#really enjoying misto’s song

[4giorno]

ummmmm oh yeah i like actually saw him two days ago

#hfkdhdjdjdj im still like was that real..... i actually got to see the show......... #it feels like a dream 😭😭😭😭 it was so magical yall 💖 #hdjdhdj tuggers actor was FINE 😅 listen i have seen some awful awful tuggers so this one was #a lovely surprise and i enjoyed him a lot #although one complaint i have is that they REALLY reduced tuggers role in other songs #also yall if you think you love the misto number already you rlly have to go see it live #bc like all of the love that you already have will be surpassed by a hundred fold #it rlly is indescribable how good that number especially is live. the atmosphere enhances it sm #and the arrangement they used for the song was so good??? i wish i could listen to this version on yt #and all the extra bits not in the clean filmed version are just so nice #and tugger and misto danced together in it a lot and it was so cute #aaaaaa i loved every number but the other stand outs for me were jenny and of course all of grizabella #anyway yeah i forgot to post bc after the show ended we got korean food bc it was my moms birthday #and then we just watched the numbers on yt in the evening hsjfkdhd and then i got sick so #OH YEAH and the jellicle ball is just incomparable when you see it live!! victorias actress was also unreal #anyway yeah if this show ever comes back to finland im definitely going again #and this time getting tickets the second theyre available to get a seat on the floor seats #to get rlly close!!!

[realreulbbrband]

Munkoffelees

I know I just made the Tuggof post but like, I genuinely thought Munkoffelees was gonna win and so I prepared stuff for them beforehand so might as well post it now :)

By god this rare pair is so rare I could barely find any gifs of them I need to spread Munkoffelees agenda

Pre-realationship  

• Mistoffelees made the fatal mistake of asking Alonzo for dating advice to win over Munk, and he ends up giving him a bunch of pickup lines to use on Munkustrap as a joke. Mistoffelees thinks he’s being serious however and is hesitant but thinks it’s worth a shot Munkustrap only ever ends up being confused or finding the lines funny complementing Misto for his “tugger impression”.

• Mistoffelees doesn’t feel like he needs to fight for Munkustrap’s attention, he’s aware of how busy he is and tries to work around it by helping him out most of the time with some magical assistance.

When Mistoffelees starts to help out Munkustrap more often with daily tasks around the junkyard Demeter started calling misto “Munkustrap’s little helper”. Mistoffelees will never admit it verbally but he likes the name and Demeter probably knows it.

• Also I saw this one post about how in cats Warsaw Munkustrap keeps subtly missing misto using magic (I believe it was per-the-Jellicle-magician) and that became my favorite thing ever so, after the ball Mistoffelees isn’t even trying to hide his magic but Munkustrap never really gets to see him use it since. He always turns or gets distracted with something else at the last moment leaving Mistoffelees to grunt and mumble to himself about not being able to impress Munk with magic however the one time he was using his magic without really thinking like zapping tugger Munkustrap actually sees it. Mistoffelees still remembers how sweet Munkustraps genuine laughter was.

• Mistoffelees thinks so hard about how to impress Munkustrap that he doesn’t realize that he’s already impressed Munk enough with the subtle things he does, like entertaining the kittens, dancing his heart out or just being his slightly cheeky but kind self. Munkustrap loves it all.

Coupled stuff yay: 

• On a few rare glimpses Munkustrap can be found with small traces of glittery residue on him curtsy of mistoffelees. (Cause they cuddle together so much) Munkustrap doesn’t notice ever until someone points it out In which he gets very flustered and tries to brush it off but not too much since he does like to be reminded of Misto. 

• whenever Munkustrap has overworked himself and returns to his den tired out, Mistoffelees gives him a surprise shoulder massage whilst asking Munkustrap about his day. Sometimes Munk will fall asleep halfway through the story and misto will just give him a kiss on the cheek and bid him goodnight.

• Munkustrap just admires Mistoffelees so much, he loves it whenever him and Misto have time alone together and when Mistoffelees starts rambling on and on about his interests he does get quite lost in thought however just watching Mistoffelees.

• Mistoffelees likes to be carried around especially by Munk, when their walking back to Munks den or Misto’s humans home or just when he can find the opportunity Mistoffelees will leap into Munkustraps arms. Munk normally has a completely neutral expression on his face while on the inside his heart’s pounding out of his chest.

• Munkustrap talks in his sleep, like all the time. Mistoffelees will sometimes not even know Munk is asleep and just talk back to him. He’d only notice when he picked up on how incoherent the conversations were. 

• Munkustrap is very gentlemen like, he loves to kiss Mistoffelees on the paw or forehead. While they aren’t a very PDA couple they do like their sweet and subtle touches. Like wrapping their tails together or squeezing each others hands.

• They slow dance together, I don’t make the rules they just do. Normally munkustrap will sing him a song whilst they do with Mistoffelees quietly singing alongside him enjoying the presence and peace of each other for as long or short-lived the dance maybe it didn’t matter cause they were together.

#munkoffelees #munkustrap #mr. mistoffelees #cats headcanons #cats the musical #my biases fr #I love them

[miasiegert]

Day 2, and one workshop photo of MY work

Before I say ANYTHING, hello to Wichita folk from Chaz. :) He was shocked (and delighted) at how much people enjoyed the show and we absolutely are brainstorming things for the future. So a huge thank you for the support and kindness. It meant a ton to him (and obviously me and David as well!)

Day 2 was a roller coaster... for ME!

I'm very suspicious because everything is going so well. Too well. Things never go this well. So I decided it was time to start really stoning some costume pieces that I hadn't before while David got supplies.

Then I got a phone call, never a good sign, from David asking me could I get the padlock open for the gate.

Padlock? What Padlock?

There are no concrete answers, only a guess... but it's believed that people who share a lot to store their boats left and padlocked the gate behind them so I was TRAPPED in the costume shop (which is a completely different building/drive away from the theatre) all alone with no food and had been the entire day while David couldn't get me.

Some chaos to get a key and get out, and David decided to go to the night time run through for notes. Chaz told me to take tonight off because I went through ND hell as there was a loud beeping noise nonstop and I had to turn my headphones up louder than normal (I usually watch a show in the background--today was "Power Book III: Raising Kanan" from Starz) so it hurt then the panic of being alone and trapped.

Anyway, what I *Did* realize was that I absolutely can share a wip of Bedazzling more of the Reba!Suit because that is my costume, that has been seen onstage before, there is no actor in it, no full costume, and it's MY original design.

Way back, we had very cheap acrylic rhinestones because we were too poor for better ones. Now, we're mixing in preciosa and swarovski with some crystal and glass ones. We have not removed the acrylics YET because a lot is carefully plotted fill ins and until I have enough time to REALLY thoroughly do it, I don't want to remove any sparkle.

So, for your pleasure (or not, Idk, maybe you don't care) this is the epaulets and belt for the Gumbie Tap Suit that's my design. If you notice a few interesting things with the waistband/tail, that is because it's got four strong snaps for the waist. There's stretch but not as much as some of our other specialty fabric, and different tappers prefer different tightness. We're hoping to add some snaps as this Jenny is between sizes and really wants a snatched waist (she didn't want to take the costume off--never seen anyone so happy before!)

I will be adding gold, yellow, and orange to it. I added purple to Misto in two shades and some AB crystals.

I forgot if I said this or not but I was requested to rhinestone Misto's shoes for his song number. I can't wait to show people pictures. I'm pretty sure there will be video. The last time I saw a very flippity Misto was my first pro production where an INCREDIBLE cheerleader/gymnast/hiphop dancer was cast. It was incredible to watch. This choreo is really fun and Misto's actor's manner actually does come across as shy and aloof at first... then super excited and happy. METHOD ACTING OR JUST HYPED ABOUT COSTUMES??? The world may never know.

I think people will REALLY like Rumple and Mungo a LOT. Cassandra is FANTASTIC.

Also anyone here have Starz? I need to gush over "P-Valley" and cry over "Hightown" s3 with someone! "Raising Kanan" is good but not hitting me in the feels the same way.

#cats musical #cats the musical #cats musical cosplay #cats musical suncoast broadway theatre

[millenari]

4,6,8,16,43, for misto

4. Favorite line

I enjoy a mute!Misto but I think Misto having the 'terrible bore' line is like... vital in terms of his and Tugger's relationship and shouldn't be given to other characters unless Misto's actor is physically not given a mic. So that one probably.

6. Worst personality trait

Misto deliberately acts like an annoying little bastard on purpose to piss people off all the time, but being that he does that on purpose I feel like I can't list it.

Due to his competitive nature he has a tendency to want to at least feel like the smartest person in the room pretty much all the time and can tend to treat perfectly normal interactions like competitions or a game of one-upmanship. He tends to get on best with other cats who don't really care about his (in)superiority complex and let him posture.

8. Unpopular opinion about them

UHHHHHHHHHHHHH

ACTUALLY I have one! The fact that 2019!Misto was awkward wasn't that bad. I see people all the time being like 'they ruined Misto! He's supposed to be a dramatic confident showoff!!!!!' but that's not necessarily true. Misto being insecure is a thing in plenty of tours-- in some (shiki, vienna, and maybe moscow I believe? Off the top of my head?) even have a moment where, after he pulls the tarp off of Deuteronomy, he whirls away and faces the audience while Tugger greets Deut-- this moment is in every production, but while most performances show him grinning or excited here, the above productions can sometimes show him looking afraid or upset, especially when Tugger starts singing again in a serious tone-- he thinks he failed. And even in 98 you see Misto fail to light a firecracker or two during the song, and immediately turn for Tugger for reassurance. Misto being insecure or uncertain of his powers is not even remotely new!

