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#she also had a thing going with skimble in the beginning where at first he nuzzled her during the pyramid part and then at the beginning of

uppastthejelliclemoon · 3 years

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Uppast's Cats Tour Comments: Act 2

act 2 for my tour comments! this finishes the show, though i'll make another one or two posts about specific characters!

Moments of Happiness

Deut just... walked out with about 5 minutes left to intermission, and it was the best. I got some good Deut pictures because of that!

Coricopat and Tantomile greeting Cassandra was precious

I definitely get the vibes that Coricopat and Tantomile are Deuteronomy's "advisors" or something like that, because they're ALWAYS around him.

Ugh, Brianna has SUCH a sweet voice for Sillabub.

Tugger laying on the oven, he likes being tall 😌

The part where they all jump up and stand frozen??? Chills, literal chills.

Gus the Theater Cat/Pekes and Pollicles

The babies love storytime with Gus!!!

Plato was sitting behind the Kitten Squad, and I got massive big brother vibes from him, he just needs to make sure they aren't getting into trouble!

Demeter and BOmbalurina were on either side of Old Deuteronomy with Munkustrap standing behind them, and Mistoffelees was sitting on the pipe!! Family photo!

Tugger's still on the oven, i love it.

I love Kayli as Jellylorum! She's got the mothering personality down perfectly!

John is SUCH a great Gus, I love how dramatic he got.

Tugger and Mistoffelees exchanging a look and having an exchange with one another during the song, i love them.

OH OH SO once Munkustrap leaves to take over "Pekes and the Pollicles", Tugger goes to sit with Old Deuteronomy. He is literally having SO MUCH FUN during the play, he and Old Deut are so proud of Munkustrap.

ALSO DEUT WAS GROOMING TUGGER'S FUR HE'S SUCH A GOOD DAD

Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat

First off, Christopher is Skimbleshanks. Just... he's Skimbleshanks.

Okay, so Skimbleshanks waved to Jennyanydots because she was up on the scaffolding watching, and my heart exploded.

Tugger was having the time of his life. He didn't steal the spotlight, but there was one moment where he was straight up headbanging and I couldn't stop laughing.

Christopher's mannerisms as Skimbleshanks were just perfect! He got the Skimble vibe down!

Tumblebrutus being blown away by Skimble's glass green eyes, RIP Tumble

Macavity/Macavity Fight

OHHHHHHHHHH HERE WE GO

Macavity costume? Perfection, no one can tell me otherwise.

As soon as Macavity showed up, Munkustrap IMMEDIATELY went to shield Demeter from him. He had his back to Macavity and everything, and was looking down at her making sure she was okay.

Macavity attacked Munkustrap before kidnapping Old Deut, and the positions changed! Demeter crouched over Munkustrap, and Bombalurina and a few other cats went to check on him as Macavity left.

Lauren and Chelsea's vocals AGAIN!! Lauren's Demeter was perfect, she was bitter, a little reminiscent, but you could TELL there was very bad blood between Demeter and Macavity. Chelsea was such a good jaded Bombalurina, and their dynamic was amazing.

I love the idea of Sillabub being the youngest at the Ball, so she has to be shown what to do, follow the leader style, so she was the last queen to join the Macavity dance!

So I don't think we were meant to see, but right after "Macavity the Mystery Cat" ends, Macavity sneaks past Munkustrap to stand amongst the queens, most likely to surprise them. But I really love the idea of Macavity using his magic to surprise everyone by just appearing.

HOOOOOOOOOOOO BOY THE FIGHT

THE MUSIC

THE CHOREOGRAPHY

ONE OF MY FAVORITE SCENES IN THE SHOW

Everyone has their choreography, and Demeter was the ONLY one who wasn't in unison. She was crouching on the edge of the stage, watching the fight, and it was SO well done.

Also the Fake Macavity (while Macavity in the Deut Suit... haha) had a Macavity mask that was actually kind of terrifying.

Mr. Mistoffelees

SOFT DEMESTRAP SOFT DEMESTRAP SOFT DEMESTRAP

Okay, but I ADORED the way they included the "Don't scoff" line. Tugger begins introducing Mistoffelees, everyone's kind of like "this isn't going to work", and they all start to leave the stage, and THEN Tugger says the line, almost pleading, and everyone's still a little hesitant but they listen.

Munkustrap wasn't very sure, but he listened

Zach is such a perfect Tugger (y'all i'm going to have a WHOLE post on him), and he and Paul just played off of each other so perfectly!

During the little mirror dance at the beginning of the number, Tugger just started doing his own thing, and it was the cutest, dorkiest thing.

They did sort of a strobe light thing, where the lights went off and on for like a second, and every time the lights went on Mistoffelees was in a different position, and it was great.

I love Cassandra's light-up costume!! And Tugger got so excited when she changed colors!!

I just really enjoy the lighting during this scene, it always makes me happy.

OKAY OKAY OKAY

RIGHT AFTER MISTOFFELEES BRINGS BACK DEUT AND RIGHT BEFORE THEY DO THE LINE THING WITH THE HOLDING HANDS

TUGGER AND MISTOFFELEES DO A LITTLE SHIMMY (THE FUR SHIMMY THAT TUGGER DOES) AND IT'S VERY CUTE YES

BUT THEN THEY NUZZLE

LIKE FULL ON, NUZZLE THE FUR ON THE HEAD AND THE MANE

ADKJGABDVKSLDB GOODBYE

Anyways, Paul is such a perfect Mistoffelees, 10/10 would want to rescue me from an insane magical cat.

Memory (Reprise)

Everyone's touching each other right before, like reassuring each other, it was so sweet

Sillabub is tall!!! She's adorable!!

Everyone's turned away from Grizabella except for Deuteronomy, Munkustrap, Victoria, and Tumblebrutus!

Tumblebrutus looked SO nervous, but he didn't stop looking at Grizabella until she made eye contact with him. Then he looked down, but he looked back up. After that, everyone started to turn!

Taylor's voice is OTHERWORLDLY WOW

her emotion is just spot-on

"Touch Me" made me cry, as it always does

It looked like she was walking towards Tumblebrutus, but then she paused and reached behind her for Victoria! Tumblebrutus was the second one to touch her though!

Journey to the Heaviside Layer

Grizabella being accepted by everyone!!!

Old Deuteronomy, Coricopat, and Tantomile bowed to her!

Before they got on the tire, Grizabella held her tail, almost like a security thing T_T

For a hot second I couldn't breathe because of the fog machine, I was fine though

They didn't do the harness, which I was super happy about! They brought back the shiny Fancy Stairs, and that was SO cool.

The tire still flew, but the stairs came straight out, and then Grizabella stepped on and went offstage.

Ad-Dressing of Cats

I do have to say, this has never been my FAVORITE number.

I do really love seeing all the cats lined up though!!

Everyone's reactions to the food mentions were great, you could tell that they really thought about how they'd react.

#cats the musical #cats us tour 6 #uppast's cats tour comments

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sevenkittensinatrenchcoat · 3 years

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1998 Film Munkustrap Rewatch Part 3A: The Pekes and the Pollicles Needs Its Own Part

They will tell you that Munkustrap doesn’t get his own number and that is a lie. He might not get a song where everyone sings about how awesome he is, but The Pekes and the Pollicles is very much his number.

Now, this is the fourth one of these rewatches I’ve done, so I’ve covered the number a bit before, but this entry is a sort of special devoted to it. I’ll start out by saying that:

This is a Peke.

This is a Pollicle.

This, obviously, is a Pug.

And this is a Pom.

This is the epic story of a bunch of little toy dogs yapping at each other until a cat scares them away by doing absolutely nothing.

Before Munkustrap even finishes saying the long title of the story, we can already see that Skimble and Misto ended up on the wrong side of the stage and have to scramble to get to where they’re actually supposed to be. We haven’t finished saying the title and someone already messed up. This will set the mood for the entire number.

Of course, because it’s that early in the show, Munkustrap ignores the scrambling.

Then Electra crawls out early and falls over. At least, I think that’s Electra. The lighting and the fact that I have only a butt to go off of make it hard to tell. It might actually be Pouncival, because showing up early and falling over are the things he does the most. The fact that these two kittens look nothing alike should be ignored, because I can never identify anyone when I can’t see their face, unless they have a very distinct look.

There is no point to this picture. I just had to include the Tail Spin.

Enter Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, who weren’t at dog practice and have no idea what they’re supposed to do. Knowing this, Munkustrap guides them through it, pointing to whichever one of them is supposed to bark after a verse of lyrics that make it really obvious what they’re supposed to be doing.

But, Munkustrap failed to take into account that these two share a single braincell and Rumpleteazer has the larger half of it. Mungojerrie barks twice.

Munkustrap tries to help Mungojerrie do his one job, but it doesn’t go very well.

Munkustrap is already beginning to regret this.

Then there’s that racist “Heathen Chinese” line which almost distracts you from Rumpleteazer grinding her ass against Munkustrap. Why is she doing this? I don’t really know. I don’t think she does anything like this with Munkustrap after this scene.

Then, for a split second, Munkustrap stands with his legs together. Rumpleteazer won’t stand for this and creates a Leg Tent and this is still weirdly sexual.

And then it’s time for the Pollicles to march and someone thought it would be a good idea to put Pouncival at the front of the line. I think the shoebox on his head might be falling over his eyes, because he acts like he has no idea where he’s going.

Munkustrap attempts to stop the madness, but even if he doesn’t know where he’s going, Pouncival is determined to get there. But, while he flails around, he leans enough into Munkustrap’s hand that with Mungojerrie coming up right behind him, be won’t be able to keep standing.

Pouncival has to learn this the hard way.

Next are the two Scottish Pollicles. Like with most things, they seem to be taking this a bit too seriously and get too into it. Munkustrap nearly gets hit in the face by Skimble flailing his boxing gloves around. But, he’s not mad. He’s just disappointed. He kind of expected problems with Mungojerrie and Pouncival, but Skimble is one of the Responsible Elders. Misto just copies whatever Skimble does, which probably doesn’t help matters.

Then Tugger crashes the party with his bagpipes and Munkustrap responds with Maximum Eyeroll. Misto is not the only cat who can achieve that level of Eyeroll.

Now, since this is the Scottish Section, bagpipes are fitting, but this, much like Tugger himself, wasn’t in the rehearsals, leaving Misto unsure of how to react. Munkustrap politely suggests that Skimble should just go back to his place.

But, Tugger has started a bit of a dance party. Misto no longer finds him boring. It takes a minute to get everything back under control as everyone is determined to have fun whether Munkustrap likes it or not.

Well, then when everyone gets to bark at everyone control is lost once again. With everyone misbehaving at once, Munkustrap has no idea how to restore order and panics.

Of course, yelling usually does the trick.

Meanwhile, Old Deuteronomy is being a good dad and enjoying watching his son tell his little story.

The lead role of the Great Rumpus Cat is played by George, so that he’ll have something to actually do other than make silly faces. But, he also didn’t show up to dog practice, despite playing the lead. Munkustrap wonders why he expected anything else.

Munkustrap makes a mental note to have Alonzo play the Rumpus Cat next year. He always shows up to Munkustrap’s rehearsals.

And George is very rude. It’s not easy being George. He has the most boring name out of the entire cast, so boring that he may or may not have been renamed Admetus. He’s mostly known only for playing the Rumpus Cat and making weird faces. Still, that does not excuse his bad attitude >:(

Munkustrap is just Done™ at this point.

And, right before it’s finally over, Tugger brings out the bagpipes again. Because we’re not longer talking about Scotties, it’s just random this time and no one finds it funny. Munkustrap is beginning to wonder if cats can safely drink alcohol, because that’s what his humans do when they have to deal with this level of Bullshit.

And, to top it all off, Old Deuteronomy gets on to everyone for making fun of dogs. He worked so hard on this play, it was a disaster, and then his dad said he shouldn’t have done it in the first place.

The Macavity Scare might’ve been considered a welcome distraction by this point.

#cats 1998 #munkustrap #mungojerrie #rumpleteazer #jerrie and teazer's singular brain cell #pouncival #skimbleshanks #mr mistoffelees #rum tum tugger #old deuteronomy #rumpus cat #cats george #or admetus #i might make fun of these cats #but i love all of them #even george and his boring name

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the-cat-at-the-theatre-door · 3 years

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Hi there! I was going through the skimblegus tag and I found an old ask of yours (hopefully not so old that I look like a weirdo haha) where you talked about their first impressions of each other and I loved it! I was wondering if you had any HCs about Jenny and Jelly meddling to get them together? I love the thought of those two scheming together 😊

As do I! Jenny and Jelly are professional meddlers. I like to think that Jenny does it because she personally finds it fun (and gets *very* smug when her feelings are correct on something/a match she suggests works out - she hand picks cats, you know), but Jelly has the tendency to get way too emotionally invested in how these things go (she also gets so excited that sometimes she’ll just blurt out that so and so likes so and so *right to them* - Jelly’s a bit of a terrible secret keeper for things like that) especially for her family and people close to her. She’s a bit of a fancy free type romantic, you know.

It’s hard to be annoyed with her enthusiasm, though, because she always means well and is very sincere about wanting other cats to be happy. Asparagus is long suffering with this (though Jelly is well aware that if he ever starts or ends a statement with “Jellylorum” over literally any other nickname, she’s overstepped - that’s the only time he ever sounds like their dad and it’s spooky).

Jenny was the one who started scheming in the beginning, because she was the first to have met Skimbleshanks when he was fresh off the...er...train, having just come from Edinburgh (I like to think that Skimble was a later join to the Tribe, having emigrated with two of his sisters after their grandparents passed on. So not only is he the literal “baby” of the group, he’s also the figurative baby). She just happened to be in the area when they arrived, got to chatting as she does, and *oh what a handsome lad you are* (she gets a good vibe from this one and Jenny is always right), of course invited them somewhere they could stay should they wish, and you know Miss Jenny - he mind is already going a mile a minute.

She immediately rushes off to tell Jellylorum about her little “discovery”, saying that she feels as though she has finally found the answer to their little problem.

And of course, after they’ve gotten their greetings and acquaintances all in order, Jelly’s right on board (with a moderate amount of hesitance just because...well she doesn’t want anyone to get hurt. She doesn’t know what kind of tom this “Skimbleshanks” is - but that’s soothed away pretty quick). She’s positively giddy because it actually seems like it might work out this time. They seem to get on well enough. Asparagus wouldn’t keep making the effort to talk to him if he didn’t like him somewhat - Jelly knows this.

Everything from then on out is a series of gentle nudges and prompts and “Oh, actually Jenny and I can’t make it but you two go on ahead!”s or “Hmm, I thought the girls were joining us?” “So did I”’s (while they spied on them from up in the old milk crates). It’s also a lot of loud sighing and making conversations just a *touch* too loud so that anyone in the vicinity could possibly overhear and maybe be prompted into dropping a hint as to how they feel? What they think perhaps? (Skimble has fallen for this trap more times than he’d like to count - Asparagus is far tighter lipped). Jelly went so far once as to memorize one of the train schedules to figure out when Skimble would be back (because he’d been gone a while and don’t you think Jelly didn’t notice the rather sullen look Asparagus’ face had taken on recently. The schedules are *very confusing* and she really hopes Asparagus appreciates the things she does for him) and coax her brother out to walk with her, and they just *happened* to pass by and oh, look who it is! (And isn’t that the smile of the century that lights up beside her?)

But the boys...are slow. Painfully slow. They just...talk. And walk around. And do...whatever it is toms do together. And it’s like watching a very slow buildup in a silent movie and Jenny’s about to tear her headfur out, while Jelly’s slowly just coming to terms with it, even though she was really hoping on this one.

But, like, Jenny *knows* they like each other. She’s *positive* they do. And Jelly knows her brother like the back of her paw and she’s *also* very convinced - he’s brought him up several times in conversation completely unprompted! Asparagus never does that unless he’s *thinking* about it. And that’s why it’s frustrating and that’s why they keep gently prodding even though with anyone else they would have moved on already. (Meanwhile the boys are...somewhat oblivious to the exact intent of the two meddlers - though they are *aware* that something’s cooking between them. They’re just a bit...distracted.)

It’s a few years, but Jenny is unbearably smug when it finally happens. There’s no living with her then.

#and when i say baby i mean like he's maybe four years younger tops than the oldest #and when i say slow - i mean like several years #jellicles ask because jellicles dare #afairytalestray #my headcanons #apologies for this taking so long! life has been busy and go go go #and my thought capacity is very low lmao #also you are never weird for going through tags on my blog - i love it when people dig through my stuff and find things they like!

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bag-of-broadway-snacks · 3 years

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My Cats Non-Replica Pt. 2

Alright at the high request I finally bring you part 2 of my ideal Cats Non-rep. However, if you haven’t seen part one this will make zero sense so here's the link. (Also @a-cat-is-not-a-dog @the-metaphorical-jellicle-cat I believed Ya’ll wanted to see part 2)

Moments of Happiness

Alright! Coming back for the second act all the cats/toys are gathered around Old Deut’s feet. Its here where we see Gus enter for the first time. He’s a rag doll like the rest but is incredibly worn from years of excitable use, he also has a very plain looking piece of fabric for a blanket. Jellylorum assists him in while Asparagus Jr. (My production would include him as a separate character) pushes over the toy bed that has been tucked away in the corner. Gus sits down on the bed and slumps slightly from loss of stuffing. The rest of Moments of Happiness progresses as normal. Gus the Theatre Cat So once everyone has settled down, Jellylorum starts to sing her portion of the song. The younger kitten characters are gathered up around the toy bed curiously, giving us the impression they don’t get to hear much about Gus anymore. The first two times Jellylorum and Gus mention the famed Fireforefiddle, the kittens are seemingly unimpressed and look at each other awkwardly. But the third time, Asparagus Jr. quickly puts on a quick costume and stands behind Gus, showing the kittens just how impressive the role actually was. Fireforefiddle should be a vague, but terrifying figure. Short of the little girl’s version of the boogie man. The kittens are all very impressed and the song comes to a sweet conclusion. Growltiger’s Last Stand So the first thing I’d like to address about this song is I will not be keeping the parts about the siamese. I did a rewrite of the lyrics here so just assume going forward I will be using those instead. So as per usual Gus remembers the days were he once played Growltiger, but instead of actually becoming Growltiger, he has Jellylorum bring him a large story book for him to read out of. In this sense, he acts as a sort of narrator for the story, often interjecting with different lines of dialog. He throws off his quilt and turns it to show the other side, which is decorated with tiger print. Asparagus Jr. puts on an eyepatch and the tiger print blanket and plays Growltiger instead. The Growltiger set is pretty much halved in size, only taking up a small portion of the stage, Jellylorum plays Griddlebone as perusal and dresses up very fluffy doll clothing. The navy (who will be taking place of the siamese) are dawning lego pieces as helmets with plastic swords. Growltiger proceeds as normal, although all interaction between Griddlebone and Growltiger is much more toned down and your stereotypical romance scenes. As the last few lyrics fade out, Gus slowly closes the book and everyone renters the stage. Gus’ bed is moved back next to the toy chest and he remains there for the rest of the production. Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat

Now finally onto Skimblehshanks! This number progresses as normal, Skimble being dressed in a very fancy doll best. He’s sort of the little girl’s ‘fairy tale prince’ style toy thus is kept very neat and tidy. This is also a good time to mention all of the wigs are fashioned from yarn to really sell the ragdoll aspect. When it comes time for the train to be formed, a large replica of a toy trained in wheeled out, with ‘Made in Scotland’ printed on the side. Skimble climbs on top of the train for a short while. Where the train would usually fall apart, instead of the cats accidentally flips the train’s switch, causing it to start up and ‘drive’ off into the other side of the backstage. (Actors on the hidden side will move it) Skimbleshanks progresses as normal, ending with him climbing up the side of the bookshelf.

