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[0:00] Mike Abrams: There's a cat over here. There's a cat over there. And the wrong one died. And the wrong one died.

[0:15] Mike Abrams: Welcome to The Wrong Cat Died, the podcast breakdown of Catastrophe. I'm your host, Mike Abrams.

[0:19] Alan Seales: And welcome to an all-new episode of The Theatre Podcast. I'm your host, Alan Seales.

[0:24] Alan Seales: We are doing a Broadway Podcast Network crossover today. We had the pleasure of seeing Cats the Jellicle Ball at the Perlman Performing Arts Center tonight. We saw the second preview, and this will be coming out after they have officially opened.

[0:42] Alan Seales: And what an incredible show. So I'm going to kick us off here. I want to ask you, is this what you expected?

[0:47] Mike Abrams: No, it was not what I expected in a very good way, because I did not know the extent of the ballroom dancing, how it was integrated into the show.

[1:00] Mike Abrams: Because when you say ballroom, that conjures up a couple different types of dancing styles. This was so far beyond my expectations. Unbelievable. So having talked to the directors, the musical director, and had the chance to kind of hear the thought behind it, I had a little bit of a better idea going in. But it still exceeded my expectations by so much.

[1:25] Mike Abrams: The energy in the crowd is unbelievable. It is so much fun of a crowd.

[1:31] Alan Seales: And they say that in the intro, too. And if we didn't imply this already, warning, spoilers.

[1:38] Mike Abrams: And so it starts out ultimately just getting the crowd involved. They're like, you're part of the dance. You're part of the party. Talk along with us. Shout it out. So they encourage you from the beginning to just express yourself and yell through the whole thing. And so the music never stops because this is Cats. So you're always able to add on to the noise.

[1:58] Alan Seales: Yeah. So let's give a quick rundown of kind of what to expect. So you call out a spoiler alert, which is good because we're going to talk a little bit about this particular production, but also it's at its core Cats, which is, we can't spoil. It's been around for way too long for us to have an alert on that for at this point.

[2:14] Mike Abrams: But they do start that way and you are getting a very traditional storytelling of Cats. It runs through the music in order with the same kind of musical numbers, but with this other interpretation through it. Because they're not in Cats. It's not the traditional dance number you want, but from a poetry storytelling perspective, it's the same.

[2:38] Alan Seales: That's a really good point because that's something that I found was very, very helpful. And we've always joked about it for years on your podcast, The Wrong Cat Died, that it's, you know, American Idol meets X Factor meets some sort of thing where people actually die.

[3:05] Mike Abrams: And so it's this unspoken competition. And then tonight they actually made it a competition by having all of the characters, you know, when they're singing, they always end it with a dance off. And the whole thing just goes and goes being judged by none other than Old Deuteronomy, who is Andre the Mother Flippin' Shields.

[3:26] Alan Seales: And there were two special guests. I don't know if we have who they were, but there were guest judges too in the beginning because Old Deuteronomy doesn't come out, you know, in the regular story and the normal original Cats either until partway through Act One. So there were some other guest judges that were having a blast.

[3:44] Mike Abrams: I thought they were just audience members.

[3:47] Alan Seales: I think they are ballroom. I think they are, if you are a ballroom knowledgeable, which neither of us are, that I think it was people from the ballroom culture because there was, I wish I took a picture of it. There was an announcement outside that had two pictures and two names and some background on them. So I think they have different ballroom judges every night.

[4:10] Mike Abrams: Oh, so every single night.

[4:11] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[4:12] Mike Abrams: That's really cool. So I guess that's a celebrity aspect that they're pulling all that in.

[4:17] Alan Seales: Yeah. No, they were having a blast. I actually thought they were cast members at first because one of the two of them was so animated and so excited that I thought she was like, she's got to be a character right now.

[4:28] Mike Abrams: No, they were there. I think they were brought for this particular reason.

[4:31] Alan Seales: That's funny.

[4:32] Mike Abrams: Okay. I want to talk about one thing in particular that I thought was, I was interested in really a lot because there was never a picture or never really an idea, which was the set because we got a runway. We had tables kind of cabaret style in the front. We had seats on the side, seats in the back. There was a balcony, but there was stuff going on around everywhere.

[4:56] Alan Seales: This was kind of a good combination of Here Lies Love meets cabaret.

[5:02] Mike Abrams: Yeah.