The issue with 2019!Misto is that they let that trait screw with the song. In all of those above examples, Misto's insecurity is characterized without even pausing the song for a second. In 2019, not only is the song kind of ruined when they turned it into a bout of .. . . .spoken word.... . poetry? Or a rap? Or whatever it was? BUT he also constantly fails to do the trick, dragging it out for forever. He just shouldn't have sang the song himself. They didn't want to pay Jason Purrulo the big bucks to sing another number; fine, have Munk do it. Or Victoria. Anyone other than Misto!

16. Deepest darkest secret they won’t even admit to themselves

Ooooooh, I don't know! Misto is generally pretty frank with himself, and holds himself to a high standard; while he can be an enigma to the other cats, those who know him well know him well, so there aren't many aspects of his character that at least 1 or 2 members of the tribe aren't aware of.

I will say that in a fake-dating tuggoff fic I've been writing, when Misto discovers that he's developed a crush on Tugger, he immediately resolves to take that shit to his fucking grave.

43. 3 favorite foods and 3 they despise

Human Misto grew up in a very health-inclined household and never really had much snacks or junk food, so he tends to dislike sweet or greasy or snackie type foods. He does love lemonade and dark chocolate, and tends to eat a lot of protein due to his career/hobby as a dancer.

#cats fan on main #thank you for the ask! 🥰🥰🥰

[flame-x]

🎁🧠🎯 :]

🎁 If you could give any of the ensemble cats a song, who would it be? What would it be about?

I would give Alonzo his own song! I made a post about it before, here

🧠 Share a headcanon/theory about the show that you like!

So many, but I really love all the hcs about the mating bond :) and the pas de deux. Also any and all headcanons about the Everlasting Cat and how religion works, I've honestly thougt so much about how the whole thing works and it's such an interesting thing to think about. For example, cats are reborn nine times and then just kinda. i dont actually know what happened after that lmao. bad example. also cryptid!misto <3. He be immortal and meeting the reincarnations of cats. and magical. speaking of magic, another of my fave hcs is that all jellicles have magic aside from their terpsichorean powers. like, there are big flashy, obvious magicks like those of misto/mac and the implied magicks of cori/tanto/jem but i also like the idea of subtle magic. i used this example in mistocord before, but skimble's magic being that he knows exactly when the midnight mail will leave and that he can predict which passengers will travel on the train again.

i also touch on the subtle magicks hc at the end of this ficlet

🎯 What's a common headcanon/theory/interpretation that you don't prescribe to?

Griz as Munk and Tugger's mom/Deut's mate. I prefer her as Bomba and Deme (and occasionally Vic)'s mother instead :3

I don't hate it though, and I have enjoyed content about this hc when I've seen it

#thanks for the ask! #mean like a minx and lean like a lynx #asked and answered #cats the musical #jellicle cats

[afairytalestray]

Day 21 of Cats-pril by @storyweaverofgondor - songs! This one was inspired by one of my favourite pieces of art by @soh-da-meatball - thank you for letting me use it as inspiration!)

Also on Ao3 here.

..

Tugger barely contained a snarl as there was a chap at the door for the third time that day. What part of ‘DO NOT DISTURB’ did these Cats not understand? His handwriting, granted, was not spectacularly neat, but surely with the big red letters, the message was clear? Apparently not. 

He had been trying to work on this new song all day. Although he was a professional musician, he really didn’t enjoy working in the studio. Too many nosey Cats loitering about, and there was always the very real chance of getting dragged into a conversation with some dull executive type. Tugger shuddered at the thought. No, it was much better to finalise as much as he could at home, and then just come here to record. Tragically however, a building site had set itself up next door, and any peace to be had at home was now shattered by constant drilling and hammering. So here he was in the studio, at the mercy of constant interruptions.

This song he was working on was already causing him no end of problems – no matter what he tweaked, how he edited, it just wasn’t coming out the way he wanted it to. Being interrupted once, perhaps, he could’ve let go – after all, it wasn’t the piano tuner’s fault he had been sent to the wrong room. He had taken a while to get back into the zone, but had managed, and had been trying out a new chord progression when there was another rap on the door. That time he had been pissed. The Cat at the door had been hissing about some meeting he was late for, and utterly adamant that Tugger was in the wrong place and he was in the right one. Shockingly, he had been wrong, and had stomped off in a temper tantrum. Tugger was also left in a foul mood, except now his throat hurt from their snarled argument, and he had forgotten his water bottle.

He decided to give the song one more crack before giving up the day as a bad job. Once again, he had just managed to get his head back into it when the door rattled YET AGAIN. He had officially had it. Whoever was on the other side of that door would be getting thoroughly chewed out!

He yanked the door open full force, so roughly that the hinges squeaked in protest, but then his anger evaporated on the spot. He let out a little yelp of happiness and engulfed his boyfriend in a bear hug.

“Rough day?” Misto asked, amusement in his voice. He stepped back from Tugger slightly. It didn’t look like he had dance today, he was dressed casually in jeans, with Tugger’s old letterman jacket thrown across his shoulders. It was a very pleasing sight.

“Babe, you have no idea,” Tugger groaned, kicking the door closed behind them. He slumped back onto his chair and pulled Misto into his lap. “Working here sucks so bad! I’ve been interrupted twice, and the second guy was a right prick, going on about how important he was, how urgent his meeting was… mate, if it was that important you’d have checked your email better!”

Misto hummed in sympathy, reaching up to fix Tugger’s hair. The gentle scratch of his claws was unexpectedly soothing.

“My apologies for the intrusion.” He flicked Tugger’s forehead with his tail. “I’ve never seen a door be opened so aggressively, I presume that’s why?”

“Sorry, baby, I wouldn’t shout at you,” Tugger mumbled, dropping his head onto Misto’s shoulder. He already was feeling a bit better – Misto always had that effect on him.

“I know,” Misto said, his paws continuing their relaxing ministrations. Tugger felt some of the tension begin to fade. “I know you don’t like working here, hopefully the builders will finish soon.”

“Yeah, hopefully.”

“Is this song still giving you grief as well?”

“Yeah. I dunno what’s wrong, I just can’t get it!”

“You will, darling. Oh, this might help, you forgot it.” He reached for his backpack which had been dumped unceremoniously on the floor, and whipped out Tugger’s water bottle.

“Aw babe, you’re a hero,” Tugger gasped, reaching over to take it.

“I added some honey and lemon, I know you like that when you’ve been singing.”

Tugger let out a happy moan.

“Make that a superhero, I love you.” He took a large chug from the water bottle, letting the mixture soothe his throat.

“The Rumpus Cat has nothing on honey lemon water,” Misto laughed. Tugger pulled him into another tight hug. Everlasting, he adored this beautiful, thoughtful Cat. “I know you don’t like sharing your stuff before it’s finished, but if you want a fresh pair of ears, I can provide.”

“If you’ve got time?” Tugger mumbled. He usually didn’t like anyone to hear his music before he was happy with it, but he trusted Misto completely. He himself was much the same, and didn’t let anyone see his dancing before he had perfected it. Unless he was really stuck, like Tugger was now.

“Of course, practice was cancelled today. And since you hate working here, I was hoping to convince you to skive off early and hang out with me anyway.”

“Like I need convincing!” Tugger whooped, grabbing his headphones off the desk. “One or two listens, then I get to spoil you in some way!”

“Deal,” Misto laughed, slipping the headphones over his ears and indicating Tugger to hit play. A little smile formed on his face and he leaned into Tugger as the music started. Tugger watched him contentedly. Suddenly, the song didn’t seem so bad.

#tuggoffelees #cats the musical #the rum tum tugger #mr mistoffelees #cats-pril2023 #cats-prilday21

[statisticalcats2]

So I had originally very sadly decided to skip this round of the US Tour but I decided to take a shot at buying will call tickets at the box office today (it's cheaper) and I was able to get some and they were actually pretty good seats!

Cast was mostly first-cast, covers were:

Old Deuteronomy - Jonathan Heller

Skimbleshanks - Max Craven

Sillabub - Megan Arsenau

Tantomile - Gracie Anderson

Highlights from the show include:

Mungojerrie and Sillabub interacted a lot, which I love because hcs.

This Tugger really enjoys tormenting Munkustrap, it's so hilarious and great whether you view it as flirting or annoying sibling behavior. He was always taking any chance he got to tickle or poke at Munkustrap.

This Tugger (Hank Santos) was also constantly moving. Fidgeting, shaking or rolling his body, etc, he always needed to be moving and it was a really interesting character touch. It was more visually apparent in his movements and behavior how quickly his attention changes, a lot of moments in his song actually felt quite abrupt (in a good way) in how he would just suddenly leave cats because they lost his attention in the middle of dancing with him.

Bombalurina entering the Glamour Cat song had an interesting vibe where it seemed to be treated as her actively interrupting Demeter. She didn't actually vocally cut her off but Demeter's reaction to her coming in to sing definitely gave that vibe. It was a more apparent "Bombalurina is actively stopping Demeter's sympathetic treatment and reaching out to Grizabella."

On that note though, Erica and Nora's voices are astounding. I already loved them in this song, I was straight up losing my mind during Macavity, their voices are so good and fit the characters so well!! They both had rather smoky, old-timey feeling voices, very fitting for Bombalurina and Demeter in my opinion!

During the first Macavity scare, Sillabub specifically went to Alonzo for protection and he covered her body with his own 😭

When Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer did the final pose in their song, they didn't look out at the audience, they looked at each other, really feeding me and my love for Mungoteazer held gazes!

At one point during the Pekes and the Pollicles, Jenny barked at Tugger and he got like legitimately jumpscared 😂

Honestly, coward Tugger rights all around, he was always like the first to run away each Macavity scare gfrihwuedoaisj (he did grow a bit braver during the Macavity fight and joined the rest of the Tribe in chasing Macavity off.)

Mungojerrie tried to grab Demeter back from Macavity when he was dragging her away 😭

Tugger's fickle attention span was still on display even in Mistoffelees's song. When Tugger was presenting Misto to newly returned Old Deuteronomy, he had a moment where he like, suddenly remembered what he was doing and had to search out where Mistoffelees was because he no longer knew because his attention had been drawn elsewhere.

New favorite performers from this production:

Bombalurina - Erica Lee Cianciulli

Demeter - Nora DeGreen

Rum Tum Tugger - Hank Santos

#cats the musical #cats us tour 6-2 #jemonzo #demejerrie #mungoteazer

[carbuckety]

Take this as an invitation to bitch about something, Cats related or otherwise

An invitation to... bitch, you say...? Ooooooh.... don't mind if i doooo

I am SO SO SO tired of the basic deuteronomy brothers. Like I think in a vacuum it's cool! Tugger and Munk are brothers, if you throw Mac into the mix it becomes good angst fodder, all well and good. But I almost never see anything BEYOND those 2 or 3 when there are other cats I think could make good Deut bros as well. Especially when you consider how varied other parent/kitten hcs are for other cats, why can't Deut be the same way?! Think outside the box! Think beyond just Tugger, Mac & Munk!

I like to accentuate the positive (or maybe I just like the song) so now this is positive bitching (if there is such a thing) about my own hcs for deut bros and why I think they would make fun deut bros (okay this is just infodumping)

My favorite Deut bros - Victor, Munk, Misto, and George. And this got really long so all of that under the cut.

Victor is the oldest imo, he's probably from a past life of Deuteronomy's actually, that would be mega cool right? He doesn't drop in on the tribe much, he's more of a visiting cousin (as I like to think many swing cats like Greycat, Caramel, or AJ are) but all the tribe likes him, because he can be quite charismatic, and also when he comes to say hi he usually has some fun stuff for the other cats. He's not much of a storyteller but he makes up for it in silly trinkets he brings back from wherever he's been to, whether it's near or far.

Munkustrap being Old Deuteronomy's son and for that reason the head protector of the tribe is just something I adore far too much to ever let go, ppl are totally right for letting that be a popular fandom hc. So yadda yadda, all the regular reasons why I consider Munk to be Deuteronomy's son, common fandom hc stuff here.

(I also like to think Victoria is Munk's daughter, which would make Misto her zany uncle, and I adore that dynamic SO much.)

(Mostly cause of Zurich) I think of Misto as a bit of an outsider to the tribe, because he has magic like his father but he hasn't quite harnessed it/it's very different from Deuteronomy's, so the tribe isn't quite as sure how to... deal with him (and he's frankly not sure how to deal with them either). So he is kind of splintered off from the rest of the tribe while he still learns the full extent of his abilities. It creates a bit of friction between him and the tribe, they don't fully understand each other yet but eventually everyone will hash it out and become buddies XD. Also because he is the only magical one of the 4 he's expected to take Old Deuteronomy's place when Deut ascends to the Heaviside Layer for the final time and the tribe currently is like "really, him? I mean I like him and all but... Misto?" So they're all sorta working on that still. Did you know I'm incredibly normal about Zurich Misto

George... really he is here because I think Misto and George as brothers is the silliest idea ever. George is not magical but he is closest to Mistoffelees, he doesn't do super well with talking or singing but he is quite a dancer and loves to hang out with Misto and practice their dance moves together, like be each others' partners and do lifts and fun stuff like that. They have a very simple relationship and don't expect too much from each other, which is good because they're still the sons of freakin' Old Deuteronomy so there's certain expectations placed on their shoulders.

But also, aside from Misto, George is great as Old Deuteronomy's son because he is quite peppy and sunshine-y and constantly energetic and moving, and it's a great foil to the often-stationary and sunbathing Old Deut + Victor, and on-guard protective Munkustrap. George is very casual and laid-back, easily one of the most approachable of the Deuteronomy brothers, and he is who cats go to when they are looking for some simple games to play to enjoy a nice day, that sort of stuff. He's the youngest, being just out of kittenhood, and so still enjoys a good tussle with Tumblebrutus and Pouncival, + a nice gossip with Cettie and Lettie. But also, he likes hanging out with the older cats too and listening to their stories, he is easily the one who chills with the tribe the most and just coasts along. Basically, he's the sunshiney chill dude who is here to have an awesome time and spout bad, idiomatic advice LOL.

#cats the musical #deuteronomy brothers #mistoffelees #munkustrap #george cats #victor cats #i hope... any of this made sense............

[jelliclekay]

What do you think about the new choreography in the revival of cats?

I think I definitely like it more than most people in the fandom do but that might just be because I've seen it so many times live.

There are parts of the revival choreo that I like WAY better than the og. For example, the Macavity fight in the revival is so much better and actually feels like a fight with high stakes rather than... whatever is happening in the og Macavity fight.

I really like revival Mr. Mistoffelees and how they changed it to be Misto getting the tribe together to bring back Old Deuteronomy as a group rather than him doing it all himself.

I think the pas de deux is much better and more intimate than the og (I just don't like Skimbletable and glad the revival cut that out and kept it to only a Platoria moment).

Old Gumbie Cat revival choreo is so much fun, though I don't necessarily like it better than the og. Honestly there are quite a few numbers where I think both the og and revival are fine and don't really have a preference for either. Gumbie Cat, Mungojerrie & Rumpleteazer, Jellicle Songs & Bustopher Jones come to mind as numbers where I enjoy both versions.

However, there are many things in the og that I think are better. All the small choreo changes in Macavity don't make much sense and I much prefer the original.

As much as I love seeing Tugger every time I see Cats, the og choreography is much better in my opinion. And I really hope to see a production with the og choreography specifically for this number lol

And probably my biggest grievance is the Jellicle Ball itself. While yes I do prefer the revival pas de deux and yes I do think the revival Jellicle Ball choreo is still so much fun to see live, I will always choose the original choreography for this number.

Though in general I am much more favorable about the revival than some in the fandom. And I don't think the changes to the choreo make the show any less Cats.

#asks

[uppastthejelliclemoon]

Please please PLEASE tell me about OBC Tuggoffelees :D

they're so important to me tbh

so in my fic/hcs for OBC Tuggoff, Tugger is much more of a free spirit. He doesn't live in the Junkyard, he has multiple different human homes. He's never in one place for long, unless it's something that has to do with his family.

He meets Misto during one of his little escapades around London, and immediately hits it off with the grinning face who never appears from the shadows

Mistoffelees is very interested in Tugger, and follows him around, enjoying his stories and the songs that he sings, and the fact that Tugger really doesn't treat him any differently because of his magic

and Tugger is so enthralled by Mistoffelees' magic, the way the cat melts into the shadows, and the way his eyes seem just a bit too bright at times, or his smile just a bit too sharp

When the Ball happens, Tugger knows that Mistoffelees is observing, if not for him, then because, obviously, it's his sister's Ball, and he wants to watch her dance with her new mate.

but then Macavity shows up, and Tugger's gathering the kittens behind him, and Mistoffelees can't just let him fight on his own, so the shadows draw up around him, and the kittens aren't scared as the darkness surrounds them, it feels more like a hug, and Tugger just grins dangerously

they tease each other SO much, it's their love language <3

after the Ball, Tugger starts spending a bit more time in the Junkyard, especially since Mistoffelees has revealed himself and wants to spend time with his sister. the two of them are inseparable, if they're not standing next to each other, then they're always in each other's line of sight

(also Plato 100% is Misto's best friend and no one can tell me otherwise)

#tuggoffelees #rum tum tugger #mr mistoffelees #cats the musical #cryptid misto my beloved <3 #feral tugger my beloved <3

[gaylittlewizardcat]

:3 hiii ummm this may be a weird question but what are misto & vic's music tastes ,,, are they similar? different? do they fight over the aux cord or is there like, one song that they totally bond over? ;w;

Since I tend to headcanon Victoria as deaf I’ll stray a bit from the question but I do in fact have Thoughts about the siblings and music :]

Since Victoria’s deaf she can’t hear the music itself, but in songs with heavy bass she does enjoy the vibrations she can feel. When it comes to picking music when the two of them are in the same car it’s usually one of Misto’s playlists that features songs with some type of bass and then Victoria cranking the volume up enough for her to feel it. Misto’s music taste can be summarized in the singular word “yes”

Because of that there’s not really any fighting over the music, but Victoria sometimes jokingly calls music Misto listens to boring if there isn’t any bass in it

Since classical music tends to not have much if any bass and a big part of ballet is classical, Victoria has a little bluetooth thing (I haven’t decided exactly what it is, I’m not (yet) knowledgeable enough to know what this thing is called or if it even exists at all) that gives little pulses that helps her keep the beat when dancing. Dancing together is a huge bonding thing for them, but the focus tends to be on the dancing itself rather than the music for obvious reasons. Misto does have emotional connections with certain songs because they remind him of a choreography they’ve done

Another aspect of the siblings relating to music is that Mistoffelees uses music as an auditory stim quite a bit. He’s often listening to music, and sometimes has the same song on repeat for hours, both to help him focus and to give him some kind of control over the background noise. Around public spaces and people with differing music tasted and/or people who don’t like listening to the same song on repeat he wears headphones, but he greatly prefers to have it on speaker. Since Victoria can’t hear it, it doesn’t annoy her like it does a lot of other people, so when it’s just the two of them he tends to have it on speaker. It’s one of those small things that seem insignificant, but Misto values it a lot

#thank you for feeding my brainrot :> #cats the musical #deaf vicky #mute misto #autistic misto #mistoffelees #victoria the white cat #monochromatic siblings #peak autism moment #jellicle answers

[realreulbbrband]

For the flower ship asks thing, (you dont have to all of them I just wanted to give you a choose lmao)

Dahlia & Rose : MistoJerrie

Water lily & Sunflower : TantoDemeter

Daisy & Bluebell : AlonzoTeazer

Ooo variety thank you

Mistojerrie

Rose ; Who's more romantic?

Generally? It’s sort of 50/50 since they have different love languages.

Mungo loves finding (and stealing) gifts to impress Mistoffelees with and taking him to places around town he hasn’t been to before. 

Whereas Mistoffelees is a little more casual, sure he’ll do some tricks for mungo whenever he asks but sometimes (mostly on occasions like anniversaries) misto will try to surprise him. Most of the time Misto is more of a words of affirmations type though.

If you’re asking who’s more flirtatious then 100% mungo cheesy pick up lines but some generally sweet ones too. 

more below

Dahlia ; Do they keep secrets from each other?

Hmmm

I can see Misto unintentionally keeping secrets from mungo, Misto likes to keep his personal things to himself generally so near the start of their relationship he isn’t exactly used to opening up to someone that isn’t victoria. Over time however he does learn to trust and speak to Mungojerrie more.

However In a very specific scenario Misto seems like he’d keep mungo out of the loop on certain situations until they’re over and done with. He just doesn’t want to trouble him.

When it comes to Macavity- yea mungo keeps a lot of secrets, like Misto it’s more instinctive (at least at first) he doesn’t really talk about Macavity with anyone who wasn’t there with him and prefers to leave his past in the past. 

However if Misto tries to bring up the topic Mungo tends to shut down the conversation or just down play whatever had occurred if he went to see Mac recently. (if he even admits he did). 

It’s complicated, keeping secrets from each other is a habit they both grow out of the longer they’re together but it’s never truly done with malicious intent.

Tantometer

Water Lily ; Which one cares about their appearance more? Ooooo tough one

Tantomile (before they got together at least) really wanted to impress Demeter, and make a strong impression. But that’s a tad bit difficult when you have an identical twin. 

So Tant may or may not have asked Bombalurina for advice…which she was more then happy to give ofc. (Which is why tant has red lipstick) 

Dem ofc doesn't care about appearances of others that much, but Tantomile did develop a bit of a liking to pampering which eventually did get to dem. 

It became less about them wanting to have great appearances all the time and more about some morning self care (I don’t know if cats actually have makeup but like 2019 has a bunch of cats drinking milk even though they’re lactose intolerant so logic doesn’t matter) anyways they have some morning routine pampering together along with self care dates. So equal amount. 

Sunflower ; Which one would go to jail for the other?

I want to say Tantomile but Demeter will literally commit a felony and go against anyone for someone she loves (cough cough jumping fake deut). So purely because girl is the right amount of unhinged Demeter. 

Alonzoteazer

Daisy ; Which one sings while doing chores? Are they good at it?

Oooooo

Alonzo does, and fairly well but only when he thinks he’s alone and then when Rump catches him and ofc teases him about it he acts like he doesn’t know what she’s talking about until she eventually moves on.

Rump sings loud and proud, cats from outside the den could probably hear. It’s mostly nonsense she made up on the spot or related to whatever chore she’s doing. Alonzo appears neutral but he genuinely enjoys it, sometimes he’ll even hum teazers silly songs while on patrol.

Teazer tried singing a lullaby to him once it was bad but hey it cheered him up

Bluebell ; Who's more emotional?

Hmmmmmm

They’re both fairly emotional, Alonzo tries to toughen up sometimes but that crumbles quite quickly. 

As for Rump 90% of the time she’s an open book. 

I don’t have much more to say….just Alonzo finds himself opening up to Teazer quite easily since she’s good company.

#long post #seriously thank you tho #I love these pairings Alonzo and teazer is something I never really thought of but cute #and ofc I love Tantoteazer and Mistojerrie already so #ship asks #mungojerrie #mr. mistoffelees #Mistojerrie #Tantomile #demeter cats #Tantometer #Rumpleteazer #Alonzo #Alonzoteazer

[missing-sock-misto]

Cats Show Review: Denver 5/24, 5/25, 5/28

So this is a bit late. 😅 These notes have been typed up for a solid 2 weeks, I just never got around to finalizing them. :P

I went on three different days (it was kind of a mistake of scheduling, long story, but I regret nothing), and this review is going to be covering all of them together. The cast was the same for day one (5/24) and two (5/25), but different for Saturday’s (5/28). So the first two shows were pretty much the same, and the third had the most differences. (I do refer to Saturday’s show as “the third day/show” because it was my third show. It was not chronologically the third show they performed.

(Note: Travis was Tugger all 3 days. They just forgot to put his name on the board as a cover for the first two).

Bows: 5/24/22 Bows: 5/25/22

I also use the Broadway 2016 Revival as my biggest point of comparison, along with comparing the shows with each other.

I do take the opportunity to talk about the Broadway Revival choreography. I do keep it generally positive though.

If I refer to a stage direction, I’m talking about the audience’s pov. Note: -I am a huge Misto stan, so I basically tracked Misto through the entire performance. Most of the notes are on him. I’m also a huge Tuggofflees shipper, [though I will say in this version, I’d probably read as a poly Misto-Tugger-Bomba. Very, “Hi, this is my boyfriend Tugger, and this is his boyfriend Misto”]

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(I did run into some formatting issues where paragraphs would get doubled, and if I deleted the duplicate a *different* paragraph would get deleted and doubled. If you see a paragraph get doubled, I’m sorry, I tried.)

I will start out by saying that I like the Revival choreography. While I enjoy the original choreography, (and there are some pieces that I do prefer the original for, or I’m sad that certain elements were removed), I overall really like the Revival choreography and the additions and changes it made, especially for Tugger and Misto’s songs. I think the Jellicle Ball is the one I feel the most conflicted about. It is absolutely ok if you do not agree with me on this, it is my opinion, but I do like it.

While Day One was good, I definitely thought it was the weakest performance. I’m guessing the altitude shift of going from sea level New York to “the Mile High City” of Denver combined with travel really hit the performers hard. I noticed people running out of breath during their performances or panting really hard at the end of a number.

However, by the second day, people seemed to have adjusted somewhat. And Saturday’s performance was fantastic. Definitely my favourite. Nick (Munk), Vinny (Alonzo) and Chelsea (Bomba) have deeper/lower registers, and having them there really helped increase the diversity of the vocal pallet. It’s still a very young sounding cast, but I definitely noticed a more filled out ensemble when they were there.

Plus, both Chelsea and Lauren (Demeter) have incredible voices, both powerful and show stopping but unique from each other. Having them together for Macavity and Glamour Cat was awesome.

I really enjoyed the cast

- Surprise standouts

Jennyanydots

Bustopher/Gus

Demeter

Due to the limitation of the tour set:

- No Aerial capabilities & no pyrotechnics

No trapeze,

No “climb up a wall”- with a cat scaling a wall on a wire, though Bill Bailey was hanging from the ladder

No aerial entrance for Misto

No wire removal for Griz

No pyrotechnics at the end of Misto’s number.

- Inflatable set so no trunk boot opening.

- Lighting- No “window” grids. Generally more limited lighting effects when compared to the Revival.

Overture- Invitation

Gorgeous lighting

Baby Griz gets the line “When you’re walking alone”.

Great enunciation. For the 98 film, I need subtitles in order to understand what they were saying. These guys, I could understand clearly.

Misto grabs the boot and passes it off to Tumble (I think).

Hand motions and symbols to represent the different “types of cats”. I thought this was a cute addition. For example:

Ie “Skeptical cats” the cats do a wide stance and put one hand on their chin, the other on their elbow.

Romantical Cats- Demeter & Munk hold hands and look at each other and smile. (I will say, while I preferred Nick’s voice, I think Taylor might have had better chemistry with Lauren).

Critical cats- they do a calculator typing motion?

Skimble takes the “There’s a man over there” line.

Gumbie:

First good look at Misto’s performance (well besides Invitation but run with me)

He has soo much energy, always smiling, and doing hard choreography. I have no idea how Paul is alive right now.

Due to the limitations of a tour setting, they took out several of Misto’s “magic tricks”. In Gumbie Cat, he’s supposed to create a light spot to conjure a window, spread the light open, and then open the car boot with magic. Misto does still create the light spot, but because of the lack of window grid lines, the light doesn’t look like it spreads? So he’s just twirling on the floor for what looks like no reason.

Plus, then the car boot doesn’t open with magic, she just crawls onto the boot, so he just goes “Ta Da!” It really makes Misto look like he’s showboating for no reason 😅

I don’t mind too much, because I love him, but it does look a bit off

 Michelle’s an amazing Jenny, she’s gorgeous, beautiful voice, great tapper, loved her. A number of Gumbie Cats I’ve seen can be very “shrill”, but Michelle’s voice is super sweet, I got “motherly” vibes from her rather than “Mother Superior” vibes.

The kittens mess with the Gumbie Trio’s tails while doing the “and tie it into sailor’s knots” piece.

They only have 3 cockroach costumes, but they look nice, more like wheels than garbage bags. They use them less though.

Misto DOES NOT like the cockroaches. When they came out he would go on all floors and hiss/bite at them, then look at Jelly for approval.

While some cats are scrubbing the floors, Misto on top of the oven scrubbing the top of it. Others are cleaning the sides and throw their rags to him.

No exercise balls (Revival). Honestly, this was a good adjustment for me. I thought the exercise ball dancing was a recipe for disaster. I don’t know if this is a permanent adjustment or a tour adjustment.

Rum Tum Tugger

All right, I went in with low expectations for Travis, ngl. I basically bought tickets after seeing Zach’s TikToks and loving them, and being like, “yeah, I can trust this guy to do a good Tugger performance”. So when Zach left, Travis had big shoes to fill, and I had a LOT of baggage about (and investment in) this character.

I’ll admit, I didn’t like him in his first performance. I started warming to him after his song finished, but I was still pretty wary of him. (In his first performance, he was at an 11 in theatrics and very nasally, which I’m not a huge fan of).

However, I liked him more the second day, once I knew what his deal was, and actually enjoyed him on the third day. It was also interesting, cause he changed his performance slightly each time. Each day he dialed it back a little bit more. The first day he was particularly nasally and “immature” and he laughed hysterically in his entrance. For the second, he toned it down a bit. On the third, he sounded more… pouty? He lowered his voice and it sounded like he was pursing his lips or something a bit more while singing. He also barely laughed when he came out (and didn’t say “boop” when he kicked Munk’s butt, like he did the first two days. [That was a shame, I liked the “boop” :P] ).

(Note, he’s changed his makeup. When it was first announced he was taking over for Zach, he had an extremely contoured face that made his chin very narrow. By the time he’s gotten to this performance, he made it more natural, doing the cheek stripes and following the shape of his face better, and didn’t use as extreme contouring. I think this is a plus, I didn’t care for his initial makeup look).

Overall, I enjoyed his performance, it just took me a while to actually warm up to him.

- Misto:

Tugger and Misto look at each other very affectionately while doing the “And there isn’t anything you can do about it” leg sashays.

FYI Misto does not smack Tugger’s bum, that is an illusion on uppastthejelliclemoon’s boot due to camera angle. HOWEVER, it is pretty dang suggestive. I would say it was more of a “Hey there” or “call me later” something? Hard to describe.

After his quick dance with Tugger, Misto was ogling Tugger on all fours from on top of the car boot. Around the “bureau drawer” line, Skimble comes out and Misto excitedly paws at him and points at Tugger, like “Isn’t he great 😍” and taps at himself. Then Skimble leans in and starts lecturing Misto, and Misto is clearly not internalizing this message, (On the first and second day, he just full on ignores Skimble and continues watching Tugger excitedly. But on the third day he has the decency to sit back and look a little less excited… until Skimble gets off to help Jenny, and Misto goes right back on all fours and stares at Tugger with huge heart eyes XD).

Tugger dances enthusiastically with Cassandra

During the mirror sequence: Misto does an extra jump. [vs Revival]

The cats surrounding the Mirror do not stare at Tugger, but instead face at the audience. [vs Revival]

Misto is doing the Big Boy Choreography with Munk and Alonzo on the right side (Skimble’s doing it on the left side)

Tugger mockingly does the Big Boy arm wave, then scrapes his foot at Munk before pulling in Misto to do the lighting dance.

He still does the hip thrust when Misto goes through his legs! [Ok, part of me wants to talk about the different styles of hip thrusts that he did on different days… but I also really don’t. But they were different].

Misto was Absolutely Enraptured when started Tugger doing the “abouts”. This cat wanted to hear his boyfriend riff.

For shooing away his fan club, on the first two days he does a more annoyed “Ah ah ah ah” like “Do you mind?”. The third day he laughed first, did the “Ah ah ah” again, though it sounded slightly less annoyed, and also some “Tss tss tssts”, with a final “Meow.” I laughed.

Glamour Cat:

Tayler my beloved. Her voice is incredible.

There seems to be an interesting history between Jenny and Griz in this version. Jenny is usually the first to approach Griz, before turning and running away. I didn’t know how to read it, and it kind of depends on the age you want to put Griz at. She could be an old friend who lost her way, or maybe a kitten Jenny had helped raise.

Munk literally gestures for Griz to leave the stage, like “There’s the door. Get out.” Before Demeter starts singing. (Lauren’s Demeter is incredible. Her voice is smokey and powerful and just awesome. I saw she got to go on as Griz in June and I’m so happy for her, she has the voice for it).

And Chelsea as Bomba 🤩.  These three powerhouses singing together, fantastic.

Bustopher Jones:

Is greeted by Alonzo, then later guided by both him and Munk

Misto slides off car boot and Victoria helps him fluff his fur

No street light for Misto to light up (Again, this kind of makes it weird that Misto gets a solo moment with a spotlight with Bustopher, because there’s no point for him to be the center of attention if you don’t know that that was a trick that was in the show).

I really like the dinner napkin flowing into a table illusion.

I like that they do the Macavity scare and then Bustopher says “Toodle Pip!” It makes the line make sense.

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer

Amazing performance. This performance helped me realize that [in my opinion], this is probably the hardest number of the show. It’s JUST these two, and they have to do some very tricky, physically intense choreography, while singing well. And they have to be in sync.

They have nothing to distract from them and no one to support them besides each other. Super tricky number, huge respect to these guys.

I adored Allison as Rumple, her voice is sweet but strong. And both Mungos (Max and Brian) were great!

Old Duet

Victoria crawls to the front stage right to greet Duet first and is waiting by the wings when Misto brings him back.

After the song ends, Tugger helps Deut sit, and nuzzles his fur

Jellicle Ball

This is the piece where I think the rechoreography is weakest for me.

They do significantly more lifts in this version, and also throughout the whole show. I like lifts, this is a positive. But they took out and changed a lot of things I’m fond of. 

After the Macavity scare, Alonzo Munk stay out, and Tugger is the first to come out when Old Deut starts singing. I am… not really a fan of this. It feels very, “the Big Boys are the brave ones” which feels more… stereotypical(?) than having the young and innocent girls (Victoria and Jemima/Sillabub) to be the first ones brave enough to come out.

Deut and Gus sing “Rollie Pollie” and “Gavotte and a jig!” I liked this, it made them seem like old chums who were jovial and got along,

Only Misto sings “Reserving our terpsichorean powers!” Not him and Munk together. (He also does a magic trick, I thought it was cool. He spins and moves the spotlight around the stage.)

Minuete- Tugger and Misto do a bit of the minuete together! The cats only do like one dance step, so it’s very quick, but I saw it and was very happy. 

Lol, on the Saturday performance, the audience did NOT know when to clap. They tried clapping twice when all the cats paused when in the triangle formation. But at least they wanted to clap!

They took out the Boy Ballet, I was not happy. I knew it would happen, but I like that sequence for obvious reasons. (Honestly, they seemed like they took out quite a bit of Misto’s dancing in the ball. They did increase Jerrie and Teazer’s roles though).

When Bomba does her sexy girl cat dance, All the boys stand to attention and do bobs and arm raises, and Misto just leaves. (While he’s not the only boy cat missing, he is the only one to actively leave, and he also kind of draws attention to it by doing an arm flourish) I laughed so much. This cat is too gay XD

Tugger and Bomba run off together to… presumably have some fun.

After Tugger comes back, Misto sits on the car boot with Tugger and they hang out. On the first day, when Misto gets up to join the back of this line for his choreography, he paw bumps Tugger and Tugger gives him a little encouraging wave.

They reduce the number of whirligigs to one. I like whirligigs, this is a big negative.

Griz comes out early on, and mimics Victoria when she’s doing the pre-Pas de Deux with Plato. I got the sense that she *was* the Victoria of her generation, and was reliving her youth. It was… melancholy. I liked it.

(I also like that they establish more Plato/Victoria moments throughout the ball. That way Plato doesn’t come out of left field with his petition. They seem very cute and earnest, very “young love”).

Misto looks paired off with Jelly during the ball?

God I like this Pas de Deux choreography so much better. You mean Victoria doesn’t need to get her breasts raked by a guy while lying on top of another guy every night? Thank you.

When Misto is drawing attention to Griz to scare her off, he lights up the area around her, then runs center stage to do the head bobbles. He, Jelly and some of the others try to scare Griz off in the background, while Deut is actively trying to stop them. It isn’t until Munk scratches Griz when she runs off. Deut looked shocked and disappointed. 

I did see/hear/read an interview where they said that Victoria is touched by every tom during the show. They did seem to keep this in place. (I paid attention when she and Tugger do a small bit of the choreography together and went ‘huh’. 

After passing Princess Louise and until Ecstasy, instead of having everyone dance in a mass, they basically broke it up so two-four cats would do a piece of the choreography before passing the next step to a different group. I personally think this takes away a bit of the impact of the choreography, because there is something awe-inducing of having 22 or so people just dancing in unison.