Macavity the Mystery Cat Alright! Finally we see the man himself. Macavity appears and looks far more plastic then the other toys, he has marker on his face and a toy helmet. Unlike the rest of the tribe, he’s the elder brother’s toy and aims to terrorize them in anyway he can. He appears and has a small troupe of toy soldiers cart Old Deuteronomy away, leaving the cats/toys to all scatter quickly, going to hide or search for the leader. This leaves Demeter and Bombalurina behind. They sing Macavity pretty much normally. Occasionally having the lights in the room flicker throughout the song. Macavity Fight For a moment it seems like the day is saved. We see the back of Old Deut slowly move back onstage, but Demeter sees through that. Leaping onto his back she pulls down the spare fabric and reveals Macavity is back! He attacks the crowd of toys and tries to kidnap Demeter, however he’s stopped by Munkustrap. The fight should be reminiscent of two toys behind slammed together in a fight simulated by a child. Munkustrap ultimately being triumphant and warding Macavity off. But not before the power to the room is cut and the curtains drawn, leaving the room in darkness. The cats huddle together in fear before a flashlight is turned on and shined on the top of the toy chest, revealing the familiar form of Rum Tum Tugger. Mr. Mistoffelees Tugger appears and assures the tribe that a certain magically Mr. Mistoffelees can help them. Whilst he sings the first few lines, a giant Jack in the Box will be pushed onto stage. Just before the second chorus, the music will stop. Where Misto would usually enter in from the ceiling, Tugger will instead wind the side of the music box. When the jingle ends Misto pops out of the box, wearing a long sparkling tail coat with stripped arms. He climbs down out of the box (with the assistance of Tugger) and waves his hands, turning on bright star lights on the wall behind them before the song continues. Around mid song, rather then the usual cup trick, Misto instead uses a turned over Bustopher Jones hat to summon seven kittens. (played by child actors) Each one looks like a mini version of Misto himself, except the last looking like a mini, less fluffy Tugger. Once the kittens are all pulled from the hat, they assist Misto in his final trick, to bring back Old Deuteronomy. (I sadly had drawings for this but they just will not load) Memory Finally the ball can get back on track! Except Grizabella arrives for a third time to interrupt. This time the rest of the tribe waits around and listens, refusing to look at her. As she sings they all slowly turn towards her. Munkustrap and Old Deut even reach out towards her as the climax of the song is reached. With her final plea complete Grizabella turns and begins to leave, assuming no one was listening to her. That is until she’s touched by Victoria and welcomed back. Journey to the Heaviside Layer As I mentioned before, the Heaviside Layer is a metaphor in this world for being taken outside the room on some sort of trip. So while the tribe greets Grizabella again, they all assist her in looking a little better. Jennyanydots helps sew her up, Skimbleshanks and Munkustrap brush her off, others help fluff out her fabric. All leading up to the final moments of the song, where all the cats circle around Grizabella, obscuring her form view before quickly running back. Revealing a small Grizabella toy left in place. Most of the toys leave the stage quickly while Munkustrap sits back on the chair, watching. The little girl quietly renters the stage, this time with a coat on. She sees the Grizabella doll and picks her up slowly, looking her over before hugging her to her chest and running off. Munkustrap smiles and slowly gets off his chair as the cat toys emerge from their hiding places once again. Ad-dressing of the Cats Deuteronomy once again gets onto the chair, this time standing and delivering the song. The cats follow his lead as normal, finishing off the song before bows. And thats it! Thats my ideal production. I really hope you all enjoyed as much as I did!

#cats the musical #cats non replica #old deuteronomy #mr mistoffelees #gus the theatre cat #asparagus jr #jellylorum #grizabella #macavity #growltiger #skimbleshanks #my shitty art #actually had fun with this #long post

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the-metaphorical-jellicle-cat · 4 years

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Narnia AU

Since a lot of people are highly interested in my Narnia AU, I thought I would share what I have so far. Be aware this is an evolving AU and is the first one that I’ve created. I want to thank @afairytalestray, @demandra, @uppastthejelliclemoon, and @is-it-mungojerry-or-rumpelteazer for the encouragement and input.

This is a lot of fun and this is what I have so far.

Setting:

Human world- The human world stays in the original WW2 setting. Their guardian and their partner make the difficult choice to send the children away in order to keep them safe. The children need to go to the country to go live with their grandfather who works as a professor. Someone whom they’ve never met.

‘Narnia’ world- In this AU Narnia is a giant place called the Junkyard. However, when the children get there, they are met with an intense eternal summer brought upon them by King Macavity. Which is a side of effect of his intense anger and impulsivity. Instead of having to cross a frozen lake, the children need to cross a dry desert with no green in sight. The only saving grace to the inhabitants of the Junkyard is the night air and the clear sky. It was the only time they could leave their homes but are still scared of Macavity’s agents.

When the oldest child asks about the moon in the sky, one of the residents replies with, “The moon? That’s the Everlasting Cat. She gave this land it’s magic. She even spoke to us through Old Deuteronomy. But once Macavity took over, all of her magic left us.”

Another one says, “But we’ll know when the Everlasting Cat is back when we see gifts upon the doorsteps of our dens.”

As they get to their ‘army’ they see the season change into autumn and the earth begin to grow with greens and rain falls from the sky.

Characters (Italics are who they would represent from the movie/book):

Gus- The professor who tells the kittens stories of a land in a far off place he once visited in his youth. To the kittens, it seems too fantastical in the world they currently live in.

Jenny/Skimble (yes I changed this from the earlier post. Don’t worry I have a point here)- The Beavers who house and save the kittens from Macavity’s agents. They tell them the prophecy and get to the camp. I can picture Jenny fussing after the kittens because they have been in a way and have been traumatized from going from one war to another. But I can also picture Skimble telling them stories of how the Junkyard used to be.

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer- Children of Jenny and Skimble who were coerced by Macavity to join his side in order to protect their family. They were first spies for Macavity but soon became double agents for the resistance. As far as they know, Macavity doesn’t know of their true alliance.

Demeter- Mr. Tumnus A kind queen who is skittish and fearful of Macavity but runs into the youngest child and coerces her into her den. While trying to make the kit sleep, she is visited with a vision of Old Deuteronomy telling her to protect the kit no matter what. This causes her to tell the child to leave quickly and not come back to the Junkyard. Several days later she is captured by Macavity’s agents and is taken prisoner.

Macavity- The king of the Junkyard. He is known for his unrelenting anger and his use of magic. He despises Old Deuteronomy and knows that someday he will be back to his throne. His most trusted agents include Griddlebone and Growltiger. These two were with him when he took the throne and have been with him ever since. He does suspect two of his newest recruits, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, are traitors. He keeps them for if they ever cross him, he will destroy their family.

Old Deuteronomy- Aslan type character. He left the Junkyard soon after Macavity took over. After so long, he came back when the Everlasting Cat spoke to him that there would be four kits who would help bring the Junkyard to what it once was and bring change to the land.

The children/kits (This took a lot of thinking and I think I have who would be the young characters. I also want to point out that the only ones who are actually siblings are boys. I’m viewing this as a found family situation where they had no choice but to become a family due to war. Thank you @uppastthejelliclemoon and @is-it-mungojerry-or-rumpelteazer for your help)

Munkustrap- Peter Munkustrap is the oldest. He was forced to grow up after he and his brother were brought to the foster home. He does his best to make sure his brother doesn’t get in trouble but at the same time wants to make sure his brother knows his brother is loved. He often gets frustrated and becomes scared once they enter the Junkyard.

Tugger- Edmund Tugger has trouble connecting with his brother and finds him overbearing sometimes. When he arrives in the Junkyard the first time, he is pulled in by Macavity’s lies and tells him things that betrays his family. He soon finds himself in the clutches of Macavity and meets Demeter who quickly resents him after finding out what he had done. Tugger then has to regain the trust of not only his foster sisters but also Munkustrap.

Bombalurina- Susan (this was very difficult and if anyone has a better idea, feel free to comment) Bomba is Tugger’s best friend in the foster home but is also the only one who makes sure Munkustrap is okay and makes the right decisions. She is essentially his second in command. Because she had to take care of Etcetera at a young age, she had to grow up quickly and see everything logically. Once she gets to the Junkyard her logic melts away and embraces the magical place around her.

Etcetera- Lucy Pure and innocent, Etcetera sees the world differently than her foster siblings. She sees the brightness in a world ravaged by war. In her first visit to the Junkyard, she meets Demeter who quickly becomes her first friend in Narnia. She proves to herself and her siblings that believing in each other and themselves will aid them in ways they never knew.

How do they get to the Junkyard?

This is the same as in the book/movie. They enter the world through an old wardrobe that is in a room by itself.

Welp…. Please tell me what you think. I might add more later but I’d love to hear your thoughts on the AU. If you have any more ideas, feel free to add them.

One idea that I might want to use is how they get to the Junkyard. It’s from the second movie (I don’t know if this is in the book Prince Caspian) but they get to Narnia through the train station disappearing around them. It’s a really cool scene and I think it would work for this AU. I don’t know.

#thanks a lot guys #you help me so much with this #i'm going to expand on this on another day #such as other characters and who they would be #cats the musical #cats the musical au #narnia #Narnia AU #for edmund it was either going to be tugger or alonzo #but i went with tugger #i'd love to hear feedback

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mistocore · 4 years

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Mistoffelees brain dump

Hello! I’ve had a lot of thoughts about Mistoffelees specifically so this is a brain dump. Sorry if my points are long and convoluted I just really need to get this information onto paper before I loose it!! This is going to be a lot of rambling, specifically about Jacob Brent’s Mistoffelees, so please enjoy or not! I dont care this is just a dump.

Most of it is incessant Tuggeroffelees rambles,, sorry

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I think about how at the Jellicle ball in the ‘98 film, Mistoffelees always looks so curious and excited to dance with the others. I love how he imitates the other male cats and even has his own little dance by himself,,, I like to think its his second or third jellicle ball and he doesnt really know how to act still so he mirrors the other male cats and tries to impress the others with some cool dance moves and tricks he knows in order to feel like hes a part of the group.

I love how adoringly Bomba always looks at him in background scenes too ;; like when he messes up during the beginning of the Gumbie cat and you can see her laughing in the background for a split moment. I think they have an unspoken bond and a very strong friendship where she supports him no matter what. Where she is a queen and Mistoffelees is in an age between a kitten and an adult cat, she takes the role of a big sister / mother figure toward him, its helpful toward Mistoffelees.

I also have really taken a light to shipping Mistoffelees with Alonzo because of how playful Al is with him. I love watching their interactions and them dancing together,, they’re super cute. I think Alonzo is seen as a ‘bad influence’ and a playful more mischevious cat with a cocky attitude that, unlike Tugger, he often recieves a scolding for. However, Mistoffelees thinks hes really cool and Alonzo recieving this praise only makes him continue to act out more as it impresses Mistoffelees.

I think Tugger and him work best romantically, as we all agree im sure, as they both are at the same age of being in the tribe where they haven’t quite gotten everything figured out yet. I feel Tugger is the oldest of that kind of group, where he isn’t exactly as old as Skimbleshanks (if he were human id say Skimble would be around 50-60) or Munkustrap (if he were human id say he’s in his late 20s), but he’s surely older than his ‘boys club’ of Plato, Pouncival, Alonzo and Tumblebrutus. If Tugger were human I would stick him at around 20-21 and the other boys at around 18. I feel that Mistoffelees is the youngest of this, entering his adulthood, fresh-faced and ready to figure out who he is, however, I don’t think he knows how. Tugger picks up on this, of course, and acts as a guide and a mentor since he has been there a little longer and understands what its like to be in his position.

Continuing with this thought, I think Tugger helped Mistoffelees with his proposal to Old Deut. It was originally meant to be a performance of him dazzling the others with his talent for magic and illusion, but upon Deuteronomys kidnapping, Tugger went to him in a panic and Mistoffelees knew he had a solution.

I like how during the number at first Tugger calls him JUST ‘Mr. Mistoffelees, the original conjuring cat” and then it spirrals into him literally shouting to the other Cats toward the end ‘MAGICAL, MARVELLOUS MR MISTOFFELEES!’. The emotion and power John Partridge put into that number never fails to make me cry like a baby because I just HEAR how happy Tugger is with how far hes come and he knows that he has played a part in helping Mistoffelees overcome his anxieties and insecurities. Afterward, I like to think he thanks Tugger for everything hes done for him and the two decide to pursue something more than a friendship. I think the song perfectly represents Mistoffelees’s blossom into adulthood and maturity as he’s able to finally get his chance to show the other jellicles what hes made of!! and boy does he do it INCREDIBLY WELL.

I also never noticed that Tugger is actually copying HIM during his own number which is so so cute ;-; I like to think Tugger being his hypeman is so well needed and deserved because Tugger knows things like this (big events with a lot of the jellicles) makes Mistoffelees nervous, so he takes to mirroring his dance moves and mannerisms to affirm him and make him feel welcomed, such as Mistoffelees would do at the ball with the other male cats. Since Tugger seems to be an idol for the same cats hes impersonating and mirroring, Mistoffelees takes this as a huge comfort and it allows him to feel more safe and accepted into the tribe because the cat that is so sought after and praised by others is actually taking an interest in him and copying HIM and HIM only.

I really overall believe Jacob Brent’s Mistoffelees, whereas this is a popular opinion, is the best Mistoffelees. He was perfectly casted, perfectly excecuted and overall he had so much fun with the role to the point where i really believe that HE is a cat. I love him so much!!

Thank u if u read! Feel free to reply!

#haha hyperfixation go brrr #its real adhd hours #cats #cats musical #cats 1998 #mr mistoffelees #mistoffelees

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fisumisu · 4 years

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ALRIGHT! I’ve now seen the new Cats movie!

My first thought?

”That could’ve been a lot worse, actually.”

Even if I didn’t absolutely love it, some of the songs really brought me glimpses of the happiness and excitement I got from the original musical, and dare I say it, I would actually like to see the new movie again.

I went to see it right after watching the old version with my friend (she loved it btw!) and so, the contrast was pretty big.

My general thoughts and some shameless ranting with absolutely no order *spoilers ahead*:

- I got used to the designs of the characters quite quickly, there were some I liked more than the others but my mind numbed to it eventually. "You get used to anything, except an icicle up in your asshole", as the age old Finnish saying goes (and that's a rock fact).

- However, I did not like Jennyanydots the Bodyhorror Cat and I am pretty sure the person behind every decision regarding her might be an alien.

-Bustopher Jones lost all his dignity. In the musical he is very respected and completely fine with being a ”bounder”, yet in the movie they make a joke about him being sensitive about it. I also could’ve done without seeing cat men and women wolf down garbage.

- Apparently falling and tripping on things is still concidered to be peak humor in Hollywood.

- (maybe thanks to that) Instead of the humor coming from just their body language, they relied more on the spoken gags. Most of them are pretty meh. However, I’ll never forget the ”Is he neutered? That note was kiiinda high...” line, ’cause, whoa... wow... damn... Didn’t expect that. Lmao.

- Speaking of the Rum Tum Tugger... well, let’s just say John Partridge will probably keep the mantle of being the best Tugger forever. Derulo has a good voice but the whole design given to his character and the way they had downgraded his importance in the movie made him a tad forgettable.

- Also, Jellicle cats do not have cheerful faces, actually Jellicle cats seem rather mean.

- The ”Touch me!” Part of Memory lost most of its meaning since the importance of touch was never implied in the movie. I’m also annoyed that the directors didn’t tell the actor of Grizabella (Jennifer Hudson) to go a bit easier on her first two appearances and do the full blast crying scene at the end when she’s pleading the other cats to accept her. Her emotion was seriously amazing, but because it was too strong right from the start, she lost the wow moment she could’ve had at the end. It wasn’t her fault, Memory is supposed to be an emotional roller coaster, but she should’ve been directed better.

- I prefer Grizabella being much older looking overall, even in the musical productions, since the comparison between how the Jellicles behave towards Gus and Grizabella is quite an important point to me. If they are both older cats, it’s easier to see and the decision to send her to the Heaviside layer more justified. Yeah, Grizabella’s coat was a bit dusty and the corner of her eye a bit scarred in the movie but she was waaaaaaay too fine to think she’d need a whole new life to fix herself. Nope.

- Very important note: There definitely should've been a rule that cats with clothes should KEEP THEM ON during the entire movie. The whole deal with clothing was utterly baffling altogether. Some cats had cat sized shoes, hats, jackets and they seemed unable to decide if they should keep them on or be in their birthday suits most of the time. Plus, if some cats have clothes and others don’t, it’s just going to look odd. And hey, why is that one cat otherwise naked but wearing shoes? I don’t know man, nobody knows.

- Thankfully, Skimbleshanks the Railway cat decided he rather liked his pants and never removed them. His tap dancing number was one of the best scenes in the movie. He also had a proper excuse to wear cat shoes. Good job Skimble.