[5:03] Mike Abrams: So it was in, it's a thrust stage essentially because everyone's sat in a U around this runway. And then everyone, like we were sitting at one of one, two, three, six, eight cabaret tables. Maybe not even probably like five or six at most.

[5:19] Alan Seales: I think it was six at most. Yeah. So we were literally right there at the tip of the table in this cabaret table. And all of the whole cast is coming down the steps next to us and they're looking right at us and dancing behind us, singing in our faces. And at the end, we got a nice shot of Andre De Shields' butt.

[5:35] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[5:36] Mike Abrams: Right in our face.

[5:37] Alan Seales: Right in our face for the very, very entire bows. That was such an aspect that I loved seeing Cats the musical was the junkyard feel. It's like you felt like you walked into that experience. And here I felt like I walked into a ballroom. There's a DJ up, there's the disco ball, which was a really cool interpretation of the Jelko Moon. There's the whole thing is right in front of you, but also it's the performers are utilizing the whole space. So no matter where you are sitting, you are going to have a cat probably around you, someone dancing by you and just this like visceral experience with it.

[6:10] Alan Seales: So, so, so in front of you. The thing about this show is whether you love or hate cats. And I do have a message, which I can read here from someone who hated cats and went to the first preview and then sent me like, they don't like cats. They're, they're very clear that they're not a cats fan. And this was their message.

[6:31] Mike Abrams: Well, cats was everything. I really was overwhelmed with how much I love theater and feel the theater magic. And I cried a ton. This is the first time in a long time that a show has got that out of me. I'm not even crying at anything sad. And this is again, someone who hates cats. Like they, they say very clearly a few messages later, and I don't like cats and this is still, I felt.

[6:50] Alan Seales: And I think that's something that's really cool about the show is because cats is polarizing as a musical. And this version, while as someone like me who knows cats and very little about ballroom and too much about cats, I got to like watch a version of cats that was like, I, it's still, it's still held true.

[7:08] Mike Abrams: And there were some really cool parts, which we can get into about the relationships that they played and like all that stuff that if you are a cat super fan, you're going to love some of the different things, the tweaks that they do that still really pays homage to the original. But if you're a cat's hater and it's because he didn't like it because there's no story or, you know, whatever it is, there's such energy in that room that there's no way you're not going to get chills from everyone around you just having the most fun time of their life.

[7:35] Alan Seales: It is a very interactive show energy wise. You're right. You're absolutely right. And we'll tell you your friend who sent the text, who I know is Dame Judi Dench, don't lie.

[7:43] Mike Abrams: It's James Corden.

[7:48] Alan Seales: Yeah, James Corden. Taylor Swift. I know you're texting all these people.

[7:55] Mike Abrams: They're collectively sending you. Travis Kelsey.

[7:59] Alan Seales: Yeah. So the energy in the room is, is infectious and it, and maybe it was where we're sitting or again, maybe it was the sound designer, just the way that everything was, but we were like right there in the damn center of the space.

[8:04] Mike Abrams: I felt like I was on stage and everything, the energy, the music and everything was pointing to the center at us. And, and you're right. If you don't like cats, then this is just a show that stands alone with some good music because I, you know, the story, what story of cats? There is no story of cats, but the music itself, I'm not going to lie. I, that, that has a special place.

[8:24] Alan Seales: I love the music. The music's great. And this adds a little story because you get the ballroom competitions within each segment of the show. And because of that, you get a little bit more to the story maybe than you didn't get otherwise.

[8:35] Mike Abrams: It's a different interpretation because again, like most of my show is about the relationships and the backstories and you could see they played into a lot of those.

[8:46] Alan Seales: Yeah. There were certain things that Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer were doing and there were moments like there is for the Tugger Mistoffelees. If you are, if you are in on that bandwagon, they, they lean into that relationship.

[9:00] Mike Abrams: Tugstoffelees is, is, is being amplified for, for that, which is great because that's something they lean into. But there were also the way they use Cillabub throughout the show. The way they do a bunch of the characters, even BustforJones, who is pretty, pretty universally panned by the cats fandom.

[9:18] Alan Seales: That, that particular number and the performer, they were so good.

[9:25] Mike Abrams: Yeah. And played by Norah Schell, who I believe is, uses they, them pronouns. But what was very cool in the show was instead of seeing BustforJones, he, he, he, they were seeing BustforJones, they, they, they. And it, I just, I love, I love that they've made, you know, they've made that little tweak that maybe you don't even catch.

