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[0:15] Mike Abrams: Welcome to The Wrong Cat Died, the podcast breakdown of the cat catastrophe. I'm your host, Mike Abrams, and today we have another amazing guest. He was Pounceable and the magical Mr. Mistoffelees on the 5th US National Tour of Cats. So welcome, Shane Hall, and thank you for joining me.

[0:27] Shane Hall: Thank you for having me. I'm excited to have you here. You kind of teed up a few things that I have not heard about. So I'm excited to hear some new stuff today. And we'll get to that because it's very Mistoffelees related. But before we get to that, first question always is, you did the show in the early 2000s.

[0:45] Mike Abrams: Yes. Not long after the 1998 movie.

[0:47] Shane Hall: Yes. I also read that you got to see it and you knew you had to be in it as a kid. So what was your introduction to Cats?

[0:57] Shane Hall: My intro to Cats was the studio of a small town dance studio takes a trip of dancers to New York City for a week or whatnot. And that was our group Broadway show was to see Cats. I didn't know much about it. I knew it was a dance-based show. I had never been to New York. I think I was 14 at that time. So that would have been 1994. And so we did the Broadway Dance Center stuff and took class, walked around at the shopping. And of course, with our group, we went to see Cats at the Winter Garden, which was a treat. And I remember getting through act one and just being so enamored and act two came around and I fell asleep, actually, the pirate section, the pirate section of the show sort of zonked me out for a moment.

I was like, what is going on here? And then fast forward to the end of the McCavity fight, etc. And I wake up and then there's this sparkly magical cat that has appeared on stage. And so my whole attention was based in that. And I thought, oh my God, I have to do this, this role. And I waited at the stage door. Jacob Brenton was the current Mistoffelees at that time. And we took gobs and gobs of pictures. And of course, as any young dancer would say to someone of that caliber and that stature in their position, I want to be you when I grow up. And I graduated high school in 1998 and actually auditioned for the Broadway company before it closed at 18 years old, which is a neat story. And I was thinking about that yesterday that now in the world, we have all these great audition centers, Open Jar, Pearl, Ripley Greer, the list goes on.

But back then in 1998, I say back then as if I'm ancient, but back then I actually auditioned on a Broadway stage. We auditioned on the Longacre Theater stage. And it was a really neat experience at 18 years old to do that because that's just not a thing anymore. The stages are utilized for the show now specifically, and there's no auditions on that. So that was kind of my first intro to Cats was with my dance studio.

[3:04] Mike Abrams: Yeah. So I have two follows, but I want to go, they're very different. So I'm fascinated by that part of the audition. So I'm not an actor, not a performer. I knew that there were the studios mostly just because of my TikTok algorithm is very theater heavy. And it does show up a lot of like, Hey, we're heading here. We're doing this call. We're doing that call. And there's also self tapes now post COVID of COVID base. But you got to actually go on to, the audition was a Broadway stage. They bring you in there and it's got the table in the middle of the orchestra center. And they're all sitting there watching you.

[3:36] Shane Hall: Yes. Yes. So we actually, of course the show was running at the Winter Garden, but we auditioned down the street at the Longacre Theater. And so I was 18. My dad actually drove me from Alabama to New Jersey where his foster brother lived. And then we took a bus in. So again, second trip to New York ever, and I'm auditioning for a Broadway show and got there. My dad went down into the theater with me, which is a unique little story. I'm adopted and my dad was my champion for me. And he waited in the waiting area, which I guess would have been a green room space in the theater. And then they took us up in groups and we did four or five different combinations that day, starting with a type out the double pirouette, say your name, yes or no, you're kept or not.

Cause there were so many people. There were so many people. And then from there I would go back down and my dad would say to me, well, you know how to go. And he, all he knew was either you get kept or you don't, like he didn't know much about the industry and same for me actually. So I kept saying, oh, they've asked me to stay and do something else. And so I would go back and then come down, go back and come down. And by the end of the day, I think I had made it to some, I don't know, eight or nine people that were left and they took some measurements. They took a Polaroid of me. And that was while the company was still running right before it closed. I did not make that company, but what an experience that I hold on to, especially, you know, saying that about that, that time, because like I said, the Broadway stage auditions are just not, not of today's society and not of today's industry.