- Ian McKellen (the cat) had the kind of fur around his head I wish every cat on the movie would’ve had. I’ll never forget him saying ”Meow, meow, meow!” Or dunking his head into a bowl to lap water with his tongue. I actually got a bit teary eyed watching his number.

- I don’t feel that Taylor Swift’s Bobalurina was... well, Bombalurina. She was just some hench cat whose only purpose was to get everyone high on catnip and preach about Macavity.

- Honestly, I actually thought the whole Macavity song part was pretty neat! Hear me out (don’t scoff, lol). Yes, it was odd, but the way the dancers started moving when the golden flakes touched them was fascinating to watch. It was almost like a reference to the beginning where the cats couldn’t help but dance under the Jellicle moon and their movement showed that clearly. Storytelling, but with dance! Can you believe it!? I’m just sad that the CGI cheapened the dancers’ amazing performances during the whole movie since their movement looked odd at places thanks to the added fur. When there’s so much digitally added effects on screen, you can’t help but wonder, is this real or just animated?

- I haven’t said anything about Munkustrap, I notice. Maybe because I like complaining too much and had to get all the whining out of the way. Good news, Munk remains a good, good cat and he was definitely my favourite character, alongside with Skimble (who kept his pants on, as you might recall). Thank the Everlasting cat or the Maker for small mercies.

- Also, to people talking about Munk and Misto in this new movie, I see ya. My poor heart is quite confused since the song Mr Mistoffelees is, and will always be, to me (and many others) Tugger and Mistoffelees' song, and therefore can have that kinda romantic vibe. Since they threw Tugger out of the window, going as far as to make the two interract as little as possible, I’d rather eat my right leg than accept the romance they cooked up with Victoria and Misto. Since Munkustrap sings the first parts of Mistoffelees’ song in the movie, I can see why Munk and Misto could be seen as a new pairing.

I don’t mind if you like Victoria and Misto together, it doesn’t itch my bum what other people enjoy, so have fun! Victoria x misto is just not for me. If I had to choose who I ship in this movie, I’d probably ship Skimbleshanks with his hat. It’s a very good hat. You can’t see the CGI ears under it. Oh, did I mention Skimble's pants? They were red and he kept them on throughout the whole movie.

- (just remembered) Victoria singing Beautiful Ghosts to Grizabella immediately after Grizabella ended her second part of Memory, reminded me of that Tall Girl meme from last year. Like, “You think your life is hard?" *bursts into song*

- Macavity being so desperate about getting to the Heaviside layer was actually pretty hilarious and the whole thing about him vanishing all the other “contestants” was something new and unexpected. Didn’t really mind it. I just wish the big finale would’ve been Mistoffelees making all the vanished cats appear again.

- Judyteronomy teleporting behind everyone after Mistoffelees song made me laugh.

- Mistoffelees believing in himself at the end of the movie was pretty wholesome.

- Hey! Macavity’s fur actually looked a bit red when the light hit it from just the right angle and the stars aligned! I wonder if that was one of the features they added when they did the updates. Maybe that's why they couldn't afford to give people cat noses. Oh well.

And that’s all for now!

This is already pretty long and got kinda outta hand. Thanks if you read this whole thing! I just wanted to vent and gather my thoughts about the movie. I love to nitpick and poke at stuff. I hope I didn't come across too negative or say only things everyone and their mothers have already talked about. The movie was far from perfect but in this nice safe bubble of ours no one should feel ashamed of liking something Cats the musical related. I'm actually itching to see this again, in all its horrifying glory, because despite all its flaws and things I wish they would've done differently, it's still Cats and some of the songs and scenes absolutely, quite positively slapped.

If you, for some unthinkable reason, would like to know my thoughts on a specific scene or thing in the new Cats movie, or just anything Cats related, feel free to ask me!

Toodle pip!

#Cats the musical #cats 2019 #cats 2019 review #Kinda #cats musical #the rum tum tugger #mr mistoffelees #munkustrap #This was a pretty mindless review and I'm sorry it was so messy #The 2019 version is what it is #But i am happy I was able to get this much enjoyment out of it

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sophieakatz · 4 years

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Thursday Thoughts: “Cats” Is Not Bad

My dad was in a community theatre production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats years ago. One night, he came home from rehearsal still wearing his makeup – fur, whiskers, the whole shebang, all created with face paint. He quietly entered the house, and my siblings and I watched as he crept around the edge of the room, his eyes wide and his head tilted to the side in a feline sort of way. I was entranced. While of course I knew it was Dad, in that moment, he was a cat.

And then he looked me in the eye, and said “MEW!” in a goofy, high-pitched voice. We all laughed, the spell broken.

Years before that, my family attended a showing of Cats at a different community theatre. During intermission, while the audience milled about the theatre, several of the ensemble cast remained onstage – as cats. They sat at the edge of the stage and stared at us, still and silent and unblinking. They crawled up the aisles, brushing up against people’s legs. One came right up to my brother, who was holding his program out lazily, and WHACKED the paper with a paw, startling him. Another even jumped up onto my dad’s lap and lay there, purring, while my siblings and I gleefully pet the “kitty.”

For me, this is the magic of Cats. It taps right into the suspension of disbelief at the heart of all theatre. Cats allows you to forget for a couple hours that the people before you are human. For the duration of the show, they are cats. Cats who sing, dance, and wear ballet shoes, yes, but cats nonetheless.

My biggest issue with the 2019 movie adaptation of Cats is that it does not allow the viewer to forget that the performers are human.

I mean, they have human toes, for crying out loud! Human toes! And human hands, and faces! My eyes kept snapping to these details, latching onto them instead of the beautiful music. The wonderful makeup that transformed my father into Old Deuteronomy is nowhere to be found.

At the same time, all these not-cats have CGI ears and tails, twitching and twisting in uncanny ways that don’t go at all with the otherwise-human body. It’s as though the filmmakers couldn’t decide whether to go for realism or fantasy and ended up stuck somewhere in the middle, trying to do two things at once with a discomforting result.

This uncomfortable “two things at once” feeling permeates the film.

The film doesn’t seem to have a firm stance on what size objects are in this cat-run world. In stage productions of this show, the stage is covered with larger-than-life pizza boxes and boots to establish that the characters are actually cat-sized. But in the film, Mr. Mistoffelees in quick succession picks up a slightly larger-than-life hand of playing cards, a much larger-than-life red die, a pencil that is pretty much normal-sized, and a fork that is larger than the pencil but somehow not as large as the die. It’s like the film is trying to show a world in which cats are cat-sized in one moment and human-sized the next – two things at once – resulting in confusion.

And then there’s the matter of the cats’ clothing. Some of the cats wear clothes while others do not. This is, of course, a carry-over from the stage version, in which some cats wear fur-patterned leotards, while others have clothing items which symbolize the kind of fur the cat has. However, the film takes some bizarre twists on cat-clothing.

For example, in the stage production, Jennyanydots begins her number in a shabby coat which she later drops to reveal a fun, frilly, colorful layer of fur. In the film, we meet Rebel Wilson’s Jennyanydots as a cat with realistic orange-and-white fur – which she suddenly unzips down her front mid-number to show that she is wearing clothing on her real body underneath.

The film is trying to have it both ways – Jennyanydots is a real cat with real fur, but also a fake cat with fake fur, and more questions are raised than answered.

Bustopher Jones has always been a cat in a top hat and tuxedo, evocative of a cat with tuxedo-pattern fur. James Corden as Bustopher Jones starts out in a top hat and tuxedo. Then he takes off the tuxedo to reveal tuxedo-pattern fur.

Once again, the film is trying to do two things at once – clothing to emulate cat fur, and cat fur to emulate clothing. The result, however, is leaving the viewer with the impression that a grown man has just stripped naked in front of them in a PG-rated movie.

If you put animated animals in clothing, then the animals can become naked. Disney’s Zootopia recognized this to hilarious effect, but Cats does not seem to.

Idris Elba as Macavity looks excellent in his beat-up hat and coat, which give the theatrical impression of a creepy scarred-up cat. But this illusion is abruptly discarded when Elba, too, strips down naked. I ended up watching that scene through my fingers, as I had put my hands over my eyes.

It struck me early in the film that they could have – should have, even – completely owned the fact that these were cats.

Unlike stage theatre, which depends on practical effects and clever costumes, film presents the unique opportunity to go all the way into fantasy.

They could have completely animated the cats – four-legged and meowing! This would have avoided the nudity problem and rescued all the film’s animals, mice and cockroaches included, from the uncanny valley. Instead of doing two things at once, the film could have done one thing wholeheartedly, the one thing that film can do but theatre cannot.

And this is where 2019’s Cats is excellent: when it takes full advantage of the film medium.

Films are not grounded in a single location or time. The camera can jump-cut to anywhere! This is used to great effect in “Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer,” following the troublesome cats as they jump around the bedroom, dining room, and staircase, sowing chaos. Throughout the film, we move beyond the junkyard and are able to see the alley of trash cans that Bustopher Jones eats from (rather than the clubs themselves as the song implies – hilarious!) and the barge that Growltiger commands. I downright love how “The Ad-Dressing of Cats” is set around the Trafalgar Square lions – an appropriately grandiose setting. And the very best musical sequence in the film is “Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat,” which transforms Skimble’s tap-dance into the rhythm of a train, seamlessly transitioning the scene from the theatre hall to the train tracks.

Cats as a film also devotes time to character development in a way that the opera-esque stage show never has. Sure, you can research the backstories of all the cats if you want to, but the casual viewer never learns anything beyond what’s said in song. With just a bit of dialogue, Cats transforms Mr. Mistofelees from a cocky deus ex machina to an endearingly clumsy magician who finally, on this night, gets his first big break.

Another transformed character is Victoria. While originally a dancing role with no solo singing part, Victoria is reimagined as a newcomer to the Jellicle Ball, there to ask questions and be sung to. She is, in other words, the audience surrogate, a necessary figure in film. While Cats the stage musical addresses the audience directly throughout the show, fourth-wall breaks are something that a stage show can get away with more often than a film can.

A critique I’ve heard repeatedly about the film is how Judi Dench suddenly sings directly to the camera in the final number. For me, this was not a detriment. “The Ad-Dressing of Cats” is and has always been a song sung directly to the audience!

However, I can see why someone who was expecting a traditional film would be bothered by this. The film put a lot of effort into removing the other fourth-wall breaks by having the songs originally sung to the audience be sung to Victoria instead, so the sudden return to a device that works better on stage than in film is a bit jarring as, once again, Cats tries to do two things at once – to be both a film and a stage show.

I’ve been a fan of this musical for a long time. But given how many people were vehemently calling this a bad film, I didn’t expect to enjoy it.

But I did enjoy it. I enjoyed Cats.

The music is just as entertaining as ever. The singing and dancing is just as good as you would expect it to be given how much star power they packed into the cast. What’s more, watching this movie made me think of all the great experiences I had with the stage production, watching my father from the wings as he sang “The Moments of Happiness” and having staring contests with the still-in-character performers as a child.

When I critique a creative work, I think less about terms like “good” and “bad” than I think about the effect the work had on me. As I made clear in the first half of this review, a lot of the design choices in this film made me uncomfortable and took me out of the magic. At the same time, a lot of this film felt like coming home.

Cats is a weird and beautiful musical. It’s about cats who sing, dance, and address the audience directly. None of these qualities are inherently bad – far from it! Together they create one of the longest-running shows ever on Broadway.

Could the film have been better? Yes, I believe so. If it completely owned the fact that it is a film about talking cats, and if it focused more on doing one thing well than it tried to do two things at once, then Cats could have been an excellent film.

But Cats is not bad. It really isn’t. And this is this, and that is that, and that’s how you address a cat.

#cats #cats 2019 #cats musical #andrew lloyd webber #musical theatre #musical theater #musicals #broadway musicals #jennyanydots #bustopher jones #mr mistoffelees #victoria #film #reviews #thursday thoughts #critique #film criticism #suspension of disbelief

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sybright · 4 years

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Grizabella being Munk and Tugger’s sister au

I’ve had this idea brewing in my head for a while and I’ve finally gotten the motivation to write it out. Fair warning, this whole thing is a COMPLETE mess, I have no idea where I was going with this, it got a longer than I thought it would, um, read at your own risk?

I think the “Griz is Munk and Tugger’s mom” headcanon is a neat idea, but it never vibed with me personally. For my “main” universe I see Griz as being unrelated to any of the Jellicles. However, for productions where Griz has a younger appearance (which can apply to both the pre-revival Griz design and the post-revival one), I really like the idea that she’s Old Deut’s daughter and siblings with Munk and Tugger.

Headcanons:

-She’s the eldest (of the trio at least, Old Deut has obviously had countless children in past lives, but Griz, Munk, and Tugger are his only children in this life), Munk is the middle child, and Tugger is the youngest.

-She was expected to become the next Jellicle leader. I have the feeling that the current life Old Deut is living is his last, and he feels confident in passing the role of Jellicle leader to his first born child in this current life.

-For a long time, becoming the Jellicle leader was a feeling of pride for Griz, for most of her youth she was excited to take on this role. She was confident, mature, caring, and deeply respected by the tribe, especially by her younger brothers. Simultaneously, she was laid-back, fun loving, and well, glamorous. This only earned her more respect from the tribe, she knew when to have fun, and she knew when to be serious. This is where she got her reputation as “the glamour cat.”

-During her late-teens to early adulthood is when she reached the height of her days as “the glamour cat.” It was around this time that she begun her Protector training, which was sort of like a prerequisite to her Jellicle leader training that would come later on.

-When Griz started her Protector training, she began to rethink her life goals. She was young, just a little while out of kittenhood, and she reveled in the freedom she had prior to her training. Griz had big dreams, she wanted to see the world, and suddenly she felt constrained by her obligation to stay with the tribe and complete her training. Her life felt caged, like it was all laid-out for her, she was having second thoughts about the whole “leader” thing.

-Griz was too scared to confide her doubts to anyone because she didn’t want to disappoint them or let anyone down. So she continued her Protector training, pretending like everything was fine.

-Over time, the pent up emotions in her led Griz to start resenting the tribe, she never said anything, but she grew more frustrated with them as each new day passed. The tribe started to see a change in Griz’s attitude, she became more cold and distant.

-This culminated in an argument Griz got into with Munk the day before her Jellicle leader training was going to begin (Munk is a teen at this time btw). Basically, Munk was asking what was going on with her lately, and why she had changed so much during her training. He had asked out of worry and concern, he wanted to help her. Griz snapped at him and a huge argument ensued. A lot of feelings were hurt that day, Munk didn’t know if he even knew his sister anymore, Tugger (who’s around preteen age at this time) overheard some of the arguing, and felt equally hurt by their exchange.

-The next day, the day she was supposed to start her Jellicle leader training, Griz was gone. She left without telling anyone or saying goodbye. She left to see the world and pursue fame, she walked out on them. This was a massive blow to the tribe, everyone was beaten down by it, Munk and Tugger especially so. They had looked up to Griz, and admired her for a long time, and this event, what felt like a betrayal, was awful for the two of them. Old Deuteronomy was more worried about Griz than anything.

-Years passed, Munk took up the mantle of becoming the next Jellicle leader, he started his Protector training and was determined to pickup where Griz left off. Meanwhile, Tugger took on a very care-free and rebellious attitude.

-Jemima shows up around this time, and it isn’t realized now, but after the events of the musical it’s decided that Jemima suits the role of Jellicle leader much better than Munk. Munk, while responsible, takes on far too much stress from the job, so he remains a Protector and storyteller.

-Everything started out great for Griz, she was free from her responsibilities and nothing could hold her back now. After a few years, however, it started to fall apart. She fell on hard times and wound up on the street, completely alone. She had too much pride, too much shame, to return to the tribe just yet, so she remained on the streets for a while.

-The events of the musical happen. Griz shows up after she finally gets over herself, it’s been roughly ten years since she left. Everyone’s on edge, the only one who had seen Griz prior to her return is Demeter, who encountered Griz on the streets many times in the past, and it’s only her, the kittens, and Old Deut who show her any empathy.

-After the final Memory, Griz is forgiven and welcomed back to the tribe. I haven’t fully decided yet whether Griz should be reborn or stay with the tribe. I’m leaning towards staying with the tribe, because it’s a neat idea that I want to play around with. Griz mending her relationships with the other tribe members and her direct family would take a lot of time, and her getting back into the swing of her old life is an interesting concept, there’s just so much good material in that setup that I want to explore, I’m just trying to decide whether I want to differentiate it from this au or not.

Extra stuff for this au:

The idea that I was trying to get across with this, is that everything came down to a lack of communication. In reality, no one was ever pressuring Griz to become the leader, if she had said something, the tribe would have supported her decision, but on the other hand no one ever asked her how she felt about it either. It’s the lack of discussion from both ends that causes the misunderstandings and tension, and eventually the falling out.

As an aside, this whole thing is apart of my “idiot universe.” To briefly explain, I have three distinct Cats universes, (which may or may not have been created for the sole purpose of having all my ships be canon, don’t judge me), they’re all separated by how Macavity is characterized. Universe one is my “main” universe, where Macavity is his typical self, universe two is the “redemption” universe where Macavity is less awful and gets redeemed, and universe three is the “idiot” universe where Macavity is just a dumbass who doesn’t pose a threat to anyone. He’s still a criminal, but only moderately worse than Jerrie and Teazer. So yes, this Griz sibling thing is in the “idiot” universe.

If any of you are more interested in the three universes Mac’s, here’s a full post on it from like two months ago, it’s pretty shit and there are some things I’ve changed my mind about since then, but it still has some nice details. It’s also from before I had all these followers, so I was still posting to the void lmao. Also, that post was from before storyweaverofgondor made that excellent post explaining Mungocavity, so I was just throwing ideas against the wall for the pairing and trying to come up with a ship name XD. I’m so glad her post made the pairing a bit more popular because I thought I was doomed to be alone in shipping it lol.

I’ve really been liking the “Tugger and Demeter are siblings” idea thanks to return-of-the-skimbly and thepansexualspoon, and I kinda want to incorporate it into one of my universe’s somehow, but I haven’t decided which one. I also can’t decide if I’d still have Munk as their sibling too if I went that route, but I know for sure that it won’t be in my “main” universe because of Demebombastrap. I’ve been thinking about putting it in the “idiot” universe, in which case I’ll have to edit some of the headcanons in this post. In fact, I’ll probably need to make a separate post explaining Deme’s whole side of it if I do that. *Sigh* there’s just too many fun ideas to work with!

