#Georgina Pazcoguin

[skimblygifs]

[uppastthejelliclemoon]

Tumbletta for the dream cast thingy :>

EASY PEASY THEY’RE IN MY BRAIN 24/7

Kade Hughes and Georgina Pazcoguin my beloveds

It’s literally no secret that Kade is my favorite Tumblebrutus. He just embodies everything I love about the character, his design, his dancing, his personality, just absolutely everything. I love him so so much, and every single time I think of Tumblebrutus, or I imagine him while writing, it’s always Kade’s Tumble.

And Georgina is just… she’s one of my favorite Cats actresses overall, and the video of her performing the Conjuring Turns during that one performance when Ricky was injured pretty much cemented her as my dream casting for Hestia because the Conjuring Turns become one of Hestia’s signature moves, just like her papa! The way she’s so graceful, her interpretations of Victoria’s character, I just know she would be the most perfect choice for my girl.

And the two of them together just 😭 i know they’d do Tumbletta the justice they deserve

[millenari]

"I was meeting Dame Gillian Lynne at 8:30 in the morning, and she would come in like, 'Okay, this [dance move] has to be from the n‌ipples' and I would be like [sputters] I haven't even had a sip of coffee yet! What's going on? (...) She wanted the split to be very slow, and just as I hit the ground she wanted this reverberation through my body. And she would literally be like 'it's like an o‌rgasm, Gina'. And I was like 'it is nine o'clock in the morning!!!'"

Georgina Pazcoguin on the white cat solo

[statisticalcats2]

Seven Cat Calls 2024

Week 13: Victoria

Phyllida Crowley-Smith Francesca Hayward Georgina Pazcoguin

[balanchine-ballet-master]

The Story of the Original "Tea" Dancer

There was a delightful story in the Times on February 4th about George Lee, on whom Balanchine created the Tea variation in The Nutcracker. Here it is.

From Ballet to Blackjack, a Dance Pioneer’s Amazing Odyssey

George Lee was the original Tea in “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker.” A documentary filmmaker found him and a lost part of ballet history in Las Vegas.

By Siobhan Burke Feb. 4, 2024

Among the blaring lights and all-hours amusements of downtown Las Vegas, in a sea of slot machines at the Four Queens Hotel and Casino, George Lee sits quietly at a blackjack table, dealing cards eight hours a day, five days a week, a job he’s been doing for more than 40 years.

Lee, 88, was likely in his usual spot when the filmmaker Jennifer Lin was sifting through old photos at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in 2022, wondering what had become of a dancer with a notable place in ballet history. Pictured in a publicity shot for the original production of “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker,” in the role known as Tea, was a young Asian dancer identified as George Li.

For Lin, a veteran newspaper reporter turned documentarian, the picture raised intriguing questions. In 1954, when the photo was taken, it was rare to see dancers of color on the stage of New York City Ballet, the company Balanchine co-founded. Who was this young man, this breaker of racial barriers, this pioneer? Was he still alive? And if so, what was he up to? “I became absolutely obsessed with trying to find out what happened to George Li,” Lin said in a video interview.

In just over a year, that obsession has blossomed into a short film, “Ten Times Better,” that chronicles the unexpected story of Lee’s life: from his childhood in 1940s Shanghai, where his performing career began; to a refugee camp in the Philippines, where he fled with his mother, a Polish ballet dancer, in 1949; to New York City and the School of American Ballet, where Balanchine cast him in “The Nutcracker” to “Flower Drum Song” on Broadway, his first of many musical theater gigs; and ultimately, to Las Vegas, where he left dance for blackjack dealing in 1980. (He changed the spelling of his last name in 1959, when he became a United States citizen.)

The film will have its premiere on Feb. 10 as part of the Dance on Camera Festival at Film at Lincoln Center. Lee, who last visited New York in 1993, will be in town for the occasion, an opportunity for long-overdue recognition.

“So many years I haven’t done ballet,” Lee said over coffee at the Four Queens on a recent Sunday, after his shift. “And then suddenly Jennifer comes and tries to bring everything up. To me, it was like a shock.”