[5:15] Mike Abrams: Yeah. It's just a totally different world of that. They now are, which is, I don't know, which is better or worse. It's probably a really cool experience for you as a performer to do it that way, but it's probably like horrifically for the economics of trying to run a business.

[5:28] Shane Hall: Of course.

[5:28] Mike Abrams: Trying to have everybody do it there when you've got a prebuilt studio for it.

[5:32] Shane Hall: Of course.

[5:34] Mike Abrams: So my other follow-up.

[5:34] Shane Hall: Yeah.

[5:36] Mike Abrams: When you see it at 14.

[5:36] Shane Hall: Yeah.

[5:36] Mike Abrams: 14 is the age, like that's the almost exact air, like time where I'm like, you're going to get a lot of the craziness that you're watching. You're going to understand maybe some of the, like over the top sexual innuendos that are in the show.

[5:50] Shane Hall: Sure.

[5:51] Mike Abrams: But you know, but also not at a point where you're an adult and kind of can kind of process that at the same rate. So like, did you recognize how sexual and crazy and some of the back plot of the story is when you're watching, I guess you fell asleep through half of it. So maybe not. But like at a 14 year old, like how much of that did you recognize?

[6:10] Shane Hall: Zero, because all I looked at was I can kick my leg like that. I can do jumps like that. I can bend backwards like that. I've always been enamored with cats, the animal, the idea of it. I grew up with Batman, the Adam Westbert Ward Batman series. And of course Catwoman was always one of my favorites going into the later Tim Burton movies, Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman, there was just always something about the felinity of the movement and the quality of the animal that I was drawn to. That's all I noticed was that I can do those skills. And if I can't do those skills, I'm going to work hard because I know I can get that skill. And that's what I noticed.

[6:52] Mike Abrams: Yeah. So the more I'm like thinking about this, I've had way too many episodes thinking about this and talking to people about this, but like you went as a dance group to watch a dance heavy show. And so I'm assuming most of you are sitting there going, let's watch the dance numbers and all the stuff that we've learned and all the different pieces, whereas I can't dance, I can't sing. So I went there and watched, what story was I told? And I noticed a lot, but as an adult, so that's where I'm always fascinated by this. What does a 14 year old recognize of the ball and the coming of age story of Victoria and all the stuff that you know now having been in it?

[7:30] Shane Hall: Well, there's even so many details that I would have never picked up on looking at it just from an audience eye that when I got into rehearsal, I learned that there were kittens, there were older cats, there were purebred cats, certain colors meant certain things for each cat. Then of course the relationships, possible relationships between cats, et cetera. And it was like, wow, I would have never known that. And maybe that's sort of internal for us as a cat family or tribe, if you will, to know. But yeah, there were so many neat things that going into the rehearsal space, learning the show specifically. And I actually learned the show with just one other cast member because I joined in the midst of a tour.

So it was just me, another cast member joining with me and the dance captain of the show, learning the show in the basement of the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles. So that's kind of how I learned the show. And then of course, being thrown into it because they were already in session in their contract. So I didn't go through the specific details of all that. It was like, let me get you the show taught. Let's track the show, learn the makeup, learn the vocals, and let's throw you in. That was kind of my process. But then going back to New York for the second year with a brand new tour group, that's when those, I mean, I learned the details, of course, but in the rehearsal process, there was time to talk about it and to get all the new family of cast members up to date on what we're doing and what story we're really telling. That again, hopefully the audience will see or get, but maybe not. But that was the goal.

[9:04] Mike Abrams: Yeah. So that's interesting. Because the first time you're coming in mid-tours replacement in 2003 as Pounceable, who was the other character that you were rehearsing with? Do you remember?

[9:15] Shane Hall: So it was interesting. When I got the call, I was called in as a swing. They offered me a swing position. And I was like, yes, because all I wanted to do was do Cats. And I had previously with the company booked Starlight Express. And I was so excited. And then I had a mentor that was on Broadway that was like, no, Shane, you can't do that tour. The offer's not great, so on and so forth. We'll leave it at that. So I was like, no, no, no, it's my first tour. That's the goal. And then a few weeks later, I got offered Cats because I auditioned for it at the same time during a trip to New York. And so going into it was very interesting as a swing, because I wasn't exactly sure what that meant. And I was trying to explain it to my parents as well, because they were like, well, what does that mean?