#cats the musical #grizabella #munkustrap #rum tum tugger #my rambles #my original posts #long post #old deuteronomy #cats headcanons #cats aus #I wanna make more posts about my three universes because they keep getting more elaborate and I need to talk about them ajdsakms #I'm not @ing the people I mention because the @ is at the very bottom of this post and this post is very long #I don't want to put them through the pain of having to read this mess so I'm just not @ing them #might also be because of my anxiety where I want to post this but simultaneously don't want people to read it hsadjjaka #also yeah I know 'idiot' universe isn't the most proper name but I might come up with something better later on

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singularname · 4 years

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ooc: First anyone can comment on this post or like it. If you want to ask me questions my ask box is open. I am more than willing to answer questions you may have.

A more cohesive list of my comments and thoughts on cats 2019, let it be known it is still hot garbage and still does not belong in the jellicle junkyard. Before I go on, I want to say, Cat’s is my favorite musical. I RP Munkustrap. To critique any version (and their are lots) you have to love The Musical. Any other critique is objectively a person who will rate it badly. Cats was never going to do well, it never has despite its run length through tours and different countries. Cats has never been viewed well by critiques, and is hugely hated in the theater community which is why when you see and read those reviews you have to know they have a preconceived notion of what cats is, and that is that its weird and therefore they cannot like it.

The three biggest critiques I see of the movie (and the show for the first one) is their is no plot, which I will discuss in this review how their in fact is one, how its horny and if you thought the movie was horny well John Partridge is knocking at your door asking if you’ve had your sexual awakening yet, and that the CGI is bad, which yes it is. My goal is to show why some of these are a bit unfounded but also let you see why a person who likes the musical is so disappointed that this movie only perpetuates that this musical is a joke.

Now onto the review. It is around 10k words, so negatives are under the cut.

Positives:

Robbie tried really hard, but sadly he wasn’t enough. He had a few off beats such as his initial intro, and his smile at the end that was weird. But he was good, and he made the shit show of gumbie cat and tugger’s song slightly better by joking with jenny any dots which was one of the best jokes in the whole movie.

Jennifer was a good Grizabella. Anyone making fun of her snot has forgotten Anne Hathaway singing I Dreamed a Dream, and should rightfully shut up.

The rewritten plot was bad, but the song that fit the best with the adaptions made for this horrid movie, besides Skimble’s song which I will talk about in a second, was Bustopher Jones. In the original his number is all about how well respected he is, but people remember his song is a story to make him seem better, we should not be surprised he is dumpster diving for food at all, sorry of a reality hit for old busty but its the truth.

Ian was a good choice for Gus, it was very similar to John Mills’ portrayal with only a bit more backstory. What was missing was a back and forth between someone, such as Jellylorum. Monologues are great but having a scene partner is better because that energy helps momentum and you feel things. Gus is arguably the slowest song, and it needs some livelness and no Misto’s little magic trick was not enough.

Mungo and Rumple were good. I hate the debut version of the song and they made me like it. For those wondering why we didn’t get the fun jazz number and got this slow moving one its because it came from the Debut on West End. The issue with the slow moving one is it falls in the middle where the pacing is already slow packed with more slow songs so it can seem a bit boring. I also wish Rumple kept her accent up.

The idea of the rundown theater/ballroom was really good. It allowed for a very similar feel that the junkyard presents with props and such for the cats to use. The issue is it was not our set the entire time and we are constantly taken out of it.

Skimble’s number was probably the best in the entire movie. It had the feel of the original with freshness from the tap which was genius. The tap dancing added the sounds of the railway in the same way the cats original make the train whistle noise. And the guy tapping was one of the originators of the Mad hatter in The Royal Opera House’s Alice in Wonderland so he was good. The issue with Skimble is the cut to the train and rail station which I will get to.

Negatives:

Three categories

Plot ( songs, characters, dance ), Technical ( movie stuff, CGI, proportions ), Anything I forgot.

Plot

Lets start generally. People say their is no plot even though Hooper attempted to “give” it a plot he failed. Their was no reason because all Hooper did was not only drop his plot halfway through, but he didn’t adhere to his own rules, nor did he need to add a plot at all. The dialogue was clunky at best, and not funny.

So the plot that Cats has always had is said almost immediately after the opening numbers. It is said by a grey cat that unless you know the musical you don’t know the name of but considering his prominence in the musical you know he’s important. He has solos in most songs, and even more in the movie. In the stage show this plot is seen through with a few interuptions. But here is he plot of the stage show for you. The jellicles come together for a ball where a cat will be chosen to be reborn. At times you get this threat, a cat by the name of macavity who you never seen he’s just scary. The cats ask who will it be, and the reason the songs are sung is because the cats are suggesting names of who it could be hence “i have a gumbie cat in mind...” This goes on for a bit their are two songs that don’t seem to fit in this formula, technically three, Grizabella’s songs (not memory), Peeks and Pollicles, and Growltiger’s Last Stand. Grizabella’s songs are to point out who she is and how she is distinctively not a jellicle, or no longer one. Peeks and Pollicles is entertainment they got a whole night to waste before dawn. The same can be said of Growltiger, but it is also paired with being Gus reprising a role more or less. The last two are for entertainment, just like the Jellicle Ball song where jellicles literally describe what kinds of cats they are, its also a bit of a mating dance but hey they are supposed to be cats. So we get to Macavaty he has threatened to appear quite a few times, he is scary, that is all we know. His song is sung as a cautionary tale to the audience and the kittens, he then finally appears and fights and hurts the protector among a few others and takes The Leader Old Deuteronomy. The cats are a bit distraught, then elvis cat struts in and is like what about Misto the magic guy. He then proceeds to say what Misto can do before Misto officially appears as Misto, he has been their all along though using his powers subtly to help the show progress he’s confident if their is something he is unsure about its where his powers come from. Misto brings Old Deuts back, and then Grizabella makes one last plea to the cats IN FRONT OF THEM explaining what happened and such. She gets the touch she craves and Deuts chooses her no words needed. Her plea isn’t part of a competition, it is one to be accepted being chosen is a secondary thing to that. Then we the audience get addressed formally like we did at the beginning a la “are you blind when your born” but this time its like “so you’re not a cat, so now you get us a bit more.” Then it ends.

The movie takes this fairly simple plot of party, guessing who could be chosen, we have to wait a bit before the choice can be made, threat appears, leader who makes the choice disappears then comes back, makes the choice, and turns it into a farce. Something that TS Eliot would hate. TS Eliot didn’t want his cats to be pussy cats, he wanted Hot Gossip. He didn’t want something cartoonish, which is why Andrew was given the rights in the first place. The thing is poetry should not ever be spelled out for you, is up to you to interpret, and these songs and plot is pieced together straight from Poetry. Hooper fucked with that vision, I mean Macavity falling at the end shows this perfectly, that was something you see in a damn cartoon.

The plot Hooper added didn’t work because he dropped it like halfway through. It was no consistent and because their were so many breakaways to the barge letting you see the barge instead of just thinking these cats are in perilous danger it ruins the steaks of not having them there. The plot was bad.

Additionally, and I’ll speak more on this a little later, when the cats are taken away you lose chorus cats. The only cats that are not in the entirety of the show are Bustopher Jones and Growltiger who are generally played by the same actor as the true range for them is that of an opera singer which you would never know looking at this movie.

Songs

Overture: It was weird. I thought the throwing a cat out of a car was a bit harsh and unnecessary. Also the choreography didn’t work. The camera did not know what to do. Additionally, their was some very bad CGI with opening said back. The individual cats did not get their little moments like they do in the stage show which only made them all blend together.

Prologue: Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats: It was drastically cut. Not all the cats get their correct solos, or solos. Some were duets which takes away from the individuality of certain cats. It again like the overture was messy with choreography with the camera not knowing where to go or who to look at. The beauty of the cinematography of the 98 production is you got to see the full stage when dancing happened so your eye could find a focus, you could focus on what you want. We are robbed of that with the choppy cutting and the camera telling us who to focus on. Its poor film choice. Cats a musical that is more music based than les mis you can’t just cut back and forth in a duet or in a song to who is singing like you can with les mis ( which hooper also fucked up ). Also what was with only like five cats singing the solos. I’m sorry this is when we are supposed to meat the chorus, this was like a bad choir rehearsal.

The Naming of Cats: Blink and you’ll fucking miss it. They make such a big deal about a second name but then ITS CUT! They don’t name any second names, only boring first names. Like why even include the fucking song if you aren’t going to tell us character’s names or second names. This would have been a perfect moment with the sloppy cutting to at least let us put names to faces. Everyone walked out of that theater not having a clue that the silver dad cat was Munkustrap cause as important as he is his name is said once in a song, that isn’t about him. This song was pointless in the movie because they cut so much of it.

Invitation to the Jellicle Ball: So much is cut. So much. We don’t get solos from more than Munk. Its such a sad song with how much is cut and how important it is. It gives us Victoria’s solo which is also cut in favor of a Pas De Deux, which I get you got two great ballet dancers as your leads, but like let her have her damn moment since your so focused on making sure she is the focus of the movie.

Also my second fault to Munk, aside from him having no confidence or the write key in his first line “Are you blind when you’re born.” His solo here is weirdly paced and he doesn’t speak with confidence like he is telling a story, it sounds like he is speaking fast, and just not caring what he is delivering. If your audience conduit is confused the whole time, like this chick is, then don’t rush the deliverance of what the plot is.

This song also tells us the point of the musical and invokes the question “who will it be” which traditionally leads to the cats singing songs about different cats who may or may not appear suggesting who they think could be chosen. The competition which is completetely stupid, having each cat sing their song does not work. Most of the songs are songs sung by other cats about cats. Hence the opening line of the next number.

Gumbie Cat: Rebel Wilson cannot sing well. She has decent pitch. But she cannot sing well, nor does she understand the character. She calls Jenny lazy and fat. The stage version she’s essentially the opposite. Jenny is not a fat joke. She is busy cat who doesn’t get out much, but she does alot of good.

The cockroaches and mice. Besides bad CGI aside, this concept was poorly executed. It was a good concept, a good theory but the execution made it bad. In the stage production the cats in the junkyard portray the mice and cockroaches because its an act its like a play within a play. Here we get badly CGIed kids in mice costumes that ever version of the damn Nutcracker has done better. We get tap dancing cockroaches. However unlike with Skimbleshanks’ number, we do not get to focus on the tap or the clarity of the tap because of the poor filmography which I’ll talk about later.

This number was pretty much ruined by Rebel making a joke out of the whole. Additionally, she zips off her fur. Like its not a coat, or a bigger bit of fur its her literal fur. Its just wrong and it looks cartoonish which again TS Eliot did not want for his cats poems.

Rum Tum Tugger: Jason was a smart choice, but he also did not care about the number. He wasn’t giving it all he had. He has the vocals for it, but he wasn’t giving it. The dancing in this number suffered, none of the kittens or cats in general seem to be loosing their shits over him. They seem more happy about the damn milk.

Many critics say the movie is horny, let me tell you this number has nothing on John Partridge or any person who has ever played Tugger. I mention John because he is the only one who really went their with the hip thrusts and the kittens were the only ones willing to get up in there. Their was no fear the in 98 version, here they all seemed scared to show anything more than emotion. In a song that helps define some of the chorus cats we don’t get any definition from them.

Alot of people hate some of Rebel’s jokes, but the one that Robbie teased her about was well timed and much better than the rest of the jokes in the movie. It seemed natural and not forced. It also kind of goes with the traditional relationship of Jenny and Munk, and how they view Tugger.

This is the only time we see Tugger til the very end with Munk’s song. Because he sings a song, and its not for the competition it already fucks with the plot that Hooper set forth and thus doesn’t really fit into the narrative that Hooper is trying to weave. He should have left it. Originally the song is a mix of the adult cats and the kittens talking about Tugger and having Tugger more or less clarify for them. Its a waste of his character to be honest, and a waste of Jason’s actual talents.

Grizabella the Glamor Cat: Why do we need to know her specific backstory. Her costuming and song should be enough to tell the audience what we need to know. This is classic example of telling not showing, which is a big no no in writing.

Also because of how the beginning of this movie has gone we have no connection to the damn cats singing this song. Two of them typically have had parts in two other songs by now, and one of the cats is a “psychopath” as t-swiftizzle has said and doesn’t appear til much later in the movie. Like why do these cats care. The apprehension from the stage show is not there.

Kudos to Robbie for keeping the strange relationship up where he is hairs standing on end, but still admonishing the rudeness. However it didn’t seem to have an effect. These actors are so scared to touch each other, why would they make fun of and scratch at a cat they aren’t supposed to like. The song had very little agency because of how it was performed and who performed it because we had no connection to those cats prior. Jennifer tried but damn its hard to carry a whole shit show on your back even if Robbie is trying to help.

Bustopher Jones: I said it above and I’ll say it again, this was probably the best integrated song into the plot, while the shit plot still existed. However James Cordon’s jokes did not land. He didn’t carry himself as a distinguished cat in those deliveries which would have helped the character. I didn’t mind the junk and garbage surfing because it gives you a bit of a realistic look on what he probably does at the clubs and such. Think of him like a bit of a dirtier version of lady and the Tramp.

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer: Again I said it above, this number objectively wasn’t bad. They took a song that I found grating and made it fun to watch and sung pretty well. However again it doesn’t fit into the contrived plot that Hooper was trying to form. Having Victoria there seemed very stupid, I will say more about how she is a poor choice for an Audience insert later. But she did not need to be there. The glory of Mungo and Rumple’s song is that no one is there, and they are taking a mick out of everyone who thinks they are Macavity. Whether it is the West End debut version, or the faster brassier verseion of the 98 show, they are alone making fun of the fact that they fooled everyone, and explain why they can do it through their song.

Old Deuteronomy: It was fine, decent. Until Judi Dench opened her mouth. I am bitter that Tugger didn’t sing the song with Munk but considering how much of the song was fucking cut what would he have sung? That is another issue this musical had, they cut so many songs, and left in songs that weren’t needed or added songs not written by TS Eliot originally at all. You miss the softer side to Tugger by not having him sing or even be here.

Judi Dench, she’s a great actress, she was not a great Old Deuteronomy. This has nothing to do with the fact that she was a woman. I would have been happy if it was Julie Andrews or Maggie Smith ANYONE, but Judi Dench. Judi can’t sing, the talk singing she did was pitchy at best. And the issue is Old Deuteronomy is one of the more powerful singers in the show. Not only that, Judi just did not command any presence. It wasn’t that she was small, it was just that she didn’t draw you to her, the camera had to do that. She molded into the background and none of the cats aside from Munk interacted with her, which made her seem like a stranger and not a cat that these other cats love and trust.

Jellicle Ball: I am crying for Gillian Lynne. This in the stage show is what many call the orgy number. It is more or less a mating dance and where we get the lovely victoria having her second big solo, followed by a lovely pas de deux with Plato who later becomes Macavity which I find intriguing.

In the movie we get Jason asking if its okay to party then they try to bring up the tempo by cutting the music awkwardly. This song just does not work with the choreography given to it. I am sure the Les Twins are great dancers, but first why couldn’t their cat names have been Coricopat and Tantomile they seemed to serve a similar purpose. Second why were they in this. The shoes ugh, but the hip hop does not match the song at all. The stick out and are just awkward.

Instead of this being a beautiful dance, with amazing choreography we get a very strange dance circle after the choreographer attempted to have the dancers dance on the softer notes and down beats, which does not work in a song with very hard up beats, and that isn’t a ballet number. The choreography over all just didn’t fit and seemed ill timed at best.

Also all of the damn lyrics were cut. The Jellicle Ball essentially explains what a jellicle is, which is what Victoria wants to be yet its not fucking explained to her, its poorly explained through dialogue and even then she doesn’t know. Like why take out the lyrics of this number. It made no sense.

Grizabella’s Reprise: Unlike the first song being in front of people, this song isn’t. But if I recall cats are watching. This is where we get the first inklings of memory. This is her plight. Its ruined by Victoria.

Beautiful Ghosts: I will say straight up I am not a fan of T-Swiftie her songs are petty at best, and this one is no different. This song was not needed. We did not need this blatant reason for Victoria to connect with Grizabella, we didn’t need it forced. The beautiful thing about the stage show is the touch and connection between Victoria and Griz is that it happens at the end of the show, and ITS NATURAL and is in combination with Jemima/Silabaub.

The song’s words are written by Taylor, and everyone is saying it fits so well with the musical and it doesn’t. We have no reason to feel bad for Victoria, yes she was dumped out of a car, but we know nothing about her past, and the song doesn’t do anything but allude to what happened. It is the epitome of “I had bad shit happen to me my whole life, but at least your life was good.” It is a song that completely lacks empathy. Sympathy is when you say “well it could be worse” and the last thing Grizabella wants is fucking sympathy. She needs someone to feel with her, not say it could be worse. This song is horrible with a horrible message and sung by a person who can sing well. BUT, its sung by the wrong character, and with the contrived plot that is being forced down our throats, it does not fit into the plot because we don’t know anything about Victoria at all.

Also it greatly irks me that everyone was okay with adding a song that wasn’t based of Eliot’s poems. Every single song in the stage production is a variation of one of Eliot’s poems whether published or not. It is a butchering of his work in a whole new way saying “here we’ll make it better” which is a huge insult to a poet.

The Moments of Happiness: Is it even in the movie? IDK, if it is its probably pitchy and sing talked all the way through, and does nothing for the story or anything. I think it might be when Deuts is looking out the window. But like the song is an addressing to the cats, kind of like an introduction or a toast for the Ball.

Magical Gus/Gus the Theater Cat: Ian was a smart choice, like John Mills he was a smart choice. BUT, the number felt long. John Mills’ number ran long and we didn’t get all of Mungo and Rumple’s song and Growltiger’s last stand was cut. Gus’ song is the slowest in the show. What helps the song have life in the stage version is Jellylorum singing with him. Actors in my opinion do better with a scene partner, and boy did this song need. It was slow and boring.