[9:41] Alan Seales: I don't even think you caught it in the moment, but I didn't. But then I caught it again with Skimbleshanks because they said it was for she, because Skimbleshanks played by Emma Sophia, who, former guest and is, oh, what, it's so much fun. I love Emma.

[10:00] Mike Abrams: Emma was one of my favorite stories I've ever heard about somebody who didn't put cats. And so for her to get her moment, to be able to do this, like I, I, when I saw her in the casting list, I immediately messaged her and I was so glad she had her full circle moment of getting cast in Cats Now.

[10:10] Alan Seales: And they did the same thing with Skimbleshanks and they said, they said she for her.

[10:15] Mike Abrams: Yeah. Skimble, Skimble was, she did a female Skimble as an MTA operator and it was just, it was so fun.

[10:28] Alan Seales: Okay. Let's talk about the choreography for a second too, because this is just nonstop dancing. Cats is always nonstop dancing, but normally it's much more traditional and ballet and what you might think of traditional ballroom, maybe a little bit, but no, this is modern, as modern as it could be with so many callbacks and, and um, shout outs to the pop culture moments.

[10:56] Mike Abrams: It is, again, I just enjoyed every single thing because every number was so different and it was actually, I actually don't want to spoil it, but what happened when old dude got taken away, I thought was a little bit, was very, very good choice to call that out.

[11:06] Alan Seales: Yeah. I mean, I think if you haven't listened to On the Wrong Cat Died, we did an episode with the two directors and the musical director. So Jalen and Bill, the directors explained a lot about that and talked about how they hired two choreographers from the ballroom scene. So Arturo and Omri are, are really, really, really good at what they do.

[11:29] Mike Abrams: And you could see that what they infused into it, but also where they kind of paid some homage to what is cats still, like there were moments where, you know, they're not in cat. I think it's important that they're not dressed up in, in cats with tails. They are dressed up as humans, in the ballroom scene, they have some cats motions. They kind of kept some pieces of it, but they did a really good job of blurring those two lines of, of mixing the worlds.

[11:58] Alan Seales: Andy Blankenbueher, like, you like the modern new version, you're still gonna see pieces of that, but you're gonna get this ballroom part that's just so fun.

[12:05] Alan Seales: It really is fun. I mean, I just want to give shout outs to all of the cast. I mean, Antoine Hopper is Macavity. Most recently on Broadway in A Strange Loop, Shirin Pimentel is Jellylorum. I mean, yeah, this cast is so freaking good. Baby is Victoria, and oh, the understudy for Skimbleshanks too. But yeah, the white cat, Victoria. And what else did she do? What was she representing as the black cat? She switched costumes. So she switched costumes because what they did, they did make some people around where, you know, like Emma played, I think, Cassandra and Skimbleshanks, right? So she was in the beginning in Act One, she was bouncing around with Jenny Annie Dots and, like, really leaning into that, and then came out as the MTA Skimbleshanks in Act Two.

But they also were doing, because they did in their competitions, this is going to be a really bad description of ballroom scenes, because as someone who doesn't know it, but the way it was explained to me is that there are houses, which is the groups that are together. It's like a tribe almost, which is why, again, it fits such a good cats kind of theme. But they do these kind of one V one, like dance offs, essentially, and on the catwalk. And so there would be a, I think the very first one was, there was at one point, I'm not sure if it was exactly first, but one of them was like Pretty Boy versus, like, an American boy and something. And then there was like the duos and tag team. And then the one that you were talking about was the Glamour.

Which was cool, because we got the Glamour cat into it. But they were dressed up in, like, Prada, and it was like during the Macavity kind of number. Right, right, right. Yeah. Let's go back to Jenny Annie Dots for a second, played by Xavier Reyes. I don't know what pronouns Xavier uses, but Xavier presents as a man, but is very much dressed completely in drag for Jenny Annie Dots. He just played it and sung it so well. And that was, I think, let's talk about that particular part, because that's, Jenny Annie Dots is the first one that, quote unquote, wins their battle.

[14:11] Alan Seales: Because they're using actual trophies.

[14:14] Alan Seales: Yes, they have actual trophies. And so Jenny Annie Dots won, or I guess Cassandra won for Jenny Annie Dots. But they go up and—

[14:22] Alan Seales: Because she's a stage mom.