My friend who I saw two of the performances with disagrees with me, as they felt that breaking it up made the stage feel more active and dynamic. Just to give the perspective of someone who wasn’t hyperfixated on the show.

I do like in the end after they do the “Drags”, they collapse in like a circular staggered pattern. It felt cool and flowed appealingly.

Memory:

Goddamn it, Tayler has a fantastic voice. Like, I cannot stress how much I loved her delivery.

ACT TWO

Gus

John Bow is a Great Gus. His voice is deep and resonant, and he has a fantastic charisma that just pulls the audience in. (He also made me feel better about Griz getting picked. I could believe this cat could make it another year for the next Jellicle Ball).

The audience laughed at the appropriate moments.

Throughout the first performance, Misto and Tugger kept trading glances over jokes. Tugger liked the oven and would sit on top of it a lot. 

On the first day, when Gus prepped to do the “wail to bring on the ghost”, he coughed to clear his throat, and the audience broke out in a loud applause. Gus paused for a moment looking a bit confused, then went, “I haven’t done it yet!” in kind of playful exasperation. The audience settled, and then he did the wail, and the audience brought the roof down with their cheering.

By the second performance Gus learned his lesson, and didn’t clear his throat.

When Gus said the line, “I knew, how to act, with my back, and my tail”, Jenny flicked Skimble’s tail.

Pekes and Pollicles

Great dramatic lighting, very fun.

Am I a little sad that Munk didn’t get to be a director? Yes. But at least he was able to help, and frankly, anything that gets rid of Growltiger I’m all for. Plus they made little melody homages to Growltiger, which I thought was a nice touch.

When everyone’s getting ready to put on the show, Misto’s lighting the stage lights at the front, and in the back, Munk and Skimble are shooing Tugger off stage. He’s like “all right, all right, I’ll move XD”.

I might be reading too much into this, but screw it. So they have Misto and Tugger sit on the car boot together and they paw bump, so they’re obviously friendly. Then when the Pekes and Pollicles are coming out, they have Misto move so he and Tugger sitting in the back on opposite sides of Old Deut (Misto on tire, Tugger on car boot), like they’re trying to frame them as “opposites”. Idk, it feels like an enforcement of the “opposites attract” trope, which I’m here for. 

(A general note, it was very cute seeing how Misto interacts with Old Deut throughout the performance. They seem to have a good relationship, and Deut seems to care for him like a (4th) son.)

“Winsome Chinese” thank god. I like, sighed with relief every time I heard it, even though I knew it was coming.

No bagpipes 😔

Tugger actually seems pretty interested in the story. He kept smiling and leaning in and stuff. He sat with Old Deut and held his arm throughout the performance.

Instead of shaking, like the Pollicles did when the Rumpus Cat emerged, Tugger shimmied on the first two days.

Skimbleshanks:

Chris is a good Skimble! He’s energetic, has a good voice, I enjoyed him a lot. They kept most of the choreography the same, so I can’t say too much.

They did have it so that Skimble doesn’t fall asleep during Gus’ song, he is awake, says hi to Old Deut, and then goes on top of the car boot to mime being asleep. I like this, as it keeps more to his character of being perceptive and alert, rather than having him be actually asleep for his introduction.

Misto and Demeter were cute and playing with each other in the background.

(Paul’s Misto is such a cinnamon roll, he was *really* happy to be the light of the train. He also kept bopping around with Demeter who was one of the front wheels.

Catnapping

I significantly prefer the Macavity of the revival over the original. Like significantly. I like the costume design better, I like the catfight choreography better. There are some really neat parallels between Tugger, Deut, and Munk with Macavity in this version too. Instead of doubles, they had Macavity’s laugh echoing and moving around the theater. I also think it does a better job of establishing Macavity as having mind control powers, what with him puppeting the cats around. (As a kid, I had been very confused by the kidnapping scene from the original choreography. I was like “Why is no one doing anything?” This is much clearer) I also like how Munk tries to save Demeter from getting hypnotized.

Macavity:

Lauren and Chelsea are such a powerhouse couple. Fantastic rendition of Macavity.

Macavity fight While all the girl cats are grouped together in their ending pose, Macavity creeps in amongst them, and then jumps out, as if appearing from nowhere. (I think this was super cool, but I do think they need something to distract from center stage while he’s doing it, cause all the girls are very skinny dancers and don’t obscure his entrance super well).

- Macavity walks off stage with his henchcats and “Deuteronomy” is brought back.Demeter realizes it’s a fake, and does her hackles raised run. 

But what’s interesting is that when she passed between Macavity and Cassandra and Tugger, they stopped and started shaking their heads, and on the first two days put their hands to their heads. (Skimble was doing the same motions on the left side of the stage. I think there was a 4th in the lower corner, but I couldn’t tell who it was)

Then while she’s running to the other side, the four cats do like “On guard” poses, getting on all fours and planking, which they seem to do to communicate that they’re paying “intense attention” to something. (They do it during the Ball quite a bit when the girls are being sexy).

This was the first time I actually thought “Oh, Demeter is breaking the illusion.” At that point, it’s not fully broken until the disguise is removed, but the other cats are also able to sense that something is wrong.

It was really funny, because I just… had never thought of it as an illusion before? I don’t know what I thought it was. I think I just thought “stage magic. He was Old Deut, now he’s Macavity, let’s move on”.

Personal note: This is a fun element to support my head cannon that Tugger (and Munk) have low level magic. Cassandra is kind of mystically coded, and Skimble seems to have heightened senses (he’s the third to react to Griz’s presence in the Ball and is often quick to react/see something as wrong, but he’s usually sniffing the air. He also traditionally comes out sniffing the air during Jellicle Songs, like he can detect the audience. [They kind of enforce this by having him be the one who says the “man over there” line in the revival]. And because I follow the “Mac, Munk and Tugger are the sons of Deuteronomy” head cannon, and both Deut and Mac are pretty magical, I like the idea of the other two having low level emotion magic. And Tugger being one of the first that the illusion weakens for is something I’ll use for evidence :P

During initial reveal:

Tugger looked pretty distressed that it wasn’t his dad, (though it could be he was trying to hide his face to prevent getting mind controlled). But he crawled to the back onto the tire and kept his head down, staying crouched.

I think Sillabub was the only female kitten to not get mind controlled by Macavity. (Cough cough, I headcanon Sillabub as the daughter of Mac and Demeter, I’m using this as evidence that she’s more resistant to his magic).

Catfight:

Munk is absolutely eating it.

(He doesn’t do the thing where he’s also one of the mind controlled cats in the background and breaks himself out of it. He kind of, stands there and poses for a bit, like he’s about to attack, but hesitating. Personally I prefer it when he breaks out of the mind control.

Alonzo pulls at his own arms before intervening to save Demeter, like he’s breaking out of the mind control. After he breaks it, it seems like it breaks for the other cats soon after. I read it kind of like, Mac can control the masses, but once he loses one, it’s easier for all of them to break out of it.

In lieu of pyrotechnics, they set off strobe lights and play a crackling noise when Mac shorts the circuit. Honestly, I liked this a lot, it was very effective.

After confirming Macavity’s gone, Munk collapses, and everyone rushes to check on him.

He and Demeter nuzzle each other.

Mr. Mistoffelees

Alrighty here we go. My boy. My favourite song.

[Deep breath] [High pitched scream] I LOVE THIS CAT SO MUCH, Y’ALL!

Brief interlude to talk about Paul’s Misto. Listen, I don’t think Paul is the most technically (as in dance technique) proficient Misto. His flexibility is good, but not off the charts, and some of his leaps aren’t “effortless” looking or as clean as say, Ricky’s. But goddamnit I love him.

He’s SO energetic and enthusiastic. I think he took the “electric” word note and interpreted it as that. He’s Sooo Happy, smiling and grinning the whole time in the background. Plus, it’s super cute cause he’s all dignified and “aloof” (back straight, reserved facial expressions, calm nods and motions deliberate) whenever an older cat like Deut or Gus is around, and then TUGGER shows up for his song and Misto is the MOST Into it, (his motions compared to say Sillabub when Tugger’s preening in the mirror the first time is HILARIOUS, he throws his ENTIRE body into every action, I love it). He is over the moon for Tugger, it’s very cute. Plus he just becomes super excited whenever he gets to do something and  breaks his more “aloof” and “reserved” persona almost immediately. He’s just such a fun and enthusiastic character to watch.  So yeah, my heart melts every time I see him. I love him so much. Huge cinnamon roll.

- General notes on the choreography.

I really like the rechoreography for Misto’s number. (Again, this is my opinion, it’s ok if you don’t share it).

While I like the original, the bulk of it is one guy doing relatively simple choreography until you hit the conjuring turns. There’s really not a lot to look at. 

A lot of the serotonin I get is from my personal investment in the character, but if I wasn’t so hyper-fixated on Misto, I’d probably get bored 😅

Additionally, the other cats don’t really get a chance to react or interact much, cause everyone besides Tugger basically take a seat and watch.

I like the rechoreography because it:

Has awesome lighting effects

Gives Misto center stage, but incorporates the other cats to emphasize his actions and also the music beats.

Puts a lot of action on the stage, making the number exciting and dynamic.

The Broadway revival jacket is the best addition, you have no idea how much I love that jacket. They were like, “Ok, listen, we’re getting rid of the rainbow banner. But don’t worry, this entire cat is going to be rainbow, and he’s going to make the stage rainbow, and it’ll be great.”

