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Rumblepurr

The License Plates

I know I have this blessed list somewhere, but I cannot seem to locate it. I need some "License Plates" from the world productions.

These are the ones I have:
NAP 1 - London (New London)
NAP 2 - Broadway NY (Winter Gardens)
NAP 3 – Wien 1983
???
NAP 7 – Toronto 1985
NAP 8 – Sydney 1985
NAP 9 – Hamburg 1986
NAP 10 – Melbourne 1987
NAP 11 – Possible US Tour III set – NAP 11A was first used as US Tour IV
NAP11A - US Tour V
NAP 12 – Zurich/Euro Tour 1991/Amsterdam 1993
NAP 13 – Possible Canadian Tour or Australian 2003
NAP 14 – UK Tour II
NAP 15 – Antwerp/Stuttgard/Berlin
???
And naturally, the blanks are the ones missing. NAP 4,5,6 and anything past 15. I am not sure if NAP 16 is being used for the current UK tour (III).

Any help is appreciated.
Rumblepurr Cool
The Writer Cat

(and no, Google did not help...)
MunkustrapQC

TSE1 in the movie production of 1998
NAP 11A in the 2007 Troika Tour

I'm a 100% sure
musikal_geek

wtf is NAP?
Rumblepurr

NAP

The original Set Designer for CATS is John Napier - hence the NAP for "NAPier". Each production has a number identifying itself on the license plate (or tag) of the old car buried in the upstage left portion of most sets.

On some license plates (or tags), the "Associate" Designer sometimes added their name to the bottom of the plate. In the Canadian tour, Raymond HUESSY was the Associate Designer, and so, below the NAP 7 (for the Toronto 1985 tour), the plate had HUESSY 5 (his 5th show).

MunkustrapQC? Thank you for reminding me about the Video plate. I did have that one, but I forgot to list it.
Spanish_Rumple

Madrid (Spain) NAP 17 for sure!! I've just checked it in the book.
abbeycat

Hope these help:
Russia/ Madrid (and one other place, netherlands? copenhagen? im not sure sorry!):

Current UK tour:


There was also another NAP on the UK tour 1, though it may be the same as tour 2, I need to check! it will be in blackpool brochure if anyone has it to hand.....
milamber_alw

Dutch tour 2006/07 is NAP17.
wicked_boy

That's really interesting and cool.

Do any other shows have anything like this? (As in a "tag".)
Rumblepurr

Thanks

Spanish_Rumple -- thank you for NAP 17

abbeycat -- thank you for the pictures. I did find out from my notes that the current UK Tour uses NAP 16. Are the pics from brochures?

milamber_alw -- thank you for confirming the "Dutch" Tour for NAP 17.

wicked_boy -- while not being an expert on musicals, CATS has been the only one I have seen that has this distinctive marker to identify its tours and sets.

I think I need a Historian (or a Bassett Hound to sniff out my list in the debris zone in my computer room) to get the holes. (NAP 4,5,6)

Also, What about the Japan tour/production?

Again, thanks for the help.
Rumblepurr Cool
The Writer Cat
Cassandra

Quote:
Also, What about the Japan tour/production?


From what I can tell, Japan doesn't have a legible license plate on its car boot; it didn't in 1997, at least.

CatsMusical.com photo

Tried to find some more for you, but it'll have to wait until I get home from work. Razz
Moongewl

Apologies if you just wanted NAP license plates, and skip the rest of this post if that's so.
Checking Velvedere's site, a Japan '88 shot shows a destroyed plate for what seems to be the same set.
Under an Australian production, Date Unknown, the set uses AUS, 03.
The 2001 circus tour uses NT, 001 I think?
Hamburg seems to be HH NAP (0)9
Rumblepurr

Definitely

Thanks Moongewl. I did not realize there were other plates. I think if I can get Carbucketty's attention on this, I can probably get others.

Thanks.
Rumblepurr Cool
The Writer Cat
Carbucketty

Re: Definitely

Rumblepurr wrote:
Thanks Moongewl. I did not realize there were other plates. I think if I can get Carbucketty's attention on this, I can probably get others.

Thanks.
Rumblepurr Cool
The Writer Cat



Smile I will look into this later. I had lots of notes on this, but they were eaten by Katrina.

I have just a smidgen more of info than you've collected, but it's not much. Some of those earlier numbers are losts in the mists of time and space.

