Favorite CAT?

[EugLoven]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 6:06pm

As I was deleting music from my harddrive, I came across my CATS album which I haven't listened to in ages (I erased it) and got to thinking about when I saw it for the first time...

Do you have a favorite CAT?
Character and/or actor who played him/her?

And please don't answer: "A dead one" or things of that nature

My answer: Munkustrap
He's just pretty cool. Definitely someone I'd keep on my A-List of friends. Maybe it's the awesomeness that Michael Gruber (soon to join A Chorus Line) brought him in the video too.

[Producer2]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 6:10pm

Easy.....Skimbleshanks

[nealb1]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 6:15pm

IMO, the best Grizabella was Kim Criswell when she did the First National Company of "Cats" back in 1985-86, here in Los Angeles at, the now tour down Shubert Theatre in Century City.

She was beyond extraordinary! Her voice, her acting, her presense, her grace, her manner..............unbelievable!!! She literally, stopped the show each and every night when she sang "Memory" in Act 2........receiving standing O's.......in the middle of Act 2. "Cats" played at The Shubert Theatre in Century City for 2 years.

I've seen other Grizabellas in "Cats".....Betty Buckley, Elaine Paige, Linda Balgord, Liz Callaway, Laurie Beecham, Sandy Edgerton and others......each brilliant in the role.

But, IMO, hands down....no question.....Kim Criswell was the best.

Updated On: 7/15/07 at 06:15 PM

[rock00]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 6:46pm

"Easy.....Skimbleshanks"

Agreed.

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 7:02pm

I Am My Own Cat

[Raviolisun]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 7:05pm

Grizabella, because she has the only decent song in the show.

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 7:07pm

Question: is "Cats" an allegory for Eliot's conversion to Catholicism? Is a cat's 'secret name' the name given to him at his Confirmation?

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 7:09pm

Eve, Eve... little Eve Evil. What is it they say? Something about the evil that men do, and the good they leave behind?

Oh Gertrude, you're always spoiling everyone's fun with your talk of allegories and historical context. Sometimes a cat is just a cat, isn't it?

Why... no.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 7:43pm

For some reason I've always liked Jemima.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 7:47pm

Skimbleshanks for sure.

[ashbash1990]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 7:48pm

Easy, the Rum-tum Tugger... i also really liked the white kitten (i have no idea what her name is...) they were the best part of the show...

Posted: 7/15/07 at 7:48pm

Skimbleshanks is awsome. Jemima is great in the DVD version I have, though. Amazing voice! Too bad it isn't really her singing.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 7:49pm

I believe the white cat is Victoria.

[Mythus]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 8:16pm

Pfft, Mistoffelees is so much cooler than everyone else. I crushed all up on Jacob Brent when I saw the movie, and then I saw him in the show at North Shore Music Theatre a few years ago...and then I found the Playbill from when I saw it on Broadway in '97 - and I saw him then, as well. Go figure.
Updated On: 7/15/07 at 08:16 PM

[munkustrap926]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 9:26pm

I have to agree with EugLoven. Munkustrap is at the top of my list and Michael Gruber is great. In addition, I played that part a few months ago and it was the most amazing part I've ever played.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 7/15/07 at 9:29pm

Count me as a Skimble fan! It's also my fave song in the show.

[JumpJumpJumpSoHigh]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 3:06pm

I love me some Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer... and Mistoffelees... and Grizabella (especially Liz Callaway!)... but yeah, my favourite will always be Skimbleshanks.

When I was 12 years old and just getting into Broadway, with Cats as the end-all and be-all of musical theatre for me, one of my dance teachers found out that I had tickets to see the show. She knew some of the current cast, so she did be the most awesome favor ever, and asked one of them to take me on a backstage tour! Her friend (Eric Scott Kincaid) was the actor playing Skimbleshanks, and he couldn't have been nicer. We toured the whole theatre, and he introduced us to some of the other actors, and showed us how the cat makeup went on... and after the show, gave us Playbills signed by the entire cast.

Not to mention that we had front row dead-center seats, and as his song ended he winked down at us. And for my 12-year-old self, that was the Best Day Ever.

That was the beginning of my Skimbleshanks affection. I also love the song (ALW was bold enough to write a couple of lines in 13/8, although he chickened out and did the rest in 4/4, meh), and there's something so delightfully British about the character that I love. But mostly, it was the backstage tour. :)

~JJJ

[Alison88]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 3:08pm

Demeter is HOT.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 3:10pm

Gus the Theatre Cat/Growltiger

He was in his youth
quite the smartest of cats
but no longer a terror
to mice or to rats

[mikeyb16]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 3:28pm

Grizabella - only because the song she sings in glorious.

I loved Elaine Paige's interpretation on the CATS Video version.

The actress I saw perform Grizabella last year in the CATS National UK Tour last year was Dianne Pilkington. She was BRILLIANT as Grizabella and the very best of them all! She has both the incredible acting abilities and the power-house singing voice! :)

[misto625]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 3:33pm

Oh wow, only one cat to choose from? Most of my favorites have been mentioned (Skimble, Misto etc), but I would have to go with Jeffry Denman as Munkustrap

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 3:37pm

"...just Gus". Gus the theater cat.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 3:44pm

Gus is my favorite too, although I can't stand the woman's voice who sings the theatre cat song on the DVD. Something about her vibrato is like nails on a chalkboard to me. Bonnie Simmons on the OBC is fantastic, and sings it with a gorgeous voice. But either way, it's all about Gus.

Dear old Gus. I love that whole sequence actually, and I'm sorry they cut the flashback out of the DVD. It was wonderful live.

Still, I'm sure that PalJoey would be very happy that so many are choosing Skimbleshanks.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 4:13pm

"and I'm sorry they cut the flashback out of the DVD."

I'm still mad about this. The only reason they cut it was because they are cheap and didn't want to spend money to build the set and hire another actor to play Growltiger (because Sir John Mills was Gus).

[javertjunky]

Posted: 7/16/07 at 6:35pm

QUAXO!!!! And I was the one who played it. This is my second favorite role behind playing Javert in Les Miz.