#cats jonathan

When the cats form their pyramid, it’s the best time to “take attendance” and make sure you know who everyone is. A few cats were missing from the tire choir, and that’s not uncommon in stage productions, but this pyramid usually has everyone there.

As a quick recap of who everyone is:

From Left to Right

Top Row: Plato, Alonzo, Munkustrap (a bit hidden), Old Deuteronomy, Coricopat, Tugger, George

Second Row: Tumblebrutus, Cassandra, Bombalurina, Asparagus, Skimbleshanks, Exotica

Third Row: Jellylorum, Mistoffelees, Jennyanydots, Grizabella, Tantomile, Mungojerrie

Bottom Row: Electra, Rumpleteazer, Demeter, Pouncival, Jemima, Etcetera, Victoria

The Naming of Cats lists the names of several characters, but because those characters are never directly addressed by name, you wouldn’t know it. Out of every name listed in the number, James is the only one that has never been used for a character in a production of cats.

You’ll notice that Asparagus has been circled. That’s because newer American (2016-) productions have a character with this costume only in the opening, played by whoever plays Bustopher/Gus, who is credited as Peter.

One South Korean production named an extra Augustus. I haven’t been able to find a picture of him.

And Alonzo is circled, because Alonzo is Alonzo.

Okay, more circles, more trivia.

Once again with American productions after 2016, they gave separate names and characterizations to the costumes the actors playing Old Deuteronomy and Tugger wear in the opening. Old Deuteronomy is called Victor and Tugger is called Bill Bailey.

Out of these opening characters, the only one I know anything about is Bill Bailey, because the most recent American tour cast has filled in some of the gaps. Zach Bravo, currently touring America as Tugger, decided that Bill Bailey was a previous Jellicle Choice who was reborn as Tugger. We can see both because of the whole “linear time” thing I’ve already explained.

Victor is also the name of a character in the original London production, the only character from said production not to be included in the VHS.

A South African production that eventually became a world tour had an extra named Jonathan, who looked pretty much the same as George.

George is circled because George.

Bill Bailey is the London version of Tumblebrutus, so I circled Tumblebrutus as well.

Plato, Electra, and Demeter are all characters in this production. George has also been circled because he’s sometimes credited as Admetus.

Munkustrap and Coricopat are circled because that’s who they are. Mistoffelees is circled because London productions credit him as Quaxo outside of his number. The credits of the VHS don’t do this, so I don’t think 1998 Misto counts as Quaxo, but I circled him anyway.

In productions that use the name, Quaxo and Mistoffelees are usually alter egos of sorts. They’re still the same character, in the same way Clark Kent and Superman are the same character. However, Clark Kent Quaxo can use magic and doesn’t really try to hide it, so the alter ego thing might be a little bit pointless. This is really confusing, which is why this naming convention just doesn’t happen outside the UK.

Two more names, two more circles. Nothing complicated here.

Bonus Fun Fact: TS Eliot’s cat was named Jellylorum, which he included in the poem that became this number. I have no idea where he got the name from, but he was something of an expert in Weird Cat Names.

Other Cats That Appear in Some Productions That TS Eliot Named (but not in any official poem, so you otherwise wouldn’t know): Tantomile, Carbucketty, Pouncival, Sillabub, Noilly Prat, Murad, and probably a few others. Only two of those names are relevant to this production though. Apparently, Tantomile is a name for a witch’s cat and Pouncival is a combination of “pounce” and the name Percival, which is just cute.

Now we get to the part that really only fully works when there’s an audience to interact with. In the video, the cats crawl around the stage a bit and form groups. In a stage production, they crawl around the audience. It’s like the yellow/green eyes during the Overture.

Well, wherever most of the cats go, Victoria wanders off in her own direction. You might notice that as this scene goes on, Victoria starts acting a bit strange.

The Strangeness inspires her to do this: