This is my trip report for the THIRD time I've ever seen Cats, in Escondido, California, Friday, June 28 2002. It was even better than the San Bernardino time... or the London performance... just great. :)

We saw the Troika Tour of Cats for the second time on Friday night. ‘We’ means myself and my best friend, who goes by the name of Threnody online. We went in costume, which was great fun – she in the remains of her Bombalurina costume, coupled with a white fluffy tail loaned to her by me, and her auburn Japanese Beast Wig (and by the way, you people out there who say the JBW is awful – it is SO fantastic!). I wore black, not such a great wig – it was my hair and some of those cat ears on a headband you can buy at Halloween. But oh well, it was fun. And Thren’s a great make-up artist.

So we drove down to Escondido… two hour drive, my poor mother... she didn’t even get to see the show, since I was already paying 42 dollars for my ticket and didn’t feel like buying her one. ^_^;;

Once there, we stopped at the theatre to make sure we could find the place. It’s a bloody confusing place. But we found it, and made sure our tix were at will call, and then went off – in costume, I might add – through Escondido to find a place to buy disposable cameras and a place to eat.

The cameras we got at Rite-Aid. The food we got at Chin’s, a really really scrumptious Chinese restaurant that everyone should go to at least once in their lifetimes. Try the Tangerine Crispy Chicken... and say the kitties sent you. ^_^

Anyhoo, we basically walked all over town in Jellicle costumes. I LOOOOOOVE getting weird looks. My mother, thank Bast, is unembarrassable. My dad would’ve died from the mortification.

After turning many, many heads and nearly causing one or two car wrecks, we went back to the theatre. My mom went off to sit in the car and do some writing, and Thren and I went to locate the stage door. As we walked to it, we passed a really familiar-looking girl in a collar and Cats shirt, who said ‘classy’ in response to our costumes. Coming back from the stage door, I asked if she was Pascal, whom I knew was going to be at the show but had been unable to contact for the past three months, and she said she was!

So after introducing myself as ‘Kalli from the forum’, we talked for a long time. I thought I knew her from San Bernardino, but she has since told me she wasn't AT S.B., so I guess I'm a psychical cat, cos she looked really familiar.

Oh, and great collar, Pasc!

Anyway.

So we went INTO the theatre, and in the bathroom, received a billion ‘oh, how CUTE!’s from little old ladies, and one ‘is that one of the actors, mommy?’ from one of what must’ve been thousands of adorable young Cats fans in that theatre. We saw so many…

This particular one had a very amusing dialogue behind me. I was putting on my lipstick, and listened to the whole thing (eavesdropper that I am):

Anyway… our seats were perfectly MAHVELOUS, dead centre, PERRRFECT level… 208 and 207 in Row U, LC ORCH. It was GREAT.

Waved to Pascal in the mezzanine, read our programmes frantically, talked excitedly, and became introduced to the ALCF (adorable little Cats fan) in front of us. Her mother told us that they had the DVD, and had originally gotten it cos it looked like a cute little kitty-cat thing to watch with their then-3 year old daughter. Now the girl knew all the songs by heart and adored it, so they came to see it.

Why is it that the only really cute little kids are the ones I saw in the theatre that night?

The show was really great, and it was soooo hard not to get up and dance… or at least sing along. Mr Mistoffelees as always was truly splendid, Rum Tum Tugger was played by Colin Cunliffe – whom I saw as Skimbleshanks last time – and he gave it so much energy, it was great fun. I commented on all the actors last time, but there were a couple new performances.

First of all, Warren Freeman as Skimbleshanks:
My god… that was the CUTEST most ADORABLE and most KITTENLIKE Skimble I’ve ever seen!! Hyper and bouncy and lovable… and he did the Mouse thing in Gumbie Cat with the kittens. So cute.

Melissa Emrico’s Cassandra:
What can I say? I couldn’t tell her apart from the woman who played her in the last performance (Tina Moya)… sigh. Which is to say, great balletically and not much personality in the character.

Pamela Rainey as Rumpelteazer:
Adorable adorable ADORABLE! All the new people were adorable! Everyone was adorable! I was adorable, lol! … *calms down* Right. So, Pamela Rainey… well, she really WAS adorable. Great chemistry between her and Bryce.

