[alexandrez]

ok, this is gonna be long.
i went to see cats 5 times (in wich 3 times i was seating in the VIP seats ( 2 times i sat at the G row and the other one i sat on the C row (there was no A row))and another time ull discover if u read) when they were here in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
the first time, i went on their first week here. it was a thursday,10th of august. i didnt know the show back then so i didnt know what to expect. my uncle went to see cats back in 1983 on london and he said it was magical (comin from him it must be really good since he is really critical about stuff and he directed some plays). i didnt buy my tickets, my mom did, and since we didnt know Credicard hall she bought the tickets that were far away on the 3rd floor (I COULDNT SEE ANYTHING!). i barely realized the cats goin trough the audience on the Overture. i dont remeber much of it since i was far away. but i really liked the music very much (Andrew Loyd Webber is a genius). when grizabella (angie smith) started to sing memory my mum said to me: now im touched (arrepiado para quem fala portugues) and i said to her: im like that since the beginning. on the break i didnt even got up. i just sat there trying to think about the show. then it started again. it was magical. all i remembered was we coming out of the show and realizing or car stereo had been stolen. anyway, that doesnt matter. my mum realized i really liked the show more then everyone and she said that to my grandma. my grandma decided to buy me VIP tickets. i went with my aunt on 16th of august(she plays drums (and so do i if u didnt know). it was amazing. i really cried like a baby this time when grizabella sang "TOUCH ME! ITS SO EASY TO LEAVE ME!" etc.
anyways, on the break me and my aunt we stood up and stayed there looking at the instruments since the band wasnt there. we just stared at the drumset (it was so cool it had all sorts of cymbols) then the keyboard player came in and everyone asked stuff from the original cast and asked for their autograph. since the drums was at the oposite side of the keyboards, only me and my aunt stayed at that side. so when the drummer (tim mulligan) came in he look at us and asked in mimics if i played. i answered in english since my english is good (i dont have any accent thank god.. haha) that me and my aunts played drums. and we started talking. i told him my aunt saw cats back in 1983 with my uncle and that she made my family see it. and asked about stuff from the band. shortly after that he told us the show was about to continue. he wished a good show for us and we sat again. show was marvelous. when tugger and bombalurina got out of the stage my aunt pushed me to the front where the band was playing like a madley of songs from the musical. when they finished he ofered me a pair of headhunters drumsticks! haha
he told me that he is from canada and that they play from tuesday to friday from 9:30pm till 12:00pm, saturday they played twice from 3:30pm till 6pm and from 9:30pm and sunday they also played twice, but from 4:30pm till 7pm and from 9:30pm till 12:00pm. anyway. they only had monday off and that they always had something planned. anyway, my aunt was right beside me and she wasnt understading anything since she doesnt speak english. but she saw that i was running out of things to say and she said:tell him you live in china! (i really do, i was in brazil on holidays. i live in macau, near hong kong.)after i said that the drummer was like: oh really? thats cool! and then he said: "u want to watch cats from here? u would stay behind my drumset. only if you want of course." i really tough he was kidding. i said yes, of course! hahaah and so he invited me to come on sunday, 20th of august at the 4:30 show. he told me to come 3:30. he said he wasnt sure if i could get in, but he said that there was 99% of change of it happening, he just had to ask his manager.
guess what? i couldnt sleep. hahaha anyway i was there 15 minutes before. ahahaha
all the musicians come walking from the hotel since it's right next to the theater. i dunno about the cast. so, he said that i could get in, everything was allright. as soon as we walked inside the building the stage was right there! we went to the middle of it. it was so cool. i saw all the cats costumes on this huge hanger. and i also saw the gumbie cat and the bustupher jones costumes separated from the other ones . the gumbie cat costume was heavy as hell. anyway, Tim went inside the dressing-room to talk to his manager and i stood outside. there was some ppl of the cast with their costumes already. and i saw a cat (cant tell witch one but i think it was the tugger(dave schoonover)) seating on the couch with his foots on the table reading the newspapers!
haha
when he got out, we went to the place where the musicians stay. there were some ppl there already. he set his things up and he told me he had forgot a pair of headphones for me. i said that there was no need. but he insisted and so we went to the backstage again to see if we could find one. when we got to the hall i was stoked. i saw at least 10 cats walking and talking and warming up. dude. i saw munkustrap (Ian Laskowski) warming up with victoria(Sara M. Reardon) on a funny position. anyway, we talked to one of the production guys and they said that there was no more headphones available. i said there was no problem. there was still 15 min till the show start so, we just went outside to get some air and we sat at the table with some guys from the production. they were really funny. when 10 mins went by we got back to the musicians pit. it was packed already. when we sat i realise how incomodating it is to ppl to look at you from above. but that didnt last long. the show started shortly after we get in. it was so cool see them all playin there are only 5 musicans and the maestro. tim mulligan is a ---- great drummer. i couldnt see anything that was goin on on stage, only if i looked to the big screen. but i was interested on the drumparts. hahha it was amazing. when tim wasnt playing he read Deception Point cuz we cant talk during the show (obviously) anyway. it was really funny. he got 1 mistake (wich was nothing for me), but he corrected it really fast and he look at me and said with no voice: i missed! hahaha