My dad specifically. And I said, well, I don't think I'm on stage every night. I think when somebody's sick or hurt, I'm going to know a couple parts and then I'm going to go on. And then the very next day, I got the call about, hey, one of the cast members is dealing with some injury, shin splints, so on and so forth, and wants to make sure that they can finish the contract. Would you be interested in swapping to an onstage character? And then let that person go into the swing position to monitor just their body and health, of course. And I was like, sure, that sounded great too. So regardless, I was game for whatever. I didn't know who was from a hole in the wall. I just knew that at that point, I was specifically going to do Pounceable, and that was an immediate first cover for Mistoffelees.

And so once I got the Pounceable track down, there was so much similarity to that track, to the Mistoffelees track, that it was easy to just learn the specialty solo and then go on. And I was thrown into Mistoffelees pretty quickly. And through that time, I performed Mistoffelees more often than I did Pounceable.

[11:08] Mike Abrams: Wow. Okay. So you were going on as Mistoffelees in the first year, even before it was... Okay.

[11:16] Shane Hall: Yeah.

[11:16] Mike Abrams: Interesting. Okay. So how far into the swing process did you get before you became Pounceable? Do you know a couple other tracks?

[11:24] Shane Hall: I never learned... I would have covered what they call the kitten swing, so that would have been Mungo Jerry, Tumble Brutus, Mistoffelees, Pounceable. I never learned specifically any other track than Pounceable and Mistoffelees. I never learned the Mungo Jerry duet. I never learned the Victoria lift for Tumble Brutus or any of that kind of stuff. It was immediately... The swing thing was deleted out of my existence. Pounceable was the next thing. And then let's get that down and let's get you taught Mistoffelees. So I never did any of the swinging at all in the show.

[11:55] Shane Hall: So you talked a little bit about the difference between coming in midway through and then having the whole rehearsal process. When you're coming in midway through as Pouncival, what did they tell you from a story perspective? Because I'm sure like a lot of this is just don't get somebody injured, come in and do the role, make sure you got the dance numbers and all the staging and where you need to go. But there is a little bit of like, you kind of still need to know a little bit about who Pouncival is. So how much did you get in that? I knew that Pouncival was definitely a kitten, rambunctious, young, very curious, of course. And so the makeup plot obviously offers into that. And then the way I would crawl or the way that I would interact with other cats needed to be that.

And I needed to understand who were more housebred cats, who were older cats around me, who I might play with and who I might not play with, who might be a little more selfish to me or, quote unquote, hiss at me or who would not. So those were really the foundations of me learning Pouncival was he was just a playful young cat with just wide-eyed curiosity. So that's basically what I went into it with.

[13:15] Shane Hall: Yeah. And then you go as Mistoffelees in that same thing before this rehearsal full process. So when you're making that quick transition, obviously, there's the dance and there's the overlap of that. But then again, same kind of question. How do they tell you that story? I truly don't know that I ever had a Mistoffelees foundation. And I hate to say that. I think I went into it based on what I saw. And I had some wonderful people that performed it right in front of me on the tour. Obviously, having seen it from the video and seeing Jacob's interpretation of it, having worked with Jillian Lynn so specifically on that. I think I made my assumption of that he's sophisticated. He's a little more refined.

He's a little more aloof. He just has an exquisiteness about him. And I tried to make him, as I danced the role, very sleek, very, I guess the word refined. He had a gestural, postural stance about him at all times that was not so much better than others, but just, I'm more elegant. I'm more put together, especially when you come out in that costume. It puts a different placement to the character with that. So I basically kind of found it alone, really.

[14:47] Shane Hall: Yeah. Yes. I mean, I guess you having done the show a bunch, you have a, here's how I got to, as Pouncival, interact with this Mistoffelees who's doing it. And then you get to kind of recreate it and then build it as you go. So it's like, let's take their version that you've seen, and then also then add your own moments as you start a new body.