George Lee today. He has been a blackjack dealer in Las Vegas for more than 40 years. Photo: Saeed Rahbaran for The New York Times

But Lin’s interest has been welcome. “Jennifer is so perfect, she knows exactly everything,” he said. “She knows my background more than I do.”

Lin was not the only one who had been searching for Lee. In 2017, while organizing an exhibition on “The Nutcracker,” Arlene Yu, who worked for the New York Public Library at the time and is now Lincoln Center’s head archivist, was puzzled by the relatively few traces of him in the library’s vast dance collection.

“I think I’d tracked him down to 1961, but after that, it was really hard to find anything,” she said. “Whereas if you look at some of his peers in ‘The Nutcracker’ in 1954, they went on to careers where there was a lot more documentation.”

Lin’s fascination with Lee emerged through her work on another film, about Phil Chan and Georgina Pazcoguin, the founders of Final Bow for Yellowface, an initiative focused on ending offensive depictions of Asians in ballet. The role of Tea, a divertissement historically rife with such stereotypes—in Balanchine’s canonical version of “The Nutcracker” and others—has been a flashpoint in those efforts. Chan, too, had been struck by the 1954 images of “The Nutcracker,” which he came across during a library fellowship in 2020.

“I’m like, wait, there’s actually a Chinese guy,” he said — as opposed to a non-Chinese dancer with the saffron makeup or heavily painted eyes or even the artificial buck teeth worn in some old productions. “Who is this guy? And why do I not know about him?”

The "Tea" variation in The Nutcracker at City Ballet in 2015. The dancers are Ralph Ippolito, Claire Von Enck, and Baily Jones. Photo: Andrea Mohin for The New York Times

Lee, in his heyday, was a dancer to know. At just 12, he was already winning public praise. In a preview of a recital of the King-Yanover School in Shanghai, the North China Daily News called him an “extremely promising young Chinese boy, whose technique is of a very high standard.” A reviewer wrote that he “already may be said to be the best Chinese interpreter of Western ballet.” (Lee saved these newspaper clippings and shared them with Lin when they eventually met.)

Born in Hong Kong in 1935, Lee moved to Shanghai with his mother in 1941, when Shanghai was under Japanese occupation. During World War II, his father, a Chinese acrobat, was in Kunming in western China; he died in an accident on his way to visit Lee in 1945.

Lee’s mother, Stanislawa Lee, who had danced with the Warsaw Opera, was his first ballet teacher; as a child, he would follow along with her daily barre exercises. Shanghai had a significant Russian population, and with that a robust ballet scene. To earn money, Stanislawa arranged for her son to perform in nightclubs—“like a polka dance, or Russian dance, or sailor dance,” Lee said. The clubs would pay them in rice.

Little George Li in his Shanghai days. Photo: George Lee private collection via the NY Times

Fearing the Chinese Communist Party’s takeover in 1949, the two evacuated to the Philippines. An expected four months as refugees turned into two years. In 1951, an American friend of Lee’s father sponsored them to come to New York, where he introduced Lee to the School of American Ballet, City Ballet’s affiliated school.

As Lee narrates these twists and turns in the film, one memory anchors his recollections. Before they immigrated, his mother issued a warning. “You are going to America, it’s all white people, and you better be 10 times better,” he recalls her saying. “Remember that: 10 times better!”

The footage of Lee in his 20s suggests he took that advice to heart. In television appearances — with the company of the ballet star André Eglevsky, and in a number from “Flower Drum Song” on the Ed Sullivan Show — his power and precision dazzle.

“He was good; he was really good,” Chan said. “Clean fifth, high jump, polished turns, stick the landing—the training is all there. He’s already 10 times better than everybody else.”

In a 1979 interview heard in the film, the former City Ballet soloist Richard Thomas, who took over the role of Tea, raves about Lee’s peerless acrobatic jumps: “He was wonderful! Balanchine choreographed a variation for him that none of us have ever been able to equal.”

As Lee remembers it, Balanchine spent 15 minutes with him in the studio. “He said, ‘What can you do good? Show me what you can do good,’ so I show him something,” Lee said. “I did things like splits and double turns, down and up, turn again like a ball, and that’s it. He picked up some things and put them together.”

