‘Jellicle Cats Come Out Tonight’ – Cats on Tour, The Mayflower Theatre, Southampton. 20.6.13

Now after being abroad for a week in Lanzarote with my girls, I return and instead of being down, I had something enjoyable to look forward to, on Thursday the 20th of June, I headed down to Southampton once again, to The Mayflower Theatre to see the evening performance of Cats on Tour.

Having already reviewed this Theatre many times, again I can’t express how nice it is to have a big theatre that shows, some of the classic productions that have hit Britain and West End. This time I was seated in the stalls once again but in Row E and seats 17 to 22 Centre to the stage. and the view was brilliant, charging at 32.50 which is quite cheap for such a high and well known show, I was very happy with our seats.

Onto the show. Cats is one of Andrew Lloyd Webbers top running West End and Broadway musicals, which is based upon T.S Elliot’s Timeless Poems ‘Old Possum’s Book of Pratical Cats’, which were read to Andrew when he was little by his mother, and had always had a soft spot for them and wanted to create something from it as he states in the programme brochure:

 “I sensed there was some sort of theatrical future in the project although I had no clue what it was or how it could be achieved. So I staged my work so far in a concert at the 1980 Sydmonton Festival.  In the audience was Valerie Eliot. Afterward she gave me unpublished material that her husband had written about a cat entertainment. it was priceless. there was a letter suggesting a sort of plot. After a ‘Jellicle Ball’ the cats were to go ‘up past the Russell Hotel’ in a balloon ‘to the Heaviside Layer’.  there was an introductory poem about cats and dogs that became the basis of the present opening lyric. but the clincher was the story of a cat called Grizabella that Eliot thought was too sad to be included in a children’s book. with that discovery Cats, as it was to become, had the potential for light and shade that I need to compose a whole score.”

Now Cats is an all singing all Dancing production, very Andrew Lloyd Webber.  But within the songs many who view this performance might miss the story that is being told, the key is to listen to the lyrics for within them tells the story (mainly sung by Munkustrap the leader and protector of the Jellicle cats). Having owned the Special Edition film version of Cats on DVD, as I thought I would never get the chance to see this show actually on stage, I was very understanding of the story when seating in the audience and Thoroughly enjoyed watching it performed in front of me. But to some of my friends who came with me they really didn’t understand what was happening. Now in the programme which I highly recommend buying provides us with a great synopsis of the full performance, and if you haven’t seen this show before I feel if you read this before you see it, it may just help. The synopsis in this programme is very long so I’m just going to give a brief story plot that is also provided in the programme.

“The cast of cat characters would come together for the Jellicle Ball, with the master of ceremonies being their wise leader, Old Deuteronomy. The climax of the proceeding would be the choice of on of the cats to be given an extra life, a second chance as it were, and this chosen one would ultimately ascend to the Heaviside layer”

So the performance is a celebration of all Jellicle cats, and within this storyline we see the many different cats being introduced, these include Jennyanydots, the Old Gumbie Cat, that sleeps and lounges all day long. Rum Tum Tugger the prankstar tom cat that the felines love, Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer the pair of cat burglars that leave their family wondering what they will pinch next, and which one did it, Bustopher Jones the high up tubby cat, Gus the Theatre Cat who worked with the greatest actors of his day, Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat, an uncle to the cats who attends the trains he rides and makes sure every detail is perfect, and Mr Mistoffelees, the conjuring cat with magical powers. Then there is Makavity, who is dubbed ‘the Napoleon of crime,’ and Grizabella, the Glamour Cat, who is shunned by the rest of the tribe despite being a Jellicle Cat, who left the tribe years ago to explore the outside world and now wants to return.

You could say that some of these stories are contenders of who goes on to the Heaviside Layer, that Old Deuteronomy has to choose from.

But also there is entertainment within this story, entertainment for Deuteronomy, narrated by Munkustrap, the tribe perform “The Aweful Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles” together with “The Markching Song of the Pollicle Dogs” dressing up as the two rival dogs factions who bark ceaselessly at each other until they are frightened away by the great Rumpus Cat, a sleek and powerful Feline. And then there is the “Jellicle Ball”, the great annual dance in which all the cats celebrate.

so if you look at it like this Cats is full of lots of stories which follows a small plot throughout. and I hope it helps you understand what you will or have viewed!

Now the set for this production is based in a kind of rubbish dump with lots of different articles of rubbish scattered about that are presented and used within the performance (especially for demonstrations of stories) its the same set throughout as your focus always remains on the cats that are scattered around it, below is a small photo of the stage, in the middle is Old Deuteronomy who remains on stage in the interval for the audience to go and meet him. (I choose not to, as I tend to enjoy meeting the actors behind the characters, than the character himself.) I think another great aspect of this production is once again there is no 4th wall, with many numbers coming into the audience and including them also, just made the show more enjoyable.

Now in this production each cat has its unique name, and the cast is one of a large one. Again being a tour it was very unlikely to have understudies, and lucky enough we had all the principles playing their roles, but with a production like cats, you need some amazing performers to portray the athletic and dancing ability that is presented and needed to show the Cats. So many of these actors are not well known names, which was exciting to see as they were all just amazing, and I hope them all the best in their near future, and they are so lucky to be in such an amazing show!

Alonzo – James Darch

Bill Bailey – Will Lucas

Bombalurina-Melissa James

Bustopher Jones/Asparagus/Growl Tiger-Paul F Monaghan

Carbucketty-Joel Morris

Cassandra-Jessica Buckby

Coricopat-Richard Astbury

Demeter-Lily Frazer

Grizabella-Joanna Ampil

Jellylorum/Griddlebone-Clare Rickard

Jemima-Dawn Rickard

Jennyanydots-Alice Redmond

Macavity/Admetus-Cameron Ball

Mungojerrie-Barnaby Thompson

Munkustrap-Ben Palmer

Old Deuteronomy -Ben Palmer

Quaxo/ Mistoffelees – Joseph Poulton

Rumpleteazer-Katie Warsop

Rum Tum Tugger-Oliver Savile

Skimbleshanks-Ross Finnie

Tantomile -Lizze Franklin

Victoria/White Cat-Alicia Beck

Swing-Matthew Caputo

Collette Coleman

Barry Haywood

Ian Parsons

Freya Rowley

Francesca Whiffin.

Now it would take me maybe a dissertation amount of words to go through each and every cast member of this performance, but I can clearly state that they are all a talented group! They perform the production so well and their dancing is breath taking, I found myself constantly scanning the different cats and how each performer created their cats personality in their own cat like behaviours, especially Carbuckly played my Joel Morris, when you set your eyes on him you could always see that he was playing with some sort of prop, like a cat would do if it saw a string.  The head of the group Munkustrap was very well portrayed, and even gave a comic moment after the interval with assisting some of the audience with going back to their seats! Rum Tum Tugger the prankstar I myself have known him performed by John Partridge the original performer, and he is on the DVD, but Oliver Savile did him proud, and was great in his role! My friends favourite was Skimbleshanks as I heard, who seems to be a happy cat, and a fun role to play and well played by Ross Finnie.

Not all found it entertaining as it could be, from my group, but agreed the dancing was amazing, and one especially enjoyed when they creation of the train during Skimbleshanks number, some found it hard to understand the story, others just couldn’t get drawn in, and they seemed to enjoy act 2 more than act 1.  Now for myself Cats holds a special spot in my heart, as it helped me through a tough time in the past, so to see it live was just as important to me and a want which it did not disappoint, I was smiling throughout, and wished I could see it again before it hides away again from the theatre world. So if you get the chance before it goes and if its coming close to you, go and see it, and I hope this blog helps you understand it a bit better before you do of after you have.