HOME
First things first:
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
Right now that's over....
We met Jes and Norbert and
people at the bus stop. Much amusement for they had pompoms in
their hair and their faces were made up to look like CATS. So
the whole crew of us got the bus into town and got veeeeeeeery
strange looks. After wandering around colleges and stuff (don't
ask!) we got to the Apollo. Only its called the New Theatre now,
but I keep forgetting. And went and made up Bem and me. Mesa's
face was kinda like Cori and Tant. That was funny, cos
right at the beginning, when the CATS first ran down the aisles,
Cori ran past me. But I'm getting ahead of myself. So, we sat
and waited for it to start and failed to get opera glasses out
of the holders by using the edges of our tickets instead of 50p
coins.....but yeah. The orchestra started playing and preeeeeeety
blue eyes appeared all ocer the stage and it was veeeeery cool.
Demeter in the headlamps was nice and dramatic. And then CATS
started appearing all over the place. :-)
Um..........loved Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats. The dancing
was amazing. And the way they said "What's a Jellicle Cat?"
SO scornfully, like anyway who didn't know was a complete moron.
So cool!
Victoria's dance was very pretty.
She didn't raise her leg right above her head like on the DVD
but I don't know if that happens in any live productions and
it was beautiful anyway.
Ooh, I forgot. (So much for getting stuff in the "right"
order - I'm too hyper) We had good seats: in the stalls. Near
the back (row V) but I was on the end of the row (wahoo!). And
in front of me was Hannah, complete with tail and facepaint of
course. While I'm at it: CAT CONTACT! AS I said, Cori came running
past. And Skimble came running up and flung himself headlong
on the floor, looking at the person behind me. And then he was
crawling back down the aisle. And Hannah was twirling her tail
and hse hit him on the back. And he looked round with most amazing
wide-mouthed silent "Oh!". And then later, Rumpelteazer
came up and she was singing, and then she looked round and saw
hannah tail-twirling again, and twirled her own tail too and
said Hannah's tail was cool and stroked Hannah's head with her
paws, which Hannah said were so, so soft and fluffy.
The Naming of Cats (told you: all the wrong order, but now I have my DVD list of songs in front of me, so organisation MAY happen (lol)). The cats, most of them came off the stage at this point and went audience-visiting. Then all back for "name name name". Lovely and dramatic it was too!
Um.........Invitation to the
Jellicle Ball. Misto (YEY!) First proper look at him, and a lovely
look too (lol). Lovely interaction and stuff between the Cats,
specially Misto doing welcoming and stuff, just like Munkustrap.
The Gumbie Cat:
COOL! Munkustrap went and sat on the car, and Misto had to motion to him to get off, before he could open it and reveal Jenny. Very nice singing. I liked seeing a younger version of Jellylorum, without an accent. SHe was very cool throughout. Lovely long tap routine with the beatles.......... then when tugger appeared, Jenny's like "Tugger!" and collapses under her puffy costume.
Tugger. Well! What can I say? Little DVD-bound me thought, noone can ever be as good as John partridge, but this guy WAS. And not the same, sexy, incredible, alluring, a GOD, in his own damn right. WOW! *dies* Loved his song. He came down and kissed a guy's head and lay across 3 other people. That should've been us. lol. Jes and Em each INSIST he was looking at one of them. They can't agree who though. Teehee! And Tugger was strutting around, playing air-guitar. SOOOOO FUNNY!!!!!! Misto sang his line "The Rum Tum Tugger is a terrible bore" and Tugger made as if to kiss him on the lips. Misto runs away, with a "blergh, ick yuck" face. Tugger looks pleased with himself. LOOOOOL!! LOVED the screaming kittens bit at the end. Who was it? Rumpelteazer? who screamed till Tugger put his tail in her mouth. Cuuuuuuute!
Right, then: Grizabella. Chrissie Hammond was so good. At the beginning of the song it was spoilt by the mic breath-ifying her voice but otherwise, so beautiful. And Demi and Bomba singing was nice. Very "together". its the wrong word but I can't think how to describe what I mean.
Bustopher Jones. Lol! Lovely
"unmistakeably round" costume. Nice and pompous and
stuff. And very good-natured too. And his last "Toodle-pip!"
was so cute!
Crashes, explosions, flash, spark! Macavity............and then
a marvellous little giggle. Totally different to the DVD but
so effective and a lovely strong "SSSSH!" MUNGO AND
TEAZER OF COURSE!!! Bless them, I love that pair to bits. And
this was such a great pair. SOOOOOOO energetic. And singing all
the time and WOW, I wish I was that acrobatic. And of course
they had all the verses which got missed out of the DVD. WAHOO!!!
loved it! And a beautiful instrumental dancy bit **grins** (and
blatantly they were a couple, as I love them best, but more of
that later)
Then Old Deuteronomy. (WHOSE AUTOGRAPH I HAVE ON THE FRONT OF MY PROGRAMME! He was sitting on the stage all through the interval and we went up on the stage and he talked to us and loved our facepaint and I looked at the set, which was just AWESOME) Misto, so sweet, checking with Munkustrap if he should go fetch Old Deut and then running off and then coming back to check once more. There was a lovely Munkustrap-Misto relationship all through it actually : Misto, so wanting to be like his hero, Munkustrap, so eager to please and desperate to help. And Misto helped the walking rug up the steps and then disappeared into the background.Old Deut: lovely and old. Great voice. He talked with a completely different accent in RL though. And he sounded like Morpheus at times....lol!