(Fun fact, my friend also went to see Sunday’s performance. They said that Misto’s jacket was on the fritz, it wouldn’t stay lit during his number, and then it was going off during Memory XD. I was glad I wasn’t able to see that show, it would have made me sad :P )

Updates the Old Deut reveal, thank goodness. Even as a kid I was unimpressed by the blanket magic trick. I like that they have a blanket homage, with the seven kittens (also a very fun moment), but the new reveal is communal, interesting, and much snappier.

Plays up certain themes of community and actually includes the magical exhaustion trope. 

I like the ending of this song a lot better. With the original jump-splits, roll, then lift; unless it’s done extremely fluidly, it can be really easy for the audience to think the first sound cue is where they’re supposed to clap, because it’s a really dramatic choreography moment combined with a dramatic sound cue. But when he keeps moving for the roll and lift, you can hear the audience go “Oh wait, we messed up,” and it makes the ending lose some of its punch. By making it a musical reprise then solid music cue, rather than a double ending, it maintains the energy of the number and doesn’t make the audience feel bad for clapping, because it’s clear it’s not the ending. (Plus his ending pose being him holding his “bowtie” is cute 😝)

I like the idea that Misto tries bringing back Old Deut on his own with the Conjuring Turn (when his jacket is fully rainbow and pulsing, he’s at his max power), but he still doesn’t have the energy to do it. He collapses. So then he has to take a moment, regroup, and is like, “I can’t do this alone. I need the help of the Tribe.” So he distributes the magic to everyone (to charge individually or something), and together they are powerful enough to bring back Old Deut. 

I could talk more about my thoughts on this, but this section alone is 1000 words, so no.

- So:

No aerial entrance. But… here’s the crazy thing… I think I like this entrance more? It’s great, cause they don’t do the “I’m just going to walk in from the wings”, which is my least favourite entrance cause it’s so… boring?

What they do is they have Tugger start off center stage elevated when he starts his introduction. Then he walks off the tire, they focus the spotlight on Tugger and darken the ambient lighting. Then Tugger moves to the front left of the stage to give the “you have seen it one moment- out on the lawn” line. Then with the musical cue; Misto appears centerstage on top of the tire, jacket pure white, spotlight on him, stars and string lights in the background flashing briefly. I honestly loved it, it’s snappy, fast, and looks magical, especially if you don’t know it’s going to happen and don’t look for the dark glimmer of Misto getting into position in the background. I can’t believe I’m going to say it but I actually like it more than the aerial entrance.

{Listen, if you made it this far, here’s an extremely grainy gif, congrats}

Tugger was doing a very good job being a supportive boyfriend. Very “look at this guy, isn’t he amazing?” He was constantly smiling and gesturing at Misto throughout the number.

When Misto lights up Cass’ fur, the light effect does more of a “bloom” than it just appearing. I liked that. 

When Misto goes to the left to pass by Tugger before returning center stage to do the Conjuring Turn, he gives Tugger a little head bump.

Conjuring Turn: Ok, I know they took down the number of Turns from 24 to like 11. But I’m honestly really okay with this. It is a super hard move, and can be really hard to execute, and hard to execute well. And here’s the thing, in the original choreography, basically the whole song builds up to this one, extremely impressive, show stopping move. But… I’ve seen quite a number of Misto’s trip up here, and let me tell you, it sucks the energy out of the room. (Heck, it’s pretty rough on understudies, cause they don’t get to practice it as much.) I’d much rather have a more distributed spectacle, with a lot of things happening throughout the entire number, and have an easier Conjuring Turn that you’re going to get more reliable results with.

When Misto goes off stage to recoup, and all the cats are dancing, Tugger is dancing extremely enthusiastically in the background.

During the light flashes, after coming back from off stage, Misto does a few poses. I couldn’t tell what the first one was, but the second was the “paws together and extended” pose that Paul seems to like taking pictures doing, and the third he does a ‘tipping an imaginary hat’ move. When the lights come back on, he rubs his hands together in an anticipatory fashion, like “alright, here we go, try two!”

When Misto picks up the lights, there’s no one else besides Tugger on stage. Tugger looks around and starts waving people in so Misto can yeet lights at them.

After Old Deut is revealed, Tugger looks extremely happy, like “the mad lad actually did it look at that!”

Misto turns his back and starts preening, cleaning his fur, getting neatened up. Then Tugger says his name, he turns and does a dignified bow, then Deut does a “Get over here!“ hand gesture, and Misto does his running jump into Deut’s arms.

Before the hand hold step, Tugger and Misto shimmy at each other, and then Misto kind of combs his hand through Tugger’s ruff while he leans in like he’s nuzzling him.

They have my favourite hand holding orientation! Misto is centered, with Deut and Tugger on either side of him. (Demeter and Munk are holding hands on the second row). [My least favorite is when Deut is centered, then it’s Tugger, Cass and then Misto.]

Misto is SOO shiny, when they focused the spotlight on him, both in his reveal and his closing spotlight, his costume throws sparkles all over the theater. Like, you could see sparkles in the balcony, on the walls, it was great.

I had so much fun watching, I would literally just start shaking from endorphin overload XP

Memory- Heavyside layer

God, Tayler’s voice is so good. Her emotions, her vocal power, absolutely loved her. She killed it.

They have a paw shaped platform slide out from the left. I’m glad about that, I seem to prefer it if there is some sort of prop that takes Griz away, rather than her levitating away via wires.

--

So yeah, I really enjoyed the performance! If you got this far, congrats! Here’s a link to the boot I took on Saturday as a reward.  :P

Act 1

Act 2

#cats the musical #show reviews

[cassandra-has-moonlit-eyes]

Some thoughts and hcs on some cats

Before I completly forget Vienna cause that’s how brains work, I want to write about four characters and how their portrayal in Vienna influenced how I would characterize them if I ever write fanfiction. These four characters being Cass, Alonzo, Demeter and Misto. For most of them I will mostly write about how the priciples portrayed them (especially for Cass and Alonzo) but some other actors may be thrown into the mix because the brain tends to mix things up.

Demeter: compassionate, protective, loving

Loved Demeter in the Vienna production very much. All Demeter actresses are talented people. There were two things in general that I enjoyed very much about the Vienna Revival. Firstly that most actors didn’t just define their characters by the three words but played them more complex and secondly that most of them were very playful, touchy, happy and fun.

Same goes for Demeter.

You could always feel her connection to the others and she was quite fun and a little bit playful too. She often grinned at Mungo and Rumple and was one of the only ones who wasn’t angry with them after their song. She loved the kittens and sometimes fistbumped Bill after he misbehaved during Bustopher Jones, showed her tongue to Carbucketty during the Pekes and Pollicles or tried to shield Jemima from Macavity. Sometimes during Skimble she played with Tugger’s leg bandana and he looked at her like: What are you doing? I’m the one who should anoy the others and she just smiled at him.

I also wouldn’t describe her as paranoid here, more like cautious and attentive. She was concerned about Macavity but she had the ability to forget about him when spending time with the cats she loved. I also loved how her relationship to the others were portrayed (my interpretation).

Munkustrap: A little bit shy but getting more confident over time. I loved how she stared at him at the beginning of the Pekes and Pollicles and how she sometimes clawed at Tugger for disturbing his performance. At the beginning of the second act when entering the stage they shared this shy look (after cuddling during the cuddle section at the ball lol). During Gus she tried to get his attention. He was sitting with Old Deut and Jemima on the hoop and she started stretching on the floor and looking up at him until he moved down to her and they usually exchanged some nuzzeling or backrubs or “jumped through the hoop” together when Gus was singing this line before Munkustrap had to leave to put his costume on.

Munkustrap is also the first tom to return before the Macavity fight and he sometimes touched her face and she was reaching out to him.

After Macavity they were a couple in my opinion. The explostions scared them into the background and usually they were sitting together on the tire, cuddeling and watching Misto.

Macavity: I always had a feeling that she really disliked him but at the same time was drawn towards him. She often reached out to him like she was hypnotized or something and was shocked when he grabbed her. I also wouldn’t say that she feared Macavity for her own sake, really. If she was so scared of him she could have run away as soon as she recognized him but she didn’t. She attacked him first. I always like to read it as her wanting to protect the others, the cats that accepted her and who she really loved. That’s the reason why she jumped him.

It always felt like this moment is very important to her character.

Grizabella: We don’t know her connection to the older cat but it is a fact that she is the only one of the adults who wants to touch her. In Vienna she often seemed sad when she wasn’t allowed to. At the end: I remember one performence where Old Deut gestured her that she could touch Griz but Munk blocked her again and she became angry and hissed at Old Deut before she went into the backround and sat down.

It’s very clear to me that Demeter has a lot of love and compassion. She is also very smart, she has social intelligence and she is the first one that understands that Grizabella needs be accepted back, that she too is worth of love and being part of their community. I think the only reason why she doesn’t touch her is that she fears that the others who she clearly loves a lot might reject her if she does. She is one of the only characters (next to Alonzo maybe) who has an inner conflict and stands somewhere between Griz and the others. At the end she is so happy that the conflict is resolved and she can be a part of the Jellicles at the same time as accepting Grizabella.

All in all, for a musical about cats, she seemed to be quite a complex character. I love that the actresses didn’t reduce her to her three words, if they even used them and that they played her so loving and compassionate, but also fun and playful. She felt save with the Jellicles and so she could let go of her fears and the moment she recognized that the cats she started to love and feel save with are in danger, she attacks to protect the community she found.