George Li as a student at the School of American Ballet. Photo: George Lee private collection via the NY Times

He recalled that during a “Nutcracker” dress rehearsal, the City Ballet makeup artist put him in full yellowface, and Balanchine insisted he take off the makeup. “He is Asian enough! Why do you make him more?” he remembers Balanchine saying. Lee was costumed in the Fu Manchu mustache, queue ponytail and rice paddy hat often associated with the role, now widely critiqued as racist caricatures. But he said he didn’t take offense. “Dancing is dancing,” he said.

Lee performed in “The Nutcracker” as a student; he was never invited to join City Ballet. But he clearly excelled in his classes and onstage. For that, he credits his strong foundation of Russian training in China — and his mother’s exacting standards. He can still see her standing in the studio doorway at the School of American Ballet, observing closely.

“She was watching the class and then would go home and tell me, ‘You did this wrong or that wrong, you got to do it this way,’” he said. “So I really worked hard, and I was good.” (His favorite teacher at the school was the demanding Anatole Oboukhoff: “He always wanted more, and that’s why I liked him very much.”)

To make a living Lee turned to musical theater, performing in shows like “Baker Street” on Broadway and the cabaret “Carol Channing with her 10 Stout-Hearted Men,” which opened in London. He pieced together jobs for more than 20 years, often unsure of what would come next.

Lee in flight in a production of “Flower Drum Song” in Las Vegas in the early 1960s. Photo: George Lee personal collection via the NY Times

He was dancing in a Vegas revue, “Alcazar de Paris,” now in his 40s, when a blackjack dealer friend suggested he go to dealer school. “I can’t dance all my life,” he remembers thinking. He decided to give dealing a try and soon landed a job at the Four Queens. Aside from four years at another casino, he has worked there ever since.

In December 2022, he got a voice mail message from Lin. With her reporting skills and some crucial assists from Yu, she had determined that he lived in Las Vegas. Of the five phone numbers she found for George Lees, four led nowhere; his was the last she tried.

When they finally connected, she put her other project on hold to focus on his story; she and her small creative team had a final cut by November. “George is 88, and I wanted him to be able to enjoy this moment, where people recognize him for his dancing,” she said.

As he prepares to return to New York, Lee said he felt gratified, most of all, for his mother.

“I’m proud for her that I didn’t let her down,” he said. “It makes me feel better to look up at her and say: ‘Look, mother, now you see what’s happening, what you did for me. You gave me all the good foundation, everything. Through you, I’m here now.’”

George Lee today. Photo: Saeed Rahbaran for The New York Times

[real-reulbbr-band]

@godnattakatta asked for my favorite Victoria actresses in a previous message so here they all are!

Hyla Mayrose Wright (US Tour 6, 2021)

Her Victoria takes and her understanding of her overall are just so intriguing to me, I feel like she understands who Victoria is but also what can be expanded about her, like her saying Victoria has an actual connection to the Jellicle moon itself was everything to me and it still is, because it makes sense; the moon can symbolizes femininity but also (at least in some interpretations) the ebb and flow of time, which relates quite well to Victoria’s arc of coming of age. Focusing on her performance though, I kept finding myself looking for her in the crowd- she has such cute background interactions with the other jellicles that each have their own uniqueness to them, like she thought of how Victoria feels about each and everyone. Granted, the US Tours do seem to have had some direction to further character interactions among the cast but Hyla’s really stuck out to me. I was so focused on her during the ball- which I think is saying a lot since so much happens in the US tour choreography she’s just so fun to watch and can really capture your attention.

Georgina Pazcoguin (2016, Broadway revival)

Her expressions during the white cat solo are everything- and she really evokes the feeling of being captured by these strange feelings she's having and still being intrigued by them as much as she's nervous. She wants to and then does surrender to the feelings, and her heavy breathing by the end of the solo (whether intentional or just because of exhaustion) I think adds a really nice touch. I'm really partial to her expression at the end of the solo and how she interacts with Mistoffelees afterwards. Very good stuff but no surprise since it was directed by Gillian Lynne! Also she's what drew me to Victoria in the first place so I have to include her.

