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May 19, 2000
In May of last year when I was
in NYC to see CATS the weather was
cool and breezy even thought
it was like 80 degrees the week before.
Well, this year was no different,
LOL. Not only was it cool but it was
raining too. Which made difficult
to get to NYC on time to meet my
friends. When I arrived an hour
late and finally got a cab, which took
another hour. We arrived at the
Hotel to find that another friends plane
was also delayed because it caught
fire, she arrive a few minutes
before it was time to get to
the Winter Garden Theatre.We went to get
a cab to the theatre and we were
told by the door man at out hotel that
we couldn't get one for a half
an hour. One of my friends said nonsence
and we walked down to the next
corner and got a cab right away.
We arrived at the theatre five
minutes later then we expected because
we had Cookies and presents for
the cast that Jessica had made and
she wanted to drop them off before
the cast arrive. We left the theatre
did some stuff and got back in
time to see the show.
I had a ticket for row A seat
9 and my friend had Row AA #9 right in
front of me. As I looked over
the playbill I noticed that there were a lot
of the regular cast members were
out. Mark Moreau was standin for
Tumblebrutus (Patrick Mullaney
was on vacation), Jonathan Taylor was
in for Mungojerrie (Roger Kachel
was hurt his foot), Susan Somerville
was standin for Rumpleteazer
(Tesha was out sick) Susan is normally in
the CATS chorus off stage. Melissa
Hathway was standin for Victoria,
Billy Sprague, JR. was standin
for Munkustrap and Amy Hamel was
making her B'Way debut in CATs
as Tantomile (congrat's Amy).
Whheeeww!..... that's a lot of
changes for one show, LOL. Oppsss!
almost forgot one, Larissa Thurston
was standin for Cassandra. If you
ever read this Larissa I'm truely
sorry.
Being on the opposite side of
the stage this time was very interesting
(we usually sit on the right
side of the stage). During "The Naming of
Cats" we had Mungojerrie, Munkustrap,
Alonzo, Rumpleteazer and
Bombs. in front of us. When they
stir I can't help but laugh. Part way
through the song they all leave
and we have Mistoffelees in front of us
stirring. He's very good at this,
if it were me sitting in the front row I
would have brust out laughing.
In todays show I noticed that
Stephen Bienskie (Rum Tum Tugger) was
back from vacation. Yeah! He
got a dance partner with a little help from
the audience, and she did a beautiful
job.
In the Bustopher Jones Song, Alonzo
keep pushing poor little Pouncival
out of his way. Than I saw Tumblebrutus
constantly pulling on
Pouncivals tail. It was so funny
because we saw Poor Pouncival trying
to fix his tail or feeling to
see if it was still there every once in a while.
During the Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer
song, they seamed to be a
bit off today. But the funnist
part was at the end of the song when
Jellylorum and Munkustrap pick
up the socks off the floor and throw
them to Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer.
They are suppose to catch the
socks but Mungojerrie missed
his he laughed and shruged his shoulders,
grabbed Rumpleteazer's from her
and smiled She had such a surprised
look on her face. LOL.
Old Deuteronomy song: The Tugger
was so funny back there on the tire
trying to get Old Deuteronmy.
Hey! did I just see Tugger lose his
footing on the tire back there.
LOL. But he's so good he made it look
like it was part of what was
suppose to happen.
The Awefull Battle Of The Pekes
And The Pollicles was funny as usual
and Rumpus Cat looked like he
got pretty up when he made his
enterence.
The Jellicle Ball was WOW! I don't think I need to say anything more.
The rest of the show was pertty
much the same, with the exception of
Growltiger. It was kind of different
seeing Munkustrap being play
differently, and Billy Sprage
didn't do the parrot thingy that I could see.
Also he laided pretty far back
on the top deck while the crew was below
deck. OH, and Jonathan Taylor
played Genghis really good tonight too.
