[Jelliclaw]

Whoo, I just got back on Sunday from a fantastic weekend trip to San Diego, CA to see the Troika tour!
The tour wasn't scheduled to come to WA any time soon. I hadn't seen it since I was in 2nd grade, before I'd ever even seen the video, so I could hardly remember anything. Worried that it wouldn't come to Seattle and I'd miss the chance to see the tour soon, I somehow convinced my dad to take a friend and I to see the show! (I really have no idea how I managed to convince him. I don't know what he was thinking =D)

So, we got tickets for June 7th, at 7:30. I was thrilled! But the best hadn't come yet...
Without me even having to ask, my dad managed to contact Susan Chicoine at Broadway San Diego and arranged a "meet and greet" witht the cast, backstage before the show. Susan said it would be inconvienent at 7:30, so we got free tickets to the 2:00 show!
The credit card covered our miles to San Diego, my dad was able to upgrade to first class for free, and we got a nice Embassy Suites hotel. Whoooo.

Sooo, the people mentioned in this report arreee...

Me, Callysta in costume as Demeter
My friend Zoe in costume as Bombalurina
My dad as a mundane guy =3
Susan from Broadway San Diego

On the day of the show, after a delicious free breakfast (which would have been more delicious if I hadn't poured Sweet & Low on my Rice Krispies rather than Splenda or real sugar...) at the hotel, Zoe and I began our JELLICLE TRANSFORMATIONS -confetti falls from ceiling-

I changed up the design for my Demeter makeup (on accident, really...) so it didn't really have its face-elongating powers this time. Sniffle.

Once we were ready and I had donned my "I <3 NY" fanny pack (yay, cats with fanny packs) we got a cab. The driver must have been surprised to have two Jellicles in his car =)

Upon arriving at the San Diego Civic Theatre, Susan was able to locate us due to our costumes. Zoe and I bought Tugger keychains, Misto T-shirts, and posters. Then Susan led us to the stage door (drumroll)!
We stepped inside and saw a few tables with wigs, random people sitting around, loads of boxes, and many other strange, backstage-y things.
We were lead through a door into the dressing room. All the actors either had makeup on or were in the process of applying it. Susan had us stand in a tiny hallway to wait for people to pass by. There was a shelf of wigs. This sight made me gasp in awe. The tour wigs are gorgeous, especially Bombalurina's.
After awhile people began to sign our posters, usually because my dad would ask them, but some of them came over on their own. I was excited to see Jellylorum and Bombalurina.
The actress playing Demeter avoided us, as did Mistofellees.
We met a few people associated with Troika. We were asked to stand near a wall, where we waited for costumed actors to take pictures with us. More actors signed our posters. One actress who'd already signed said "Hi again!" as she passed. After he'd signed, Pouncival (I think) said "Hi little girls in costume" before running up the stairs near us.
We managed to get photographs with Jellylorum, Bombalurina, Old Deutoronomy, Plato (I think) and (finally!) Mistofellees.
The actor playing Mungojerrie had shorts with the words "I <3 RUMP" written on the butt. Haha. Get it? Haha.
The actor playing Old D. said he needed his "daily cupcakes" and ran upstairs to the snack machine.
After awhile we heard a somewhat loud "Nooo!" and looked up...it is incredibly funny to see Old Deutoronomy shake a snack machine.
Bombalurina joked about us being her "kittens". Demeter continued to avoid us. Misto turned out to be very nice and signed our posters before he had to leave.
The collars were interesting...from what I could tell, they appeared to be made of very thick leather and sewn onto the unitards. If I remember correctly, they didn't actually go all the way around the neck. The two ends of the leather didn't meet up, if I'm explaining it correctly.

Anyways, now I shall tell you how each song was. We ended up going to both the 2:00 show (right after the meet and greet) and then later to the 7:30 show (yup, same day x3). So "first show" means 2:00, "second show" means 7:30.

Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats
I rather liked how the choeography for this song (and almost all the others) was similar to the video, though it seemed rather sped up. Very pleasant song.

The Naming of Cats
I -loved- how the actors began to leave the stage as if to say they didn't want the company of an audience who hadn't heard of a Jellicle Cat, before coming back to explain it. Victoria even flipped her tail up at the audience, it was pretty cute.
I liked the way Asparagus said his line.