I'd love to put this in the wiki, but it's been over run by spammers.. Grrr. Need to do website maintainance.
Spatzthecat

What NAP plate/tag was for the Paris show that I saw in 1988?

What are the ones on the regional shows in the USA?.

spatz
VictoriaTWC

Regional theatres usually don't put up the licsence plate. Or give any credit to Napier's original design.

Purrs,
VTWC
Rumblepurr

Again, My Thanks

Carbucketty - I keep forgetting how much you have and how much you lost... I know I have an index card somewhere in my stacks of books, notes, folders, and stuff in my computer. If I come up with that card, I can fill in the holes... And Carb? I really am sorry about your loss from Katrina.

spatzthecat? The Paris show might be one of the "holes" - if Guy-Paul (Misto06) is still with us, he might know because I believe he was in that production. (Not 100% on this...)

VTWC - since you have an extensive collection of CATS items, you might have the information as well. Do you have possible brochures from productions between 1987 and 2001?

Thanks again everyone Cool
Rumblepurr
The Writer Cat.
abbeycat

Paris:


seems to be NAP 14 too, although it looks like it's not on the actual back of the car, I can't find a good pic to check if that was the only one. I assume this was the same in the original Dutch version as it was nearly the same company that staged it and I think (THINK!!!) the set went over too. I could be way out but there is something in my head that tells me this?
Carbucketty

abbeycat wrote:
Paris:


seems to be NAP 14 too, although it looks like it's not on the actual back of the car, I can't find a good pic to check if that was the only one. I assume this was the same in the original Dutch version as it was nearly the same company that staged it and I think (THINK!!!) the set went over too. I could be way out but there is something in my head that tells me this?


I think you are correct about the Amsterdam I (1987) and Amsterdam II (1988) sets being the same as Paris (1989) because they were essentially done by the same team as in Wien and the date-ranges are such that the set may have been reused. I have photos of some of the productions, but I cannot recall if there was anything written on the license. I'll check this weekend when I'm near my collection.

I was also kinda thinking the set may have been used by the Wien company when they toured to Communist Berlin and Moscow in 1989 ish, but I'd have to check the dates.

Are you sure that's Paris and not Amsterdam III (1993)? They used the UK Tour set to stage that, IIRC. That was also the same set used in the video.


Rumble:
To find the early date NAP #'s you want all productions between 83 and 85. We can strike Budapest (I think) and Helsinki off the list because Napier did not design those sets. Oslo was a non-junkyard set, but may have been designed by Napier (I know he did the costumes for that production.)

Quote:
1983

March 25th -- Macskak (Cats) opens in rep. at the Madach Theatre in Budapest, Hungary
November -- Cats opens at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna
November 11th -- Cats opens in at a temporary theatre in Tokyo, Japan
December -- US Tour #1

1984

November 10th -- Cats Tokyo closes to transfer.

1985

January 13th -- Cats opens in Los Angeles at the Schubert Theatre
March -- Cats opens in Toronto at the Elgin Theatre
March 20th -- Cats Opens at a temporary theatre in Osaka, Japan
July 27th -- Cats opens at the Theatre Royale in Sydney, Australia
November 9th -- Cats opens at Det Norske Theatre in Oslo, Norway

1986

April 18th -- Cats opens at the Operettenhaus Hamburg, in Hamburg Germany
April 30th -- Cats closes in Osaka, Japan for transfer.
September -- Cats opens in rep.at Kaupungin Teatteri in Helskinki, Finland.
September 14th -- US Cats Bus and Truck Tour #1 opens. (aka Cats III)
October 10th -- Cats opens at a temporary theatre in Tokyo, Japan.
November 30th -- Cats Los Angeles closes. Spawns US Cats IV tour.


This leaves us with US Tour I, Tokyo, Oslo, LA, and maybe US Bus & Truck (US Tour III) to fill in 4, 5, and 6. I'm sure US I and LA take up two of those numbers. US III may have been NAP 11. (Idle specualtion on my part.)

Japan does not use numbers on their sets. I remeber looking for the Oslo numbers, but I did not find them.

Perphaps a direct letter to the source would help clear this up?
Belle

You could probably even write the John Napier c/o the New London Theatre... since he's designing "Gone With The Wind" there, directed by Trevor Nunn. It'd get through to him eventually.
VictoriaTWC

I have the world productions listing at home. I'm still in FL. I'll try to check it out for you Rumblepurr, when I'm back.

