#cats warsaw cast

[cats-warsaw-archive]

Screenshot of Cats Warsaw cast list for 30.11.-03.12. 2006 from the old Roma Theatre website

Characters on the list are: Grizabella, Old Deuteronomy, Munkustrap, Rum Tum Tugger, Bustopher Jones/Gus, Jellylorum, Jennyanydots, Griddlebone, Demeter, Bombalurina, Jemima, Rumpleteazer, Mungojerrie, Skimbleshanks, Mistoffelees, Macavity, Victoria, Victor, Coricopat, Cassandra

The annotation under the table says "Two little kittens, winners of a casting organized by Maxwell House, will take part in the performance on December 3 at 5 p.m. These will be Dominika Guzek and Kamila Romejko."

Few notable things about this cast list: - This is the only thing, besides an extra programme insert and general online cast list, that confirms that Jakub Jóźwiak was in fact in Cats - Coricopat is played by an actress who would later play Tantomile in the 2007 run - the existence of an apparent Jennyanydots/Jellylorum split track

Source

[white-cat-of-doom]

The 2004 cast recording for the Warsaw non-replica of CATS. As with most cast recordings, this one is highlights of the show.

There are a few photos of the rehearsals for the production in the booklet, along with cast and creative team credits.

I admittedly have not given this a listen yet, but it is great that a production like Warsaw had the opportunity to release a cast recording, especially it being a non-replica.

Now if I could only find the Versione Italiana CD easily.

[per-the-jellicle-magician]

The Munk not being liked quote from the podcast just got way funnier to me, not only cuz he is liked by fans here, but also cuz I just checked the Warsaw book for unrelated reasons and saw this line about him:

"He is well-liked by other cats: responsible, confident and chivalrous."

There's also a bit about younger cats really respecting him

[rice-pudding-slaps]

CATS SANTIAGO 2024: My review and experience

On July 12th I saw CATS Santiago on opening night. And I had the best night of my life

I'm sorry for the very late thoughts, but life has been a bit hectic and I have a lot of stuff to say.

If you have any other questions please do send an ask about it because I'm very excited to talk about this production

Also excuse my grammar as english is very much not my first language

TLDR: I absolutely loved it. I cried tears of joy

The General Stuff:

The stage was very tiny. But they made up by using a staging and set very similar to the Warsaw one with big climbable structures so the cats had a lot of places to go

The costumes were changed from the press releases. If you've been following along the ride, then you'd probably seen more or less how the characters are supposed to look. Sadly not all of the changes were to my liking, but none of them I outright disliked.

Bomba and Tanto lose their long wavy hair. Bomba had a wig more similar to the classic cat shape, and Tanto just had a short bob-ish hair

Exótica changed her full white face make up for one that showed her natural skin tone and it was a much appreciated change. She looked beautiful.

Misto's wig also got changed from the classic shape to a sleek silhouette with two horn-ear thingies that were buns on his head

Also Vic lost her bangs and changed to some buns on her head

Jemima's wig also changed from being very short and spiky for a very fluffy and kinda cat shaped hair. I liked it!

Jellylorum made an appearance cuz sadly I didn't have her portrait and she had long straight hair and a knitted shawl which was adorable

Also another ensemble character played by Alexis Sepúlveda, whom I had no idea was in this musical. My guess is that he came along because Andrés Zará, the first Tugger, is leaving after the Santiago shows and won't be joining the tour.

Another important change is that a lot of the characters are plainly different, as it often happens with non replicas

First off, the Alonzo debacle. In this case, Alonso (With an s, as is more often written here in Chile) is a kitten that is following Munkustrap all the time. He is very much a "protector in training" kind of type. Very childish and moving a lot with the other kittens, even if he's supposed to be a second in command. Very similar to Plato in 98 or other replicas

Then it's Pouncival, that Fernando Vargas, who plays him, defined as "A cat in transition from childhood to adulthood. He admires and respects everyone who are his guides and protectors. Athletical and energetic". He is very often during the play in the forefront, and is the cat who is always on alert and besides Munkustrap too.

Coricopat also had a bit of a change in his usual place as the mysterious part of a duo, since he was very often close to Victoria and was who did most of the lifts with her. He would often "split" himself between Tantomille and Vicky, and honestly it was eyecatching everytime. They stole the stage.

Sadly is not customary to give playbills or similar to attendees, so I couldn't get any. However, I do have a very special memento that I'll share later.

Now, song for song, I will give my thoughts

THE OVERTURE:

There wasn't the usual yellow eyes nor cats coming from the audience. It was only the orchestra giving it their all and that's more than enough for me.

Needless to say, I was already crying when the overture started. It was starting to hit that I was watching CATS.

Everyone jumped when the starting chords hit and I didn't flinch because I am a bit used to it and was just awaiting for it to start. I was already into overdrive

JELLICLE SONGS FOR JELLICLE CATS:

First big difference is that it wasn't Demeter the one who appeared first, but Exótica! Not a major change, but one that I noticed

Needless to say, the second Munkustrap started singing I was bawling. My deepest apologies to the cast that only saw me cry that day oh my god.

The translation was a bit of a mix and I don't mean in quality, it was a literal mix of the spanish translation from 04 and the mexican translastion. I didn't notice at first, but after rewatching Madrid 04 for insanity reasons, some phrases that were not direct translations but artistic choices started to come up. It's honestly a shame, since the 2014 version did have an original translation done by Andrés Sáez, who also did this one. I don't really know why or how the process was made. But it didn't sound clunky nor unpleasant. Unless you're a bit insane like me and like to compare spanish versions of CATS for a hobby, you wouldn't even notice lol

Since moment one all the character's personalities were noticeable. And since I was on the first row, middle seat, I was always looking directly at Munkustrap at all times. This ended up being my favorite part of the show

Back to the song, the choreo was completely original with few traces of Gylliann Lynne's. Which is understandable because the stage was *far* smaller than the ones in the UK. Third world things! It stil worked amazingly well and all the actors had their time to shine.

There were a few audio troubles but nothing I cannot forgive for being opening night.

Also -Misto doing some conjuring turns ln the middle of dancing cats is gonna live in my mind rent free

NAMING OF CATS

For starters, it wasn't done in a "pyramid" position, but all the cats were around the stage doing their thing. Mostly crawling around and doing kitty motions.

Thank GOD it was all clear and I could understand everything lol

Good things, the Cats that were named actually gestured at their names being called. So, Alonso, Demeter, Bombalurina, Munkustrap, Coricopat and Jellylroum did a little paw thing when called or beamed with pride.

Munkustrap's voice was the one you could hear more clearly and it was very much hypnotic.

It has some choreo and some kitty acting and it was amazing.