Mistoffelees - happy, helpful, electric

This Misto was far away from being shy, aloof or competitative. He was quite neat thou especially during Bustopher Jones. At first I didn’t know what to do with him but over the last couple of weeks of the producion his portrayal of the character really grew on me. He was played quite young I would say (like maybe somewhere around Bucky’s and Vicky’s ages) but he was more well behaved then the other younger cats. 

He was just the happiest ball of starlight. He helped Munk during Gumbie, had always a smile on his face when swaying with him in the background and when joining the Gumbie Trio during the tap dance. He was a little bit offended when Tugger touched him but then again started smiling and imitating his guitarre playing and tail spinning. He LOVED Bustopher Jones and had to make sure everbody looked neat and proper for him. Also smiled during that number a lot. I also loved how he once nuzzled Demeters leg after Grizabella appeared to kind of comfort her.

I would say he was always helpful and fun. He went to get Old Deut, he was often very enthusiastic during the Pekes and Pollicles (even playing the main pollicle when Bucky was missing a ball or two). When something sad or negative happened he seemed a little bit confused and stepped into an observing role.

I think all in all he just was happy to be part of this evening and his intention was not to compete with the others for the place of the Jellicle Choice but simply to help them with their performances. Him stepping up at the end was not an act of: Look at me, I’m the best but more a reaction to a crises. He again wanted to be helpful and to keep the dark away.

He always had the brightest smile on his face during his number and he danced it quite playful and shimmied and wiggeled more then other Mistos I would say. Especially the first frew moments of his solo were always so much fun to watch!

Also song cat: I wrote it before but in the Vienna Lyrics he seems a little bit more demonic and he actually seems to have mastered the dark arts of magic. This is a fun contrast to his bubbly and happy personality, so one of my main hc for him became him using the dark arts for good. A very generic trope but I like it. In the Vienna translation it’s also not heavan or hell but heaven and hell in his first line during Jellicle Cats. So yeah, he learned the best of both worlds.

I also think that one reason for Vienna Misto for being so helpful and well behaved was his line during the ball where he sang something like: We are on our best behaviour and that’s how he often acted the character.

Alonzo - vain, self-centered, scared

I loved Vienna Alonzo a lot and I actually looked at him too often (and missed other characters lol). He was just so fun because he kind of overplayed the character which entertained me a lot. He was always posing in the background, cleaning himself of looking for a queen (or tom) to cuddle or to admire him. He thought he was the main character of the play and he wanted ever other cat to see that. I also would describe him as the main attention whore here. He sometimes started smaller fights with Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer or Coricopat and Tantomile because they were blocking the audience view of him or he used their backs to lean on them so that the audience can see him better. He also shoved their legs and hands away when they were blocking him, and on the other hand really enjoyed shoving his legs in their faces. I think that was just very cat like of him. There are this kind of cats that get very jealous when they don’t get their owner whole attention. It also showed how self-centered and self-loving he was. It always felt like me first.

Of course him constantly cleaning himself shows his vain side but it also shows more: His wish to stay clean could go hand in hand with his fear. He didn’t fear Grizabella he was simply disgusted by her, but he did fear Macavity. I think it was because he knew that Macavity could cause harm to him and to the body he tries so hard to perserve. 

For Vienna the he-once-belonged-to-Macavity’s-tribe-hc didn’t really work for me. I tried to read it into it but he just didn’t seem to have any connection to him. Vienna didn’t use the shadow dance. I just think that he was scared to get hurt which is a very valid fear. When he returned and saw that Munkustrap was losing he always looked around in hope that somebody else would step in but the other cats (sometimes Skimble, sometimes Cass, sometimes Bomba) just gestuered him to step in.

He had his short moment of character development here. For one short moment he put the others before himself and attacked Macavity. If Cats would ever become like a 24 episode show that could actually work as his character arc. Him recognizing that, even thou he loves himself most, he also loves the others and that there are moments where he needs and WANTS to put himself and his own needs aside in order to protect the ones he loves.

I’m reading a lot into five seconds but yeah. Overanalyzing stuff is my hobby and I love character driven stroys so sue me.

I think the character development is very limited to this one scene because during Mistoffelees he returned to his old self.

Cassandra - proud, self-assured, mysterious

Similar to Alonzo Cassandra too was always cleaning herself or posing somewhere in the background or the foreground. She always seemed very self-assured and confident in every step she made an every head tilt and every line she sang. Elegant and feminine but very powerful and strong at the same time.

Similar to most of the other Cats she had her fun parts too, especially during the Rum Tum Tugger and Skimbleshanks she could let lose. I loved how she hyped him up during his number but when he sometimes later tried to cuddle with her, she wasn’t amused at all, ignored him or cleaned herself. That was very catlike of her. All in all I loved how unimpressed she was by what was happening around her some of the time, especially during Mistoffelees where everybody was trying to get his attention but she was just bussy cleaning himself and completly ignoring him. She acted a bit like the student who doesn’t want to answer the quesiton and tries to act unsuspicious but gets chosen anyways. I don’t know if she was scared of being chosen or if she was modest but it was always such a fun part.

I also loved her at the end of Skimble where she kind of gestured him to take it a little bit slower before very enthusiastically join in again for the last couple of lines before disturbed by Macavity. And I also loved how happy she was when cuddeling with Alonzo or dancing with him during the ball.

She only has two solo lines in the whole show but because of them I hc her as a very quiet cat, who hardly ever miaus to her owners and as a cat who is very wise and somebody who has a lot of knowledge. In contrast to Demeter who has a lot of social and interpersonal intelligence she has more logial and intrapersonal intelligence i think.

She always had the perfect balance of playing along with the others and enjoying the community events but wanting her peace and quiet too and be left alone too. I personally can’t say much about her character development because she didn’t really take part in any of the plot arcs much, apart from hindering Victoria to touch Griz or to hiss at Macavity but I really like how self-assured she was and how she always seemed to know what she wants (hence the intrapersonal intelligence).

#cats the musical #cats DAS musical #hc #demeter #mistoffelees #alonzo #cassandra #i'm not the biggest fan of the different form of intelligences in real live #but I like to use them to describe and create characters so yeah #helps me figure out how I want to write them #why can't you edit the tags #look at this english XD

[seawitchkaraoke]

went to see Cats last night (christmas gift from my parents) and it was very funny (duh, cats is always fun unless it’s the 2019 movie).

They made some really fun/smart/interesting choices which I hugely enjoyed such as:

-Old Deutoronomy took a much more active role than he often does moving around the stage a lot more, singing the first few lines of a few songs such as Skimbleshanks, which worked really well, he was actually leading the jellicles instead of just watching their antics

- on that note though the one and only thing I didn’t like about this was that Old Deutoronomy hugged both Gus and Grizzabella and also misto after getting rescued by him. Idk. Hugging just feels? Not cat like? I didn’t like it  but it was literally just 3 hugs so i’ll forgive it

- they made the VERY clever choice of moving Pekes and the Pollicles after Gus the theatre cat and having Gus play the great Rumpus Cat. I loved that bc it gave pekes and pollcles more weight (instead of just being ‘’the cats put on a play inside the play’’ it’s now ‘’Gus is old and kind of sad and wants to reprise his old role so the cats encourage him to do just that and they all put on a play together’’ it gave Gus more room while still cutting  Growltiger’s last stand (which let’s be real is always cut. Like. I’ve seen cats 3 times and they all cut that song which is..... sad).

- just in general the songs all connected really well, the transitions between them always felt really natural and good which you don’t always get with Cats. The flow was really good.

- they made Tugger and misto somehow even gayer by having misto not just magic the rainbow banner out of a hat and dancing around on stage with it but also then linking arms with tugger and skipping over said rainbow banner and just adding a lot of misto/tugger arm in arm dancing to the song in general

- they also replaced Tugger’s ‘’ladies and gentlemen...’’ with ‘’felines and friends’’ which is a small touch, but I am nonbinary so it made me happy

- just. Tugger. He’s always so fun but this one had SUCH gremlin energy it was incredible, he was shorter than other Tuggers I’ve seen which didn’t make him any less hot (judging by my mom’s reaction to him lol) but it just. idk it added something that he was shorter than both misto and munkustrap and also was constantly climbing onto tall things when he needed to just exist in the background, like he’s hot and he’s absolutely one of the leaders and yes he’s respected but also he’s a little gremlin cat who wants to be tall

- munkustrap who’s always been one of my faves was incredible as always and he was very annoyed at tugger the faces he made in the background of tugger’s introduction song were hilarious, he took great care of the kittens as always and his fight with macavity was?? so good? idk if they made it longer or what but it somehow hit me more than it usually does, the way once he went down all the other cats who’d been scared ganged up on macavity? they love him so much this is so cute

#cats musical #saw the production that's currently touring they're in frankfurt for another two weeks i think #no idea where they're going next but uh #go watch them if you get a chance #honestlly though i've seen cats 3 times #but the other two were ..... a while ago #so these may actually be common things that i just either didn't remember #or changed since like. 10 years ago #still it was great fun #i wanna watch it again right now #why oh why must theater be a once only thing #every performance is unique #every production does things differently #this is the curse and the joy of theater

[magical-marvelous-mistoffelees]

A collection of Rum Tum Tugger and Mistoffelees being obsessed with each other except it’s 1998

#theyre!!! #so cute #misto acts all annoyed in the rum tum rugger #but hes entranced #and tugger is #uh #really enjoying misto’s song #tuggoffelees #rum tum tugger #mr mistoffelees #cats #cats musical #my post #gifset