Pekes and Pollicles: lol, so
FUNNY! (again)
Tugger IMITATING Munkustrap and then just as Munkustrap turned
round, tugger wanders off to the side of the stage WHISTLING
and nonchalent.
BARK BARK BARK. Oh dear! Poor Mungo *loves him* he tried so hard.
He walked away to the side of the stage after he got it wrong,
and was looking so sad. LOVELY costumes btw. I SWEAR Mungojerrie
was wearing Startrite shoeboxes on his feet lol.
Mungo: "And to those that are frisky and frolical, let my
menaing be perfectly plyn" And another Cat yells "PLAIN!"
So funny! And Old Deut, had his paws over his ears at the din.
Awwwwwwww!
"THE GREAT RUMPUS CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" nothing happens,
the note wavers and does a huuuuuge glissando down. Then out
runs Rumpus Cat and the note goes back up: "-AAAAAAAAAAT!!!!"
"You never saw anything..." Rumpus Cat's hair goes
up, he smooths it down again "Fiercer or hairier" Hair
goes up again.
"Jellicle Cats and dogs all must..." YES! Old Deut DIDN'T shout "Dust". And I was so pleased. I always thought it didn't make sense for him to *know* that there was goign to be a big crash. MACAVITY again, I think. Demi AND Bomba. VEEEEEERY clever! I thought that worked really well. And they put a lovely note of fear into it. FLASH BANG CRASH!
The Jellicle Ball.
WAHOO!!! Lovely lovely lovely! Very nice. Very energetic. Can't
really think of all the details right now, but will soon.
Grizabella appeared up in the balcony at one point, can't remember quite when.
Memory. Very beautiful. Now is probably the right moment to mention......
THE HORRID PEOPLE BEHIND US.
The little boy was SINGING all the way through the first half. Out of tune (Perfect pitch is a CURSE). AND his parents and grandma kept talking ("Is that a CAT?" DUH!!!!!!ugh!!!) And then in the interval me and rebecca politely asked if they could be a bit quieter and the grandma yelled at us "He's just a little boy, he can sing if he wants to what business is it of yours......" and then the dad asked what was going on and I explained very politely and he yelled REALLY loudly stuff like "we paid for these seats we can do what we like.........." I nearly complained, but didnt. I should've. But in the second half the dad seemed to be trying to keep his son slightly quieter, least I only heard the kid once.
Memory. Beautiful. Chrissie hammond did it so nicely. SO heart-breaking. Um.....
INTERVAL. Got old Deut's autograph. :-) Had icecream. And got yelled at but hey.
Moments of happiness.
MUNGO AND TEAZER TOGETHER!!! She was basically sitting on his
lap and he had his arm round her. SO cute. And nice to see them
in a serious, but beautiful moment together. Jemima: Myeh. Not
that good a voice. Too shrill. But then came...
Gus: So sweet in his beautiful
patchwork coat thing. Ooh that was good: Gus motions to Jelly,
go on you do this bit. Her: me? *looks nervous* then gains confidence.
"Is really AsparaGUS", titters, audience laughs.
"The fiend of the fehhhhhhhhl!" Coolsome. And his blood-curdling
noises. SO sweet.
"These modern productions. TUT!" *looks around stage.
LOOOOOL!!!
GROWLTIGER!!!! I've seen it
now!!!!!! YAHOOOOOOOO!!!
Gus disappears Stage Left. Blackout. Then, sail and ropes and
a group of jolly tars with a wheel, singing. Growltiger appears.
"from ____ to OXFORD he's the terror of the Thames"
Teehee. Very good. Griddlebone: beautifully fluffy. Growltiger
thumps sofa, Grid refuses, then eventually sits down. Lovely
Siameses. Such funky costumes! lol. Grid hoping to be made to
be Lily, then at the last minute Growl sings it. Grid flounces
off. Later she finally gets the spotlight but Growl grabs it
back. Crew joins in the singing, gathered around the sofa. Then
the Siameses joined in too. Very cool. And so sweet when Gus
reappears wearing his old patchy coat and thingy Siamese bows.
Awwwwwwwwww! Grid's scream:lol! Teazer so upset, going to be
comforted by Old Deut. He sings Skimbleshanks to cheer her up
and she goes on.....
Very very cool. Loved the "train". And Skimble's look of dismay when it falls down. Mungo collapses before the "glass-green eyes". lol. Um......Tugger doing his own thing again in the background (as always, lol, trying to grab the spotlight). Punching the air on the "WhooWhoo" bits. LOL!!!! They finished the song and then went back to "and he gives you a wave...." only to be interrupted by "MACAVITY"!!!!
Macavity appears in the balcony, then through Tugger's hole, then Stage Left, and kidnaps Old Deut. Macavity threatens Demi.