Growltiger’s Last Stand: We were robbed a good song. And what we did get, the one line we got was contrived and Growltiger’s song was reduced to a shitty villain song, on a shitty barge, to help this shitty plot. The worst thing is that this whole barge plot WASN’T NEEDED. We do not need to see people in danger to know they are in danger. It is better to not know than to know. This is the whole issue with upping Macavity’s role in the whole musical. A villain is better when they are unknown that’s why scary movies work.

I understand the original Growltiger song is racist, but they already cut songs, and they have shown no issues in changing lyrics, so they could have done. Growltiger originally is supposed to be a reenactment of a play that Gus did. The cats all help. This is another example of ruining the relationships the chorus cats have with each other, and robs them of characterization for us to see. Because remember in the stage show every cat is on stage 90 percent of the time, minus Bustopher, who I believe doubles as Growltiger because of the ranges and such needed. When we lose the cats we are introduced to the chorus becomes nameless faces and it makes me wonder why they are even there because they have nothing that makes them stand out.

Also because so much of Growltiger was cut we loose Griddlebone which is a fucking shame. We loose that tragedy of a tail. We loose a glorious opratic number. All for the sake of a shitty villain plot that had no real steaks at all because it all seemed so contrived and fake.

Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat: Possibly the best number in the show as it stayed the truest to its original form. It didn’t have much cut song wise. My issue with the song lies in the cinematography of it. This song I say rings the truest to the stage show because at the beginning we clearly see a formed railway track of beams. We get the lovely tapping to simulate the train which adds onto the other train sounds that are made in the number.

The issue is the fact that they take us out of the ballroom. There was no need for that. I will talk more about it later. But this number shows us the real issue with scale in this movie and how they have no clue how to address it at all. The cats at one point look like they are two inches tall, and at another point look like the scaling is correct. Their are many many bad bad jump cuts when they are on the actual railroad tracks. One was so bad you couldn’t even see the cast anymore. The scale is very off because it makes you question are they the correct portions when standing, or are they they correct portions when on their hands and feet.

The stage show manages to show everything this song showed within the confines of the junkyard, and it was completely feasible to do in the fucking ballroom but Hooper didn’t do that. When you have a big budget do not add unnecessary shots. That is what made the 98 version so great. They had a huge budget but didn’t over complicate the base show. The emphasized the dancing and singing and let those shine, and let the actors tell the story instead of letting the camera work and new shots tell the story.

Also the actor that played Skimble was Scottish I wish he let that come through. It would have made certain words and inflections just that much better.

Macavity: The Mystery Cat: In this stage show this song is a duet. In the movie is sung by T-Swizzle in order to get money from all her little fans. Taylor is an okay singer, i have heard better, and I have heard better for Bombalurina, both in seeing the musical live, and in the 98 version. They framed the song to be the one Macavity sings to show why he should be chosen but their are not cats to be chosen, remember that was the plot. Yeah its easy to forget.

Here’s the issue with how this song and its subsequent fight is worked out. The song’s lyrics are not changed so they talk about how bad Macavity is which in the frame of a competition to show your best qualities and why you should be chosen it does not fit. We know he was not going to get chosen, we knew from the beginning because it was shoved in our faces. Cats 2019 is a great example of a poorly written villain.

The song in the stage production is a cautionary tale told by two people who have likely had relations with Macavity. They are not only warning us the audience about him, but also the kittens who wonder who he is, who have never seen him. When you keep the context of the lyrics in with this new plot frame it doesn’t fit and only explains why he wouldn’t be chosen.

Additionally because its not a duet, and its sung by a cat we have never seen before, nor have any frame of reference for it doesn’t mesh well. Like why should we care?

Also the catnip. That is so pointless. Macavity is a magical cat, his powers to deceive and hypnotize are seen through his choreography in the fight seen with Munkustrap and Alonzo. But no we have to have magical cat nip spread by Bomby, Mungo, Rumple, and Griddlebone. Why even mention Griddlebone like this with the inclusion of Rumple if we do not get the song where we actually see just why she is an agent other than some lacky. Like this diminishes her character so much. ( And yes her inclsuion in the stage shows that don’t do growltiger like the 98 movie does also bug me this is not just a movie gripe, but the movie takes the stance to show us to her, but she is not the glorious white cat that is also so very evil, she is a wimpy little black cat who is scared that she is called out ).

Macavity’s fight seen mainly with Munk is taken away from us and given to the dumb barge cats fighting Growltiger. Again we have no real steaks in this fight. However we don’t see the barge cats again so why did it matter that we saw them off Growltiger? In the stage show, we actually see Munk, our silver tabby dad fight Macavity. It is a show of raw power that both he and Macavity have. It shows how dangerous Macavity is. It shows what cats do. They fight. We do not get this. We do not get see why all these other cats defer to Munk because his role as the protector is diminished to “I am dad cat hear me roar.” Losing this fight we loose alot of the connections we see between the main cats and the chorus cats. They all help each other, and want to fight. We see them care for a hurt Munk in the stage show. All that is gone and diminished to poor jokes, and twirling chains on a barge that looks about as real as a toy bathtub boat.

In the stage show, Macavity is scared away in this number. Which means he is still a threat but not for now. Not for the rest of the fight. Additionally this number we get the fake out of Deuteronomy coming back because that is how the fight happens. Macavity stole Deuteronomy just moments ago and to see Deut’s come back, we get a false sense of hope and a true feeling of Macavity’s madness. We don’t get that in the movie.

The movie boils him down to a bad villain in a cartoon. Which is the exact opposite of Eliot’s wishes. It is exactly the opposite of what Eliot wanted and why he was so scared to actually give away the rights to his poems.

Mr Mistoffelees: A song traditionally sung by the most confident cat in the musical Tugger, is sung by a character assassination in progress. This version of Mr. Mistoffelees tries to fit into the contrived plot of competing for a Jellicle Life and it fails miserably. A number that is traditionally loved by so many is utterly ruined by the lack of confidence in the entire delivery of the song. I will talk more about Mistoffelees’ character later.

But this song is riddled with so many starts and stops that we don’t actually get a climax to the song. And look Jason is back as Tugger, but his part is taken by Victoria, and the number just doesn’t work. I do not care what you ship. The number does not work the way it was sung or staged. Also Tugger shows back up in this number and when you think he is going to sing the a part its sung by Victoria, it cuts to her, and I was disappointed.

When Tugger sings the song, he tells you of a cat with powers. Powers that we see used throughout the show in subtle ways. Its not shoved in our damn faces. its used in helpful ways. In stage productions he opens the car for Jenny, He lights the stage lights for Peeks and Pollicles. Its all these subtle things, but he knows he is good at magic. Tugger knows this. Tugger sings it.

Victoria and Mistoffelees singing the song rips that all away. Mistoffelees has no confidence in himself though he used magic through the show, it was shoved in our faces. Victoria suggesting he can bring Old Deut’s back is completely pointless because the only magic she has ever seen Misto do is bad magic that only half worked. Now granted she has this insane ability to see the best in everyone and see them ALONE so like who knows.

But the number is ruined because their is no continuation or build up. And no conjuring turn come on. Also Robbie tried, but he is no Tugger. It feels weird coming from him. Like yes he encourages the cats, but like we also never see the other side of being parent, because they cut Peeks and Pollicles which I will discuss at the very end of the song section.

Beautiful Ghosts Reprise: I have no clue if this is before or after Memory. But Victoria’s agency in this number is so stupid. All her interactions with Grizabella were in private where no one saw. Her touching Grizabella means absolutely nothing to us as an audience for many reasons which I will go into later. But here it means nothing because Victoria means nothing to the Jellicles as she isn’t one.

Memory: If you have an issue with the snot go watch Anne Hathaway sing I dreamed a dream and come back to me okay. Tom Hooper has a fetish about that kind of stuff or something.

But snot aside IT FITS THE SONG! Grizabella is supposed to be sad. This is her moment, her chance to cry out for someone to touch her her. Her chance to be accepted again.

We get back to the contrived plot cause she sings a song for a chance to win. But the song does not fit into the contrived plot because even if we are following the shit plot, because of Beautiful Ghosts it seems more like she wants to belong again rather than a chance to go to the Heavy Side Layer hence why Beautiful Ghosts is a pointless song even more than it already was.

In the stage show, Jemima sings with Grizabella. She is a chorus cat mostly but this is her moment to shine. Victoria gets it which fine, but also takes away from the Jellicles accepting Griz because Victoria is not a Jellicle herself. Why on earth should these cats listen to her? They have no reason to. Also because not only was the initial touch done in private, because all these characters don’t interact with each other the touch is rendered meaningless which almost renders the song meaningless. Which is a shame cause Jennifer killed it.

Journey to the Heavyside Layer: It was fine. I could have done without the Macavity bit at the end that was literally pulled from a Tom and Jerry Cartoon, which again Eliot would have hated. Yes its acted by a real person, but its cartoon like in nature ( just like jenny zipper her fur off ) which is the antithesis of what Eliot wanted to become of his poems.

The Ad-dressing of Cats: Why was this song kept in? Out of all the songs this one more or less directly addresses the audience. They had Judi Dench break the fourth wall and stare directly into the camera which was uncomfortable, and not done well. I have seen staring straight into the camera done well in exactly one piece of film and that is Mr. Robot. Here it was weird and uncomfortable. No one seemed to know what to do. The chorus was stronger than Judi so her words were overpowered. She was pitchy at best, and just downright awful in this song.

Then she tells Victoria she is a Jellicle which... like yeah finish out your contrived plot Hooper, but all if it was pointless. And it ruins the “Victoria is the Audience stand in” because the song actually addressed directly to the audience was not addressed to our stand in. It does not match the opening at all which is also addressed to the audience in the stage show. The book ends don’t match and its weird.

When I say book ends, at the beginning the number asks questions about cats can you do this can you do that. At the end it asks you “so you get what a cat is now right?” Its a pretty clever way to begin and end a show. But the movie got lost and forget what it was doing so here it seems weird and out of place.

Peeks and Pollicles: A number that was cut. This number is one of my favorites in the musical because it helps waste time til the end. It allows the cats to interact with each other and Old Deuteronomy. It is one of the best numbers to see the interpersonal relationships between our chorus of cats and our main cats.

This number not being in takes all that away and does not let us see personality in any of the chorus cats. Even Mungo and Rumple fall flat because we do not get to see them not be evil or talk about being mischievous.

This number also provides context for what a Peek is. In Macavity the word Peek is said but if you have only ever seen the movie you have no idea what that word is. In the stage show we learn that it is a term for a type of dog. Additionally, when we take this song out, we also lose some plot context of the cats and the junkyard putting plays to help act out the songs of who they think it will be. And in this case what looks like to be a rehearsed play that the cats are determined to mess up and make our silver tabby go from silver to grey.

Dance

There was so much sacrificed for the sake of cinematography. A musical based in dance had barely any dancing shown because of quick cuts. And what was shown was often clunky and didn’t actually look feline. Nor did it match the music because the choreographer tried to hard to be like the greats who choreographed the nut cracker and other ballets. He also ruined Gillian Lynne’s choreography.

They looked like trained dancers when they danced. Which yeah is good, but they didn’t look like cats. Their hands were often turned up, when to make them slightly more catlike they should be turned down. None of them got comfortable with being on the ground. They all seemed so very very stiff which is the exact opposite of how a cat should be.

None of them understood how to dance like a cat.

The tap dancing in Gumbie Cat as opposed to Skimbleshanks is astonishing. The tap dancing in Gumbie Cat is messy and hardly focused on, when its the star of the stage show. It looks contrived and like they were trying to hard to recreate a scene from a famous black and white film. Also this is a CGI comment but if you look hard enough you can tell that the cockroaches are like the same three dancers copied and pasted over and over.

Contrast that to Skimble with his clear taps. Now the actor who played Skimble is known for tapping. He is a member of the Royal Opera House, which is a ballet company in England. His tapping was made famous when he originated the role of the Mad Hatter, with some brilliant choreography that he was given. His tapping hear shines. It is just a really good example of tap. And its a shame it had to share the stage with the cockroach crap.

The opening numbers was not given what it deserved by the cats jumping everywhere. The opening is a highly for the choreography of the show. Its supposed to show you what you can expect. In the movie it was just alot of jump cuts, and Misto fucking it all up, sorry not sorry. I did not fall for the cute factor. Additionally the choral portion was not choral. They did not line up thus when they line up at the end at Trafalgar Square, we have no reference to them doing this before. Its a shame.

Tugger did not dance sexually enough. I know I know I shouldn’t say this. But most actors who play Tugger try to do some variation of John Partridge’s version, with less hip thrusts. Jason didn’t even try, and thus none of the kittens were enthralled with him. It made the point of his song pointless. Additionally Tugger is one of the strongest dancers in the show in my opinion. He dances in every number and adds his flare. Because Jason is in the movie all of 5 minutes we don’t see this.

I am sure the Les Twins are great dancers. But none of that was showcased. They were pigeon holed into this and tried to fit and failed.

So much choreography was cut because so much of the songs were cut. Jellicle Ball has so many lyrics that are danced and they are cut. So much dancing was cut in favor of showing us Grizabella running away. In the musical that is subtle and you know WHY? its supposed to be it is not supposed to completely take our attention of of the magic that is happening with the dance. That is why Griz is chased away because she draws your attention to her. We didn’t need the camera doing that, and thus ruining the flow of the number.

Characters:

Munkustrap: Not much bad about him. He had a few off beats. He tried. Thought their are times where he looked bored, and his face was not good at hiding it.

Victoria: One face wonder, she is like the Maddie from dance mom’s of this movie. She’s got a Maddie face, and it made it hard to think she had any emotion at all because she didn’t emote. Also white cats are more often than not deaf which the musical often shows as mute because Victoria has no solos. For her to speak was jarring. The speaking was jarring in general but most of the lines coming from her was off putting.

Her not being a jellicle outright ruined any agency she had in the movie. She had more say in things like Misto and Griz than she should have had. The solo she was given was petty and very very condescending to Griz.

She was a bad audience stand in because in trying to keep her original stage role they tried to mix it with this new plot role and it just did not work. And made you forget what they were doing with the plot because the plot was so contrived.

I don’t get why she had to have stripes and spots. She’s a solid white house cat, not some fucking snow leopard.

Misto: He was ruined. He has forced us to see his magic, then doubts himself when asked to use it. He is not confident in himself and a bumbling fool. In the stage production he is confident. The only thing he doesn’t understand is where his powers come from. This is seen wonderfully in the 1998 version where he looks at his hands as he is shooting sparks from them. His character was ruined.

Skimble: Like Munk nothing wrong. But we don’t see him interact with the regular chorus cats so it begs to wonder why is he even trying to show them anything. They don’t seem to know him. Their is no connection between the cats with songs named after them and the chorus aside from maybe Misto.

Tugger: He was not John Partridge. Just watch 98 cats and you will see what you are missing when it comes to who Tugger is.

Jenny-any-Dots: She was mischaracterized by Rebel as being fat, lazy, and old. Her character of being a respectable busy cat who seems lazy to her owners is assassinated. Like their is a reason Munk likes her but that reason is gone in the movie.

Old Deuteronomy: Judy Dench was bad. She couldn’t sing, and commanded no real authority or presence. Robbie could only do so much to give that to her. But she did nothing to earn it.

Admetus/Rumpus Cat: Sadly gone from this movie, though probably because Rumpus would have been more cartoonish than Macavity was and they were already hurting Eliot’s legacy enough. Also I’m not sure we could have handled the camp superhero of Rumpus Cat in this shit CGI.

Alonzo: Was he there? I don’t know. The chorus cats were all a singular blob that did not stand out and had not individuality and personality. He interacts with Munk alot but we didn’t see that.

Asparagus: Not present, granted he wouldn’t have been present anyways because Gus was only present for his number (and that awful barge seen) but in the 98 version and most stage versions he is the chorus version of Gus the Theater Cat. In 98 he is argued to be a son of Gus, or just a younger version of Gus. Because remember what I said in the stage production every cat is on stage for about 90% of the time.

Bombalurina: She’s apparently psychotic in this version. Which she’s not, but also in the stage version she’s not either. Instead of being someone who survived the influence of a less than pleasing purpose she is henchman number one. The Smee ( but more coordinated ) to Macavity’s Hook.

Bustopher Jones: Was decent. James was good, but he also missed the mark with his jokes and they didn’t land well. We saw a more realistic version of him instead of the show’s idealized version which I was fine with. But his lines were wooden and not good. Hence why this show should not have spoken lines.

Cassandra: Was apparently there? She looked purplish I think or maybe that was Demeter. I don’t know but she was rude, and more catty than show Cassandra. But we don’t really know who she is because beyond the Glamor Cat song she along with Demeter disappear into the background with cats that don’t matter.

Coricopat and Tantomile: Replaced with Plato and whatever the other philosopher was played by the Les Twins. They didn’t fit in. Shoving hip hop into cats has been proven to not work, hip hop tugger anyone? So why they tried again here, I don’t know. But they failed. We loose these lovely mystical twins, and get stuck with twins in converse? Like why? What brought on that costume choice, why did that slip through?

Demeter: Could be Cassandra. We don’t know. She’s just a mean girl and not a traumatized cat who is the first to think a sign of danger is Macavity. She was robbed of her duet cause t-swizzle needs all the fame. Munk doesn’t get his moments with her cause VICTORIA! Ugh.

Electra, Etcetera, Exotica: Were any of them there? The world may never know. The movie didn’t show us faces to put with names like the 98 version did. So if they were there who knows. You probably would have no seen or heard them since most solos they had were covered by like four other cats only. And the rest of the chorus cats was a brown grey blob because those are the only cat colors apparently.

Grizabella: We did not need to be told her back story. The song alludes to enough. Jennifer did great though. I just wish her moments were not in so much seclusion. It ruins her final song. We are robbed of young Griz in the opening number.

Gus: Ian did great. He was the right choice, the went a John Mills route. But his number dragged. Ian also didn’t have any connection to anyone in the cast. Like when Misto talks to him his reactions make it seem like he does not care who these cats are now. It makes him seem stuck up rather than reminiscent.

Jellylorum: Apparently was a kitten? Sigh. She is supposed to give Gus as a suggest and sing his song with him as a duet to kind of play off of each other. It gives the number some action and liveliness. Even with all the cuts, the number still dragged.

Jemima/Silabaub: First her name varies depending on where you are watching the stage show. Whatever she had was given to Victoria. Apparently this is because that cat was based of ALW’s wife. Which like fine, but like Hooper can you at least be more cohesive with your plot if you are going to cut a character out?

