Other::Good Friday Night Pussycat Galore

        I've waited for more than a month for that day to come (last Good Friday).  That was the first time Dinah and I got to watch a Broadway musical.  We were at the Three Stages parking lot a few minutes before 8:00 p.m. to see the featured musical, "CATS".  A lot of things were going on in my mind while we were walking towards the entrance.  I told myself, "I bet it's going to be an all-star cast of well loved feline personalities from books, TV and movies.  I bet Garfield will be there, as well as Sylvester, Felix, Tom and maybe I'll even get to see Hello Kitty".  Ok, I was just kidding.  I've known this famous and multi-awarded musical for quite some time now.  My friend Bernie from New York even sent me a playbill when I was still in college in Manila.  But I really didn't know what to expect from it or how it was gonna be like.  All I knew was that they looked like the Thundercats.

Three Stages @ Folsom Lake College

 
        After they checked our E-tickets at the entrance, we were asked to go to the upper level where the H section was.  I told Dinah that it was a good thing she made some effort to dress up since I noticed no one was dressed casually (except for me being a t-shirt & jeans kind of guy).  
        
        After we got seated, I immediately took out my PEN camera and started taking pics of the stage.  One of the ushers approached me and told me that taking pics was not allowed during the show (darn). 

        As soon as they turned off the lights, I noticed some shadowy figures walked toward the audience.  I had a hunch that they were the performers.  I was right.  They lit up some kind of head gear that looked like cats' eyes in the dark.  That opening act reminded me of the very first play I saw at the "Met" when I was in high school.  It was a play called "Panata sa Kalayaan" ("An Oath to Freedom") wherein the performers started coming from behind the audience singing the opening song.  

        Then they hurried back towards the stage for the opening performance - "Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats".  I  was blown away by this performance.  It was also strange that the song sounded familiar to me  Here is a YouTube clip of the same performance from the original cast.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONGa4pFQRII

        Then the program started introducing a new cat character one after another each with a different story and history to share.  The ones that stood out for me were "Tugger"  the macho, a bit on the flirtatious side kind of a cat which strangely reminded me of Freddie Mercury from Queen.  "Bustopher Jones", the 
 fat cat in the tux.  And of course, "Old Deuteronomy" who was kind of like the cat tribe's elder who looked like a yeti to me or the abominable snowman.
         
        Before Act I concluded, they introduced another cat character who looked like an old female cat which was treated like an outcast by the other cats.  That character was "Grizabella", the former glam cat.  She sang "Memory".  That was the first time I heard that song being sang with so much emotion.  When Act I ended, I was left wanting for more "Grizabella" and the song "Memory".  Here is a YouTube clip of the same performance from the original cast.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_slQkHIdXp4

         During the break, Dinah and I got some coffee from the concession stand in the lower level since the one on the upper level only had cold bottled drinks.  I saw one colleague from work volunteering in one of the concession stands in the lower level.  

        We weren't able to finish our coffee before people started heading back so we had to throw them in the garbage bin.  Dinah said that next time she would just share a cup of coffee with me.

        Act II introduced more cat characters.  There was "Gus", the theatre cat, "Skimbleshanks", the railway cat and "Macavity" who was like a notorious criminal cat (cat burglar?) who kidnapped "Old Deuteronomy".

        Then "Tugger" performed again.  The song's melody also sounded somewhat familiar to me:

"Oh well, I never was there ever"
"A cat so clever as magical"
"Mr. Mistoffelees"

        "Mr. Mistoffelees" was like a magician cat.  He magically made "Old Deuteronomy" reappear and the cats were happily reunited once more with their tribe elder.  Here's a YouTube clip I saw of the same performance.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx7HhYXCxa4

         Then "Grizabella" entered the scene again and once more sang "Memory"  My favorite part was when she sang the portion of the song:

"Touch me"
"It's so easy to leave me"
"All alone with my memory"
"Of my days in the sun"
"If you touch me"
"You'll understand what happiness is"
"Look a new day has began"

        So much passion and emotion from the character who played "Grizabella"  I wondered how the original Broadway production must have sounded like, live.  Here's a YouTube clip I saw of Elaine Paige who played "Grizabella" singing the same song and she sounded phenomenal.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPcf67Vyri0

        In the end, "Grizabella" was accepted by the other cats again and she went up in the sky with "Old Deuteronomy" on some kind of flying saucer-like thing.  I knew it!  They're the Thundercats from Thundera!

        It was a very memorable first Broadway musical for me and Dinah.  We hope that more of these Broadway musicals will be featured here at Three Stages.  

        I'm wishing for "Phantom of the Opera", "Jekyll & Hyde", "Les Miserables" and "Miss Saigon".