[14:23] Alan Seales: Yeah, she was very much a stage mom. The judges go up and hand a trophy. And I said to Jalen after the show, I said, this is the first time I got to watch another cat that's not Grizabella win. And it made me so happy, because that's what I've been fighting for. So they gave me at least moments. There's still, you know, there's still Grizabella goes to the Heaviside Layer, spoiler alert. But I got some moments where Tugger got to win, Cassandra got to win, Bustopher Jones got to win, Macavity got to win. I love, I will clarify if you don't want to know, one of my favorite tweaks was Mungojerry and Rumpelteazer did not win, but then they steal the trophy, which is the best on-brand thing that they could have done. Because I was like, oh, they lost? Why'd they lose? And then they tell you, I was like, oh, that's so good. They still get the trophy.

[15:13] Alan Seales: Right. Right. Yeah. I'm looking through the rest here. I mean, Chastity Moore, who played Grizabella too, she's like, they played that in such a subtle take on Grizabella. And the fact that like, you know, she's looking back at the glory days of when she used to walk the runway and be able to compete and, you know, struggling to get up the steps. And she has like this old ratty trophy that's probably, you know, 50 years old or whatever it is. But yeah, just the way they tied it all together in the actual competition format is, it's just brilliant. I can't say enough nice things about this. I just love it.

[15:52] Alan Seales: Yeah. And Temptress is a very well-known ballroom icon. She's well-known. Like, so that was kind of like a very smart use of like, let's blur these two worlds together.

[16:02] Alan Seales: Yeah. And she can sing. I mean, she really sang. I mean, she's got to be able to do "Memory." Like, that's the iconic number everyone knows. And she really belted it out.

[16:11] Alan Seales: One person we haven't talked about, which floored me, because it's also a very, this is a difference from, I think, what you expect, but Robert Silkmason as Mistoffelees.

[16:22] Alan Seales: Robert Silkmason as Magical Mistoffelees deserves all the shout outs because, I mean, they can do 180 degree split.

[16:31] Alan Seales: The splits were crazy.

[16:32] Alan Seales: And the pirouettes. And like, I think there's actual Juilliard ballet. Yeah, went to the Juilliard School of Dance. So they are Juilliard-trained ballet dancer. The thing that threw me off, and maybe part of it was heels, is Mistoffelees is usually this short, tiny cat.

[16:50] Alan Seales: Kind of nerdy magician.

[16:51] Alan Seales: Yeah. Silk is like six-five, at least.

[16:56] Alan Seales: I mean, so tall.

[16:57] Alan Seales: All legs.

[16:58] Alan Seales: All legs, but utilizes that and makes this like, has so much fun with the magic. The magic was hilarious. There was a little, some of it was like right in my face at one point. But it was like, their dancing was so strong. And, you know, being able to do a version of the turns, being able to do all the splits and all the different leg lifts and everything to kind of bring that together as one of the main dancing numbers. And I thought it was really smart that they picked, I don't know if this was intentional, but a lot of the heavy dance numbers were the ballroom people.

[17:34] Alan Seales: Yes. Yes, yes, yes.

[17:35] Alan Seales: And so you got really, really strong of that ballroom aspect.

[17:39] Alan Seales: Yeah. There was so much of just hardcore ballroom dancing that they kept coming back to. And again, everything, the energy just pointed at us. It was an experience. I mean, I was blinded by stage lights because we were on stage. I thought at one point I was going to be the Jellicle Choice. I thought I was going to have my dream come true because we were in the show. We felt so in the show, was so blinded. And I was, there was one point I was like, this is what they feel like when they're, when they're singing their big solos. Like, ah, I'm going to pretend just for a half a second.

[18:13] Alan Seales: I love it too, because if you didn't see on social media, which I believe will be posted at that point, I was wearing a shirt that has the 2019 Dame Judi Dench. Dame Judi Dench. That says, you'll never be my Jellicle Choice. Nice pixelated Dame Judi Dench. It was Dame Judi Dench, nonetheless. It was the only way you could sell it on the internet without getting in trouble, is my assumption. But because of that being my shirt and where I was sitting, every time the spotlight hit me, I'm like, we knew somebody sitting on the other side of us. I was like, she's going to have to see this, my shirt behind, behind Andre De Shields.

[18:50] Alan Seales: Yep. Yep.

[18:50] Alan Seales: Oh yeah, so Andre and the judges were behind us. We were between the judges and the runway. It was the perfect spot. It was so cool to hear everyone literally singing behind us while hearing the, you could hear the individual voices behind us while hearing the mix and everybody else coming from the speakers above us. And it was, it was such a surreal experience.