Hanna Kenna Thomas (Various London productions and Vienna revival)

Her Victoria comes off a little more playful and even sassy to me, which is really fun to watch. A notable moment for me is when she's encouraging Jemima to play with Jenny's tail and whenever she interacts with Munk. I also like the subtlety of her acting during the solo, she moves very beautifully and her expressions when lowering into the splits- so good. I also think she has an overall excellent reading on Victoria (though I do disagree with one thing she said) but I do think she's ultimately right that there is an innocence in discovering yourself and your body for the first time and it's beautifully presented in the solo.

Honorable mentions: 

Ellis Van Evert (Amsterdam and Original Paris Production)

Ellis really embodies the "Unselfconscious" trait the best for me, like she doesn't even expect the pas de deux to happen because she's so deeply caught with these feelings inside and overall she's just really cute. Particularly during Skimble’s song, she’s very excited about creating the train and being in the front, she starts twirling with the cowcatcher- again super cute. Like on my first watch of cats Paris I was taking physical notes and pausing every other second because I was so into her performance.

Ebony Jayne Kitts (RCCL Cast 12) 

Ebony’s performance as Victoria, to me, really showcases the ‘loving life’ aspects of Victoria’s character and just seeing her perform makes me happy, her Victoria is so smiley and cute she’s become a newer favorite of mine. She has this very timid but excited energy during the pas de deux which is very fun to see and her acting flows very well with her movements during the white cat solo. I’ll admit there’s some small bias here because I did see Ebony perform live, it just wasn’t as Victoria but even then her movements were so fluid and gorgeous to watch just like the clips I’ve seen.

 I don’t think there are any Victoria performances I dislike- so I like just about any Victoria, as long as the performer gets those key moments down like the white cat solo and Grizabella’s first touch I’m happy.

[catsheadcanons]

Alonzo - Ahmad Simmons

Gus/Peter/Bustopher Jones/Rumpus Cat - Christopher Gurr

Bombalurina - Abigail Gatlin

Cassandra - Katherine Margo Brown

Coricopat - Corey John Snide

Demeter - Jessica Dillan

Electra - Lili Froehlich

Grizabella - Betty Buckley

Jellylorum - Sara Jean Ford

Jemima - Sarah Brightman Jennyanydots - Alexa Shanahan

Mistoffelees - Ricky Ubeda

Mungojerrie - Jess LeProtto

Munkustrap - Andy Huntington Jones

Old Deuteronomy - Quentin Earl Darrington

Plato / Macavity - Daniel Gaymon

Carbucketty - Giuseppe Basilio

Rumpleteazer - Maria Cristina Slye

Rum Tum Tugger - Tyler Hanes

Skimbleshanks - Jeremy Davis Tantomile - Emily Tate

Tumblebrutus - …I am realizing that I somehow have no recollection of any Tumblebrutus ever besides Fergus Logan. I’ll try to remedy that soon.

Victoria - Georgina Pazcoguin

(How much of this is the Broadway revival cast? A good amount. But I think I got a decent amount of not that in there too.

I am going to see PAC CATS next weekend so I may publish a second version of this list after that!)

Cats Fans

CONGRATULATIONS

You get to cast your own version of Cats to be filmed and turned into a movie!!! the only problem is you can't pick anyone from the 1998 movie, Unless it's for a different role then they were in the move then it's ok but is has to be a role they have once played in the past even if it was as a swing/cover (EX: Fergus Logan as Misto or Veerle Casteleyn as Victoria)

They can be from any production no matter the year or language used and you can pick actors from non-replicas too

Characters like Gus jr., George, and Exotica can be removed if you can't think of anyone but everyone else must stay and you can add other swings of you want and if need be you can change who plays the Rumpus cat and Macavity can have his own Actor if you want. and if you want a actor but they played the character under a different name (EX: Sillabub, Admetus, Carbuckety, Bill Bailly) they are allowed just keep the names from the 1998 movie

Your list of characters

Alonzo Asparagus Bombalurina Bustopher Johns Cassandra Coricopat Demeter Electra Etcetera Exotica George / Rumpus Cat Grizabella Gus Jr. Jellylorum Jemima Jennyanydots Mistoffelees Mungojerrie Munkustrap Old Deuteronomy Plato / Macavity Pouncival Rumpleteazer Rum Tum Tugger Skimbleshanks Tantomile Tumblebrutus Victoria

Have fun and reblog this to share your cast

[d-criss-news]

[HQ] Darren Criss, Billy Porter, Joe Machota, Georgina Pazcoguin, Arian Moayed and Mia Swier pose at the House of Suntory Hosts the 2022 Tony Awards After, After Party at Pebble Bar on June 12, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Glikas/Getty Images)

[the-final-sentence]

Ballet has taught me that's the only way to face the uncertainty of life, and that might be the best lesson I've learned.