They did end up in a "pyramid" which was hypnotizing and yes I teared up too because I'm pathetic like that

VICTORIA'S SOLO

What can I say? Rosario Muñoz hit it out of the park, she was absolutely gorgeous and did wonderfully. I could tell she was a bit nervous but again I was like. a couple meters away. She did amazing

It was Eduardo Yedro's choreo, which is more about equilibrium and stretching. I would've preferred the original but it was absolutely gorgeous nonetheless

INVITATION TO THE JELLICLE BALL

Misto entered and they danced a bit (Even with a lift!!!) and it was really cute 🥹. Afterwards Asparagus sang the invitation!! His voice was really nice

José Miguel Callejas' Munk can ruin me uh yeah

But on his performance? Absolutely perfect. One of my favorite parts. His voice was very soft and he looked so excited. If Gruber is your dad and Rebaldi is your cracked uncle, Callejas is like your older brother that knows what he's doing but go to you when you're in trouble and won't tell your parents.

Jesus, back to the Invitation. Victoria and Coricopat danced in the background and it was mesmerizing.

THE OLD GUMBIE CAT

Again, Munk's performance was lovely. He was very excited to be there for sure.

There wasn't a car in the set. Jenny entered being wheeled in by Alonso and Asparagus in a big speaker that was revealed to have Jenny inside. Her coat was lovelyyyyyy it was very fluffy and looked really soft

The Gumbie trio was angelical, truly. They did so good and they all danced and sang like they MEANT it. Piamaría Silva was such a highlight for me, her voice was the one I could hear more clearly and also the highest pitched one, and she had a giant smile all the time.

Alonso was very munch cuddly with Jenny, very much a spoiled kid lol

The cockroaches were adorable!!! They only had antennae but they were very much visible. And the choreo was super fun with the usual tap dancing but also some elements of "rondas" in there. Also Munk followed Jenny around trying to keep things in order and it was really cute.

Important!! During the dance they paired up for a second to dance and Munk paired with Jenny and it was ADORABLE

JENNY'S DRESS WAS LIKE A 20S FLAPPER I FELL IN LOVE 😭

And at the end Munk had to fan some air into Jenny until he got distracted with Tugger LMAO

RUM TUM TUGGER

Andrés Zará was absolutely amazing oh my god. He was the right amount of sexy and funny. He was very much sold on being a rockstar on stage with hip thrusting included! Not a surprise, since is his second time playing the curious cat, but always needed to praise him for his talent. Sadly he's only staying for the Santiago shows and not the rest of the tour.

All the kittens were absolutely adoring Tuger, both toms and queens. Munkustrap looked to be absolutely on board with his shenanigans, too! Everyone had a great time, seemingly, except Skimbleshanks and Asparagus lol. They ended up joining on the fun too from the back of the stage tho!.

Is very important for me to mention that he came on the stage with a giant baseball bat and hit a "home run" in the middle of the song lol. Fun addition of the original choreo!

Etcétera was absolutely on point too lol big props to Teresita Rojas for making herself noticeable (Even if for the first half of the first act she didn't have her blue jacket)

GRIZABELLA THE GLAMOUR CAT:

Well, first things first, absolute props to Carolina Soto for her interpretation of Griz. She was absolutely on point.

Onto acting stuff. Demeter got close to Griz as usual, but was taken away in a swift motion by her waist from Munkustrap. This lives in my mind rent free and will not let me sleep. Alonso actually attacked Griz point blank lol. And it was Exótica who did the dancing around Griz similar to Cassandra on 98. Victoria actually tried to touch her but backed down.

Back to vocal performances, I have to say I am in actual love with Andrea Rodriguez's Demeter. She sounded so pained to see Griz in that state. And also her pronunciation of english places was incredible oh my god, I did not expect that at all. Montserrat Bernal's Bombalurina has the sweetest most pretty voice ever, and it works surprinsing well for her interpretation of the character.

After Griz leaves, Bomba comforts Deme in a kinda "okay, let's breathe together" kind of way. It was really cute and also very much lovers coded I am in actual love

BUSTOPHER JONES THE CAT ABOUT TOWN

He entered from the audience, and it was so fun!!! I was smiling more than ever in my life. And not to talk about his vocals because they were absolutely breath taking

Pouncival and Misto were looking together very excited when Bustopher came and it was really cute. Alonso was at his feet dancing at it was so adorable

Munkustrao was nodding over Bustopher's choices in food so we can absolutely say he agrees lol.

They pantomimed a table and giving Bustopher food. And in the background Alonso and emima were laughing and stealing some bites until Munk caught them, it was so cute!!

MUNGOJERRIE AND RUMPLETEAZER

Jerrie and Teazer appeared with their little robber shirts and it was so adorable I swear they made amazing choices of character.

It was less acrobatic than normal, but way more mimed and acted. Every verse had some acting with it and they were super expressive. They also had some acrobatics tho!!! Especially when they said they were "acrobats and jugglers" Rumple got on Mungo's leg like cheerleaders. It's weird to explain lol

Also they characterized themselves as unemployed lazy asses which I think is very funny lmao

There was no double cartwheel, but there was an attempt!!

Also also, Isabella Burotto (Rumpleteazer) clarified in a short interview that they were playing them as siblings and it absolutely showed with the whole "pushing each other around without care for their well being" lmao

OLD DEUTERONOMY

Misto's line was cut here, as were all of his lines. I think this was a decision by the actor.

All the cats were stretching and cuddling together as usual. And Munkustrap in the middle did his singing very nicely :) When Tugger came on and praised his "numerous proginy", Munk was very mmuch like "aw shucks" and embarrased. It was adorable and very much a win for Deuteronomy brothers enjoyers

Deuteronomy entered and everyone went to hug him :)) it was really cute and aalso I got some tears out lol

Roberto Díaz absolutely had all the vibes of a leader btw. He was incredible from the first second. His voice was, oh my god. It filled the theatre.

THE JELLICLE BALL

Once again we get very excited Munk, which is always a treat. But when Macavity gets called he inmediately goes into aggro form and yes I want him to make me worse.

They used the revival verse about Macabity, which I actually enjoy alot. The protectors here were Munkustrap, Asparagus and Pouncival and it showed with how they got.

Victoria and Jemima were adorable together and I love them

Alonso sang his lines, less in the proud tone of 09, more in a playing way. Pouncival actually took his side besides Munk to say "Jellicle cats never grow" in place of "Jellicle cats develop slowly", which again, did that not happen in Warsaw with Alonzo? Lol if it wasn't that, it was the exact same positioning as their line. Tugger made fun of Pounce and called him a little thing. Bit funny lol

The ball was absolutely hypnotic. There was a bit of influence from the revival that i can see, with breaking into groups. Also- again- a bit of Warsaw influence? I swear @per-the-jellicle-magician Warsaw pilled me because I see it everywhere lol. A lot of couple dances. It had little to nothingsimilar to the og choreo, which wasn't a surprise but it was actually really fun!!

Tugger stayed mostly in the back but everytime he came to the front of the stage he bowed to Old D and also swayed a lot lol- Again Coricopat, Tantomille and Victoria were a highlight for me, just because they did an aazing job at making themselves noticeable

Misto had his little solo, and it was just as mesmerizing as ever. Mugojerrie actually followed him and some other cats in the background too.

There wasn't a pas de deux, but a little round where all the acts lifted the firls, and then they all lifted Victoria up. She also had a litttle solo afterwards before they all went to "sleep" in separate places.