[19:12] Alan Seales: So we got to talk about Gus.

[19:14] Alan Seales: Gus Junior LaBeija. This dude came out and commanded the respect of the icon of the audience. Let me just tell you, there was a guy about four or five seats down from us who was loving everything about the show. I mean, just in his element and the minute Gus came out, he stood and he gave a standing ovation before he said a single word. He was standing ovation for the whole song. And I mean, this is a legend in the ballroom scene, it seems like. And he has like a presence, a stage presence like nobody you've ever seen. He barely moved and commanded. It's one of those King George from Hamilton sort of subtle performances that it steals the show by barely moving. But he's also, because of like his history and his status as an icon, he is like, he is Gus. Like he's the epitome of it.

[20:16] Alan Seales: And so it was just perfect. And the Jellylorum could sing.

[20:20] Alan Seales: Yeah, Jellylorum played by Shireen Pimentel. She can just, I mean, I think she's the most, I would say, experienced Broadway person. She was Young Nala in Lion King on Broadway, Guinevere in Camelot at the Muni. I mean, she's been in the on-course production of Into the Woods as Rapunzel. I think she's probably followed the most Broadway focused career track out of everyone so far, except maybe, or in addition to Antoine Hopper from A Strange Loop, who was Macavity. And Andre De Shields.

[20:49] Alan Seales: And well, okay. And that guy, that one guy.

[20:56] Alan Seales: Andre Motherflippin De Shields is in his own category.

[21:00] Alan Seales: Yeah, for sure. Like when he got to the throne, and he's got this amazing outfit as old dude, got to the throne before he even sat down, just took his moment and acknowledged everyone in the crowd. Like the amount of respect the community has for this guy is palpable. It was so cool to experience that, literally feeling like I was on stage for them. And feeling like old Deuteronomy, like he's commanding the whole tribe.

[21:33] Alan Seales: Yeah. I love that they handed him these like 10 commandments, and it had the Jellicle Moon in different stages, and they lit up, and he was just showing the crowd in slow motion. So there were a lot of little Easter eggs like that, that I feel like I need to go back 20 more times to just catch all the different people and sit in different seats to see the different angles. Because there's stuff behind us happening all the time. There was a whole bar behind us. I don't know if you noticed that over your right shoulder, there was a bar.

[21:58] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[21:58] Alan Seales: And they were drinking in parts. They were handing out drinks to the people in the front row at parts. That was, I think it was supposed to be one of Bustopher Jones' clubs. But there were just so many things happening, and everything was so thoughtful. Everything had a moment that, for the Cats superfans, tied into either that character, or that relationship, or that part of the Jellicle ball that you're supposed to know.

[22:22] Alan Seales: Yeah. We're going to take a quick break, and then we'll be back for more of The Wrong Cat Died. I do want to cover one thing that we haven't talked about. That is, I was very curious to see how they did. Because I knew, having talked to Joan and Bill, that I was going to get a ballroom competition. But I didn't know how they were going to do the Jellicle ball. Because the Jellicle ball doesn't end Act 1, but it's really close to ending Act 1, because then Grizabella comes out. But this is a, for anybody who's ever done Cats, everyone who talks about it, it's an 11 or 12, 13-minute just cardio workout. Just an absurdly difficult dance that has different little sections that they each do. And it's all dance, and it's the Victoria Lift, and all that stuff with it.

And I was really curious how you do that in the ballroom setting. And they were so smart, because they got through that number before, and then they started the music, and it's like, oh, they're about to get into it. And they infused the ballroom sections, but used the catwalk to have different parts do different parts of the ball. And you saw a little bit of that traditional Cats that you would expect, and then you saw the ballroom, and it fused in this whole thing. And being so close, I was like, they are also getting their Cats Jellicle ball experience, because they looked wiped at the end of it. Like, they got to do that moment that everyone who does Cats knows about.

[23:48] Alan Seales: Yeah, that was something else, too, that I loved about being so close, you know, some of the Cats would come and just sit down at the steps next to us.

[23:55] Alan Seales: I still didn't change my mind, which I didn't expect it to break. I didn't even consider that as a possibility. You know, I was back as much as I love the show and I love this production. This production was so much fun because I just think it spans all theater fans, all ballroom fans, and just people who want to have a good time will like this versus a very traditional musical. But it didn't change my mind. But I will say, here's the things I liked about it. I'm gonna give my positives. I really, really liked the idea of her arc being a former ballroom dancer. That's a lot less aggressive than the way I've interpreted it on my podcast, but I loved how they did that throughout. So you got a much more pushing her like old lady New York card around in the beginning, and you could see the trophy hanging out there.