it was awesome. when the first act ended we quickly went back to the hall cuz he had to go to the bathroom. i stayed outside reading all the notes from someone from the production who was always watchin to show to correct stuff and make observations. i read that there were some ppl from the cast that were sick. anyway, during that time i saw grizabella and another cat (dunno witch one cuz at the time i didnt know the names very well) talking to a guy from the brazilian production. they were asking how to say badwords like ---- you and go ---- yourself. hahahah it was really funny for me to see a really happy grizabella. hahahah so that was this time she asked the dude how to say damnit cuz she saw on this movie with portuguese subtitles. the dude didnt know what the translation was so i shouted: droga! (wich means damn it) and the dude turned back to me and said thats it! and angie smith gave me a little embarrassed smile (she was really beautiful) and i laughed and so did she. right after that Tim came out of the bathroom and we went outside again, this time we sat with the maestro (Logan Medland) and talked about music mostly. then we got in the musical pit again. this time is was loaded with ppl looking down. it sucked. ppl asked for tims autograph like 2 times i think. (and i also think that one of the many reasons he called me is that i didnt start asking his autograph nor started speaking of the original cast or whatever, we talked about drums). after a bit the show started again. tim was reading a lot cuz he didnt play almost anything at first. but when the skimbleshanks parts started, he played a lot till the end. there was this time when a cat stand on the stairs for a while, after circulating on the audience. she was right on top of me and i could see her. she look down and smiled at me and i smiled back. it was really cool! when they were about to start the madley witch is the last song. he ofered me to play. i said no way!! hahaha i was too afraid or missing and he was probably kidding. when it finished he said he had to go to his hotel to get his girlfriend and comeback cuz the next show was gonna start at 9:30 and it was 7 already. so we got to the hall quicky and he went to the bathroom again. and i saw mistoffelees (anthony smith) with his costume opened and he was sweating like shit (well, after dancing his song, who wouldnt be) and i saw other cats also. but the drummer quicky came out of the bathroom and we walked outside. i thank him a lot and he said that once a drummer did that to him when he was 16 (im 16) and he really liked it. and he said that he was feeling kinda lonely cuz he only talked to the musicans and the pruduction. cuz almost no one in brazil speaks english. and i told him that i knew what he was talkin about cuz i lived in china. haha
anyways we said good bye and he walk to the hotel. afer that i kept begging my mum to see cats again. i only managed to go again on a thursday 24th of august with my uncle (the one who saw cats back in 1983). mistoffelees was understudied (i think it was Stanley Owen who performed as misto) but it was almost the same face and style. ahaha oh and old deuteronomy was understudied also (deuteronomy was performed by Rodrigo Cruz) there were some diferences, but nothing was bad. by that time i was singing most of the lyrics and it was awesome. my uncle said that the rich audience in brazil are really dumbasses since they dont have much respect to the person acting. (they go out before its over, or dont wait the cats presenting one by one at the end and stuff like that). anyway, on break i went to the front again to speak to the band. Tim mulligan was like: "holy shit. u here again? hahaha enjoy the show man." and i started talking to the guitarrist (Darren Lucas). he was really cool too. i asked him about the pedals they were using and how funny it was that they were using small amps but it was really loud and stuff like that. anyway, we sat again for the 2nd act. it was awesome. just old deuteronomy (who was understudied as i say above) didnt have the same voice as philip peterson but it was good also. my uncle liked it verymuch too. haha he said that there was some diferences on the music not only cuz it was a band, but on the structure also. i dunno how he remembered that. hahaha
anyways, by the end of the show we stood on the front again and i kept talking to the drummer. he said: "wow, u here again. i think we'll have to put you on our paychecks also. you coming tomorrow night also right?" haha then i said goodbye. shortly after that i discovered that they last performance was gonna be that sunday, 27th of august. guess what? i managed (i dunno how) to get the last VIP seat available wich was on the C row. i was really frickin close. haha their presentation started at 8:30 cuz they had to pack everything up for rio. anyway, i saw the show again. haha
at the break i went to the front again. and i talked to tim again. i told him that i was kinda sad that i wasnt gonna be able to see cats again and he said: oh dont worry, we all know you'll come to rio." hahahahaha
it was amazing the last time. mistoffelles waved his hand to me during his show (i know he does that thing with his hands when tuggers singing. but he did it to me when he was dancing (when no one sings) and munkstrap keep loking at me when he could cuz i was singin all the lyrics (by that time i knew them all hahah) hahaha. by the end of the show i went to the front again, and talked to em. they were already packing everything. it was kinda sad for me. but anyway. i kept talkin to him while they were packing till the security guard told me that i could be there anymore (i looked back and there was no ppl left on the room) but i told him i was speaking with my friend. hahaha anyway, shortly after that guess who came from the fire exit? Jennyanydots (Cara Michelle Fish) and she stoped right next to me and started talking to the maestro. hahah i look at her and asked: are you the Gumbie Cat? and she said: how'd you know?
and i said: well, i dunno.. i watched the show 5 times already! and she said: wow! haha thats good! and i congratulated her for the tap dance. haha
then the security guard said to me to go. cuz i shouldnt be there. i had no other choice since he was frickin strong. hahaha
and that was the last time i saw'em. the presentation they did here had the growtiger's last stand and he sang una tepida note (or something like that) but they cut off the Aweful Battle Of The Peakes and The Pollicles. its so cool. i dunno y they did it. they probably had time limit or something.
anyway. thats it. if u want to send me msgs this is my emai:alexandre_martella@hotmail.com