Pouncival as a protector was even more prominent during the little scare and honestly I'm living for it.

The ball later had a girls section and a little conjuring turn from Misto. Then it devolved into all the cats dancing and it was really pretty as usual. Again lots of lifts and circles, aI think to make use of the small stage

The last bit of the ball was again a bit of a round with everyone tgether that devolved into more "classic" cats choreo. And Coricopat did one more lift with Victoria that later also included Munk.

It was gorgeous and I REALLY enjoyed it

MEMORY

Munk Inmediately went into aggro with Griz and when Deme tried to hug her, stopped her very fast. Almost a bit mean about it. Again Alonso attacked, too

The twins approached with their heads down and most of the cats started to go to the background and turn their backs to Grizabella.

Okay, now real talk, Carolina Soto absolutely and utterly knocked it out of the fucking park. It was gorgeous and this is my new favourite Memory.

Everyone stayed while she sang, just turning their backs to her. Very much a "if I don't look she doesn't exist" vibe. With Old D looking directly at her.

At the last moment Munk actually did face her, while leaving like most of the cast. With Old D trying to touch her but failing exactly like in 98

MOMENTS OF HAPPINESS

Have I already praised Roberto Díaz as Old D? Cuz I'd like to do it again. Old D actors don't get enough praise and oh my god I adore him. Also praising ahead for Antonia Ascui (Jemima) because she was angelical.

Everyone was very attentive to what Old d was singing, and the light was shining to Jem since she started. She actually started crawling around the first verse and by "Generations" she was front and center. I actually liked that little detail! Her singing didn't come from the psychic twins, tho, weirdly enough. But it had the exact same effect. And she was gorgeous while doing it

It was actually Misto who took her out of the "trance" by starting to play with her! Which, again, was so adorable. Misto is much more of a kitten

Also Old D helping Gus come in is the cutest tihng ever, especially since Munkustrap inmediately took in. Something something like father, like son. Munk was the most invested in Jelly's singing for sure.

Jenny was crawling to Gus, which also was so adorable. Asparagus was on the background standing too and again, so cute.

Have I praised Piamaría Silva (Jellylorum) yet? Because she was such a highlight for me. She was so sweet and now my favourite Jellylorum. She was so into it too. Some true loving.

As a little detail, when Jelly mentioned he got "7 standing ovations", everyone did a little bow, which again, really cute!!!

Everyone got closer for Gus' verse, and they were so into it. Especially Munk and Exótica. POunce took the time to fool around with Cassandra and Femeter which was again, so cute. And they all followed Gus' gaze when he mentioned being "Up in Juliet's balcony with Romeo" and Fireforfiddle.

When Jelly came back on Pounce and Cassandra swayed with the rythm and once again, cute! Munk agreed silently on the background when he talked about kittens, too. The whole number was really cute

Also massive prpos to Andrés Sáez, who was Bustopher and Gus. And also made the wigs for the production!

PEKES AND POLLICLES

Yeah, it was revival pekes. Which I have thoughts about, but that's for the revival.

In this case, once again, really cute! MASSIVE props to Andrés Sáez for sounding both old and young at the same time, somehow.

The whole vibe of Munk and Gus was "Student who is absolutely PUMPED of acting with his prof" and it was, once again, adorable

Also, the lyrics were not racist! Hooray!

Munk did the orchestra director silence thing of closing his hand while shushing the crowd. Which was visible practically only to the first row, but is such a tiny detail that I think Munk absolutely does lol He's such a theatre kid and this younger, enthusiastic Munk is usually not my brand but one I definetly welcome.

Also I was next to people who had never seen Cats, apparently! Cuz they were laughing a lot and very surprised by everything. They were friends of José Callejas (Munkustrap) and their laughs and gasps were very fun for me, as someone who has seen the musical one too many times.

It's still so weird to hear Growltiger's song with Pekes lyrics lol. But it was absolutely well executed and well done. I'm just a bit insane

SKIMBLESHANKS THE RAILWAY CAT

Fun fact, this is my favourite number of the original Cats! So I was so pumped when Rumple ran to Old D as the song started

I haven't praised enough the absolutely gorgeous lighting, and I absolutely should because they were working with few lights and it looked absolutely beautiful, btw.

The song started with everyone looking around with the music rythm, it was adorable. They also mimed some and started looking for Skimble which, ADORABLE

Everyone made room for Skimble (Daniel Donoso) to come in a line , and it was SO cute. This whole number was adoring Skimble times. His voice was very much an uncle voice and it was adorable. He did amazingly!!!

Also the train motions in the dance??? Adorable. The whole choreo was so cute.

At some point Jerrie and Teazer started miming to rob Misto and Skimble took them both by their shirts and got them out the "train" lol.

As another little bit, Tugger was dancing and JAMMING all the times

They also pantomimed the waving passengers on the train, the bed, and some other stuff Skimble said. There was way more miming that anything else.

OH important bit, Skimble had a pocket watch he was constantly looking at. Another Warsaw parallel! D. did they watch Warsaw? It seems so

Then they did the train omg I was so happy!!! It was mimed with frames for the windows and Munk and Tugger were fighting to drive it.

Skimble was so happy and honored at the end of his song, like he felt truly appreciated and I was visibly shaking.

MACAVITY THE MYSTERY CAT

For starters, it was aggro Munk protecting Old D again, but with the whole tribe behind who were slowly getting out. Last minute hooded figures got to Old D WAY more violent than usually lol

Also Mac was Coricopat with a red vest and a slightly different wig. Uh. Yeah, it was a bit shitty

NOW to the important stuff

I want to personally kiss Demeter on the lips uh yeah Also Bomba and her were quite handsy with each other. Like- a lesbian amount. And so good for them, Santiago said lesbian rights.

I have already praised them, but their interpretations were absolutely perfect.

Oh!! Also all the girlies were dancing on the background since the start, and then Jerrie, Asparagus and Alonso joined too

The whole tone of the song was very mocking and more like "get a load of this guy" kinda stuff. I loved it. I was in absolute love. And Bomba and Deme were having the time of their LIVES like. Pure fun.

Also Jerrie came to his mention lol

The whole dancing was so fun and yeah extremely gay like I'm not exaggerating. They only needed to make out lmao

FIGHT WITH MACAVITY

Macavity entered and Demeter started to get anxious, so Alonso fucking ran to protect her and it was him who took the cloak out. Not my favorite interpretation, but sure

When it was time to fight, Mungo, Alonso and Misto tried and got YEETED. I am not kidding Misto literally flew in the air.

Then it was Munku time. They all circled them while they fought, hissing and showing claws. Once again it was way more mimed and acted, but also more acrobatic than usual. And it was Exótica who he tried to leave with, and she beat the shit out of him lmao.

I have. My issues. With the storytelling. But the fight was actually really really fun!! It's the part I usually skip, but this time I had a great one

MAGICAL MISTER MISTOFFELEES

Oh boy

First off. Tugger entered doing his monologue but with swag lmao. And the kittens absolutely fawned over him. Again, the voices were amazing! And everyone was miming and dancing with the first part of only Tugger

When Misto appeared he was the inmediate focus point! Jean Paul Bauer did an amazing entrance and the crowd loved it! Tugger inmediately started screaming in the background too lol

The solo was very different to the replica one. Less ballet heavy and, again, more miming. And the magic Misto had was more of the mind control variety, making all the cats around him dance to his liking! Even Munk, Tugger, Skimble and Jenny! (Again, did they watch Warsaw or smtn?)