And then at one point, they did a really cool thing that we should talk about, which was they did a montage of, I think, like very famous ballroom people that have passed to kick off act two, which I thought was a really, really cool moment to be able to honor people that were in the ballroom scene that are no longer with us. But they also, at the end of that, they showed the glamour cat, the house of glamour, which was Grizabella's house, which I think, you know, it's cool to kind of use that as that was her past, that she was this icon in that stage. And then to bring her back out in that moment and in that dress is a very clever way to bring her story back to a full circle.

[27:29] Mike Abrams: Yeah, something you said on the way out was that you like that she doesn't have to take her curtain call in her rags dress, which I never ever considered. I mean, yeah, you come out after you've died on stage and you're still covered in your blood, but they at least gave Grizabella a redeeming shot here in this production. Yeah, it tells more of that story of like, you know, in the lyrics, it's remembering her what she was, and she's back in that moment. She's got the trophy with her, she's got the ballroom gown on, she's reliving that moment much more so than kind of like laying on stage almost about to die that you're used to, but still building the hell out of memory.

[27:31] Alan Seales: So since this is a crossover episode, we've got to end with our normal ending. So do you want to go first? Do you want to do rapid fire? Do you want to do your questions or my questions first?

[27:40] Mike Abrams: Uh, we'll end with yours because this is a Cats-focused episode, so we'll end with yours. So normally on my podcast, I'm sure you know that I ask three standard closing questions, but I think it would be more fun in this instance to ask to answer my questions in character as a cat of your choice.

[27:58] Alan Seales: Okay, oh, so I get to pick which cat I want to answer as? Or do you want me to give you one, two, or three?

[28:04] Mike Abrams: Or you give me one, two, or three, and it corresponds to somebody I want you to be.

[28:06] Alan Seales: Okay, let's go with three.

[28:09] Mike Abrams: Uh, that is Gus.

[28:11] Alan Seales: Okay, so as Gus, what motivates you?

[28:15] Alan Seales: Spotlight. I am ready for that spotlight still. I want the audience, the seven cat curtain calls or whatever that's in the lyric. I want to have everybody still adoring me, but I also still want to be the Jellicle choice.

[28:35] Mike Abrams: Alright, and then what advice would you give to your younger self and younger people listening now starting out on a similar path?

[28:39] Alan Seales: So if you're a cat in the ballroom scene, I would stretch and work on your flexibility because as someone who cannot do the splits, it seems like that is going to be an important part of your repertoire for dancing. But also own your confidence. Like that's the thing I loved about all the performers. They were in their own element at all times as still kind of the cats, but there's a confidence on that stage. And so that's my real advice is if your Gus is going to tell you to be confident and own your own dance moves and stretch before you go do it.

[29:21] Mike Abrams: Okay, okay, so Gus then. Final question, hardest one. If you can only see one show for the rest of your life, you can see it as many times as you want, what would you say?

[29:28] Alan Seales: Probably the Rumpus Cat, right? Because that's his jam. That's what I thrived most as a performer, so I want to watch the Rumpus Cat operatic piece or whatever that we're allowed to perform.

[29:39] Mike Abrams: Okay, so now we're going to do my rapid fire here. So we're going to stick with just this production. Okay, so if you could perform as one of the cats in this production, who do you want to go on as?

[29:51] Alan Seales: This is a tough one because I really love the Skimbleshanks concept, and I love the choreography that Emma Sofia did as Skimbleshanks. I think it's great. Magical Mr. Mistoffelees, that was just such a fun number. And if I could stretch like that, if I could do a single thing that Silk did, I would be thrilled. Okay, I'm gonna go with, I'll go with Magical Mr. Mistoffelees.

[30:20] Mike Abrams: Favorite and least favorite cats, and we'll narrow this down to like hang out with, personality-wise from this particular group.

[30:28] Alan Seales: Um, and they brought personalities to these cats. I feel like I want to hang out with Macavity. I think he's going to be a lot of fun. Yeah, I want to hang out with him, break some laws, you know, stay up past my bedtime. I think I want to hang out with Macavity.

[30:46] Mike Abrams: Least favorite cat?