Georgina Pazcoguin, from Swan Dive

[junkyard-gifs]

Psst, want some Tugger being soft with Victoria and Demeter?

C'mere... come and look at Victoria running straight over to him when it's time to build the train, instead of running to get her piston thing... and then Demeter running to join them...

She pet his ears! He and Deme do a nose-rub! and on another night, look: they play with his knees!

But now to business. Deme and Vic grab their piston thing and they build a train. (Munk, u ok? you look like I badly photoshopped you in from a photo. Your wheel's stopped, buddy...)

No, no, Munk's come back to life: it's time to FALL APART! Victoria carefully stashes the piston, then falls over dramatically. As does Munkustrap. The wheel has defeated him.

But hold on, what exactly did Victoria do with the piston...?

Why, she gave the end to Tugger to hold on to, of course! And then he handed it back to the girls for safe stowage.

Broadway revival, on three different nights in 2016: July 22 (gifs 3&5), October 30 (gif 4), and December 22 (the first and last two gifs).

Georgina Pazcoguin is Victoria in all cases. Kim Fauré is Demeter in July and December, and Madison Mitchell is Demeter in October. Tyler Hanes is Tugger in July and October, and Harris Milgrim is Tugger in December.

[white-cat-of-doom]

Those who follow Georgina Pazcoguin closely enough would probably know that she had written a memoir that was released on July 27th, 2021.

Being someone who loves learning about the background of performers who have been in CATS, in addition to someone interested in arts as a whole, I preordered this book when I first found out, eager to maybe catch a glimpse into the Broadway Revival 2016. Plus, I own a pair of her stage used Victoria jazz shoes, which are also signed, so I was looking forward to receiving it.

This book is absolutely fantastic and I very highly recommend reading it if you are familiar with ballet in any sense. As someone who's knowledge of dance is basically confined to terms picked up from being a fan of CATS, it is an enlightening read! It is not very technical in dance specific wording (for the most part), but if you know the terms, you can probably appreciate the sheer talent of Georgina even more than I am able to.

I binge read this book over two days (maybe it is not much for a seasoned reader to do it quicker, do not judge), because it just holds your attention! It is written in very engaging way that lends itself for continued reading, and you always want to find out what was next on Georgina's journey. At the end of the day, Georgina is a normal person trying to navigate the world she earned through hard work.

Full of humorous stories that show the personality of proclaimed 'Rouge Ballerina' in a world of expected near conformance and no less than perfection, Swan Dive, is not always a positive or comfortable read. There are situations of abuse and harassment described as well, along with presentations of negative body self-confidence. There are times where the reader themselves feel uncomfortable, and maybe even a bit upset, with some of Georgina's decisions throughout her career (she did not engage in any negative activity towards others, just for clarification).

The unbridled passion and determination required by Georgina to advanced through her career as a ballerina from local classes in a small Pennsylvanian town to becoming the first Asian-American soloist (who truly should be a principal dancer!) with the elite New York City Ballet, however, is the primary focus of the memoir.

Throughout the book, Georgina does not settle in pursuit to become the best, which is something I admire very personally (she has a very similar line of thinking to achieve her goals that I have). When faced with adversary or a comment that she was not committed enough, she proved the naysayers wrong, time after time.

Spite is powerful for those who choose to use it, and all the negative emotions, the abuse, the racism, the sexism, the sorrow, the anger, the intimidation, was funneled into Georgina's performances on stage, along with positive emotions, propelling her forward.

In a way the things that Georgina experienced, even recently, is surprising, but at the same time it is not, which is a sad thing. So many forms of bias, discrimination, and abuse are still present in modern society, and this is especially true for women in elite dancing roles. This memoir shines a light on the amount of crap that women in general go through as well. The amount of sexual abuse and harassment she experienced is truly shocking, not from strangers either but members of the ballet company, which is what gets me.

