I'm the WereCats dude

ooh okay, where to start...

I guess I should start with some of the backstory lore - Old Deuteronomy and Grizabella were turned around the same time, fell in love and got married. After a decade or so, they decided that they would create a found family of werecats, be they born, abandoned, or turned. They agreed that they would never turn anybody else, as to not put anyone else through the trauma of being turned. Throughout the years, the tribe became so large and spread out, Deuteronomy decided to gather everyone once a year to catch up, celebrate, and sacrifice one of their own to their god, The Everlasting Cat. The chosen sacrifice will get the chance to be reborn into a new Jellicle life. As the years went by, they tried to have children of their own, only to discover in the late 1890's that Grizabella was infertile. Desperate to raise children and have a family of her own, Grizabella found two young orphan brothers (Munkustrap and Tugger) fending for themselves in the streets and impulsively turned them. She lied to Deuteronomy for decades, but accidentally admitted the truth to him in 1987, causing him to banish her from the tribe.

Munkustrap, being the older brother, is next in line to become the Jellicle Leader, and this year is his big test, running the Jellicle Ball - at the end, Old Deut passes over leadership (inspired by Tecklenburg). Tugger is referred to as the "Party Prince" and relishes being the centre of attention.

I think I alluded to it in the tags of my last post, but Victoria starts the show as a human ballerina taking a short-cut home after class, only to get chased down and attacked by Macavity and the Henchcats during the Overture. they drag her off in the climax of the piece, and instead of a car passing by, we hear Victoria's scream of agony as she turns for the first time. she re-emerges where the boot usually drops, and the Mystical Cats (Misto, Jemima, Cori and Tanto) bestow her with the knowledge of the Jellicles.

relationships time!!! so Old Deut and Griz are divorced, obvi. Tuggofelees are together!!! they're monogamous, but Tugger plays into the flirting from his fans, Misto playing the "jealous" boyfriend. they're very healthy in their relationship, though. (I have lots of little choreo and blocking bits between the two of them - including the pas du deux being between them instead of Victoria and Plato, since Viccy's just met these people lol). Munkustrap is poly - he's in a relationship with Alonzo and with Demeter, Demeter is also with Bomba (hopefully that makes sense lol). speaking of Deme - her and Macavity are Jemima's bio parents (let's just say that her conception wasn't entirely Deme's idea... Mac has broken every human law... but Everlasting Cat be damned if she wouldn't protect that kid with her life).

(I'll do more delving into the Jellicle tree later - I've got lore for pretty much every single character lol)

okay, I've gotta eat dinner, but I'll go more into the plot later. (I know I've barely scraped the surface sorry!!)

I've finally done/refined all the WereCats swing makeup designs! I know I've posted some of them, but I wanna put them all together, so there's gonna be some that you've likely seen before. They all keep their names and designs when they're on to cover a track (though they will adopt the name of a track if that character is named in Naming, just due to blocking). They'll also be in full costume and makeup for every show, so they can go into the audience in the dress circle during moments like Naming, Jellicle Ball and Mr Mistoffelees (and maybe intermission) if they're not on for a cover track. The rest of the time, they'll be in the booth with the booth singers (who, themselves, get a chance to go onstage as humans in the Mungo & Rumple flashbacks). Kittens first:

Apollo: Covers all the male ensemble kitten tracks (Pouncival, George, Carbucketty, Tumblebrutus, Bill Bailey) and is the emergency/4th cover for Mungojerrie.

His design is a bit of a hodge-podge of a few different inspo references, and this is the second/revised design of what I originally had

Calliope: Covers all the female ensemble kitten tracks (Sillabub, Electra, Etcetera, Olivia) and is the 4th cover for Jemima

Her design is inspired in part by Mexico Tour Sillabub and other pink-designed Jemibubs I've found in my reference research! pink baby!

Patches: He covers all the male ensemble kitten tracks as well as the tracks for Gilbert, Admetus and the Henchcats (James, Jonathan, Peter). He's also the 4th cover for Mistoffelees.

His design is pretty much exactly just the og London Patches swing design.

Spike: She covers all the female ensemble kitten tracks as well as Fantazia, Autumn and Luna. She's also the 4th cover for Rumpleteazer and Coricopat.

Her design is mostly inspired by Noily Prat from the 2000s/2010s Austrilasia tours with a little Jemibub inspo, and using a blue and red colour pallet.

Eliot: (named after T.S. Eliot!!) He covers the tracks for the Henchcats (James, Jonathan, Peter), Gilbert, Plato, Admetus and Augustus. He's also the 4th cover for Alonzo, Tugger and Skimbleshanks.

His design is based off the updated Patches looks some recent masc swings have used for promo pics, as well as some of the updated George looks.

Paisley: She covers the tracks for Exotica, Autumn, Fantasia, Griddlebone, Muriad, Luna, Athena and Circe. She's also the 4th cover for Jellylorum, Tantomile and Victoria.

Her design was kinda a freestyle using some pics from 80's/90's productions as inspo. I think she turned out pretty cute!

Socrates: He covers the tracks for Victor, Augustus, Plato, Admetus and the Henchcats (James, Jonathan, Peter). He's also the 4th cover for Gus, Munkustrap and Old Deut/Bustopher.

His design is based on updated George designs, specifically Harry Smallman's George from the South Africa tour.

Mesca: She covers the tracks for Cassandra, Exotica, Hysperia, Griddlebone and Athena. She's also the 2nd cover for Grizabella and the 4th cover for Bombalurina, Demeter and Jennyanydots.