PART ONE
“When Cats Are Maddened By The Midnight Dance”
Midnight. Not a sound from the pavement.
Suddenly an explosion of lights and music fills the theatre, revealing a
larger-than-life junkyard. Probing car lights tear across the darkened landscape of
bottles and boxes, briefly catching the darting image of a running feline.
One by one, the curious cats emerge. Tonight is the one special night each year when
the tribe of Jellicle Cats reunites to celebrate who they are. In “Jellicle Songs For
Jellicle Cats” they emerge singing of their unique abilities and special traits.
“We can dart through the air / Like a flying trapeze / We can do double somersaults /
Bounce on a tire,” they sing in a fusion of poetry and dance.
But the cats are not alone. Humans (the audience) are present in the cats’ private
world. The cats are at first reluctant and suspicious to include others in their domain.
They are proud, however, and in “The Naming of Cats” they explain to their human
visitors who they are and reveal that cats have three different names: the one the family
uses daily, the more dignified name and a secret name. It is the cat’s contemplation of
the latter that keeps felines in deep thought.
The young and innocent white cat Victoria performs a solo dance, which signals the
beginning of “The Invitation to the Jellicle Ball.” Munkustrap, a large grey
tabby who serves as the show’s narrator, explains that the Jellicle Cats meet once a year
to rejoice! He also explains that they are waiting for their leader, the wise Old
Deuteronomy, who will choose which one of the Jellicle Cats will this year journey to the
Heavyside Layer to be “reborn” to a new life!
From this point onward, each of the cats tells his own story in song and dance, hoping
to be chosen as the special cat to come back to a different Jellicle life.
Munkustrap introduces Jennyanydots, “The Old Gumbie Cat,” who sleeps and
lounges all day long. “She sits and sits and sits and sits, and that’s what makes a
Gumbie cat!” But at night, she becomes a super-active nanny. She instructs the mice
in music and crochet work, and keeps the cockroaches busy. The cats take this opportunity
to dress up with Jenny and perform an exuberant tap dance.
The second cat we are introduced to is “The Rum Tum Tugger,” a playful
prankster that the female cats find extremely attractive. Tugger explains how fussy he can
be: he wants what he doesn’t have, and doesn’t want what’s offered to him. The one thing
that he does enjoy is being the center of attention, which he is throughout the number.
The evening takes a somber turn when the outcast figure “Grizabella, The Glamour
Cat” appears. Although she is a Jellicle Cat, the rest of the tribe shun her. She had
left the tribe years ago to explore the outside world. The outside world has been hard on
her, however, and she who was once a beautiful and glamorous feline is now tattered and
torn. Although she wants to return, the other cats are cruel, clawing and hissing at her.
But Grizabella is proud, and she vows to return.
The next cat to join the proceedings is the hefty “Bustopher Jones.” A large
“twenty-five pounder,” always clad in his signature white spats, Bustopher
spends his time eating, eating and eating in one of the many English pubs and clubs that
he frequents. Jennyanydots is quite besauntered with him, and helps sing his praises. He
responds, to her great delight, by kissing her hand.
Suddenly there is a thunderous crash, followed by the sound of police sirens and
flashing red lights. The villainous cat Macavity is on the loose! The cats scatter,
leaving an empty stage.
Two off-stage giggles signal the entrance of “Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer,”
a fun-loving, frolicking team of pranksters, always getting in trouble with the family
with whom they live. “When the drawers are pulled out from the bedroom chests / And
you can’t find one of your winter vests / Or after supper one of the girls / Suddenly
misses her Woolworth pearls…” the family knows it’s the work of Mungojerrie and
Rumpleteazer!
The entire tribe rejoins as their benevolent and wise leader “Old
Deuteronomy” arrives. The cats adore and respect him. “And now that the Jellicle
leader is here, Jellicle Cats can all rejoice!”
Munkustrap has assembled some entertainment for Deuteronomy. The cats put on a show
called “The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles together with The Marching
Song of the Pollicle Dogs.” In the show, which Munkustrap narrates, the cats dress up
as two rival dog factions: the Pekes and the Pollicles. The two groups bark ceaselessly at
each other, until they are frightened away by the great Rumpus Cat, a sleek, powerful
feline.
The action is intruded by yet another crash from the villainous Macavity, which sends
the cats scurrying! Old Deuteronomy soothes them, as they come back one by one.
“Jellicle Cats come out tonight…” he beckons. It is time for “The
Jellicle Ball,” the great yearly dance in which all of the cats celebrate!
Grizabella intrudes once more, wanting to rejoin her family and be a part of the
celebration. The cats again scorn her. She is left to contemplate her “Memory”
of the time before she left the tribe, when she was once young, beautiful and happy.
“I remember the time I knew what happiness was,” she sings dejectedly. She
yearns to be accepted, and she stretches out her hand behind her hoping another cat will
touch her. It doesn’t happen. She slinks off into the night.
PART TWO
“Why Will The Summer Delay – When Will Time Flow Away”
It’s after the Jellicle Ball, and the cats are resting, contemplating “The Moments
of Happiness” before they resume introducing more cats.
“Gus The Theatre Cat” appears next. He’s an aged stage actor suffering from
palsy, who worked with the greatest actors of his day. Gus tells of his greatest
theatrical triumphs, and yearns to do it again. In the fantasy sequence “Growltiger’s
Last Stand,” Gus relives one such triumph, playing the pirate Growltiger. In this
sequence, Growltiger, a feared feline sea captain and his amour, Griddlebone, meet an
untimely end after battling a crew of Siamese sailors.
We are pulled back to the present as “Skimbleshanks The Railway Cat”
introduces himself. A friendly uncle to all of the cats, Skimbleshanks attends the trains
he rides, and makes sure every detail is perfect. “For Skimble won’t let anything go
wrong!” he proclaims.
A third crash interrupts the celebration, and this time the villainous Macavity
appears! Two of his henchman invade the proceedings and kidnap Old Deuteronomy! Two
felines familiar with Macavity, Demeter (a frightened kitten who had been previously
abducted by Macavity) and the older and more sensual Bombalurina (a goodtime girl who gets
along with everyone) sing what they know of “Macavity,” whose evil deeds have
gotten him dubbed “the Napoleon of crime!”
Macavity returns, disguised as Old Deuteronomy, but he is revealed, and he battles with
Munkustrap and the other male cats. Tired and almost defeated, Macavity rigs an electrical
explosion that puts out all the lights, leaving the Jellicles in the dark. “We have
to find Old Deuteronomy,” they insist.
The Rum Tum Tugger calls in “Mr. Mistoffelees,” the original “conjuring
cat” to use his magical powers to bring back their leader. Mistoffelees succeeds in
getting back all of the lights, relocating Old Deuteronomy, and showing off his magic
tricks, including his infamous “conjuring turn.”
At last, the time has come for Old Deuteronomy to make the Jellicle Choice and decide
which one cat will be reborn into a new Jellicle life. At that moment, Grizabella
reappears. Again she recalls her “Memory” of how things used to be. “Touch
me…” she pleads to her brothers and sisters, yearning to come back to them. This
time, through a greater appreciation of tolerance, the cats accept her back into the
tribe. It is she who is then chosen to “Journey to the Heavyside Layer” and be
reborn! On a magical tire, Old Deuteronomy escorts Grizabella “up, up, up to the
Heavyside Layer…”
The Jellicle Ball has come to a conclusion, but first Old Deuteronomy instructs the
human spectators in “The Ad-dressing of Cats.” For all of their unique qualities
and differences, he says, “cats are very much like you.” And thus ends the
annual celebration of cats!