And there was some being gay with Tugger too, as a treat

Of course Jean Paul Bauer was a star. And Andrés Zará knew how to make his voice go just as hard without ofuscating him.

When it was time for the trick everything went silent and Tugger did a bit of a small monologue. And also they were a bit gay too, as a treat. But the best part was that he made the public actually clap and told us to not laugh or move for the trick to work. The trick was made with a disappearing box instead of a cloth, and Tugger gave the biggest hug to Old D :')

Everyone then also hugged Old D and they all danced behind Misto, who then did more dancing with Tugger flexing his voice behind (And Skimble clapping!)

To finish the number, Misto also disappeared!

MEMORY (REPRISE)

Okay, serious time now guys!! Jemima did Daylight in the climbable part. And again, she was perfect for the role, absolutely angelical. The silence in the room was absolute just to hear her.

Munkustrap was SO excited. I loved him, if you couldn't tell

Then Griz shows up, and everyone makes way. Munkustrap stands there confronting her all through her song. It was actually an interesting choice I'm not against

Carolina Soto, oh my god, she was gorgeous and her voice was perfect. She had the tone and also the emotion completely perfect. When I thought she couldn't get better, she did. I rarely care for Memory, but this one was so gorgeous. The translation was more close to the spanish one than the mexican one, which is a shame specifically for me because I think the mexican one is superior

Back to this version. When Griz fell everyone made a half step ahead, as to try and help her. But no one did except, well...

Okay. This is my one big thing with this version. They changed the ending. Jemima comes and helps her up, by holding her hand while singing her verse. It was beautiful! But. it kind of. fucked up the foreshadowing they had done by spotlighting Victoria so much. And they also changed the lyrics a bit weirdly by saying "just leave me alone" which is- the contrary of the thing she supposedly wants. And afterwards everyone kind of stands around until Old D comes and touches her hand, which props to the rest of the tried gasping and starting to come forward. Like. Come on, guys. You were so close.

But anyways

Jenny actually grabs Griz and parades her around

JOURNEY TO THE HEAVYSIDE LAYER

She gets paraded around and everyone gives her a greeting (Tugger gives her a sassy greeting and Munk an apologetic one)

To my surprise, there was a plataform that went up and let her go on the heavyside layer. It was really nice. I didn't expect it, to be honest! And the "wow" from the audience really made me realize why Cats is as big as it is. Like, not to exagerate a bit, but there's a reason why musical theatre gets revived everytime Cats goes somehwere

ADDRESING OF CATS

The cats started on the ground looking at Old D, as usual. And slowly took their positions standing (I was still in front of Munk, and just to his right was Tugger! Fan favorite spot. To his left was Skimble and just behind him Jenny)

Roberto Díaz killed it. I was bawling. Full on bawlilng.

And they said my favorite line!! "First you must know that barking is not the same as meowing". I want it on a shirt lol

Every cat stood and showed their personality. As it's usual. Pretty part for the chorus. But I was bawling my eyes out. I couldn't believe I just saw the musical that had consumed my thoughts for years

Personal thoughts (that you can fully skip if you don't care)

I've said it multiple times. I never thought I would see Cats. I never thought I would see Cats in Chile, my country. I never thought I would see a good Cats. I thought that my experience was going to be a school play with just 3 songs, hald a cast and shitty costumes. But I got something so different. I got to see an amazing Cats non replica with unique costumes, absolutely amazing performers and so much love put into it. And not only that.

On July 12th, I saw Cats on opening night. I have been following this produciton since last year and making posts about it on instagram, because I wanted to. I was so excited and I needed to follow everyone and document everything. So I made an account to get all the chilean cats fans in one place and we could talk.

On opening night, I had a bunch of pictures printed because I wanted some of them signed, whichever I could get. Just to get a memento in case there was no playbill-esque thing. There wasn't. I asked José Callejas if this could be done on Instagram and he said yes, to ask the staff. When I did, the staff recognized me from my Instagram and told the cast.

The cast asked to meet me. So I went backstage. And they were all so excited to see me. They all wanted to thank me for bringing light to the production and being the biggest fan possible. They all hugged me and thanked me. Even thought I was just a guy who really fucking liked Cats the musical, and they just made my dream a reality. They signed my pictures, they told me I was awesome. I could just cry and keep hugging people and thanking them for everything, every single thing. I don't have enough words to describe how amazing it was.

Thanks for reading this, even thought is several pages long. And thank you for caring about this non replica, as it means everything to me.

[per-the-jellicle-magician]

One thing I love about Polish Cats is the chain of the guys doing the cat moves' workshops: in Warsaw it was Damian Kacperski who was Pounce and Misto in Cats Hamburg in late 1990s and in Chorzów it was Patryk Rybarski who was a kitten in Warsaw

Choreography? Brand new, Catsies! Catish in moves, sync with music, perfectly executed... It was so hard to look anywhere more than a scene, and as I said earlier - it was a good idea to look sometimes on balconies or sides of the scene because things happened also there! Actors who weren't dancing or singing were doing all those sweet little interactions between themselves. They played with wool balls, meowled, hissed, cuddled, and generally had fun together! This is my fav part of cars so I'm so happy it wasn't lacking of charm and playfulness. And we had that thanks to choreographers: Jarosław Staniek, Katarzyna Zielonka, Aleksandra Karch and Patryk Rybarski, who directed cat moves' workshops.

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[gotham-native]

If youre given the chance to direct a cats non replica what would the production be like? Whats the setting, costumes, choreo, music are gonna be like? what elements are you gonna put thats exclusive to that production/things to add? what inspos/elements ya gonna use from other productions and also other non replicas?

THIS MADE ME THINK THINK AND GOT ME TO FINSH MY HALF MADE NON REPLICA FROM LIKE 3 MONTHS AGO

SO

If youre given the chance to direct a cats non replica what would the production be like?