During The Addressing Of Cats
we had Alonzo and Munkustrap in front
of us and those faces that Alonzo
was doing were soooo funny. LOL. My
friend and I thought we were
going to die laughing. The best part was
that he was doing it on purpose
and got a big kick out of us giggling.
Thanks everyone for a good time
and I'll back for our 2nd show from
this GREAT! weekend.
May 20, 2000, 8:00pm
For this evenings show we had
box seats, I've never sat in them
before, but WOW! are they cool.
There are only 4 seats to a box and
there are four boxes on each
side of the theatre. We sat in the lower
boxes on the left side of the
theatre. The other couple that sat with us
have never saw CATS so they asked
us a little about the show. During
the show we helped them out with
the name of some of the characters.
For this performance we had Craig
Walezko as stand-in for Munkustrap,
Billy Sprague Jr. stand-in for
Coricopat, Billy Johnstone as stand-in for
Mungojerrie, Kurt van Schmittou
stand-in for Old Deuteronomy, Mark
Moreau stand-in for Tumblebrutus.
I think that's all the changes for this
show.
As the show started the cats with
the blinking eyes came out and here
I was a bit disappointed because
I thought, Hmmm, no cats are going
to come way up here. Than all
of a sudden I felt something touch me
from behind, I let out a "yelp",
turned and saw Cassandra standing
there with her blinking eyes.
LOL. My friend that was with me almost
fell on the floor because she
was laughing so hard. I said WOW! that
was so cool, laughing myself.
What a great way to start a show.
Cindy, Tesha Buss (Rumpleteazer)
Billy Johnstone (Mungojerrie)
For The Naming Of Cats, we had the same
cats in front of us as we did
the Friday night because we were
sitting on the same side of the
theatre. At the part in the song
when the Cats all move to different
places in the theatre. We had
the twins come up on our ledge for a
short time and than they moved
on up to the balcony. It was so cool to
have them so close up saying
the poem. I mean they were practicality
sitting in our laps. LOL.
As I mentioned up above Billy
Johnstone stoodin for Mungojerrie today
and all I can say is WOW! was
he a terrific Mungojerrie, and he has such
a beautiful voice. You could
really tell Billy loves doing Mungojerrie, in
case any of you didn't know Billy
played Mungojerrie when he was in
the CATS tour. With Tesha superb
portail of Rumpleteazer and Billy
excellent Mungojerrie they were
such a good team together. before the
show Billy told us he was going
to be doing Mungojerrie today and
Sunday. So for this trip to NY
we got to see Billy do two different roles,
WOW! what a treat. P> At the
first appearance of Grizabella, Alonzo
pushed Sillabub out of Grizabella's
way and than tried to make up to her
but she was scared of him and
clung onto Jennyanydots leg with
Victoria. It was soooo cute!
On the Peke and Pollicle song,
Alonzo must have been feeling a bit
frisky today because here he
kept pushing poor little Rumpleteaszer
around. Of course Rumpleteazer
wasn't going to let Alonzo keep her
from sliding under Munkustrap
legs while he was telling about the
Peke's and Pollicels. Munkustrap
being the leader that he is didn't let
Rumpleteazer's playing around
interfere with anything. He was soooo
serious.
During intermission the cast told
my friend and I that they could hear us
cheering through out the show.
In fact they said it sounded like it
started on one side of the theatre
and just spread across to the other
side.
I missed the beginning of the
show after intermission, so I didn't get to
see the funny things the cast
does as they come back on stage.
Skimbleshanks song was so funny.
The part where Skimbleshanks is up
stage singing and the cats in
the back are fooling around was too much,
especially Coricopat and Pouncival.
Pouncival moved Coricopat out of his
place so he could take Coricopats
place. Coricopat wasn't taking
anything off of Pouncival. Coricopat
just picked Pouncival up and threw
him way up high in the air and
out of the way. WOW! I mean I've never
seen anyone threw poor Pouncival
that high up before. LOL.