Shylo Smith as Victoria:
Last time we saw the show, Susanna Hirst was understudying for Shylo, so I didn’t get to see her. She was marvellous. A really beautiful Victoria, fantastic dancer, and very sweet at the stage door – and I promised I wouldn’t put her picture on the Internet, so you have to go and see the show to see her. ^_^

Katie Ann Wanner as Sillabub:
She was every bit as adorable as Pamela Rainey! Lovely voice, very childlike and young-sounding (I mean that in a very good way, it works fantastically for Sillabub). Very sweet-looking.

I would just like to thank whatever gods there may be that McCree O’Kelley wasn’t being understudied either time I’ve now seen the tour. He is SO goddamn amazing. I love him! *squeals quietly and falls over* And I got a picture with him… and he HUGGED me… … I will put all that stage door stuff later, yes I will…

During the intermission, Thren and I went to the lobby and scanned the stuff they were selling at the souvenir kiosk. Then we made Plans (yes, it deserves that capitalised initial!). The Plan was for how to buy the souvenirs we wanted and get to the stage door in time for autographs, cos neither of us had any money on us to buy it during intermission. The Plan ended up being, after the show, Thren would do what Pascal called the fifteen-second Stage Door dash, bringing the camera and both our programmes. I would grab my mother, tell her what we wanted to buy and inform her that I would arrange the financial matters later, and do the Dash myself. (I love capital letters. Sorry.)

During intermission, whilst we stood on the steps of the lobby plotting how to get autographs AND souvenirs, we got a lot of attention over our costumes. One little kid wanted to hug and kiss the kitty! He was one of the ALCFs, naturally. And this one guy (adult, btw) asked for our autographs!! We told him we weren’t in the cast, but he said his kids would never know… he was quite persistent, so we ended up signing! It rocked.

Second half as amazing as the first, obviously. I can’t think of anything in particular to note about it… Skimbleshanks was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO adorable, Mistoffelees’ song and dance was incredible, and there was a helluva lot of haze in the Ad-Dressing. Gretchen Goldsworthy’s Grizabella has more glamour cat in it than Chrissie Hammond’s or Elaine Paige’s… much more empathic, and beautiful voice. Miss Goldsworthy is outstanding.

Um, anything else? No… dun think so… Oh, we did a standing ovation but did it too early so we ended up standing through all the curtain calls and everything. Lol. Silly us…

Then came the madcap Stage Door Dash. My mother was in the lobby, so I grabbed her arm, told her ‘buy the t-shirt, the magnet set, and the souvenir brochure!! I’ll pay!’ and Thren & I accordingly Dashed.

We ended up running the wrong way. With tails whipping against our legs and my shoes were NOT made for running – they were made for looking good and adding a few inches to my 5’4”. Anyway, after we stopped, figured out where we were and discovered that we had gone totally the opposite direction, we ran AGAIN, and made it to the stage door.

Pascal was there, as were some other fans. Turns out I vaguely knew one of them… been to her website. Great site, btw, Tippiebrown…

This thing is getting SO way long, I think I’ll kind of go fast through the stage door stuff. So, to begin with… we brought a camera this time, so I got pics with most of the actors. However, I won’t put them up on this site unless I get permission from the actors – Shylo Smith, for one, requested that I not put the pic of her on the Internet. If I can get permission from some of the actors, though, I want to put ‘em up…

Got autographs from…

Karl Warden (Swing)

He doesn’t look as much like Simon offline, does he, Thren? Oh well. He was very nice. I started raving like a lunatic to him about his website (www.karlwarden.com - go to it!)

Dave Blonn (Pouncival)

My mother talked with Dave for a long time. I’m quite jealous. *g* He was the second person whom I informed ‘oh I’ve been to your website!’

Bryce Bermingham (Mungojerrie)

Hey, I recognised him! Cool. Oh, and he was the THIRD ‘I’ve been to your website!’er.

Shylo Smith (Victoria)

The most beautiful Victoria ever… although Julie Carlton could give her a run for her money…

Colin Cunliffe (Swing, played Rum Tum Tugger)

As he was signing my programme, I told him that I’d seen him in San Bernardino as Skimbleshanks. His response? He said that was weird, but cool. I told him I remembered him very well because he was so hyper outside the stage door, to which he said ‘Yeah, that was probably me.’

Everett Taylor (Macavity/Plato)

He and Bryn Walters are my two favourite Platos… Everett’s so FUNNY as Plato! Great Macca, too. And I love his pen!