setting In a park (That I've cleverly named T.S PARK) {Please clap} i don't have the exact lay out figure out but i'll do a basic sketch and add it in when i figure it out (If you have suggestions please help) costumes I did my favorite thing for this and made a POWERPOINT (And i uploaded it correctly this time so y'all can see it) choro Original Chorography with a bit of the stylized felineness like in Warsaw and some of the Broadway reveal for the Macavity scenes music I don't know much about all the tempo changes there has been but I'd pick the like 1998/modern versions where it's more ?fast? (Even though i love original London mungojerrie and rumpleteazer) what elements are you gonna put that's exclusive to that production/things to add? -Demelonzostrap (because I'm me) -Growltiger is going to be a puppet show put on by Jellylorum and Gus JR. for Gus and the kittens with a little magical help from misto (Like Original Broadway Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer). Separate characters are going to Physically play Growltiger and Griddlebone and Jellylorum and Gus JR. will be off to the side but still on stage voicing them, LIKE A PUPPET SHOW. -For the Paus de deux Victoria and Plato are going to be 'Separated' from the other cats on a upper part of the set while the rest of the cast are below cuddling/playing -The Everlasting cat is a character and in the end she kinda come out of the sky to help Grizabella to the heaviside layer. -i don't like Bustopher Joan's as a number so it's getting cut and a scene of the cats comforting each other after grizabella the glamor cat before mungojerrie and rumpleteazer will take it's place -Macavity is going to original go to grab either Demeter or Jemima but Old Deuteronomy stands in the way to protect them so Macavity takes him -Demeter gets to punch Macavity because she deserves too what inspos/elements ya gonna use from other productions and also other non replicas? I like in Tecklenburg when Munk gets the staff at the end symbolizing Old Deut believing he is ready to lead the tribe so maybe something like that Other then that I'm not sure Extra Misto is going to being a demon (not literally) (Maybe) but he is going to be the creepiest little dude I would very much like to maybe have a female Tugger and Misto at some point, as a treat Macavity has Fire powers and they will be shown

(some of the charters designs i picked are still from three months again so im iffy on some of them and i don't remember where half the picture are from a mix of Pinterest, tumbler and the wiki)

feel free to ask questions

[junkyard-gifs]

Asia tour 2022: Sitzprobe snippets from the cast!

(The Sitzprobe is the first cast rehearsal with the orchestra: they're not in costume and not acting, but here for the first time everyone gets to hear each other! It's just. An absolute thrill and the moment when the show comes alive..!)

This Sitzprobe was 6 February 2022 (less than a week before the premier), and the video is a compilation of footage and audio posted by several cast members.

Conductor is probably Peter McCarthy.

1 (0:00): Overture. Filmed by Will Richardson (Tugger). Featuring the back of Emily Casey (Cassandra)'s head.

2 (0:30): Overture. Filmed by Carly Miles (Tantomile). The four cats we see in the back row, starting from the one closest to the camera, are (?Bradley Delarosbel, Admetus), Will Richardson (Tugger), Mukeni Nel (Carbuckety), and Rafe Watts (Munkustrap).

3 (0:45): Jellicle Ball, "Judders". Filmed by Will Richardson (Tugger).

4 (1:00): Jellicle Ball, "Princess Louise" to "Warsaw". Filmed by Tyler Lotzof (Victoria, from behind) and Ellie Nunan (from in front). Featuring Ellie (Jennyanydots) and Hayden Baum (Skimbleshanks), plus Xavier Pellin (Mistoffelees) joining in behind Hayden's shoulder. Anina Pletscher (Electra/swing) is at the back between Ellie and Hayden. Benjamin Mundy (Coricopat) is on Xavier's other side, in the striped shirt.

5 (2:10): Skimbleshanks. Filmed by Carly Miles (Tantomile), featuring Hayden Baum's back as he sings... well, you know. Among other actors mentioned so far, the shot ends up focussed on the right ear of Kade Hughes (Bill Bailey)!

6 (2:25): Macavity. Filmed by Carly Miles, featuring Ashlee Hammerin as Demeter. The two backs closest to the camera are Rafe Watts (Munkustrap) coming back into shot and sitting down next to... someone I don't recognise and whom I therefore assume is Maddy Ambus, the new Bombalurina?

7 (2:55): Daylight. Posted by Amy Everett (Jemima), and, given the angle when compared to the previous clip, I assume she handed her phone to Rafe Watts (Munkustrap) to get him to film this.

8 (3:30): Finale / orchestral playout. Filmed by Amy Everett. This is an orchestral reprise of 'Memory', part of the medley played while the audience is leaving their seats after the curtain call!

[devizakura]

As you might have seen from most of my reviews, I often complain about the Macavity fight. The pet peeve for me is mostly that Demeter often gets yoinked away from Macavity without any real struggle, he's just like "Oh well. My plans got foiled I guess." Sometimes they swing her a lil, but to me, that just looks silly.

While some productions alter it slightly (for example by making Deme struggle and break away from his grasp by herself), the typical Gilly choreo for this number is really not my cup of tea.

Then what is my cup of tea, you may ask?

Well, I found one in the most unlikely of places while freshening up my ratings of productions based on a new system.

Cats Warsaw.

It's distressing. It's dynamic. It looks like a legit acrobatics-filled movie scene fight.

Sometimes I think about this production and feel a little sad that they didn't lean on the acrobatics more. From the glimpses we get, this cast CAN do amazing stuff, but them technically not being allowed to use replica choreo and costumes held them back in a way - they had to reinvent everything and while some choreography was stellar, a lot of it did not have nearly enough actual dancing or acrobatics to live up to this musical's reputation of being equally as much of a ballet/dance show as it is a musical

[theimpossiblescheme]

I was inspired to make a list of all the swing cats I’ve come across in different productions, partially from a post @the-cat-at-the-theatre-door​ made.  These are all the babies I was able to collect!

For the London swings, we have Greycat (who was apparently named Hysperia at one point), NBQ, AJ, Tabbygirl, Patches, a female and male version of Calico, Caramel, Victor, and the Walking Cover.

For the Broadway swings we have Spike, older versions of Greycat and NBQ and AJ, and a handful of nameless cats.

For the China 2012 production, we have Grumbuskin, Murad, Noilly Prat, Olivia, and Quaxo (the latter four have shown up in different productions such as the Australasia and World Tours).

The Gothenburg 2006 production gives us Isis, Ramses, Garbo, and Shakespeare.  They also have swings named Agustus, Moses, Savannah, and Tintomara, but I was unable to find pictures of them.

The Warsaw 2004 production gives us Fraszka, Fantasia, Sierściuch, and Zyleta/Kocik le Miau.  They also have swings named Angelika, Mamrotka, Turbo Ptys, Menello Bianco, and Kara Kotek, but they also don’t have pictures available.

The Tecklenburg 2015 production has a frankly ridiculous amount of swings, but the “main” ones--the ones who take bows with the main cast--have been named Rocketta, Eris, Barnaby, Buttons, Bonzo, and Mab (shout-out to @rumplteazer​ for coming up with them!).  The rest are just part of the circus background chorus.

From the Thunerseespiele 2017 production, we have Ishtar, Luna, Roxy (based on a hashtag suggestion from the actress’s Instagram), and another handful of unnamed swings.

The 2003 World Tour gave us Jonathan.

And the 2009 Italian Tour gave us Caligola, as well as an unpictured swing named Paride who apparently resembles Asparagus with a Cassandra-style rolled wig.

If anyone knows of another other swings I was unable to find, or if anyone can find pictures of the others I mentioned, feel free to add on!

[sevenkittensinatrenchcoat]

Cats Budapest, Since No One Talks About It

So, I’ve had a 2001 recording of Cats Budapest sitting on a playlist for months now and I’ve finally decided to watch it. I was putting it off because, unlike other non-replicas with full recordings, no one talks about it very often. Tecklenburg is everywhere and Tumblr’s got a Cats Warsaw Guy @per-the-jellicle-magician

But, Budapest? We got nothing.

