grizabella); Steven Hack (Carbucketty, Coricopat/Mungojerrie, Pouncival, Tumblebrutus); Lily-Lee Wong (Cassandra, Etcetera/Rumpleteazer, Tantomile, Victoria); Denise DiRenzo (Demeter, Etcetera/Rumpletezer, Grizabella, Tantomile); Jane Bodle (Etcetera/Rumpleteazer, Sillabub, Tantomile); Dodie Pettit (Etcetera/Rumpleteazer, Jellylorum/Griddlebone, Jennyanydots, Sillabub, Tantomile, Victoria), Janene Lovullo (Grizabella, Jellylorum/Griddlebone); Susan Powers (Jellylorum/Griddlebone, Jennyanydots); Joe Anthony Cavise (Mistoffelees); Ramon Galindo (Mistoffelees); Brian Sutherland (Munkustrap, Plato/Macavity/Rumpus Cat); Bill Nolte (Old Deuteronomy); Claude R. Tessier (Rum Tug Tugger); Scott Wise (Tumblebrutus); and Paige Dana (Victoria).
Bordman, Gerald. “American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle.” New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1978.
Bruner, Raisa. “What’s a Jellicle, Anyway? Everything You Need To Know About Cats Before You See The Movie.” Time, December 18, 2019. https://time.com/5628824/cats-movie-musical-explained/
The Official Cats the Musical Website. https://www.catsthemusical.com/. Accessed December 2023.
Langmuir, Molly. “’It Became This Joke. But It Was The Most Spectacular Thing Of It’s Time.’ An Oral History of Cats On Broadway, as told by its original cats.” Vulture, December 19, 2019. https://www.vulture.com/2019/12/cats-oral-history-as-told-by-its-cats.html
Masseron, Meg. “All the Times Phantom of the Opera Made History on Broadway.” Playbill, January 26, 2023. https://playbill.com/article/35-years-of-phantom-of-the-operas-history-making-moments-on-broadway
Tony Awards. www.tonyawards.com. Accessed December 2023.