However, the ending of the memoir starts to show progression from the more antiquated views of ballet within the NYCB, due to the 'retirement,' a disgraced resignation due to the physical and sexual abuse instances fully becoming public, of the artist director Peter Martins, who was the head of ballet company for 28 years.

The last chapter is very poignant and is written in a way that show the uncertainty of what happens when a ballet dancer enters their 'Second Season,' otherwise known as permanent retirement from the company, either through age or injury. What is next for them, Georgina ponders for herself, as she is still a member of the NYCB and is starting to see her contemporaries leave.

Georgina's decision to take a hiatus from the NYCB to join Broadway for a period of time is discussed, which is very interesting. I had always wondered the reason for Georgina's departure from the Broadway Revival of CATS, and it is described here, along with her thoughts on the show in general and how it fit into her growth as a performer. It is very enlightening! I am not going to detail much more than that.

One thing is for sure, as Georgina noted, those who are fans of CATS are very die-hard!

An absolute joy to read cover to cover, to me this is an essential read! Why not pick up a copy and support a powerful, passionate individual if you are interested in learning more?

[skimblyshanks]

“She loves her leg, and she loves herself,

but then she gets turned on and so that's--

And, she's never been turned on.

I doubt she's ever had an affair or... anything”

-Gillian Lynne on characterization in the White Cat solo

If you download these gifs and use them in your own posts, Please Credit me

[statisticalcats2]

Statcat's official list of favorite Cats performers

(I'm horrible with specific ranking so performers are listed in alphabetical order gfiuedw)

Alonzo: Jason Gardiner, Matt Huet

Bombalurina: Erica Lee Cianiculli, Rosemarie Ford, Chelsea Nicole Mitchell, Christine Cornish Smith

Cassandra: Lexy Bittner, Emily Pynenburg, Mette Towley

Demeter: Nora DeGreen, Kim Faure, Juliann Kuchocki, Aeva May, Madison Mitchell, Cornelia Waibel

Electra: Lili Froehlich

Grizabella: Tayler Harris, Jennifer Hudson, Elaine Paige, Mamie Parris

Gus: Christopher Gurr, John Mills, Tony Mowatt

Jellylorum: Sara Jean Ford, Kayli Jamison

Jemima/Sillabub: Arianna Rosario, Ahren Victory

Jennyanydots: Eloise Kropp, Susie McKenna, Emily Jeanne Phillips

Macavity: Daniel Gaymon

Mistoffelees: Jacob Brent, Tion Gaston

Mungojerrie: Danny Collins, Max Craven, John Thornton, Drew Varley

Munkustrap: Robbie Fairchild, Michael Gruber, Matthew Pike, Kade Wright

Old Deuteronomy: Ken Page

Plato: Daniel Gaymon, Tyler John Logan

Rum Tum Tugger: Jason Derulo, John Partridge, Hank Santos, Siegmar Tonk

Rumpleteazer: Jo Gibb, Shonica Gooden, Bonnie Langford, Taryn Smithson

Skimbleshanks: Jeremy Davis, Geoffrey Garratt, Steven McRae, Christopher Salvaggio

Tumblebrutus: Daymon Montaigne-Jones, Devin Neilson

Victoria: Phyllida Crowley Smith, Francesca Hayward, Yuka Notsuka, Georgina Pazcoguin

[theimpossiblescheme]

Georgina Pazcoguin as Victoria and Kolton Krouse as Tumblebrutus, Broadway revival 2016

[qintarra]

victoria's solo comparison: 1998 and 2016

[itsmyregularcat]

Can you tell us your top 9 Cats performers? Idc which Cat they play.

Well anon, I know you have been waiting a bit for this, but I promise I did not forget.

Firstly, I do want to state that I am not necessary committed to everyone on this list as being my favourite / top performer. I have such a deep appreciation for all the actors that do not get the same level attention as others do, especially given the number of productions of Cats there have been. Many of the performers below could be swapped with just-as-equally talented actors. 

Also, anytime I say that I love an actor, either in this post (or my entire blog for that matter), it is meant completely in admiration, and not in a romantic sense. These are still real people, and they deserve respect and privacy. Weird aside, I know, but sometimes I think the fandom may get a bit too involved in certain actors. I know I am not immune to this.

