Jennyanydots

'Idle and wanton destroyment!'

  Jennyanydots has two (well, two and a half) different costumes (note: This costume description, like all the others on this site, centres around the video, with some notes on the London and B'way/US Tour costumes as well, since those are the only ones I know. Sorry if you're looking for info on other productions) - one, the one she normally wears, is sort of a marmalade tabby, a white base with stripes of various shades of yellow and orange. She has a shortish, fluffy orange/white/yellow wig (I believe it may also have some black in it). Her makeup is largely white, with a touch of orange and yellow. Her makeup remains unchanged through her other two cossies - the first of which is what she appears in for her number, The Old Gumbie Cat (changing to the second costume just before the Beatle Tattoo). This first costume is a very large, very round (and in my opinion, very heavy and hot-looking!) coat, a dingy yellow with leopard-like black rosettes, and thick horizontal 'stripes', basically bunched-up parts of the coat fur (must sound really confusing, the way I describe it!). This coat has a very long tail with the same pattern, and a sort of little hat thing over the wig that matches the coat. However, like I mentioned above, Jenny takes off the coat and hat during her big number, changing to a costume more like her default unitard, but with horizontal stripes with dark orange fringe, kind of in a flapper-style. With this outfit, she wears a pair of tap shoes, as she only wears this flapper unitard for the Beatle's Tattoo, a tap dance.

Jennyanydots can be done a couple of different ways. Most people, it seems, take the rather maternal approach, giving the Gumbie a very bustling, motherly, protective, warm, caring, and perhaps occasionally strict or uptight personality. Like I said, this is the most common approach, but Julie Garnye (and probably others - this is the only one I've seen) seemed to me to have a younger, somewhat more kittenish type of Jennyanydots, with more 'sit and sit and sit and sit' - a quite amusing Gumbie cat, but not, I think, as believable as the older/more maternal/more uptight Jenny. Or maybe I'm just too used to that style.

Cats she seems to have relationships with, and theories about that relationship:

  • Skimbleshanks - One of the two tomcats most often listed as Jenny's mate. Nobody ever seems to think of Skimble as having any other connection to our favourite Gumbie other than this.
  • Bustopher Jones - The other tom considered to be Jennyanydots' lover. Some rather good fanfiction has been written around a Bustopher/Jenny/Skimble love triangle.
  • Any or all of the kittens - Jenny is considered to be either the mother, the aunt, or simply the caretaker of any grouping of kittens. Most often mentioned are Etcetera, Victoria, and Pouncival (dunno why these three).
  • Munkustrap - I've seen many people saying that the silver tabby is Jenny's son. This is, I guess, a possibility (oh, heck, I see all relationships in Cats as possibilities!), but I personally think Jennyanydots is usually too young to be Munku's mother.
  • Jellylorum - Almost always her best friend or sister. I don't think I've ever seen anyone who didn't think they had at least a close friendship.

Actresses who've played her:
  • Susie McKenna - video
  • Anna McNeely - Original Broadway
  • Catherine Terry - London
  • Julie Garnye - Troika tour (5th US tour)
  • Myra Sands - Original London
  • Julie O'Reilly - Aussie tour
  • Susan-Ann Walker - Auckland
  • Tersia Potgieter - Stuttgart 2001
  • Susie Fenwick (also billed as Suzie Fenwick) - London
  • Pernille Schrøder
  • Susan Ann Walker - Auckland 89/90
  • Julie O'Reilly - Australia Tent Tour
  • Suzanne Dressler - Troika Tour (5th US Nat'l tour)
  • Lucinda Collins - UK Tour

If you know of someone who has played Jennyanydots and is not listed here, please e-mail me with their name, performance location, and as much information about the production as you have. Thanks!

Jennyanydots Photo Gallery:
I will eventually put up thumbnails of each of these pics. For now... just click on the links to see each image. And feel free to take and use these pictures. I used to say 'please don't steal', but as one visitor pointed out, they're not mine in the first place, so I don't know what I was thinking. Sharing is caring and all that.

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