Solo Dance
First Show - Victoria had it spot on. Like I mentioned, the dances in the show seemed a little sped up compared to the video, so it seemed a little fast and less "exploring the body"-...ish.
Second Show - Poor Victoria! When she was grabbing her leg and bringing it around to the front, she almost completely fell over. This made her late throughout the song. During the large leg-lift (vertical splits, is it called?) she (almost sloppily) stuck her leg up quickly then put it right back down.

The Gumbie Cat
People had mentioned how wonderful the actor Felix Hess is in the tour, but I was surprised I didn't hear anything about Cara Michelle Fish! She blew me away. She made the most adorable Jenny, ever <33 She made cute little sounds and had the perfect voice for Jennyanydots. I loved how she kind of went "Oooh!" and smiled when she revealed her tap outfit. After seeing her perform, I was incredibly happy to have recieved her autograph.

The Rum Tum Tugger
Hmm. I loved the song, but this Tugger...I don't know...it seems like he came out of a high school production, not the national tour. It was rather funny when he said, "Oh yeah!" during the end, when he does his famous hip gyrations for the queens =)

Grizabella the Glamour Cat
I was amazed by Demeter and Bombalurina. Griz is wonderful, too, but I don't think just a wonderful voice made a good Grizabella. She lacked something important. She didn't seem old and broken, wishing for youth and regretting her mistakes. She seemed just as young as the other Jellicles, save for when she initially walked onstage. The fact that she didn't act sad and desperate almost made the show seem even more plotless. It made her seem like any other cat.

Bustopher Jones
Gahh, I wish I was in the front row, I wanted that flower
Wonderful, cute song.

Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer
Gahh, I can't explain my love for this Mungo and Rumpel! I laughed when Rumpel slid down the car, saying "Whee" rather than another giggle.
It was adorable when the duo laughed over the Ming vase.
The two-person cartwheel was amazing. Poor kitties...they messed up on their ending pose. Rumpel slid off Mungo's leg, but Mungo managed to fix it by holding her waist while she had one foot on the ground. If I hadn't seen the ending pose before I wouldn't have guessed they'd messed up.

Old Deutoronomy
Old D. was very talented. I liked how Skimble went off to get him, because I loved to see Skimble do -anything-. Felix Hess really is the perfect Skimble.

Song of the Jellicles
Always love this song. Cute how Victoria and Misto did the "Jellicle Cats are black and white" line.

The Jellicle Ball
Fantastic <33 Bomba was cute before she did her little solo. She was reaching her hand out towards the toms, then looking at the audience in confusion when the males failed to notice her.
I'd like to mention again how wonderful Skimbleshanks was...even if he was just jumping off the set to get to a certain part of the dance floor, he was ALWAYS in character. Always doing his little Skimble-pose.
The Ball got a huge, long applause, especially during the 7:30 show.

Memory
Same complaints about Griz as in the Glamour Cat song. Beautiful Memory, though. Her attempts to dance again improved the "old and broken" vibe a bit.

Intermission (first show)
In the lobby, a woman asked us where we got our costumes. When we told her we made them, she asked a few questions about how we made them and who our favorite characters were.
While she was talking, another woman came up and asked us how long it took us to do our makeup every day. I told her "an hour", but I didn't catch the "every day" part until she'd walked away. Come on, people, we're too young to be in the show!
We went back in our seats and a girl, maybe around our age, came up and shoved her Playbill and a pen in our faces without saying a word. We were confused, and I quickly told her we weren't in the show. She still didn't say anything and kept the Playbill firmly in front of our faces until we signed it =/ I really didn't want to sign it, as the cast backstage were talking about how some people showed up in makeup a few days ago and signed autographs. Oh well.

Moments of Happiness
I adored Sillabub's voice.

Gus the Theatre Cat
I cannot express my love for this song! Jelly and Gus were perfect. I liked how Jelly kind of jumped around Gus while singing rather than standing next to him. Gus was adorable, and a good actor. I really felt sorry for him. He did a small, feeble bow at the end which was quite cute.