[alexandrez]

oh yea, almost forgot. at the end of the last presentation here in sao paulo right after the adressing of cats i stood up and i was really claping and stuff.. but no one stood up. they only did it right at the end. the audience sucked.

[darkmage]

Yeah, people can be rude. When I saw it last night there were people behind me talking and eating popcorn rather loudly. And on top of that they didn't show up until the middle of the Gumbie Cat's tap dance. I kept glaring at them, they'd shut up for a while then they'd go back to being rude. I'm sorry, but for God's sake, show some respect for the actors. If you're going to talk and crunch your popcorn do everyone in the theatre a favour, rent the DVD, and watch it from the comfort of your couch. Don't pull this crap in public.

This production didn't get a standing ovation but they did get quite a bit of cheering and applause, so all's well that ends well.

[littlgriz]

[Matthew]

[Pounce]

Thanks alexandrez, that was very interesting. Yes, the American production (Troika) took out Pekes and Pollicles and they've made some other small cuts here and there but the show still works however I'd like to someday see a full production of CATS. Even the video leaves out Growltiger.

Sounds like the security guard is a real killjoy!

[alexandrez]

[electramcm]

Wow. I wish I could have a CATS experience such as that amazing one. Thanks for sharing that great story with us!

Alas, I checked the Troika tour dates that you guys have posted on here, and the closest the tour comes to me is Birmingham, Alabama. Unfortunately, it's four hours away and my mother won't let me go...

But I guess I shouldn't be complaining. I DID get to be in a production of CATS with demeter_cat2010. So, it's all good. I enjoyed being Electra SO much.

~Electra

[littlgriz]

the hol adiunce wase verrey nice but this buss of peoplee frum out of town wase relley rude and loud the hole time lol the cast camee and hised and mrowld atthes wemon :0 that waser thenight i gave her roses i men griz not toththat woman iv had otyther eexspireanses with rude people

[abandoned_memory]

Is Angie Smith any good? Troika changes their cast all the time.

I have tickets to go in October. I was thinking I'd see Claire Blakely, and I've heard some nice things about her, but they replaced her with Angie at the last minute.

[alexandrez]

[alexandrez]

and at the end check tugger and bombalurina.
i think u'll like it a lot.
hahaha
it's really funny.

[Cassandra]

[alexandrez]

The actors on the Troika tour have a year-long contract. Claire was in the cast from June '05 - June '06. She was a swing, originally, and took over the role of Grizabella when that year's original Griz, Esther Stilwell, left the cast in the middle of their run. When the cast's contracts were up in June, most of them left the show (except for a few who decided to stay for another year) and they brought in a whole new cast. So this year's cast will run until June next year. Troika's contract for the rights to the show ends next year, so we don't know what will happen to the tour after that.

All this is a roundabout way of saying that they don't change their cast "all the time," and they didn't replace Claire "at the last minute." [/quote]


thanx for the info!
and how the hell you know so much??

[Cassandra]

[alexandrez]