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer: We see no real personality from them. Sorry but we don’t. We just see them scheming with each other because they are “evil.” We don’t get the story that the show or the 98 musical gives us. A moment i love from the 98 version is when Macavity does come Mungo ducks and covers his head with hands. It just shows that even Macavity’s own guys, cause Mungo is mentioned in the song not Rumple ( which leads me to think she came later or pulled him out of that ), but it shows just how scary Macavity is. And we don’t get that in the movie. In the movie we get them not knowing Macavity’s plan, which like what use are you then?

Plato: Commandeered by the Les Twins he is ruined. In the show he has a pas de deux with victoria and its a bit sexy and still gorgeous with the gorgeous famous overhead lift that the show is known for. He also doubles as Macavity cause again all the cats are on stage for about 90% of the musical save for a few.

Pouncival: Not there as far as I can tell. Which is a shame Pouncival is a cutie pie in the 98 version.

Tumblebrutus/Carbuckety: His name varies depending on what stage show you are watching. He is the one who tumbles alot. He may have been there, but because of the crappy cinematography whatever tumbling there was, we didn’t see.

Growltiger: Ruined to a poor attempt at a pirate on a toy boat barge.

Griddlebone: Ruined, and demeaned to a low lackey instead of a lavish cat who does with movie Macavity wishes he could.

Macavity: He became a cartoon villain as opposed to an actual threat. He wasn’t ginger, and his eyes were weird he was the only one with weird eyes. He wasn’t scary, any agency he had as a threat was ruined by shoving his badness in our face. They could have just had the cats disappear. Its like Tom Hooper saw a scary movie saw what made it scary, the unknown, and decided I’m not going to do that. Also any thing that would have shown his strenght is gone because hsi fight was taken away.

Any cat in the chorus is just a blob, or not CGIed. LOL. Part of this is because the cast does not interact with each other. In the stage production touch is important. Interpersonal relationships are important. We don’t get any of that. We are not used to touching and nuzzling thus when we see it is awkward. Not to mention the awkard rubbing noise we get when it does happen, it doesn’t help. The cast aside from the named cats, and munk have no personality, they fade into the back and its such a shame because each cat is so unique and different. Granted we wouldn’t know that since when they explain that in the stage show, they cut it out in the movie.

Technical Stuff

The first four songs are pretty much ruined because it takes just about that long to get accustomed to the strange CGI. The CGI is bad, I have seen better CGI cats in video games. Honestly I know makeup is time consuming, but it is cheaper than CGI. Better cats make up that isn’t just the theater makeup can be seen in Doctor Who. What made this CGI so jarring is the lack of noses and lips that looked like cats. We know via BTS pics that the actors wore make up. So why they couldn’t put noses on, or the line straught down to the mouth then curled up the ends of the mouth to give us a muzzle is beyond me. It looks like bad photoshop. I will never understand that decision.

I don’t care that dicks were CGIed out. That is not what made cats “sexy” in the first place. The dancing made it sexy. The CGI was equal to that of movies in the 90s and poorly made video games from the early 2000s.

From a film standpoint it was poorly shot. Tom Hooper does not know how to shoot dance. And it shows. He does so many swift cuts and pans that we don’t get a good view of what the choreography is.

We are too often forced to see things that are already obvious because of other tactics like shadows and voices. We do not need to see a cat disappearing via Macavity. We do not need to see so much yet our focus is taken from the group ruining whatever connection the group had to eachother and us the audience in order to show us bad dialogue and special effects to show capturing. I said it earlier its like Tom Hooper saw scary movies and said I wont do that I’m gonna do it like Tom and Jerry do, but that’s an insult to Tom and Jerry. Or he has never seen a horror movie in his life.

Their are far to many unnecessary scenes paired with jump cuts. We never get a sense of the group of cats as a whole because not only are they seperated from the only cats we know the names of, but we have to see where those cats are since we have to know they are in danger. No one knows of the thread, except like once, which is when Griz arrives. Its like the chorus doesn’t care, even though Hooper does his damndest to make sure we the audience care, but we don’t even our audience stand in doesn’t. These scenes are mainly Growltiger’s barge, and taking us out of the ballroom for Skimble’s number.

Now onto proportions. They are all over the place. A watch would strangle a cat, a ring would not fit around their wrist. They at some points can just reach a door knob, while at other parts barely reach a foot off the ground. The cockroaches and mice did not size down well. Skimble’s number had so many issues with size and cinematography which is a shame cause it was one of the best of the movie. The cats can walk on the tracks like with 3 feet on either side of their own. Yet we all know that is not correct. They look two inchest tall in comparison to the tracks. Yet we see them inside the train and they are like child sized. Then we have weird cuts to wide shots of the bridge which doesn’t help with proportion as one wide shot is so wide the cats nearly disappear. Another proportion issue was the stage in the ballroom it was a normal stage and they measured to it like a normal stage. The moon looked like something out of 1920s black and white film so was proportioned for a normal human, but the chandelier was big and felt oddly proportioned in the ballroom. Like it should not have been able to fit through the whole in the roof.

Tom Hooper did not know what he was doing with this movie. It is very clear he had no vision and did no know what the show was about hence why he had to push his new plot in while keeping everything the same so it seemed like hot garbage which is exactly what it was.

Tom does not know how to film dancing, and he has been notorious for cutting songs and such with Les Mis and he did it again. He cut songs, and then added a song which he did with Les Mis too. He messed up guys.

Back to the CGI for a minute besides the overall choice being bad because all the did could be done with practical makeup and would have looked better. It was poorly done. Their ar emoments when their is just color on the actor’s hands, when their is no color, when their is fur. Judi’s main is curled under her chin so it looks like a really bad fake beird. If you are in the background you may not be CGIed at all. There wer emoments where the connections did work such as feet on the ground, and Munkustrap helping Victoria off the car looked weird cause Victoria’s fur slid around but not with her body. And that is just a few things I noticed. The tails were good but like, it took away from the dancing.

Their was real awkward sound design. First of all the butchering of Andrews music to fit certain aspects like Tugger asking for the party to be turnt up. It was weird and didn’t fit. Additionally any moment where nuzzles or touches happened were awkwardly silent with a sound that sounds like the rubbing of a plasticky material together. None of which is helped by they never actually touch eachother because their is somoene blocking the camera. A show that has a character essentially scream “touch me” lacks touch one of the most basic cat interactions.

Breaking the fourth wall was jarring because it didn’t happen throughout. The 98 version gets away with it because they do it from the beginning. But this was weird. It was a poor choice, and an example of wanting to keep the original but it not coming across because of choices made prior.

Other Stuff and Random Thoughts

The movie was really confused at what it wanted to be. It wanted to have the original plot, but also this new plot which was forotten half way through and remembered again. Continuity was a huge issue with this movie. Victoria as audience stand in doesn’t work because the audience is addressed at the end. The jokes didn’t land. And the subtle jokes in the stage version are all but erased.

Cats would have never done well, even with an extended timeline and good CGI. If it was a perfect movie it would not have done well because it is Cats. Cats has never done well with critics. Its biggest fans are often children because they get the story because it is such a simple story. This movie forgot that, but also tried to make it easier to follow, but they failed cause it was confused.

This movie is a huge disservice to TS Eliot. Eliot did not want pussy cats, that is why he didn’t give the rights to Disney. It wasn’t that he didn’t want animated cats like in Aristocats. He didn’t want his cats to be like Tom from Tom and Jerry, which Macavity became more or less. Their were cartoon moments in the movie, and its a disservice to the Poet. Adding to his works with a new song is a disservice. Making the choreography so contrived because the new choreographer wants to show he has subtlties like Balanchine of Nutcracker fame was a disservice to Gillian Lynne.

The movie lost the vision of what cats is and was. It lost the vision of what a cat is because the cats did not act like cats. We never saw a true cat fight, or the cats interact with each other in ways that weren’t awkward. We never saw them being cats yet we are told that they are cause Judi told us so. They never acted like cats or moved like cats. Simple hand turning downwards instead of upwards, or bending of the legs, holding yourself a little differently that makes all the difference.

The move wasn’t aboslutely terrible, but it was pretty bad. I still think its garbage, and I don’t think its worthy of the title Cats because it was hardly that. A bigger budget does not mean cool CGI, and more shots, it means improve the basics to the very best. The Corridor Crew on Youtube say it best, if you can do it practically do it because it will always look better. This movie missed so many marks.

I say all this out of love because Cats is my favorite musical. But this movie failed. I wish it could be chosen to be reborn, but I’m afraid what we’d get. So I’ll stick with the stage production, if you can see a tour or any of the productions around the world do it. If not watch the 98 version, get the DVD because the one on youtube cuts out some good parts like Tugger playing bagpipes.

I wanted this movie to be good. I wanted to be proud to say I like Cats and I can’t unless I specify the stage version, because this version is not deserving of a like from me.

So I’ll repeat what I said at the beginning of this review, Cats 2019 is garbage that does not belong in the jellicle junkyard. Granted, no one from the 2019 movie or who has seen it would get that reference, but that’s okay. Us real fans know. We’re the true fans we get it. We will love this musical, but I say we cannot love this movie for so many reasons, and I hope I have laid out a few of my own.

#ooc: out of cats #cats 2019 #cats 2019 review #cats the musical

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sevenkittensinatrenchcoat · 3 years

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Headcanons: The Ages of Cats

After giving it some thought, I arranged the Cats in the 1998 Film from what I see as youngest to oldest. I’ll give their ages as “like a human at around X years old”, though I’ve tried to calculate it in years a cat might’ve actually lived as well.

I mostly wanted to write this to demonstrate how Cats shows every stage of life as a sort of theme:

Jemima: 12-13

I consider the Jellicle Ball to be a sort of PG-13 event that very young kittens usually don’t attend. They’d have difficulty staying up all night for it, even if they slept during the day. Even adult cats in their prime sleep a lot and kittens need even more sleep than adults do.

So, Jemima is just barely at the minimum age to attend. She’s not as far along in puberty as the other kittens, though she has the same crush on Tugger that the other girls do. It’s not quite as sexual, more about how cool he is.

Jemima contrasts with Grizabella by being the very youngest, a child with a full life ahead of her. She’s at the beginning of the cycle that Grizabella’s at the end of.

Etcetera, Pouncival, and Victoria: 16

These three all come from the same litter. They all have a bit more of a connection to Jellylorum than the other kittens do, so they’re her litter. They’re maturity varies, but they’re all hormonal teenagers, while also sometimes still acting like children. They’re also close enough to Jemima in age that she can fit in as one of their group.

Electra and Tumblebrutus: 17

I don’t know if they’re the same litter or not, but they’re a step ahead of the others. Electra and Etcetera are often seen together, as are Tumblebrutus and Pouncival, so they can be compared. In the female pair, Electra is quieter and more behaved than Etcetera, who is often a bit out of control. In the male pair, Tumblebrutus can talk Pouncival into doing stupid things (most of which involve bullying Grizabella). Electra and Tumblebrutus are still very much kittens, but they feel slightly older than some of the others.

Plato: 18

Out of all the kittens, he’s the only one whose kitten status is up for debate. I basically see him as being like a high school senior who’s already turned 18 while his classmates are still 17. Victoria is the junior whom he invited to the senior prom. They’re still both kids, but there’s a slight difference.

Mistoffelees, Mungojerrie, Rumpleteazer, George: Late teens or early 20s.

These four are all old enough to be considered adults, but they act like kittens half the time anyway. Your average college undergrad is only slightly more mature than your average high school senior. George isn’t very prominent, so I can’t say much about him, but, Mistoffelees is the sort of Barely Adult who really wants to prove that he’s an Adult™, while Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer weren’t ready to grow up when it happened and would rather just be kids.

Alonzo, Cassandra, Coricopat, Tantomile, Tugger: Mid to late 20s.

These five are a bit more established as adults, but they seem a little less mature than some of the other adults. Alonzo basically acts as Munkustrap’s apprentice, still looking for someone older to take the lead. Cassandra, as his love interest, I would assume to be his age. She is kind of immature in the way she treats Grizabella. Coricopat and Tantomile, despite their wise mystic status, when they’re doing anything other than being psychic, they’re a bit silly. Coricopat is on the same level as Mungojerrie when it comes to girls. When Munkustrap is hurt while fighting Macavity, Tantomile is the only adult nearby and she freezes up. Also, during Macavity’s number, she reacts to some of what’s said as if she doesn’t know who Macavity is.

As for Tugger, he’s an adult who’s still young enough to be the Obnoxious Little Brother of the tribe, but he demonstrates maturity when it’s needed. He knows How to Adult; he just usually doesn’t bother.

Bombalurina, Demeter, Macavity, Munkustrap: 30s

They’re just adults, neither young nor old. Bombalurina is a bit immature, enough to fit in with Tugger, but I hc her as Demeter’s sister, who’s closer in age to Munkustrap. She also knows more of what’s going on with Grizabella and Macavity than the five mentioned above.

We don’t see much of Macavity, so he’s hard to place, but I also try to put him at Demeter’s age. Munkustrap and Macavity are good and evil twins, basically.

These four are the youngest cats that might possibly have children.

Bustopher Jones and Jennyanydots: 40s

These two are mature cats, clearly on the older side of the cast, but Bustopher is, at least by his own standards, still in his prime and Jenny is very busy and active. They’re old enough that their age is starting to show a bit, and Bustopher’s obesity might shorten his lifespan, but it also might not.

Asparagus Jr. and Jellylorum: 50s

They seem more obviously middle-aged. Jelly’s most recent litter of kittens, which probably wasn’t her first, will probably be her last, though cats don’t have menopause, so who knows.

Honestly, I can’t figure out much about Asparagus, but he seems to be Jelly’s age.

Perhaps the casting of the 98 film is what makes me see Jellylorum as a bit older. I don’t know. But, she carries authority, enough to seem to be involved in Munkustrap and Old Deuteronomy’s conference to make the Jellicle Choice! She’s also reached the age where parents and adults that were adults when she was a child are beginning to get old and die off. She spends a lot of time with Gus, knowing that there isn’t much time left.

Skimbleshanks: Early to Mid 60s.

You might be wondering why I made him older than the other mature cats. Well, there’s something I noticed about Skimble that I haven’t seen anyone else point out: He’s retired.

The lyrics to his song are all in the past tense, talking about not just individual incidents, but the general routine of the train as being something of the past. He speaks of the railway in the same way that Gus speaks of the theatre, just with more energy. He’s young enough to still have that energy, but he’s not working anymore. He might’ve retired so he could spend more time with his family. The middle-aged cats, too old for physical labor but too young to be considered old, are the ones who raise the children. Perhaps that’s how Jellicle society works. “Working” cats who retire become homemakers and look after the kittens and seniors.

Grizabella: Late 60s or Early 70s.

Grizabella is old enough to be considered old, but she’s closer in age to Skimble than to Gus. She’s in worse physical conditions than Gus, because Gus is well taken care of and Grizabella has been living alone on the streets. She’s old enough to have lived a long life, but she’s also been prematurely aged by circumstance. Because of her health, she gets bumped ahead of Gus on the list for the Heaviside Layer.

Gus: 80s or 90s

Gus is old enough that he needs to be taken care of and shows signs of dementia. He’s had the chance to live a long, happy life, though. Hopefully, he’ll make it one more year to be the next Jellicle Choice.

Old Deuteronomy: So ancient that no one would dare to guess

He basically transcends the laws of age.

So, in conclusion, the cast shows us childhood, puberty, coming of age, taking on more responsibilities as an adult, aging, retirement, old age, and eventually death and rebirth.

#cats musical #cats 1998 #i did an essay #i don't want to tag every single character

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camellia-thea · 4 years

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Feather Reviews: 2019 Cats

For clarification, before I begin, I am a big fan of the traditional musical, Cats, and I grew up on it. I tend to ramble a little, but I have made an effort to make this cohesive.

This will, obviously, include spoilers for Cats. I will also state that this is my personal opinion, and I wanted to share it for those who are interested. I have nothing against people who disagree with my opinions, and am open to talk about how people felt.

Quick list of terminology: Queen’s Chorus: The older female chorus - Jennyanydots, Jellylorum, Bombalurina, Demeter. Kitten’s Chorus: The female kitten chorus - Excetera, Exotica, Electra, Jemima/Syllabub, (Victoria) Tom’s Chorus: The male chorus, including, but not limited to Tumblebrutus, Plato, Admetus. Often doesn’t include Munku or other cats with their own numbers. Original: When I state the original, I mean either the stage performances overall, or the 1998 filmed performance. Both are relevant and I focus on both too.

My initial ramble to some friends:

I am conflicted - on one hand, Cats was mostly awful and they did my boy so dirty. Misto wasn't Misto, he was an anxious boy (which I have no issue with, but it wan't my Misto). Skimbleshanks was wrong, and holy shit, Jennyanydots unzips her own skin and pulls it off revealing a cat in sexy clothing underneath, before eating literal children pretending to be cockroaches. Bustopher was a disappointment, but I got shivers with Memory, and Gus (though missing Jellylorum weeps) was fantastic. My biggest issue was the fact that a whole bunch of cats were missing or simply unnameable. I pride myself on being able to name all of the cats in stage version, but none of them have the same or even vaguely similar designs. Munkustrap was bearable, but not floofy enough, but he was really really good. Victoria was two characters in one: Jemima/Sillabub and Victoria. I saw Excetera, which was good, but apparently Demeter was there, but bad? She was just-- mean? She was meant to pity Grizabella (and is the second cat to touch her???) but was nasty and snarly and grey? She's a Tortie??? Has always been? hhhh, and though I did spot Coricopat and Tantomile - who always move as one, but none of the non main cats had a big role, and most weren’t named or recognizable which was a shame.. and they MISSED the ORGY scene? WHY? it was a fantastic number, and had some great (if really sexual) dancing?