Budapest was the third ever production of Cats and the first non-replica. It’s performed every now and again, so that’s why the recording is far newer than the production itself. It’d compare it to Japan. They started up in 1983 and never really stopped.

Despite being considered a replica, Japan is also similar to Budapest in that they both differ more from most replica productions than other non-replicas. They both showed up early, before the show as we know it had really come together.

Budapest has a cast of characters that somewhat loosely aligns with that of replica productions. Mistoffelees is divided into two characters: a singing cat who sings Gumbie Cat, and a dancing cat, who does most of the other stuff Mistoffelees does. He’s the official Misto. The names of these characters are Mefisztulész I and Mefisztulész II. They are both officially Misto. They are Misto cut in half.

There’s a queen called Lengelingéla who the wiki says can be the Budapest version of Jellylorum, Demeter, and Jemima. I have yet to see how that’ll play out but what?

I’ll post more things once I’ve more show.

[bombateazer]

From August 1st to August 31st we are going to be appreciating different productions of Cats!. I’ve put two on each day since I want to include as many productions as possible, this includes replica and non-replica productions. You don’t have to do both of them, you can do just one or do both (it is up to you). You can do fanart, Gifs, edits et, anything you want to do to appreciate these wonderful productions. Please spread the word!.

-

August 1st - Original London production (1981 - 2002) / Budapest (1983 - present)

August 2nd - Brazil (2010) / broadway 2016 revival (2016 - 2017)

August 3rd - Mexico tour (2018 - 2019) / Mexico (2013 - 2014)

August 4th - Cats video cast (1998) / Zurich (1991 - 1993)

August 5th - Shiki cats Japan (1983 - present) / uk tour (1989 - 1990)

August 6th - Antwerp (1996) / London palladium (2014 - 2015)

August 7th - Madrid (2003 - 2005) / Tecklenburg (2015)

August 8th - German tent tour (2010 - 2013) / Oasis of the seas (2014 - present)

August 9th - Prague (2004 - 2005) / Sydney (1985 - 1987)

August 10th - Buenos Aires (1993) / Asia tour (2017 - 2018)

August 11th - Hamburg (1986 - 2001) / Oslo (1985 - 1987)

August 12th - Australasia (2007 - 2010) / China (2012 - 2014)

August 13th - Moscow (2005 - 2006) / Dutch tour (2006 - 2007)

August 14th - Operà populaire (2017) / Amsterdam (1987 - 1993)

August 15th - UK tour (2003 -2009) / Vienna revival (2019 - present)

August 16th - World tour (2001 - 2005) / Stuttgart (2001 - 2002)

August 17th - Mexico tour (1991 - 1992) / Australian Circus Tent Tour (1999 - 2001)

August 18th - Asia Tour (2014 - 2015) / South Korea (2011 - 2012)

August 19th - Toronto (1985 - 1989) / Copenhagen (2002 - 2003)

August 20th - Australia tour (1989 - 1990) / Warsaw (2004 - 2010)

August 21st - Paris (1989 - 1990) / Italian tour (2009)

August 22nd - Vienna (1983 - 1990) / South Africa (2009 - 2010)

August 23rd - South Korea (2008 - 2009) / Düsseldorf (2004 - 2005)

August 24th - German tour (2005 - 2006) / US tour 2 (1985 - 1986)

August 25th - Original broadway production (1982 - 2000) / Berlin (2002 - 2004)

August 26th - US tour 1 (1983 - 1987) / Uk tour (1993 - 1995)

August 27th - Euro tour (1994 - 1996) / US tour 6 (2019 - present)

August 28th - US tour 5 Troika (2001 - 2012) / UK/European tour (2013 - 2014)

August 29th - Paris revival (2015 - 2016) / US tour 4 (1987 - 1999)

August 30th - US tour 3 (1986 - 1988) / Australia tour (1993 - 1996)

August 31st - Australia / New Zealand Tour (2015-2016) / uk/international tour (2016 - present)

-

Here’s some prompts/questions to answer if anyone needs them

1.Favourite thing about this production?

2.Favourite actor(s)?

3.Favourite costumes/makeup?

4.Favourite song performed in that particular production?

-

Please use the #catsproductionsappreciationmonth so I can see any posts you’ve made and share them!

[cats-warsaw-archive]

Letter of congratulations from ALW to director Wojciech Kępczyński sent on October 26, 2007, on occasion of 300th performance of Cats in Warsaw

Bit amusingly, TMR is mistakenly called here Roma Music Theater instead of Roma Musical Theatre

[Dear Wojciech

I know that today sees the 300th performance of "Cats" ("Koty") at Roma Music Theater and I would like to congratulate you and your team on this milestone.

I am sorry that I have not been able to see the production myself but my staff tell me that it is of the highest quality and it has obviously won a place in the hearts of your audience.

Please pass my congratulations and best wishes to the cast, crew, orchestra, theatre staff and everyone involved with the production.

I hope that you enjoy this evening's performance.

Very best wishes,

The Lord LLoyd Webber]

x

[white-cat-of-doom]

how many versions of cats were released on cd? I have the obc and olc versions so I was wondering if you knew what other versions there were, and if possible where to find them :D many thanks!

Hello Anon,

There are eighteen cast recordings:

Original London 1981 (both 2CD full recording and 1CD highlights)

Original Broadway 1982 (both 2CD full recording and 1CD highlights)

Vienna 1983 (1CD highlights)

Budapest 1984 (1CD highlights)*

Australia (Sydney) 1985 (2CD full recording)

Japan (Osaka) 1985 (2CD full recording)

Hamburg 1986 (2CD full recording)

Amsterdam 1987 (1CD highlights)

Paris 1989 (2CD full recording)

Japan (Nagoya) 1989 (2CD full recording)

Mexico 1991 (1CD highlights)

Warsaw 2004 (1CD highlights)*

Prague 2004 (1CD highlights)*

Dutch Tour 2006 (1CD highlights)

Italian Tour 2009 (1CD highlights)*

Japan (Tokyo) 2019 (2CD full recording)

2019 Movie (1CD highlights)

Vienna Revival 2021 (2CD full recording)

*Non-replica production, if that matters

In addition, there are a number of promo CDs that include a handful of tracks from the casts at the time of release:

Hamburg 1996 (3 track promo, assuming audio taken from 1986 cast recording)

Japan (Tokyo) 1996 (3 track promo)

CATS 1998 Elaine Paige (3 track promo; 'Memory' included, and two other non-CATS songs)

Japan (Osaka) 2001 (4 track promo)

Madrid 2003 (1 track 'Memory' promo)

Moscow 2005 (8 track promo?, two versions; both have 4 instrumental tracks)

Dutch Tour 2006 (3 track promo, audio from 2006 cast recording)

German Tent Tour 2011 (3 track promo)

Of everything listed above, the only ones I do not own are the Madrid 2003 'Memory' promo, Prague 2004 cast recording (a very rare CD that was scrapped before moving to production, only test/promo copies exist), and Moscow 2005 (another very rare promo release, only found with the press packages). Who knows if I can ever get my hands on them.