The Macavity fight was really
cool to watch from our box seats. It didn't
look as scary either, it was
actually very interesting or after 22 shows
I'm getting used to Macavity
being spun and thrown around by Alonzo.
The Addressing Of Cats was just
as good as friday evening and Alonzo
of course found us up in the
box seats, I wonder if it was all that
cheering we did that gave us
away. LOL. OMG! I think I may lose my
voice. Anyway as I said Alonzo
found us, and started making those
funny faces of his again and
of course we laughed till we started to cry.
I think the couple in the box
seats with us thought we were crazy. While
we laughed at Alonzo they laughed
at us.
After the show we met the cast
and talked, and Julius Sermonia
(Mistoffelees) told us that he
loved our cheering, and at Sunday's show,
tomorrow he wants a rock concert.
We all laughed and said "ok you got
it".
May 21, 2000 Sunday "Rock concert" (COMING SOON)
Before the show today my four
friends and I met some friends from
Cats Musicals.net forum. I hope
I get their names right but if I don't
girls please don't hate me. We
met Aurora, seduces, and Kate. They
weren't hard to find because
the were all dressed as Cats. Also, we met
up with Jack Shot again, Hector,
ails Cat Morgan and another friend
after the show, Friskywhiskers.
We told told everyone about Julius's
request for today's show and
they all agreed to help out with the rock
concert. LOL.
In today's show we were happy
to see Jeffry Denman back as
Munkustrap. Mark Moreau was still
standing in for Tumblebrutus, in for
Old Deuteronomy was Kurt von
Schmittou from the CATS chorus, Angel
Caban for Bombalurina, Billy
Sprague Jr.standin for Coricopat, Billy
Jonstone for Mungojerrie.
We had seats in Rows C & D,
I sat in C 2 today on the end at the
bottom of the ramp.
On with the show, Naming Of Cats
cool but Alonzo wa on the other side
of the stage, we had Skimbleshanks
and Coricopat, I'm not too sure of
the others. When all the Cats
go out into the audience Old Deuteronomy
would lay in the middle of the
stage saying his lines.
The Invitation To The Jellicle
Ball has got to be one of the most powerful
songs in the show. Everytime
I hear the cast sing it I just sit in my seat
in awe! The power behind this
song just blows me away, you can feel
the cast voices going right though
your body, and than all of a sudden it
comes to an abrupt holt. WOW!
Here's some friends we met at
the show. SadieCass, Aurora and Kat. Aren't their costumes GREAT!
Now for the most exciting
part of the show today, The Rum Tum Tugger
song. Well, it started like it
normally does, Tugger came CRASHING
through the trap door yelling.
He did his number so perfit today, by the
way. When it came time for him
to do his dance with the audience
member he ran down the ramp next
to me, and it looked as if he was
going to run right pass me but
NO!, he stopped right beside me and held
out his hand with that beautiful
smile on his face. I was so stunned that
I just sat there, LOL. But reality
and excitement returned as I got up
and danced with the Cat of my
dreams. WOW!!! While we were dancing
he said "see what happens when
you sit in a end seat" I was so excited
that I just laughed and danced
on. After the dance I can't remember
what happened for the rest of
the song. In fact I can't remember what
happened till the 2nd act, I
needed intermission to recover. Now I can
see why all the kitten fall all
over him. LOL.
Bustopher Jones song: When Bustopher
was making his entrance
Pouncival started to crawl towards
the back of the stage. Mistoffelees
saw him and tried to guide him
to the back of the stage and out of the
way. He got in Alonzo's way,
and Alonzo kicked him out of his way and
into Tumblebrutus's way who also
pushed Pouncival away, and than
back into Alonzo's path who again
pushed Pouncival away. By the end
poor pouncival was so abused
by the others that he was so exhausted
he look drunk or like he was
going to pass out. Jon-Erik did such a good
acting job here that we thought
for a minute that he wasn't really
feeling good. But once the music
for the Macavity scare played he
jumped up and off the stage so
quick we could tell he was ok. LOL.