Has the list of dates and times of all the productions. The Amsterdam set did go to Paris along with the costumes around 1991. My list has the dates from the plates too.

Got it from a reliable source.

Purrs,
VTWC
Lars

The Oslo Production didn't really use Napier's design, they placed the action in an attic. I checked with the theatre's archive dep and they didn't use a license plate.
Carbucketty

Lars wrote:
The Oslo Production didn't really use Napier's design, they placed the action in an attic. I checked with the theatre's archive dep and they didn't use a license plate.


Did Napier design the set?
Lars

Carbucketty wrote:
Lars wrote:
The Oslo Production didn't really use Napier's design, they placed the action in an attic. I checked with the theatre's archive dep and they didn't use a license plate.


Did Napier design the set?


I have to check my programmes, but I think they used his idea's somewhat, but the Oslo production, as well as the original productions in Guthenburg and Stockholm, didn't use the original direction or choregraphy. The costumes were different, and when they closed in Oslo they sent the costumes to Sweden to be used there. But that's going a bit off topic I guess.
Smudge

The current (I think it's current) Asian tour uses "AWP 96N", with "NSW" written vertically to the left of the "AWP" part.

Some Asian tour or another used "AY T042" and also "TY015" (I believe that is when they were in Teipei). I have a pic of an Asian production in Seoul that has what may be two small letters that I can't read, and then the numbers "8982"

The last German Tour was also "NAP 15".

The only photo I have of Tour III that shows the plate looks like NAP 10 or 12, but that doesn't fit with what you already have...

Also have another very American looking cast, photo taken by Martha Swope, using NAP 10.

Apologies if any of these are repeats!
OldDeuteronomy

Depending on when the Vienna production opened US Tour I's plate may have been NAP-4 if not that then NAP-3
Vice

I had a chance to look at my pictures, and I discovered that the Japanese license plate is in fact the crumpled and illegible version perviously mentioned.
Rumblepurr

Thanks

Just chiming in to thank everyone offering some help on this one. I am having trouble finding photo evidence, although I found some interesting shots of the West End (NLT) and B'Way (WG) plates.

The big hole still is the NAP 4, 5 & 6 plates. And again - trying to find pictures that collaborate the fact. I may have to write John Napier, if he would answer it... Might be worthwhile...

What facts I have on the technical side are up on my website.

Again, thanks...
Rumblepurr Cool
The Writer Cat.
MunkustrapQC

I proposed myself for making the license plate for our production!

I decided that I will write JMH??NAP
JMH : Jean-Martin Hudon, the man who built all the stage
?? : The football number of our director when he played football at University (I will ask to his father what was his number)
NAP : For John Napier and for keep the Cats classic license plate
Vice

My production will most likely have "HLT", "SC-NAP", or "RNT"
HLT - The name of the theatre, Hug Little Theatre.
SC-NAP - SC, My drama teachers name. The NAP is self explainitory.
RNT - What will be the final musical in my High School Career. (RENT: School Edition)
Mungojerrie_rt

I might be reapeating, but;

The Original Dutch was NAP 12.

The '89 Australian tour was AUS 02 which changed to NZ 02 when it went to New Zealand.

The 2000 Australian tent tour changed its letters. It was NT when it opened in the Northern Territory, and changed for each state. So it was QLD when I saw it, and then went through: NSW, ACT, VIC, TAS, SA, WA and NZ for New Zealand again.

Original Vienna was NAP 3.

Euro Tour was NAP 12.

2005 German tour was NAP 15.

2005 Moscow was NAP 17.

I have pics of them But I don't feel like uploading now. Maybe tomorrow.
Rumblepurr

Thanks

Thanks for all the info... The one on Australia Tour changing letters to suit the location was a novel idea.

NOW Looking for NAP 5 & 6 .

Since the more modern ones are being mentioned, I think I lack NAP 16

Rumblepurr Cool
The Writer Cat
OldDeuteronomy

Idon't THINK the Oslo production had a licence plate. I remember hearing that production used an oriiginal set (non-junkyard. Cameron Mackintosh saw the show and approached the producers about doing Les Mis but more like the way it was presented in London and New York (something thatt no Scandanavian country had done at that time) upon agreeing to this the First European producyion was lanched there. (and from the clips I've seen of that version turned out quite well considering thhe theater only held 700 people)
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