#cats40

(Sydney 1985: Laura Hamilton/Bishop as Rumpelteazer, Grant Smith as Bustopher, and Christopher Hall as Mistoffelees)

Time for the fifth production for my CATS 40th anniversary series: Australia 1985!

This production’s a tricky one - mostly because I am not aware of any footage for the first twenty years or more. By that stage, of course, it isn’t ‘the’ Australian production, but a whole family of productions sprung from that one source.

(Melbourne 1987: Femi Taylor as Bombalurina, and Sean Hingston as Plato)

Properly speaking, it’s the parent of the Hamburg production (though that later drew closer to the Broadway tradition). The original production continued like a long-stop tour for about a decade...

(A great shot from 1993 of the characteristic wig shapes (which only got wider from then on!).)

At the end of the 1990s it evolved in the Australian 'circus tent' tour. That was the basis for the South Africa / World Tour production (2001–05)...

(Circus tent tour, c. 2000: finale, and Cara Dinley as Demeter.)

... then it was also the parent of the the Korean productions in 2008 and 2011, the Australasian production of 2007–10, the China production of 2012, and the 2014 Asia tour.

From a technical point of view, it’s also the parent of the 2015 Australia revival and the 2017 and 2020 Asia tours, though the former was a curious hybrid of designs and the latter two have adopted the London revival designs and changes. So the major continuity is in management and a few key cast / artistic members who have been present though that transition (e.g., Thalia Burt, Holly Meegan, Aaron Lynch, and particularly Andrew Dunne).

But since I'm focussing on the earlier productions for this project, let's close with the curtain call sequence from the 2011 Korean production! Some actual footage, hoorah.

The first eight cats are the swings: all named, bringing the total number of cats up to 30!

So far as I can make out they are:

Girls (left to right): Jemima, Etcetera, Electra, Olivia

Boys (left to right): George, Victor, Admetus, Quaxo

Then the sequence is:

Fourth production for my CATS 40th anniversary series:

Shiki/Japan 1983! This clip is the Jellicle Ball, from the 2000 bootleg in Nagoya.

This is technically a replica, but many elements of set, costume design, and choreography are significantly altered from Napier, Lynne, and Nunn's original. The Jellicle Ball is a good example of these changes, with its shifts in pacing and blocking from the Western traditions of the ball.  

One particularly noticeable example is that it's the psychic 'twins' who dance the closest equivalent to the pas de deux - although they have swapped names with Cassandra and Tumblebrutus, and are often played as lovers rather than twins.  

It's difficult to name cast members for Shiki, as maintain two or three alternates for each role almost all the time. We do know some names, however, and judging by those I think the date is probably c. 20/07/2000:  

Seventh in this 40th anniversary celebration series: Amsterdam, 1987! This production ran for a couple of years, halted (or, depending on your point of view, became Paris 1989–90), then resumed as a semi-new production in 1992. This is 'Grizabella the Glamour Cat' from 1987.

I love the way Mistoffelees has just begun to join in with Tugger's dance when he senses the intruder - and how he's the one to sense and signal Bustopher's entrance too. But because he's mute, it takes them all a while to catch on in the first instance - and in the second, he does a little bit of miming to signal who it is!

Also, Pouncival's 'oh oops, I earned the Munkuglare, I wasn't meant to attack the weird creepy lady?' cringe/skitter is adorable.

Ruth Jacott is Grizabella and Kyle Boynton is Munkustrap. Beyond that, I'm not certain - I've only got this recording recently and haven't studied it closely enough to narrow down the cast list - so here's the (relevant) first cast at this point:

- Bombalurina: Jina Broughten

- Demeter: Debbie Jenner

- Jellylorum: Jackie van Oppen

- Jennyanydots: Renée Knapp

- Mistoffelees: Kevin Poe / Jamie Cohen

- Pouncival: Frans Schraven

- Rum Tum Tugger: Fred Butter

- Sillabub: Nancy Nijenhuis

- Tumblebrutus: Ton Voogt / David Ward

Sixth in my 40th anniversary CATS celebration: the Hamburg production, beginning in 1986!

Since I've posted a lot from this production (especially the 1999 bootleg, but also from 1995) I'm doing something a little different for today: looking at the process of 'becoming', rather the final performance.

This is an abridged version of a 1991 documentary of Frank Tiedemann joining the company and rehearsing for the role of Mungojerrie. I've cut out all the bits of long talking and reflection in German (if anybody wants them I can upload the complete version), to focus on just the cats. So we see them messing around behind the scene, we see him being fitted for his wig and learning his makeup and rehearsing with Rumpelteazer, and finally some snippets of performance.

(Incidentally, near the start, there's a cute moment where Rumpelteazer hops up on Alonzo's back, the Plato pretends he's about to piggyback on her at the same time!)

This week, beginning with 11 May 2021 - the 40th anniversary of the premier in London - I'm posting a series of clips and tributes to all the major productions in the first 25 years or so of the show's history.

At the end of that series, I will be posting access to my collection of bootlegs, and to my gifs folder! They'll be downloadable for two weeks. Stay tuned!

This is the masterpost, and links to all the posts in the series will be under the cut.

A Q&A celebrating the 40th Birthday of the musical CATS joined by Cats cast alumini:

Jacqui Scott (Grizabella, London and UK tour, 1991–95)

Jeff Leyton (Deuteronomy, London 1995)

Barbara King (Rumpleteazer, Demeter, Jennyanydots, Grizabella, London production and various UK tours from 1989 to 2008)

Paul McCready (Carbuckety and Mungojerrie, UK tour 1995)

Next in this little series of earlier productions for the 40th anniversary: Buenos Aires! 'Bustopher Jones' - and also the end of 'Grizabella the Glamour Cat', because those ladies are beautiful.

This production followed on from the Mexico tour of 1991, with only a little adjustment to design and cast. (Eg, swing Admetus has vanished, but Quaxo is still there.)

When they arrange themselves around Bustopher on his seat, Munkustrap and Alonzo are behind Mistoffelees, and Plato and Coricopat are behind Skimbleshanks. (Plato looks almost like a black and white Alonzo, with a very stark contrast between his dark patches and white body.) Pounce and Tumble of course are on the ground in front of Bustopher (Pounce on Mistoffelees' side and Tumble on Skimble's), and I think Quaxo is with the girls.

The 'inspection' line-up, left to right, is Pouncival, Tumble, Alonzo, Quaxo, Plato, Coricopat, Misto, Munkustrap. And delightfully, at the end, Jenny swoons into Jelly's arms!

The gentlemen: Martín O'Connor (Bustopher), ?Miguel Angel Elías (Mistoffelees), Darío Petruzio (Skimbleshanks), Robertino Loras (Munkustrap), Reginaldo Pereira (Alonzo), Diego Jaraz (Plato), Luis del Valle (Coricopat), ?Ariel Stollier (Pouncival), Oscar Machado (Tumblebrutus), Diego Funes (Quaxo).