[15:08] Shane Hall: Yeah. So then fast forward to that, you get to do a full another year's rehearsal in 2004. Did you have kind of like the powwow, sit down, tell the whole story with the whole new cast? Um, no, no, no. Because there were seven of us that stayed on from that current leg of the tour to go back to New York. And they told us that we didn't need to come in in the first couple of days of rehearsal because we were already familiar with the show. They wanted to get some things taught and they would integrate us into what was already on that new cast, with them on their feet. And so I think some of the things that we did was felinity exercises in New York. When we went back, we talked about, you know, hands and fingers that cats don't have fingers.

And how do you crawl? How do you stand the visceral usage of the spine and the back and the neck, the eyes, you know, how you blink or how you would yawn or maybe cleanse yourself or just different things like that. And we talked a lot about that. And we talked about relationships, too. We learned a lot about the Grizabella relationship to the tribe and things like that and exercises with that idea. And again, at that point, I was trying to not so much put everything from Pouncival behind me, but really start to form my relationship to this Rum Tum Tugger, to this Grizabella, to this, you know, to this Pouncival because I danced next to Pouncival as Mistoffelees, of course, and some of the tracking and start to really understand how am I going to have relationships now fully in this character that I won't go back and forth from one to the other.

[17:01] Shane Hall: Yeah. So that was neat, too. And of course, seeing new people create the characters, too, is also interesting because you get so invested in how one cast performs and their idea of the cat, their idea of the delivery of the line or the movement. And now we have a whole other group. It's funny, when I started to do my makeup as Pouncival, I said I joined the national tour of squirrels versus cats because I couldn't do my makeup right. I was just slopping the makeup on with heavy hands. And there were so many beautiful people. And I know you did an interview with Joey Abramowitz. And Joey had, hands down to this day, the most exquisite makeup, steady hand, shading on his face. I mean, it was just always beautiful. And Joey was like me, did several productions after the tour. And just always, I was inspired and enamored with his makeup and how great it was. So yeah, it took some time to get that down.

[18:02] Shane Hall: So I want to hear about a couple of things. Then I want to hear about some of the other productions you did after since I know you did a few, and those are very different. I want to start talking regional or a couple of weeks. But you kind of told me in our, when we were emailing back and forth about a couple of things I didn't know as much about. So I want to hear about the new Mistoffelees entrance. And I want to hear about this costume change, the velvet costume change that you got to help, I guess, pioneer. Tell me these stories.

[18:24] Shane Hall: So as we went into my second year on the tour, they doubled the cities. And a lot of the fly spaces and even just the stage space was smaller or not conducive enough for some of the special effects that we had in the show. So of course, we know that Grizabella rides this pod at the end after what we call big memory, and she goes up into the Heaviside Layer. And the typical entrance is that Mistoffelees would come through that pod on the rope and do the magical entrance with the flashing lights and the costume and so forth. Well, that was not always going to be able to take place at all the theaters that were being booked because the fly space would not allow for me to ride an elevator up, cross the catwalk and then come down.

And that was typically how it was. I would ride this sort of mechanical elevator to the top. There would be somebody in the fly space. I'd walk across, a red light would go on. I would get set up in the foot loop and the wrist loop. I would fly through the pod and spin down. So they brought that to my attention and I said, okay, sure. And they said, the first entrance that they wanted me to do to keep it the same was the rope would come down after the Macavity fight. And there's this blackout before the Rum Tum Tugger starts to say, you ought to ask the magical Mr. Mistoffelees. Because all the electricity has been blown because of the fight. So they said the rope would come down. You're going to come out on the stage in the dark.

You're going to put your foot in it, grab onto the wrist loop and we're going to fly you up next to the pod. We just can't have you go through a catwalk, but we can get you next to it. And I was like, oh, okay. And that was going to be a really long time to hang in the rafters of the fly space before I would come back down. And truth be told, even 15 or 20 seconds that I would wait in the original entrance was kind of fatiguing enough because you're squeezing on, you're holding yourself until they say go. And then you have to release a hand, push yourself to spin. And I was like, okay. And I was always game for it. I was honored to be doing this role. It was a dream role of mine, but I could see how that was going to be difficult.