The numbers themselves:

Good Numbers and Dances:

Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats; the beat was off on it, which made me mildly uncomfortable, but overal it was well done. Not as good as the original, but I enjoyed it, and it was a good first number. It was good as something to get used to the CGI for. Memory (both); holy shit, Memory was really raw and emotional. No dancing for these, which was interesting. Gus; Ian McKellan gave me shivers. It lacked Jellylorum, which was upsetting, but he did really well, and I love this song normally, and I wasn’t Beautiful Ghosts; okay, so I wasn’t expecting to like it, honestly, but I was pleasantly surprised. Vic was very raw and sweet, but I found it a little odd - I suppose it was her telling Grizabella not to give up, but it had a little of the @my pain is worse than your pain” thing, which bothered me. It was a sweet number though, and I enjoyed it. Jellicle Ball: Um... where was the orgy? Other than that, it captured the original, but had some new choreography, which was nice, actually. Couple of bits that didn’t quite work, but overall, a good piece.

Good Numbers, Bad Dancing: Mungojerry and Rumpleteazer - the house scene was unnecessary and weird? But I enjoyed the sound - it was fairly true to the original. They missed the duo-cartwheel (is there a name for this? I feel like there is, but I don’t know it), which is one of the best moves in the entire musical, but it was missed? Whatever the reason, it was wrong. Grizabella the Glamour Cat - I liked this, though the tone felt off, and the acting was wrong. Demeter wasn’t right, and I think it was Cassandra instead of Bomba, which was also wrong? My ladies sing together. Rum Tum Tugger: I am so so so gad that it wasn't rap, holy shit - I have nothing against Rap!Tugger, but in this musical, it wouldn’t have worked. He had a good voice, and I really liked the way he held his notes, but his tone was a little off. Misto was a little unimpressive in it, where is my sassy boy? and I wasn't a fan of the dancing. It was good, sure, and I did see Excetera, which was nice, but overall, they lost Tugger’s theme. He also insulted Jenny? Which isn’t in character, I don’t think. Tugger’s an arse, but not that kind of arse.

Bad Numbers, good dancing: hhhh Skimble my boy. Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat. They tried to modernize the music, but it was badly done. His tap was really good though - they mimicked the sound of trains going along, which was good. I didn’t enjoy his voice - where’s my Scottish cat? The 1998 version reminds me of living in Glasgow, but this didn’t have that, and lost a lot of Skimble’s charm, which was a shame.

Numbers that I honestly don’t know how to feel about: Mr Mistoffelees: Okay, so before I begin, you need some context. Mr Mistoffelees is my hands down favourite character in Cats - I’ve had a cat named after him, it was the first song I ever heard, and I relate him to my grandfather who has passed, so I have a lot of feelings here, and some will be unique to my situation. This song isn’t about the Mr Mistoffelees that I know and love. This song was about a cat who was incredibly unsure about himself, and it shows in the vocals, in the dance, and in the music itself. It wasn’t sung by Rum Tum Tugger, and Misto’s character had so deeply changed that I couldn’t relate it to the original other than the lyrics themselves, and the fact that the goal of the song was to return Old Deuteronomy. However, I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was the only song that furthered a character’s development, and it was enjoyable over all. It did loose the charm of having Tugger sing about Misto, though, which was a big thing for me, I think. I certainly liked it but it wasn’t right, or fitting, however it was cohesive, and Misto got his confidence through it, which was good (and he was very sweet in it too).

Bad Overall: Macavity; This one upset me. Macavity is another favourite, and I love Demeter and Bombalurina’s duet, and so removing Demeter was upsetting. The dancing was gone, which was awful. They missed a great opportunity to create a fantastic dark jazz number (perhaps on a similar line to Chicago? Something with that dark element that isn’t quite surface level), but instead we got TS nonconsensually drugging cats, and lying on a moon? There was so much that could’ve been done here, but they didn’t and it was bad. Gumby Cat - holy shit, Jennyanydots fucking unzipping her skin and eating children (dressed as cockroaches) was from stuff from nightmares.There was also an odd thing, after she unzipped herself (hhh, nightmare material), where she was suddenly in this “sexy” bikini? It was just so utterly unnecessary and wrong. Jenny is meant to be an adoptive mother for most cats - Jellylorum being the other Mom Cat. The missing Queen Chorus was missing which was also sad and wrong. Bustopher Jones: The Cat About Town, James Corden is a great actor, and is normally great in musicals, but he isn't the right person? The casting was wrong, and the song was just plain weird? Where was him flirting? Where was my Queens Chorus, again? my girls? And his CGI was weird. This song just rubbed me the wrong way, and it might’ve been his pitch too, but it was just wrong and disconcerting. Growltiger’s Last Stand: This was the most unnecessary thing? Honestly, they didn’t even need to put him in. They used the first verse, and left it at that which was stupid, and also the full song is racist and awful anyway? Many companies have managed to fix both Growltiger’s Last Stand, and the Pekes and the Pollicles, but this was just lazy and unnecessary, as well as not fitting the original trackline at all? I don’t know. It was a clear bad decision, I think.

Character Evaluations:

Good Characters: Munkustrap; damn, I was worried that they'd change him a lot, but he was pretty close and I loved him. His voice was great, and I loved his interaction. He was overall friendly, but wary of Victoria in the beginning, and I loved him a lot overall. I’m sad that he didn’t get some of his numbers/lines, and that bits an pieces were changes (why did you sing Tugger’s opening in Mister Mistoffelees, Munku, why?) Victoria; great voice, great dancing, and I think that she did a very good job but I felt uncomfortable with her singing Jemima/Sillabub's piece. Gus; Ian McKellan is a fantastic actor normally, and I think he really understood Gus, which was great. Missing Jellylorum and his interaction, but I'm glad that he was cast.

Cat's I'm conflicted on: Mistoffelees - My boy, my best boy, my special boy. I actually really liked him, but his CGI made me deeply uncomfortable, but I loved the costume (top hat boy!), and though he wasn't my Misto in terms of character, I think it was a good version. My one true critisism was that he was straight. (In 99% of all shows, he and Tugger are gay af for each other, and Tugger is chaotic bi.) His design shift was off - too much white, I think. But overall, I think I did like this interpretation. It wasn’t my Misto, but I feel like they did a good job, and the acting was great, so I can’t complain. Grizabella; Griz was fantastic, but I feel like she was too young. She had all the necessary emotion, but looked to be early thirties? I’ve always felt that Griz is meant to be a glamourous signer/dancer who has been forgotten and replaced by newer cats (ei Bombalurina and Demeter), rather than cast out because of a skint with Macavity. She was phenomenal though - her voice, the acting, the emotion, all really well done. Skimbleshanks: Honestly, I didn’t like his design? A mustache? Pants? WHy not let him keep his waistcoat and watch, and leave it? The pants were odd on him, and though i liked the suspenders, they didn’t add to the charm of the character?

Bad characters: Bombalurina; um? Why? WHy? WHY? Admittedly, I am not a fan of T*Sw*ft, but honestly, I feel like she was cast into the right character, who’s characterization was them butchered so that she couldn’t perform a decent role. She's a good singer, and I respect her work, but they ruined Bomba’s character, which made her job really difficult. Bomba doesn't work for Macavity, she sings about how he is bad, and her girlfriend was abused by him? They also ditched her original design, which was a shame - I love the red based tortoiseshell that she has in the performances. Mungo and Rumple; They were done so dirty. Again, why did they work for Macavity? It wasn’t necessary, and honestly, I feel like it was lazy on the part of the creators? I did love their voices though, and their song was close to the original which was great. Jenny and Bustopher: Again, shitty numbers did these two no favours, but they lost the characterization in this. Bustopher was meant to be pompous but also an okay dude. Jenny was meant to be motherly, and kind, but nope. Not happening here. I feel like for these two, all original characterization was dumped, and then personality was stitched together from ill-fitting material. Macavity: Look, Macavity has no spoken lines in the stageshow, and honestly, I liked that? His part was convoluted, off, and also hhh? Why was his costume like that? He looked like he was going to offer drugs to young children in the back alleyways. I always thought that Macavity would have class - the line “the Napoleon of Crime” references Moriarty, and I always thought of him as being similar to the novelization of Moriarty, but he wasn’t. It felt like he was trying to be suave and charming, but failing miserably. Demeter: My lady? Ruined? Yep, they went there. Deme honestly didn’t have a part, other than to be mean to people, which was awful. She got a duet, in Grizabella the Glamour Cat, but honestly, it was a terrible piece. She wasn’t herself, and honestly, that wasn’t Demeter, that was just a grey cat who sang one of the parts that Demeter sang in the stageshow.

Cats that I straight up didn’t see: Jellylorum.

I mean, there were others, but they completely got rid of Jellylorum, who has a pretty damn big part? She’s the lead of the Queen’s Chorus

Continuing on with the list: Most of the Kitten Chorus. I actively recognized Electra but no others. Most of the Tom’s Chorus. I think I saw Admetus, and Tumble in Jellicle Cats, but nowhere else.

I was upset by the fact that most character’s original designs were ditched? We didn’t really get the calicos or tortoiseshells. Making Vic a tabby was odd? She was a plain white cat in the show, and it didn’t need to be changed? And Tugger’s mane wasn’t big enough (I weep for the loss of his floof).

Costume, Set, Prop, and CGI: Overall, the CGI was surprisingly good. The cats themselves where disconcerting at the beginning, but it was surprisingly easy to get used to. I think they should've given them noses, and made their lips less pink (Looking at you, Misto), but it was okay. The crawling was weird - human proportions with long legs and short arms was disconcerting, but I could ignore it. There were points where the CGI made the entire thing so much worse (Gumby Cat, I am looking at you) but it was bearable, and even charming by the end. It could’ve been done much better (just plain animated would’ve been fantastic, or even if they’d stuck closer to the costumes?), but it was okay, and I found myself not paying that much attention to it, which means that it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could’ve been.

There was an odd thing in terms of set, where some things were proportions as though it was made for the cats, some were proportioned as though it was for giants, and some was as though they were for a cat's perspective of humans? There was just no continuity there. Same with the props, which was odd, but overall okay.

Costume and design was mostly good. As I said, I loved Misto's garb - a top hat, with sequens but human sized sequins! very sweet boy. Tugger was odd, but it fit. His mane wasn't big enough, and was a coat instead, which was odd-- Jenny made me feel uncomfortable again, and did Bustopher. Macavity was a disappointment (he's ginger? “Macavity’s a ginger cat, he’s very tall and thin,” But was brown and wearing a coat that made me think of the hey, kid, want some drugs character, as I said before? Which i guess was intentional, but I don't know. He's written as being like Moriarty? So suave and charming, but not?). I feel like they could’ve pretty easily taken a deep red-brown tabby, and gone off with that, but they didn’t, and he wasn’t scary, or creepy, just wrong, and I half wanted to laugh whenever he was onscreen because of it. Griz was pretty good. I liked her coat, but I wished she looked a bit more 'drowned rat'-ish with some torn up fancy clothes under? I don't know. . Growltiger. Huh. I wasn't expecting him, but also I really didn’t like his design. It was shady, and grimy, and his colourscheme was right, but it didn’t match the slightly majestic stage version of him, which was unfortunate.

Plot: Plot-wise, they honestly should’ve left it the way it was on stage. Macavity’s plot was frustrating, off, and overall unnecessary. Having it told through Victoria’s eyes was interesting, but not unwelcome, however and she gave the show a different angle which was welcome in my opinion. A lot of the music didn’t fit together in the same way as the original. It felt a lot more disjointed, and it wasn’t something I expected. Some of the dialogue was unnecessary and muddled the plot a little more than it needed to be (I’m looking specifically at Macavity’s part, I think.) Overall, the changes to the plot weren’t great, but what can you do.

Sound: I’ll start this section by stating that I have auditory processing issues that are normally really bad, and I rarely watch films/youtube without subtitles, so this section is a little more personal for me. I struggle with watching and hearing things at the same time - I normally only process one or the other, and so I loose a lot of dialogue normally in most films. I can cope with the 1998 filmed version of Cats simply because I know the music so well. I could listen to this, including the parts that I wasn’t familiar with (ie, spoken dialogue, and Beautiful Ghosts) without subtitles, and also I didn’t find myself overwhelmed by all the movement and musical changes, which was great, because it’s normally an issue for me. All in all, that’s a big plus for me, and I think that it was great.

Overall: I rate this film a 5/10. I wouldn’t pay to see it again, but I might borrow it from a library when it comes out on DVD. I rate the music a 6/10. There were some really great songs, but also some severely lacking ones. I rate the characterization a 5/10. Victoria, Munkustrap and Mistoffelees prevented this from going any lower, but still, it wasn’t great for anyone other than them. I rate the dancing a 7/10, overall the dancing was really well done, and I think they could’ve done a lot with it. I rate the plot a 4/10. A lot of it was unnecessary, or overly complicated. I think they should’ve stuck with the original. I rate the casting a 7/10. Mostly good, a couple I disagreed with, but I feel like they did pretty well. In comparison, I rate the 1998 filmed version a 9/10, points being deducted for the racism in several numbers (looking at you, Pekes and the Pollicles)

Would I recommend this film: It depends on the person, I think. I would say that a fan of Cats should watch it, simply so they can see another interpretation, even if there are parts that are wildly wrong in my eyes. I wouldn’t suggest it to younger viewers, simply because it’s not a simple plot, and the CGI can be disturbing. I would recommend it to people who want to watch Cats, but don’t have the energy, because even if the plot was iffy, it was easy to understand, and to follow, and is a good way to lead people into the stage versions. A final sentence summarizing my experience: I was pleasantly surprised by most of the 2019 Cats - I had been expecting much worse, and there were certainly thoroughly enjoyable parts.

#cats 2019 #cats the musical #cats the movie #cats 2019 spoilers #long post #feather speaks #feather reviews #i'm so sorry that this is so long #I didn't intend it to be #i just have a lot of feelings about this #this was an infodump brought to you by feather's special interest; cats

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queen-mischief-fanfiction · 5 years

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A Jellicle Halloween

An: Before we begin let me clarify a few things, first this is going to take place in an alternative world where Macavity isn’t really banned from the group he is still the older brother to Munk and Tugger but he didn’t go bad, he is also the father to Plato and adoptive father to Mungojerrie. Munkustrap is the father of Jemima, Deme and Bomba are sisters and Victoria is mute. Also I wouldn’t mind if any talented artist create fanworks of these ideas, So without further ado let’s go haunting. and Yes I am late in posting this but due to outside forces I have not yet completed this story, so what I’m doing is posting this part one and of you want more like and comment.

When the sun goes down on Halloween night and the human children are going around trick or treating to their hearts delight, and Jellicles are getting ready for the Halloween feast. For Halloween night all Jellicles dress up and participate in fun games and dancing, at the stroke of midnight they all eat a large feast made of different meals that the cats bring or catch or make on the night of the feast. It is the third most anticipated night of the year, the first is the Jellicle Ball and the second is the Jellicle Christmas Day, and it's time for the Jellicle Halloween to begin.

The sun had begun to go down and a set of twin kittens sat waiting for their older brother to pick them up, “I can’t wait to see everyone’s costume I wonder who’s gonna be the scariest?” Misto, who decided to go as a wizard with a little disney wizard hat, asked his sister who signed back ‘maybe Macavity but he always looks scary’ Victoria was dressed as an angel, predictable as she was a white cat the only other colour was her ears which had little tips of black on them barely noticeable to the naked eye. “You’re right, Hey I think I see Alonzo” Misto and Victoria ran outside to see their Older brother Alonzo dressed as a skeleton cat, “nice costumes, let’s go” he tells them and together they make their way to the Jellicle Junkyard. “Wait don’t you have to take something for the feast?” Misto asked not seeing a bag of food being carried by Alonzo, “Munk and I did a lot of hunting for the feast earlier today,” he explained. They were walking for a bit and seeing all the cool decorations when Misto got a sneaky idea “hey Victoria” he says creepily making her turn and silently scream and cower into Alonzo who turned to see Misto had put a jack-o-lantern on his head making it look light on fire “not funny Bro” “oh come on it was a little funny” he said taking the pumpkin off his head and Victoria replied by shaking her head in anger. “Victoria is right it was mean you don’t know what-” Alonzo trailed off noticing a threatening shadow over Misto “what’s up?” Misto turned slowly when the shadow jumped out with a knife scaring the twins and Alonzo, they kept their eyes closed in fear until the figure laughed and showed the cat under the hat and cape “uncle Bus’” Misto cried out moving closer to the cat as Alonzo made sure Victoria was alright “, that was good but what are you meant to be?” “I’m sorry for scaring you I quite simply couldn’t resist and to answer your question I am Jack The Ripper Famous serial Killer of London” Bustopher Jones told them getting a large sack. ‘What’s in there?’ Victoria asked her uncle “I had visited some of my clubs and decided to contribute to the feast so I have some Game, Mutton, cooked Cabbage and a few Rice Puddings” he tells them and the twins licked their lips at the mention of Rice pudding. “Come along children we don’t want to be late” their uncle said walking ahead of them, making them run to catch up.

Minutes later they arrived at the yard, which is lit only by candlelight and Jack-o-lanterns were around the place along with the giant area that is reserved for the feast, some cats still missing, one of those cats was Plato making Victoria frown, “I’m sure he’s gonna be here soon Vic” Misto told her noticing her face. They make their way to the tire which has four cats sitting on it, “aye, I bid yee a happy Halloween” Munkustrap said when the group got closer, “you’ve been practising that voice I see” Alonzo complimented his friend “you have no idea” Munk’s mate Demeter said dressed as a mermaid while Jemima was dressed as a parrot. “Misto you do know Halloween is where you dress as something you’re not right?” A vampire Tugger said circling Misto and sitting in front of him smirking “Excuse me but I’m a wizard that’s completely different to a magician” came Misto’s retort. “Let me bite you then we can be immortals together” Tugger tells him “I’d rather die” Misto tells him in a bored tone. “That could be arranged,” one big cat in a black hood with a scythe said taking Tugger‘s place on the tire “,hello brothers” “hello Macavity” Munk and Tugger greeted their brother. Alonzo greeted his mate Cassandra as they sit next to Munk and Deme on the boot of the car “how lucky am I to have the queen of the nile Cleopatra as my mate” he said making her blush “I thank the everlasting star everyday that we have each other”. Bomba nuzzles her mate Macavity “I love how you make death look beautiful” Macavity compliments her “and I can’t believe I’m saying it you make a good grim reaper” Bomba replied, Misto watched the couples with boredom “aww don’t look down little wizard the party will soon begin and then you and I can dance the night away together” Tugger’s words just got Misto more bored and leapt away to sit on top of the pipe and Tugger justs sighs squeezing himself between his brother’s on the tire.