McCree O’Kelley (Mistoffelees)

What can I say… he’s amazing… I’ve already said that, and I’ll say it again! WOW. Oh, and he hugged me! Yay!

Grant Turner (Munkustrap)

First, I mentioned that Munkustrap was my ‘absolute favourite cat of all time’ (I tend to get a little shrill and Etcetera-like when around Grant). He told me that this was a wise decision (in, I might add, a dreamy Australian accent… I’m in love… ^_^). He said basically the same thing in S.B. ;) Second, I got a picture with him and HE HUGGED ME. *faints* Like I said before, I’m in love… Oh – and I like him a lot better now than I did in S.B. I didn’t know what to expect then, and I was used to the Michael Gruber type Munku, or at least David Ashley’s rather warrior-like Munku… Grant Turner was very different. However, now that I’ve seen him again, I can safely say that those differences are a good thing, and he is MARVELOUS.

Brad Barnes (Dance Captain/Swing – once-Tumblebrutus, to-be-Tumblebrutus)

He wasn’t actually in it, but I got his autograph anyway! *laughs*

William Hartery (Gus/Growltiger/Bustopher Jones)

All I’m gonna say is… interesting beard, William!

Sharon Honeycutt (Bombalurina)

She looked tired. Very tired. I don’t really blame her. But I kept calling her ‘Sharon Honeycat’. Oh, and – her British accent didn’t show up at all during the show this time!

Julie Garnye (Jennyanydots)

The FOURTH and final person to whom I squealed ‘I’ve been to your website!!’ She was a very nice woman.

Wendi Bergamini (Jellylorum/Griddlebone)

To tell you the truth, I don’t remember her at the stage door too well… kind of a sign-and-run affair…

Warren Freeman (Skimbleshanks)

See Wendi’s note… he was adorably kitten-like onstage, though!

Matthew Kiernan (Swing [Spike])

A very nice person. One of my first autographs, and one which I was very happy to get because he joined the cast post-S.B., so I hadn’t gotten his autograph then. Oh, and I’m PRETTY sure this was the guy who told me & Thren that his cat’s name was Spike! It might’ve been Tucker Ty…

Tucker Ty (Swing and maybe Spike)

Um, see Matt’s note. Pretty much exactly the same, except his autograph came later in the evening.

Ronnie Nelson (Alonzo/Rumpuscat)

So tell me… why the hell is he billed as the Rumpus Cat when there IS NO PEKES AND POLLICLES IN THE FREAKIN’ TOUR?! … I’m calmed down now… anyway, I mistook him for Grant at first – I think he’s grown taller since S.B. – and felt like a fool when Bryce corrected me. But oh well. He’s awfully cute, too. ^_^

Leslie Brown (Wardrobe Supervisor)

I asked for her autograph, and she told me she wasn’t in the show. I asked what she did, and she said she was a costume person. I said, ‘Can I have your autograph anyway?’ and so she signed my programme! Wasn’t that nice of her? :)

So, those are my autographs. Everyone was exceptionally nice. And I like getting hugs from cute Cats performers. ^_^ By the end of the evening, I was an expert at saying ‘Can I have your autograph? Which cat were you? Would you mind if I took a picture with you?’

Oh, and… if by any very cool chance any of the actors are READING this, well… you guys did an AMAZING job.

On the way home, we sang the entire musical (skipping all the instrumental, since it’s very hard to sing an orchestra), decided to perform Macavity for the Homeschool conference talent show this August (long story), and discussed the differences between the tour and the London performance. Main differences: The London prod was in the same theatre for 21 years, whereas this was the opening night for a tour that stays in one place for little more than a few days. Second, the cast was smaller, and the set & costumes a little less… well… polished looking. Not in a bad way. Just in a… well, way. I guess. I don’t make much sense at 1 am. Anyway, the third difference was that I got the feeling, from the London production, that some of those actors considered it a job. And little, if anything, more. But the tour… I think everyone in the tour is there because they love the show, and they love performing. The energy is overwhelming, and it makes a HUGE difference.

Which isn’t to say that everyone in the London prod was like that, cos it was only one or two people… I won’t name names… and it was phenomenal. But it was those one or two people, versus the feeling of fun and passion from the ENTIRE tour cast… so, anyway, great show. And I look forward to seeing it again in 2003 at the Cerritos Performing Arts Centre, where Thren and I shall be Tantomile and Coricopat…