Demi sings. Bee-you-tee-fully! And Bomba, very sexy, and brilliantly energetic dancing.
Macavity appears on Stage Left, gestures towards Deuteronomy, then leaves. Deuteronomy comes slowly up the steps onto the stage, to be hugged etc by all the kittens. Demi agitated, running too and from, jumps onto his back and is spun round to be flung off, along with the Old Deut costume to reveal......MACAVITY. (and Demi throws the Old D disguise off). Macavity starts to drag Demi away. Fight very effective, very dramatic, very scary. Macavity, standing on the set, right hand:sparks, left hand:sparks, blinding flash and Macavity vanishes. The headlamp- from Skimbleshanks is used to travel across the stage. *macavity's not there*
Tugger sitting up high: "you
ought to ask, MAGICAL MR MISTOFFELEES...."
Wahey!!!! Misto appears on his sparkly rope, sends it away, and
waits till its disappeared into the flies, all but about
3 feet. And THEN "presto!" and wow.A beautiful song.
And a perfect Misto.Just like I imagine him: small, sweet, very
proud of his talent, very sweet, and the effects were amazing:
loads an' loads an' loads of fireworks, whenever he raised an
arm, the lighs that were looped all round the theatre went a
different colour, he had the preety ribbon magically appearing
from the mug (and I didnt see where that came from. clever clever!)
and he was a fantastic dancer!!!! Like WOW. I couldnt count the
number of spins he did, I was too busy worshipping the awesomeness.
The Cass/Deut transformation was cool. Misto gesturing Cass over,
she very unwilling, eventually disappears under the red thing.
Shape changes, Misto looks slightly worried, goes to Vicci (EE!!!)
who blows on his paw (magic dust? spit? lol) and Misto then gestures
over the red thing again........and tis Old Deut. YEY! Old D
looking to Tugger to explain thinga, Tugger showing a softer
side here towards Old D, tyhen eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! I love that
bit. Misto runs to Old D and leaps into his arms. And he did
this so he ended up curled up too. SO SWEET!!! And then cats
coming down,and Misto leaping, midair splits, splits, splits,
wow awesome, Cass reappears and they bow, Misto almost giving
her the stage. Beautiful, beautiful!!!! VERY CUTE!!! And so excited
by the blowing things up thing........lol!
Memory again. Better than the
previous rendition, methought.
Very sweet how the cats were now including her, nice seeing all
their individual responses to her. Specially sweet: Gus greeting
Grizabella. Awwwwwwwwwwwwww. Cute!!!
Then Up, Up, up! ANd it really was up. It was amazing. Smoke everywhere, Griz turning as if afraid and Munku encouraging her on.....up with Old D and then the beautiful staircase. Though I wish I wish, I dunno when she looks round on the stair, it'd be so cool if she slipped off her old coat so you could see the sparkly dress that's underneath. Or have her handing it to Old D. If you wanna interpret that, you can say her shedding her earthly body. But......I dunno, I just think it'd be a nice touch.
ANYWAY.....then is the Ad-dressing of Cats. Beautifully sung, very clear words, cool dancing. Was most disappointed that Misto was on the far left, and I was near the middle of the theatre so I couldnt see him very well in that last song. Eyop. And I was so sad it was finished. That song always makes me cry. ANd I was sitting there (NOT crying), going "don't cry, that face paint's water soluble". LOL!
Then....bows.....lovely, seeing Cats individually, tumbling, bowing, leaping, not as many cheers as I expected. Silly audience. Jes and Bem of course screamed for Tugger. (Have you folk's resolved the "was he/wasn't he looking at Em/Jes?" yet?) Mesa, being a very hyper kitten by then screamed for Misto and lots of others, cos they were all so so so so so so so cool and I wish I was going again cos CATS was amazing and I loved it to bits.
Afterwards......was sad cos I didn't have any cash to buy CATS souvenirs. I had my debit card, but they seemed to only want cash.:-( And then we went round to the stage door ....and I realised why it all seemed so familiar. I did an orchestra concert at the Apollo and we changed in the dressing rooms and went in at the stage door. Bright, aren't I?! We didn't dare ask people coming out if they were in it though, or for autographs and the one person we asked, said no and hurried off. She WAS in it but I guess she wanted some supper before the evening performance. And now CATS has GONE from Oxford. *cries* They SO SO SO have to revive it at the West End, cos it just rocks. I can't believe it only came 30th on the Top 100 Musicals programme that was on TV recently. And Grease was No.1. Nah.............CATS is the bestest!!!!!!!!!!
After, well, we got the bus back to Jes's, freaking out more people on the way, and talking VERY loudly. lol. I was very VERY glad that when we were wandering around before we got to the theatre, we DIDN'T see certain people. Cos we.....walked past the Party Shop, and into Lincoln College. And that would have been veyr embarrassing either way. Messed around at Jesta's, had a lovely time, thankyou so much, and really nice to see Norbert again (well done on the LJ m'dear!) and her sisters come to that.
Funny, mum came to pick me and Em up from Jes's, we go and get in the car. It won't start. We sit there, and tell mum about CATS. After a while we try again, and the car starts. As Em put it, "maybe the car wanted to hear about CATS"!
FINIS