In terms of where to find them, the OLC, OBC, and Vienna 1983 are still being produced today and can be easily found new online, through Amazon or eBay (or better yet, in-person at your local music store!), and so is the Budapest 1984 CD as well (at least from what I can tell, it is always readily available brand new from Hungary). The 1989 and 2019 Japanese cast recordings are also still readily available brand new from Japan through the Shiki webstore. The 2019 movie highlights is also very easy to find, considering it just was released. The Vienna 2021 recording is still available from the label's website (at 45% right now!), but they only ship within Europe.

All the others can be found second-hand to varying degrees of ease online (i.e., eBay). The 1980s cast recordings are not too difficult, with Hamburg being fairly easily found, but as you start moving into lesser known (and shorter running) productions, it becomes more difficult to find them. Some are extremely uncommon, and I purchased the only copy I have even seen go for sale throughout the years, and I am still waiting for the chance to get the few I do not have.

Happy hunting to you, Anon!

[per-the-jellicle-magician]

Idk what's up with the Oasis 15 cast but they've really been gripping my attention hard

[chiseler]

Hello, Molly

Molly Picon stopped growing when she was a kid and topped out at around four foot eight -- four-eleven standing on her tiptoes, she liked to say. The biggest thing about her was her impish Betty Boop eyes. But she packed a lot of energy and spirit into that miniature package. She could and would do anything to amuse an audience -- sing, dance, do a somersault, climb a rope, crack jokes, wear blackface or boy's knickers. She played gamins, waifs, soubrettes well into her matronly years. The one thing she wouldn't and maybe couldn't do was to hide or even just tone down her essential Jewishness to appeal to the goys in the mainstream audience. It sets her apart from many other Jewish entertainers of her day. Whether she was performing in Yiddish or English, on Second Avenue or in Hollywood, there was never any question that Molly Picon was Jewish. Very Jewish.

She was born Malka Pyekoon on the Lower East Side in 1898, in a fourth-floor back bedroom of a tenement on Broome Street near Bowery. Her mother was a seamstress who'd escaped the pogroms near Kiev as one of a dozen children. Her father was an educated man from Warsaw who was never happy doing an immigrant's menial labor in America, so he did as little as he could. He also turned out to have a previous wife back in Poland he'd never legally divorced. He drifted in and mostly out of Molly and her sister Helen's lives. Decades later, when Molly became well-off and world famous, he'd drift back into hers, to borrow money.

Their mother and grandmother picked up and moved the girls to Philadelphia, where Mom became a seamstress at a Yiddish theater and took in boarders. Later she'd run a small grocery store. The story of how Molly got her start in show business -- like many of the tales in her charming and irrepressibly schmaltzy memoir Molly! -- is too good not to be true. When Molly was five her mother, who made all her daughters' clothes out of odds and ends, stitched her up a fine outfit and took her on a trolley headed for amateur night at a burlesque theater, the Bijou. On the trolley a drunk challenged the little girl to show him her act. She sang and danced in the aisle. Charmed, he passed the hat and collected two dollars. At the Bijou the audience tossed pennies on the stage while she performed. She also won the first prize, a five dollar gold piece. Her grandmother was astonished at the ten dollars she'd earned -- roughly a week's wages for an adult worker. When her mother said she was going to start taking her around to all the amateur contests, her grandmother said forget the theaters, there weren't enough in Philadelphia -- just keep taking her on the trolley.

Boris Thomashefsky's brother Mike ran Philadelphia's Columbia Theatre. He soon put Molly and Helen in a Yiddish production of Uncle Tom's Cabin, Helen as Little Eva, Molly in blackface as Topsy. Molly, billed as Baby Margaret, continued to act through her childhood. She dropped out of high school in 1915 to tour small-time vaudeville in a female quartet, the Four Seasons. In Boston in 1918 she visited a Yiddish theater group who performed one night a week at the Grand Opera House, a large but no longer grand theater in the South End that staged wrestling and boxing the rest of the week. One of the young actors she met there was Muni Weisenfreund; ten years later he'd go to Hollywood and become Paul Muni.

Jacob Kalich, who ran the theater company, came (like Weisenfreund) from Galicia, a province on the Austro-Hungarian empire. He'd studied to be a rabbi but then fell in with traveling Yiddish theater troupes. He'd slipped into America without a passport and speaking no English in 1914. Kalich hired Molly away from the Seasons, they fell in love and were married the next year in the back room of her mother's grocery store. According to Molly's memoir, her mother stitched her wedding gown from a stage curtain.

Yonkel, as Molly called Kalich, wrote parts and whole plays specifically for his new wife. One was Yonkele, an operetta in which she wore boy's clothes and sang, danced and did her somersaults as a kind of Yiddish Dennis the Menace. Kalich was unsuccessful in trying to get one of the Yiddish theaters on Second Avenue interested. On the Lower East Side as in American theater generally, leading ladies tended to be stately Lillian Russell grandes dames, not petite gamins in knickers.

After a child was stillborn in 1920 Kalich distracted Molly with a new project. They sailed for Europe. His plan was to make her a star (and improve her Yiddish) in the theaters there, then return in triumph. They started in Paris, where Yonkele was a hit, then toured it around Europe for two years. In her memoir she says they did three thousand performances, almost surely an exaggeration, but they did keep busy, and her star kept growing. She made her first Yiddish-themed silent films in Vienna starting in 1921, playing a sassy soubrette or a boy. When they were in Bucharest hundreds of university students shouting anti-Semitic slurs rioted in and outside of a theater where she was performing. They may have been put up to it by the Romanian National Theatre, which was losing business to Picon. It was time to come home.

Jews around Europe had been writing their American relations about the wonderful new star. Kalich's plan had worked. By 1922 the Second Avenue Theatre near Second Street was happy to host Yonkele and anything else Kalich put together, as long as it had Picon in it -- Gypsy Girl, The Circus Girl, Schmendrick, Oy is dus a Madel (Oh, What a Girl!). Picon played to houses packed not just with Yiddish-speaking Lower East Siders but with celebrities like Greta Garbo, Mayor Jimmy Walker, Albert Einstein and D. W. Griffith. Griffith was on the downside of a long career by then and tried, without success, to raise money for a film starring Picon. Flo Ziegfeld and his wife Billie Burke (the good witch in Wizard of Oz) came over from Broadway to see Molly perform. Afterward, Yonkel and Molly took them to a Jewish restaurant, where the waiter covered the table with plates of pickles, sauerkraut, fried steak, radishes slathered in schmaltz. The very goy Burke asked the waiter if she might have some vegetables. What, he snorted, pickles and sauerkraut aren't vegetables?

Picon was such a star that Kalich got the idea of renaming the theater the Molly Picon Theatre. When their packed performance schedule there permitted, they toured Yiddish theaters around the country. Later, Jews who had fled Eastern Europe for South America organized a tour for her there. She would also tour South Africa.