Just a warning, they are all going to all be female performers, because this is a  blog that stans queens only, and seemiingly only the Broadway Revival given my choices.

Anyway, without further ado,

Lili Froehlich - Electra (2016 Broadway Revival)

Somehow, and in some way, I feel in love (not in a obsessive way of course) with her after watching a bootleg of the Broadway Revival. I think it simply was for the fact that she was the first Electra in any US based production, and I thought that was really cool. Well, obsessions always sneak up, and look who is my icon and header? Look who made me into an immense Electra stan. Look who inadvertently lead the path that made me write a freaking 7200 word Electra fanfic. It is all her fault.

Zizi Strallen - Tantomile (Cats 2019) and Demeter (London Revival 2014)

If we truly are pointing fingers at people who caused obsessions, I would point at Zizi. When I watched Cats (2019) the first few times, it did not really move me, but there was something about that happy grey cat with the stunning voice that broke through in my mind. Cats (2019) is what introduced me to the musical and to the fandom. Also, guess who made me soft for Tanto? Her.

Jo Gibb - Rumpleteazer (London / Cats 1998)

Jo Gibb is the reason I became super obsessed with Cats, and probably why my (first? second? who knows) favourite character is Rumple. Having initially seen the 2019 movie before the 1998 film, seeing her smiling face and adorable portrayal made me sort of fall in love with her. She is a perfectly mischievous Rumple, and I feel is the benchmark for most others. Her engagements with other characters is awesome, and she is just the ideal actor.

Freya Rowley - Jellylorum (Cats 2019) and Tantomile / Swing (UK Tour 2013)

My Big Orange. Freya does not sing in the movie, and is just a background cat, but my god is she the best cat there! During her time with actual stage productions, she was a principle Tantomile, and covered Demeter, Jelly, Jenny, and Cassandra as swing.

Leah Sue Morland - Electra (Cats 1998) and Electra / Rumpleteazer / Swing (London)

The other reason I became an Electra stan. Underappreciated in the 1998 film. Her mannerisms bring the character to life.

Emily Tate - Tantomile (Broadway Revival 2016)

Given all Tantos do not really have an opportunity to set themselves apart because they are more of an ensemble Cat, I liked Emily from the beginning I saw her, and I think she is really cute. Her, paired with CJS, make a pretty ideal Cori and Tanto. Maybe I am swayed by the amount of lifts and spins they do together during the show? They have a beautiful synchronization and grace with their movements.

Christine Cornish Smith - Bombalurina (Broadway Revival 2016)

She is brings a lot of dynamics into her role as Bomba. Plus, she is freaking hilarious in the What’s New Pussycat web series. Did I pick a silly picture because her humor? Yes I did.

Georgina Pazgouin - Victoria (Broadway Revival 2016)

A prominent soloist with the New York ballet, renowned for her distinctive style, and you can appreciate her portrayal of Victoria if you watch a 2016 bootleg show. She has also pushed out against ballet norms by being “The Rogue Ballerina” as a means of embracing the qualities that make her unique as a dancer, such as her 'bigger’ (in terms of ballet) body type. Hells yeah.

I am going to put my ninth pick as something different, a cop out of sorts.

It is in honour of all the swings that do not get love the should. Here are a few:

Maria Briggs - Cover Victoria, Sillabub, Rumpleteazer, Jennyanydots, Tantomile (Broadway Revival 2016)

Anastasia Bertinshaw - Cover Cassandra, Electra, Jemima, Tantomile, Victoria* and Anneke Brunekreeft - Cover Bombalurina*, Cassandra, Demeter, Electra, Jenny Fleckenreich, Tantomile (Vienna 2019)

Claire Camp - Cover Cassandra, Bombalurina, Tantomile, Victoria, Electra (Broadway Revival 2016)

Anina Pletscher - Swing "Electra", covering Jemima, Tantomile, Victoria, Cassandra and Coricopat (Asia Tour 2020)

Also, a special shout-out to all the “lifers” that have been in multiple productions across many years and sometimes continents. You are the real ones.

Thanks for the ask!