Growltiger's Last Stand (!!!)
As Gus finished the line "Could do it again..." his voice grew stronger and louder, and he changed into his Growltiger costume! Whee! The ship set was neat, the crew was funny, and Growltiger was surely the best comedy character in the show.
The audience laughed when Griddlebone appeared onstage. Her costume was lovely.
I loved the little accent the Siamese had. They're always my favorite, though Growltiger and Griddlebone are just as wonderful.
The Aria was both gorgeous and humorous.
As the Siamese approached the pair, Growltiger got on top of Griddlebone in a rather...erotic pose...it was quite funny, though.
After Growltiger was sent to walk the plank, and the Growltiger's Last Stand backdrop was dragged offstage by a Siamese, Genghis remained onstage, the only light focused on him, and twirled in time with the "Dong...dong..." music. It was a neat effect that showed how the song was a memory from Gus's theatre days.
Gus bowed to Genghis and the song was over. My favorite song, by far.

Skimbleshanks
Felix Hess...he's incredible, really. Can't stress that enough.
The train was even more full-of-awesome onstage than on the video. I had forgotten this.
All the cats laughed when the train fell apart <33

Macavity
Impressive! I like how Alonzo shadows Demeter.
The fight gave Alonzo more time in the spotlight, wheee~.
The part where Macavity electrocutes himself was done amazingly, and there was even a smoke effect when the spotlight was turned on.

Mr. Mistoffelees
The streamer cannons distracted me from this song. When he fired streamers into the center, they landed above the rows in front of me. A few floated in my direction. I basically leapt from my seat and reached into a chair in front of me, snatching a streamer as it landed in a toddler's booster seat. Then, I slowly pulled it out. Later I wore it around my neck feeling accomplished.
I lost count of the conjuring turns at 3 xD
In the second show I counted 23.

Memory, reprise
Incredible, got a standing ovation, but I still didn't feel any sadness.

Journey to the Heaviside Layer
This song is garunteed to give me more goosebumps then a good rendition of Memory. I just love it.

The Ad-dressing of Cats
The end of this song is amazing. I just love it, a great finish.

Bows
I remembered the end from when I saw the show in 2nd grade, but it was delightful to see again.
Bomba pushed Tugger onto the floor and walked on top of him, then headed offstage. As she began to leave, she turned towards Tugger and used her index finger to beckon him. He shouted "Whoo!" and ran off with her.

PICTURES

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/koneka/IMG_1180.jpg - The theatre!

Now, pictures with the cast. They don't look too great due to bad lighting. Zoe and I were a little awestruck...we thought we were smiling, but we probably weren't concentrating on that x3

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/koneka/IMG_1181.jpg - With Old D., affectionately nicknamed the "Cupcake Cat" as of this very second.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/koneka/IMG_1182.jpg - Jellylorum! She's a bit short, no? =)
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/koneka/IMG_1183.jpg - Bombalurina. She was incredibly tall. And very sweet.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/koneka/IMG_1184.jpg - I think this guy was Plato, am I wrong?
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/koneka/IMG_1185.jpg - Group photo.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/koneka/IMG_1186.jpg - With Misto.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/koneka/IMG_1189.jpg - Me, in the hotel room after the show. The brown on my cheeks looks skin tone, my makeup appears to be coming off, and my hair is poking out from under the wig. Joy.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/koneka/IMG_1198.jpg - My poster. You'd think I'd have gotten more autographs, going backstage and whatnot. Oh well -hugs poster-

Both shows were fantastic, but the first one was truly memorable. Being in costume, going backstage, and having close seats.

(X-POSTED to CCDB)

[Spatzthecat]

Hi

Very nice photos and a great trip report.

I think I will try photobucket to some of my photos on.

I got one with Barbara King as a UK tour Jennyanydots in Leeds this year.
It was snowing, the building was under repair and covered in scaffolding and the stage door is deep underground, but I still got a photo.

Also got some autographed photos from Elke Berges who was a Hamburg Cassandra.

Spatz

[tinasattler]

good job i love the photos

[Bustephen]

Sounds like a wonderful experience. Thank you for sharing those fantastic pictures.

Sometimes I wish I was brave enough to go to a show in costume... but then I remember that I'm 22... and male.