She returned to vaudeville in a big way, headlining at the Palace in Times Square with Sophie Tucker. Picon sang half her songs in English, Tucker sang half of hers in Yiddish, and they triumphed. When Picon played the Palace in Chicago, Al Capone (who had started out on the Lower East Side himself) bought out the first three rows. After the show he took Picon and Kalich out to dinner. At his request she sang "The Rabbi's Melody" (a big hit on Second Avenue) and, she claims, he "cried like a baby." For the rest of her career she introduced it as "the song that made Al Capone cry."

The crash of 1929 ruined Picon and Kalich along with everybody else. They scrambled to get back on their feet. They took over the grand Yiddish Art Theatre on Second Avenue and renamed it Molly Picon's Folks Theatre. In 1936 she and Yonkel sailed back to Europe to film a Yiddish musical in Poland, Yidl mitn Fidl (Yidl with a Fiddle). She plays a penniless girl who disguises herself as a boy to join a band of traveling musicians. Location shooting took place in Kazimierz, the once grand, now bedraggled Jewish zone in Krakow. They recruited the whole neighborhood as extras for a big wedding scene that took days to shoot. Few if any of the locals, deeply Orthodox and very poor, had ever seen a movie. They marveled at the food that kept appearing as scenes of the wedding feast were shot and reshot.

Yidl was a hit with Yiddish audiences worldwide. It inspired one of Hollywood's great eccentrics, director Edgar G. Ulmer, to shoot a couple of his own Yiddish films in America. Ulmer, another Jewish immigrant from the Austro-Hungarian empire, had started his career in Hollywood directing the 1934 Karloff-Lugosi vehicle The Black Cat for Carl Laemmle's Universal Pictures. On the set he met and stole the wife of one of Laemmle's nephews, for which the mogul reputedly banished him from Hollywood. Ulmer drifted to New York. When he saw Yidl drawing big crowds on Second Avenue he started a small Yiddish production company, Collective Film Producers, and filmed Grine Felder (Green Fields), recreating the shtetl in a field in New Jersey on a shoestring budget. Ulmer spoke no Yiddish himself, so he hired the Second Avenue star Jacob Ben-Ami as co-director and go-between with the cast of Second Avenue actors. The movie went on to be one of the most praised in the history of Yiddish film. (Ulmer later went back to Hollywood and a now-celebrated career as a Poverty Row maker of lowest-budget B's, ranging from brilliantly idiosyncratic noir like Detour to zero-budget sci-fi like Beyond the Time Barrier.)

As the 1930s drew to a close, Picon and Kalich saw that they were playing to the same dwindling and aging audiences over and over. Yiddish was dying out among the American-born children of immigrants, taking Yiddish theater with it. Although they would continue to work on Second Avenue through the 1950s, Picon still playing Yonkele in her fifties, it was clear they needed to work harder to crack the mainstream.

In 1940 she took her first serious roll on Broadway in Morningstar, a short-lived and soon-forgotten drama notable mostly for her spot in it and that of a thirteen-year-old actor named Sidney Lumet. In 1942 she returned to Broadway with a big gamble, her and Yonkel's musical Oy Is Dus a Leben! (Oh Is This a Life!), the first Yiddish play on Broadway. It was a vanity piece about Molly's life and their marriage, and they played themselves on stage. The Al Jolson Theatre -- where Jolson had taken thirty-seven curtain calls on the opening night of the revue Bombo in 1921 -- was renamed the Molly Picon Theatre for the occasion. The Times' Brooks Atkinson (who later got a theater named for him, too) caught the opening night, when the house was packed solid with fans and Molly pulled out all the stops. They adored her; Atkinson, who was as goyish as Molly was Jewish, thought she overplayed and mugged for them too much, coming off "gauche and coy." Atkinson was the most powerful theater critic in New York at the time, and his reviews made or broke plays. But his tepid response to Oy Is Dus a Leben! couldn't overpower Picon's appeal with Jewish audiences. The show ran for a respectable seventeen weeks, and she claims it only ended when the producers, feeling that they'd shown it to every Jew in New York by then, decided to quit while they were ahead.

During World War Two Picon did many USO concerts, played every military base she could get to, joined in many all-star benefits for refugees. She stands out in a very brief and uncredited scene in The Naked City, the 1948 cop movie inspired by Weegee's book. She runs a soda fountain at the corner of Norfolk and Rivington Streets. "Got any cold root beer?" a detective asks her. "Like ice!" she replies, then goes into a bit of endearing Yiddishe mamele schtick. After that, while she remained very busy on stage and did some tv, there was nothing much from Hollywood until 1963, when she played Frank Sinatra's mom in the screen version of Neil Simon's Come Blow Your Horn. When Frank had signed on they changed Simon's Jewish family to Italian to accommodate him. Then they hired Picon and changed it back to Jewish. This turned into a problem for Lee J. Cobb, who played the father despite being just four years older than Frank; they gave Cobb old man make-up to age him and put a wig on Frank to make him look younger. Cobb was Jewish, born Leo Jacob in the Bronx, but he hadn't played Jewish in years. He had to relearn it. It's not a good movie but it was a box office success and Picon earned an Oscar nomination for her performance.

In 1961 she was in another hit on Broadway, Milk and Honey, a Jerry Herman (Hello, Dolly!) musical comedy about a busload of Jewish widows from America trying to find new husbands in Israel. She was in her early sixties, but still managed to work a somersault into the part. When she left the show to go film Come Blow Your Horn, Hermione Gingold replaced her.

Then Fiddler on the Roof opened on Broadway in 1964. It was a record-setting hit that ran until July 1972. Picon was not in it. The role of Yente the matchmaker went to Bea Arthur. But when Norman Jewison -- not himself Jewish, despite the name -- put together the cast for the 1971 film adaptation, he studied Yidl mitn Fidl for background and hired Picon for Yente. Inarguably the schmaltziest Hollywood film ever made about Jews, it was the perfect setting for her and remains the role she's most known for today.

After Yonkel died in 1975 she gradually withdrew from the public eye, puttering around in their home up the Hudson, which they'd named Chez Schmendrick. She wrote her memoir, did a little more tv (Grandma Mona on The Facts of Life) and a couple more movies (Mrs. Goldfarb in The Cannonball Run and Cannonball Run II), and in 1979 toured a one-woman show, Hello, Molly! But her own health was deteriorating. She lived her last decade quietly and was ninety-three when she died in 1992.

by John Strausbaugh

[per-the-jellicle-magician]

One theory that just popped into my head is that they might not have had the time and/or money for a new libretto. Especially with the cost of buying the licence for the show and the shorter than Roma's prep time

And with the whole poster competition I am curious if it wasn't part of some price negotiating, like "hey, if we promise not to use your branding can we have it a little cheaper?"

But it's just some speculation on my part

No, I didn't end up rambling about Cats, I just didn't have time yesterday. Today also not so much, because I was linking all my quotes and that took quite a time. But, now I'm back!

Next thing I wanted to tell you about is a libretto/translation of it. I don't like the Polish translation much. Sorry, I think it could be done much better. It was almost the same as Warsaw's translation, but there were some differences. I know the 2004 version by heart so I heard them! They didn't change a sense, they were rather cosmetic. Maybe it was easier to sing it that way? I wish I had a record, because of course I don't remember them :(

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