During the Macavity scare when
the cast all leave the stage Demeter
came and curled up under a chair
behind row C, infront of row K. She
stayed there not moving through
the next song.
The Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer
song was just as good as
yesterday, nothing different.
Everyone in my party thought that Billy
and Teasha did such a good job.
So I just had to make mention of the
song in my report.
During intermission I had finally
calmed down a little from my dance
with Tugger, but I can tell you
I don't think I'll ever completely recover.
LOL. Anyway some man in a suit
that was with other men in suits
walked by me and said "hey great
dance with Tugger" with the thumbs
up jesture, I thank him of course.
We all laughed and he disappeared
out the back stage door. Again,
because we were too busy talking to
friends we missed the cast coming
back on stage at the begining of act
2.
Nothing different during Gus,
Growltiger, or Skimbleshanks except that
they were all performed exceptionally
well.
The Macavity song was the same
but I just had to give The Big Mac a
mention and of course there's
also Alonzo who gives Macavity a pretty
good fight. Great Job guys.
Now to Mr. Mistoffelees song,
as I told you at the beginning Julius
(Misto) asked that we give him
a "Rock Concert" today so we decided
that we would do this during
his number. We really cheered him on
through out the song. At the
end when he goes up to the front of the
stage, and is kneeling on one
knee. The cast, with hands joined
together come forward and grab
his hands which he's supposed to have
extended up in the air, but because
Misto was too busy basking in all
the applauding, screaming and
hooting he wasn't ready. So the two cast
members on each side of him just
grab him under his arms and picked
him up. LOL. He was a little
startled but recovered quickly. LOL.
Mistoffelees did 33 turns today,
way to go Julius!
During the Addressing Of Cats
I found myself looking over to the other
side of the stage to see Alonzo,
and see if he was making those silly
faces of his. But most of my
attention was on the Cats in front of us like
Mistoffelees, Demeter, Plato,
Victoria and some others. I love all the
faces when Old Deut sings about
the food, you just have to laugh.
As the cast all leave the stage
and go out into the audience to wait for
their turn to take a bow, Tugger
came to row K, behind us, his favorite
place. A little child that was
sitting in that row got up and sat on his
mommy lap so Tugger could sit
in his seat, LOL, it was so cute. We all
laughed and before Tugger left
he shook the childs hand. LOL.
After the show we waited by the
stage door with all our friends to wait
for the cast, we took lots of
pictures of the cast and friends in silly
poses. I know I always say this
but it's the truth when I say that this
was one of the best shows I've
seen. LOL until next time. Thank You
Cast and friends and see you
all in June at the "Fan Get Together".
CAST Alonzo........Lenny Daniel
Bustopher Jones/Asparagus/Growltiger.....John Dewar
Bombalurina........Angel Caban
Cassandra..........Melissa Rae Mahon
Coricopat..........Billy Sprague Jr.
Demeter............Celina Carvajal
Grizabella.........Linda Balgord
Jellylorum/Griddlebone...Jean Aebeiter
Jennyanydots.......Sharon Wheatley
Mistoffelees.......Julius Sermonia
Mungojerrie........Billy Johnstone
Munkustrap.........Jeffry Denman
Old Deuteronomy....Kurt von Schmittou
Plato/Macavity/Rumpus Cat...Keith Edward Wilson
Pouncival..........Jon-Erik Goldberg
Rumpleteazer.......Tesha Buss
Rum Tum Tugger.....Stephen Bienskie
Sillabub...........Maria Jo Ralabate
Skimbleshanks......James Hadley
Tantomile..........Amy Hamel
Tumblebrutus.......Mark Moreau
Victoria...........Missy Lay Zimmer
The CATS Chorus....Joel Briel, Susan Somerville, Hiedi Stallings