Victoria, Jemima and another cat move to the kittens group. “You make a beautiful angel Victoria” the cat Plato said blushing, she blushed too signing back ‘thank you Plato, I like your costume too’ Plato looked down at his demon costume “a little on the nose since my dad is the grim reaper”. Before they could continue they were jumped on by a hyper kitten dressed as Harley Quinn “omg you guys are so cute in your costumes, I can’t believe you two aren’t mates and yet you both wear mate themed outfits, and Jemima I so wish I could do family theme costumes like you” she said dreamily “Cettie calm down, the party hasn’t even started yet” Tumblebrutus, dressed as the Joker tells her and the others greet the three “Hey Pouncival what are you supposed to be?” Jemima asked the young Tom kitten “I’m a ghost pollicle duh” he replied before looking over at the tire and seeing Bomba dressed as an undead bride nuzzling Macavity. “He’s so clueless” Electra, dressed as the Wicked Witch of the West, said watching the young tom ignore the only queen giving him attention, “One day he will notice her” George said dressed as a Scarecrow, to match Electra.

Mungojerrie, dressed as Mr Hyde goes up to Rumpelteazer, dressed Doctor Jekyll who is beside her dad Skimbleshanks, “Hey Teazer” he said nuzzling her “Hey Jerrie, we are so gonna win the Best couples costume” Teazer says determined to win with her mate. “Well Good luck to you both, though I’m sure skimble will blow everyone away at the Singles best costume” Jennyanydots, who chose this year to go as a flapper dancer, says helping her mate Skimbleshanks finish his costume “Uh what are you supposed to be?” Jerrie asks not understanding “well laddie I am Rusty the steam engine train from my favourite musical Starlight Express” Skimble says slowly standing up and balance himself on the roller blades, the twins tried to not laugh but when that failed Jenny showed them away as Skimble was rolling from side to side. “Of course you dress as a train” Asparagus Jnr jokes as he and Jellyorum come up beside their friends, “well it’s more original than the Phantom of the Opera” Skimble retorts making fun of Aspargus’s costume, “Oh leave him alone he was helping Gus with his costume and didn’t have enough time for an original one” Jelly said, dressed as a nun. “Speaking of What did Gus decide to come as?” Jenny asked “who else, Firefrorefiddle, the fiend of the fell” Asparagus added the grand gestures as they always do when Gus retells his times performing.

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer ran over to the oven where they met up with the psychic twins and Exoctica, “you guys look a fright” exoctica chides as they catch their breaths. “Well you would too if you had Jennyanydots on your tail” Jerrie says “nice costume Exoctica” Teazer compliments looking over her Queen Elizabeth costumes. “So what are you two then?” Jerrie asked the Psychic twins “we are Schrodinger’s cat” “the idea of a cat in a box and not knowing if he is dead or alive” Jerrie blinks looking between the two “so who’s who?” the twins stayed quiet as Teazer silently ohh’d getting the whole point and laughing at the fact that she's not going to tell Jerrie and let him be driven made by them.

Bustopher Jones had finished adding his sack of treats to the Halloween feast and decided to go sit with his old friend Gus while they waited for the party to start. “Well I never thought I would live to see the day that Bustopher Jones shared even a tiny morsel of food” Gus playfuly jabs him “well I Just wanted to be generous for one night even I can do that” Gus nods at Busthopher’s words “does this mean you will stay for the whole night?” he asked, turning to his friend “for once I believe I will” Bustohper looked around at all the cats and kittens talking and notices two cats not there “actually have you seen Old Deuteronomy?” he asked Gus who frowned “no in fact Grizabella isn’t here too”.

Macavity, Munkustrap and Rum Tum Tugger smirks together as the girls give them some space “show time” Tugger says as Mac controls the fire and blows out the candles, it happened so suddenly the kittens couldn’t help but cry and Scream, Misto grew worried about Victoria and leapt over to protect her as the kittens all huddle in the center of the yard. The darkness didn’t last long as soon a spotlight seemed to come from the moon and shine down on Macavity as he stood menacingly on the tire “Toms and Queens of every age Wouldn't you like to see something strange?” He sang to the group as a second spotlight hits Munkustrap as he stands proudly on top of the oven, making Tantomile, coricopat and Exoctica turn and look at him. “Come with us,” he sings and a third spotlight hits Rum Tum Tugger standing majestically on the chair “,and you will see This, our town of Halloween” Munk finishes. “This is Halloween, this is Halloween Pumpkins scream in the dead of night” Tugger sings then the brothers share a look and together they pounce, leaping into the pile of Kittens and making them scatter to the adults of the group, the rule of Halloween feast is that you never join another cat’s song unless you are asked to or like what Macavity will do, are gestured to join. Munk, Mac and Tugger stalk forward as they sing the next line “This is Halloween, everybody make a scene Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright!” the brothers stop and swipe their claws to both sides and then at the sky to the ground and finish by spreading their arms wide “It's our town, everybody scream In this town of Halloween”. At the last line Munk and Tugger bow down and circle Mac as he takes control of the kittens moving his left paw up making Pouncival stand and sing “I am the one hiding under your bed Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red” he emphasised his teeth and eyes and Mac then moved his right paw and Etcetera follows with “ I am the one hiding under yours stairs Fingers like snakes and spiders in my mane” she couldn’t help giggling as she shook her mane pretending spiders were there. The others were enjoying the song and nods their heads in rhythm as Pounce and Cettie move forward to stand behind Mac as he dance as they followed as he was the puppet master twirling out of the light “ This is Halloween, this is Halloween Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!” they sang before the spotlight moved to Tugger laying seductively by Bomba, Deme and Electra and he orchestrated them to sing “In this town we call home Everyone hail to the pumpkin song” Munk jumps onto the other junk wall and moves gracefully to Bustopher Jones and pulled him up “In this town, don't we love it now? Everybody's waiting for the next surprise” Bustopher sung as the brothers joined each other again on the boot of the car “Round that corner, man hiding in the trash can Something's waiting now to pounce, and how you'll…” Tugger leaps over to Alonzo, Cass and George and they each took their turn to sing “Scream!” “this os halloween” “red’n’black” “and slimy green”. Mac turned to the group of four elderly cats “aren’t you scared?” he asked them and the toms shook their heads as Jenny and Jelly duets “Well, that's just fine Say it once, say it twice” Skimble and Asparagus Jnr took over “Take a chance and roll the dice Ride with the moon in the dead of night” they looked at the full moon on that line and Mac continued to scare the kittens away “Everybody scream, everybody scream” Munk and Tugger backed him up “In our town of Halloween!” Mac jumped to stand over the group as he used his magic to bring the psychic twins up “I am the clown with the tear-away face

Here in a flash and gone without a trace” they each sang one line and then Mac pulled up Electra and Jemima making them move as if they were being blown away by the wind “I am the "who" when you call, "Who's there?" I am the wind blowing through your hair”. Then Mac pulled up Victoria infront of him, she was a special case since she doesn’t have a voice so Mac controlled her to lip sing “I am the shadow on the moon at night Filling your dreams to the brim with fright” instead of Tugger throwing his voice they heard a haunting female voice sing the line in sync with Victoria, thinking nothing of it they continue and without notice a shadow jumps to the chair. Mac, Munk and Tugger flipped and walked on their toes to the front and posed Menacingly as they sing “This is Halloween, this is Halloween Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!” at each Halloween the older cats joined increasing the volume of the lines, the kittens then sing as they crawled forward, Jemima, Electra and Cettie moving to lay between each of the brother’s legs “Tender lumplings everywhere Life's no fun without a good scare” Jerrie and Teazer did they famous duel multi flip in front of the brothers singing “ That's our job, but we're not mean In our town of Halloween”. “In this town” Bustohoer sang and then didn’t want Gus to miss out pulled him up too “Don't we love it now? Everyone's waiting for the next surprise”. Then the others moved forward as Munk and Tugger jumped from side to side, careful of the kittens and Mac flips backwards and the queens take his place “Reaper Mac might catch you in the back And scream like a banshee Make you jump out of your skin This is Halloween, everybody scream” Tugger and munk say and the kittens screamed scattering once more away as the others lay their right paws over their heart “Won't ya please make way for a very special guy?” Tugger sings turning to gesture to the center before noticing Misto was there and pulled him down to sit by his side “Our man Mac is King of the Pumpkin patch Everyone hail to the Pumpkin King now!” Munk continues and Mac makes the group disperse back to their original spots as he walks forward with pride “This is Halloween, this is Halloween Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!” he sings and the kittens crawl forward again, Munk and Tugger kneel down looking t Mac as they sing “In this town we call home Everyone hail to the pumpkin song” the kittens all get up and hold hands surrounding the three and prancing around them and Munk and Tugger provided their back up “La, la, la, (Halloween! Halloween!) La-la-la, la, la (Halloween! Halloween!) La-la-la, la, la, (Halloween! Halloween!) La-la-la, la-la-la, hey!”

At the final line everyone broke apart laughing and giggling as they all praised and greeted the brothers. The older cats were congratulating the boys on opening the Halloween feast and the younger cats were fawning over Tugger and his singing voice. Once again the lights go out completely, the cats don’t react thinking that the brothers were planning something but then the entire yard glowed different neon colours, the brothers also glow like the yard and stilled in a trance like state when menacing laughter filled the yard, the kittens screamed when a female cakal joins in. “Well, well, well, what have we here?” A big, green ghost life figure sang as he appeared on the tire, the older cats move to protect the kittens and the figure has his sights on Gus “,Firefrorefiddle huh? Oh, I'm really scared,” he pulls the cat up to stand beside him but keeps his hands on him, “So you're the one everybody's talkin' about, ha, ha” Gus didn’t like how the figure laughed at him and wanted to get away. Bustopher, Asparagus and Skimble try to run forward but get blocked by the brothers, who now act like puppets to this figure, as he started to dance Gis around him “You're jokin', you're jokin' I can't believe my eyes You're jokin' me, you gotta be This can't be the right guy He's ancient, he's ugly I don't know which is worse I might just split a seam now If I don't die laughing first” the kittens all growl at swipe their claws at him not liking how he was treating a valued member of the group, the figure got a wicked idea, he called his puppets up to hold Gus as he made his way to the kittens “When Mr. Oogie Boogie says There's trouble close at hand You'd better pay attention now 'Cause I'm the Boogie Man And if you aren't shakin' Then there's something very wrong 'Cause this may be the last time now That you hear the boogie song, ohhh” Tugger, Munk and Mac repeated the ohhhs like back up singers “Ohhh, he's the Oogie Boogie Man” the brothers sung and Oogie Boogie finally got to the kittens and started to pet them, strangely the kittens weren’t afraid of him, he felt familiar “Well if I'm feelin' antsy And there's nothin' much to do I might just cook a special batch Of snake and spider stew And don't ya know the one thing That would make it work so nice? A flaming Firefrorefiddle to add a little spice” as oogie danced away the kittens all followed singing the oohs back up now “Oh, yeah, I'm (he's) the Oogie Boogie Man” Oogie, the brothers and the kittens sing together. Gus got desperate to get freed and decided to do the same as this Oogie Boogie “Release me now Or you must face the dire consequences The kittens are expecting me So please, come to your senses” Oogie pulled him away from the snapping jaws of the brothers, Mac got so invested that he jumped over the tire and fell on the ground. The kittens all giggled finding it funny, Oogie wanted the attention back onto him so he continued his song “You're jokin', you're jokin' I can't believe my ears Would someone shut this fella up I'm drownin' in my tears It's funny, I'm laughing You really are too much And now, with your permission I'm going to do my stuff” he threatened and the atmosphere felt tense “What are you going to do?” Gus asked him “I'm gonna do the best I can,” he tells him throwing him back to the boys as he gets out his dice “‘Oh, the sound of rollin' dice To me is music in the air 'Cause I'm a gamblin' Boogie Man Although I don't play fair It's much more fun, I must confess When lives are on the line Not mine, of course, but yours, old boy Now that'd be just fine” he continued dancing around and throwing his dice “Release me fast or you will have to

Answer for this heinous act” Gus finalised his song as Oogie got closer to him “Oh, brother, you're something You put me in a spin You aren't comprehending The position that you're in It's hopeless, you're finished You haven't got a prayer 'Cause I'm Mr. Oogie Boogie And you ain't going nowhere” the song ended and the lights returned to normal. ‘Oogie Boogie’ and the brothers started to laugh “ oh Gus im so sorry I just couldn’t resist old friend” Oogie says making everyone confused. “Oh darling that was a marvelous show for Halloween” Grizabella dressed as Medusa came down from the chair and greeted everyone “gee dad didn’t know you were a prankster” Tugger says casually as Oogie takes off his head to reveal himself as “Old Deuteronomy” Everyone cried as they all crowded him, to nuzzle, hug and lick him affectionately “I’m sorry my Jellicles for scaring you I just enjoy a little trick or two at this time of year” he tells the cats “you knew” Jerrie cried “of course, he needed back up singers, tell me you wouldn’t have done the same” The brothers all replied “well yes but still not cool” Jerrie said going back to Teazer.

#queen-mischief-fanfiction #A Jellicle Halloween #chapter one

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cettiecetera · 5 years

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I saw Cats live this evening!!! And of course I made a slap-dash list on my phone of things I wanted to remember. HERE WE GO:

First of all, these folks were NOT MESSING AROUND with those harmonies. I was already blown away with “Jellicle Songs,” holy crap.

After seeing clips and gifs online, to be quite honest, I was a little hesitant about seeing the “new choreography.” But they kept more of the original than I anticipated, with just little sprinkles of the new stuff here and there. I don’t hate it, but I still prefer Full Gillian Mode any day of the week.

I sat close to the aisle but not on it, and Cassandra regularly wound up in my proximity whenever they did any audience interaction bits. There was actually a moment during the finale of “Mr. Mistoffelees” where I noticed she was actually leaned over and talking to an audience member, and when she pulled back she was smiling and had her hands on her heart like she had received a compliment. I don’t know what even happened or what was said, but it made my heart happy.

Rock Star Tugger back where he belongs, thank Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Personally, he didn’t have the ~depth~ of some of my favorite Tuggers, but he was entertaining and knew how to rile up the audience.

Tugger and Bomba had amazing chemistry. There was a point during the Ball (after her saucy little solo, I believe) where the two of them broke away from the group and just basically snuggled in the corner for a minute or two. Beautiful.

No Electra or Etcetera in this show, so his groupies consisted of Victoria, Jemima, Rumpleteazer, and Tantomile.

Toward the end of his song, Tugger went up to Munkustrap and put his hands on his waist like he would with a girl. Got a great rise out of Munk.

He and Misto were also playing up the best friend card big time, dancing together in their songs and shooting each other glances in others. They even properly HUGGED during the “Mr. Mistoffelees” finale, I about cried.

Speaking of Misto, he was actually a little bit of a show-off! He definitely wasn’t the awkward young cat I’m used to. He was a downright HAM in some parts! But he was precious and I adored him all the same.

There was this cute little moment in “Gumbie” where Jenny sat perfectly still for the “sits and sits” lines, and Misto kept waving his hand in front of her face trying to break her concentration. It was really adorable. And he also kept gesturing at lights as they turned on throughout the show - very subtle at first. You couldn’t tell unless you were looking directly at him, but I thought it was a lovely touch and a cute nod of things to come.

Also, during the Conjuring Turn, his little jacket lit up in rainbow colors and I felt Jesus on this day, June 1.

Tugger and Victoria also did this little secret handshake/fistbump thing during “Mr. Mistoffelees.” Very unexpected and very adorable.

After her solo in “Moments of Happiness,” Jemima clearly had this surprised look on her face, like her singing was an out of body experience or something. Definitely supports my theory of her being related to the psychic twins.

It was only for a second, but Jenny and Skimble did a little twirl during the tap segment of “Gumbie Cat” and I felt love swell in my heart.

Skimble had these white dinner gloves on during his number. Broke the cat illusion just a little bit, but very classy nonetheless.

Mungo and Teazer were clearly poking fun at Bustopher Jones as he came on stage, sticking their tongues out and such.

Mungo was also the conductor during one of the train pantomimes in “Skimbleshanks,” while Teazer took Jemima’s usual bit of vocals at the beginning. So lots of fodder if you believe Skimble is their dad. :3

ALL the queens joined in “Macavity” for the last chorus, even Jenny and Jelly. It was brilliant.

Victoria was getting picked up so she could do some graceful pose every ten seconds, LET THE GIRL BREATHE FOR PETE’S SAKE. (She killed her solo, though. Brilliant job.)

Grizabella blew the roof off, as expected. Still not a fan of the Young Grizabella thing, but Deuteronomy definitely had more energy than usual, so in a weird way it evened out...?

THEY JUST SLAPPED SOME WIRES ON GRIZ’S BACK AND FLOATED HER UP INTO THIN AIR at the end of “Heavyside.” Slightly glad they didn’t bring the spaceship back, but I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT.

“Ad-dressing” had the usual snickers from first-timers. I was too deliriously happy to care.

Now, I haven’t seen the show live in years, so I don’t know if the changes I noticed are for the entire revival or just this tour, but I’m going to note them anyway because they feel important to me:

First off, they cut two of my favorite Tugger moments: the fangirl scream at the end of his song and his bagpipes in “Pekes and Pollicles.” I WAS OFFENDED.

Speaking of “Pekes and Pollicles,” they did it where they usually put “Growltiger” and Gus played Rumpus Cat while also narrating most of the song. It was...interesting. Still had a couple laughs from the cats messing up their parts, but Gus reliving his glory days definitely overshadowed the whole tone. Munkustrap clearly adds most of the humor to that song.

(All I want is a show that does both “Pekes” and “Growltiger,” where they belong, as they should be. Is that too much to ask?)

There was a tiny prelude of “Macavity” after “Bustopher Jones,” and it felt so natural for the pacing?! I loved it. I hope that bit’s in every show I see from now on.

MACAVITY WAS NOT IN HIS RED COSTUME. This was the weirdest change to me. Instead, his color scheme was very similar to Tugger, but rattier and punkier with this weird cape thing. It definitely fit the Plato makeup underneath better, though, and I guess that’s what they were going for because Plato came back after Macavity’s whole thing. Still weird. Red’s the way to go every time.

#it's already tomorrow and this is a mess BUT I GOTTA RELAY THIS INFORMATION #cats the musical #mistoffelees #rum tum tugger #macavity #*

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