[30:48] Alan Seales: Oh geez, I mean, what are you going to do with Victoria? She's just kind of hanging around watching everybody. It seems like Victoria's still kind of learning how to have fun early on. But Victoria can dance. She can dance. Victoria was fun to watch.

[31:05] Mike Abrams: Okay, what was your favorite song from this particular production?

[31:08] Alan Seales: Well, the music's all the same, like you said, so I can't go by song. I have to go by dance. I have to go again with Magical Mr. Mistoffelees again.

[31:16] Mike Abrams: So I always ask a fun one before we get to the important question, which you've actually answered on the show, but my fun one is this time there was a DJ that kind of kicks off the show and I think DJ'd during the intermission and a little bit at the end and does some stuff throughout. Which cat do you think would be the best DJ?

[31:33] Alan Seales: Hmm, probably Mungo Jerry and Rumpleteazer together. Yeah, because they would each control one side of the ones and twos. Yeah, they would be a great duo. I like that.

[31:48] Mike Abrams: Okay, the important question now. You did answer this because we did a review. You get to review shows with me. We were shooting the 2019 movie very early in this podcast. This is like the 10th or 11th episode. But for this production, who would be your Jellicle choice and why?

[32:05] Alan Seales: I just loved the Mistoffelees number because he kind of saved the day, continued the Jellicle tradition by saving the day and bringing, of course, Old Deuteronomy back. But then the way that Silk played this character and the choreography and the way they were having Silk actually do magic, there were some actual tricks on stage, legit magic. I just think that's just fun. So if I were Old Deuteronomy, I'd be like, "Oh, you saved me from this not-so-great situation so I can continue and rebirth people."

[32:49] Mike Abrams: I think I'm gonna give you a little bit of special extra credit this time.

[32:52] Alan Seales: I love it.

[32:52] Mike Abrams: I'm gonna answer this today because I generally have defended Gus by storytelling, and I think this Gus, as wonderful as they were, didn't feel like they were ready to go. No, like they were still really owning the moment. Like they did not look ready to leave the stage. So I'm gonna tell you this is like give, I'm gonna tell you who really owned the moment, and maybe it's just by having her on before and having met her and chatted with her before, but Emma, Emma Sofia, let me tell you, she plays MTA, basically MTA Skimbleshanks. And let's just say the MTA doesn't work super great, so we need to sacrifice somebody out here to get something to work better. It would be Skimbleshanks. But no, she brings such energy as both the characters she plays, as Cassandra in the beginning. She is all over the audience. She's like in the laps of some people early on. I think she worked her tail off and deserves some Jellicle love.

[34:02] Mike Abrams: That's a Jellicle choice, yeah. I'll give you that. I'll give you that. It was hard. There's a lot. I mean, they all put in work. There's so many good performances in the show, and it's such a brilliant concept. And shout out to Jaylen and Bill again, like this and their whole team. I mean, everyone that worked on it, like you can see how much work went into the thoughtfulness of this production and what they're bringing to it to still honor the source material but bring something new. And I'm telling you, go run to the show. It's only running for, I believe it's eight weeks now.

[34:30] Alan Seales: Exactly. So we'll put, we'll link the how to get tickets and everything. They are selling quickly, so get your tickets. Whether you love Cats, hate Cats, if you love ballroom, if you love an experience, if you love theater, if you love dance, if you have any of those, you are gonna have the time of your life. I think especially if you don't like the show Cats traditionally, you should have to see this because it presents it in such a different, unique, and fun way. So if this is your first experience to Cats, it's going to change your life. It's going to convert some people.

[35:05] Mike Abrams: Yeah, I think so. So I have had a blast talking with you through this. I had an incredible time seeing the show. I'm so glad we got to go. I will be going back many times.

[35:14] Alan Seales: Okay, so how do we stay in touch with you so we can close this out here on the social media?

[35:19] Mike Abrams: Still have no clue what I'm doing, but you know, I still post some stuff. So @theatre_podcast on Instagram and Threads. Find me on Facebook at Official Theatre Podcast and on TikTok at The Theatre Podcast. I am very simply The Wrong Cat Died everywhere you can think about it. But yeah, thank you and thanks for everyone for listening to this episode of The Wrong Cat Died, the podcast breakdown of the Cats show for you to follow along. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any of us as a podcast. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Threads, and TikTok at The Wrong Cat Died or check our website, thewrongcatdied.com.