And then I brought it to their attention. I said, well, you know, the sensors for the jacket are on my fingers. And if I'm grabbing that rope and I touch those sensors, I'm going to start lighting up, you know? So they were like, oh, you know, they had not really processed that part of it. So immediately they scratched that idea. And then they had this idea that in certain spaces, if we couldn't fly me down, that I was going to enter upstage on the tire, which there was this wooden plank. They were going to cut an insert into the wooden plank. So this very bright bluish light would shine up from underneath my feet. And I was going to be in this, you know, posture pose with my arms up like, ta-da, here I am.

And from the ceiling, they were going to release a huge Mylar glitter bag. So there would be glitter that was falling around me. And they were big circles, about a one-inch circle of Mylar that would fall. And I was like, sure. You know, and then they're like, you'll just run down the tire, do a big jeté. And, you know, there you are for presto. And we'd go on. I was like, okay, great. And that really became the entrance. And they showed it to me. And it really was quite beautiful in the light of how they made it happen. Because all of a sudden, there I was. I would run on at the last second. And it was beautiful. And so that was kind of the entrance. And that became about 80%, if not more, of my entrances on that year, because this space was so small. I don't remember flying too, too much that last year.

[22:09] Shane Hall: Did you get to a theater and you're just like, they've got the rope? Or they're like, oh, this is... Did you prefer one over the other? No, they were both fine. I think what it would do is it would just cut into my warm-up a little bit. Because there's a lot of sitting in Act Two for Mistoffelees as well. The Macavity number goes on, the fight, other things that happen that I'm changing costumes, and then I sit. So I would start to warm up. And I would do the same warm-up every single night. It was just enough to get me ready to do the solo specifically. I had to do toe touches, turns in second, and a couple of kicks or whatnot. I just needed to make sure that that part of my body, that late in the evening, was ready to do that dance every night. So it was a minimal, specific warm-up. So it just basically meant that I couldn't do all of that. And then I would have to go in enough time to get up to fly down. But I didn't mind either or.

[23:02] Shane Hall: Yeah, that's cool. So that was the first time that they really did this because it's like, they have to. You have to adjust to what you've got space was. Okay, tell me about the costume, the velvet costume.

[23:51] Shane Hall: I didn’t know who Pouncival was from a hole in the wall.

[24:21] Shane Hall: The first time I saw CATS, I actually fell asleep. I was so tired, and I was like, "What is this?" But then I got to see it again, and it was a completely different experience.

[24:51] Shane Hall: Learning the show was interesting because I only had one other cast member to learn it with. We would go through the choreography together, and it was a lot of fun.

[25:01] Shane Hall: Mr. Mistoffelees has so many different ways to enter the stage. Sometimes it’s a big reveal, and other times it’s a more subtle entrance.

[25:11] Shane Hall: One of my favorite stories from the tour is about how the costumes changed to make the dancing a little easier.

[25:21] Shane Hall: The original costumes were quite heavy, and they made it challenging to move. So, they adjusted them to help us perform better.

[25:31] Shane Hall: I remember the first time I put on the new costume, I felt like I could actually dance. It was a game changer.

[25:41] Shane Hall: Life on tour was a whirlwind. We traveled to so many cities, and each one had its own unique vibe.

[25:51] Shane Hall: I loved exploring the different places we performed in. It was like a mini vacation every week.

[26:01] Shane Hall: The cast became like family. We supported each other through the ups and downs of touring.

[26:11] Shane Hall: There were definitely some funny moments backstage. You never knew what would happen before a show.

[26:21] Shane Hall: I think one of the best parts was getting to meet fans after the shows. Their reactions were always so rewarding.

[26:31] Shane Hall: I remember one little girl who was just mesmerized by the show. It reminded me of why we do what we do.

[26:41] Shane Hall: The magic of Mr. Mistoffelees is that he brings a sense of wonder to the stage.

[26:51] Shane Hall: I always tried to embody that magic every time I performed.

[27:01] Shane Hall: The character has such a rich backstory, and I loved diving into that during my time in the role.

[27:11] Shane Hall: It was important for me to connect with the audience and make them believe in the magic.

[27:21] Shane Hall: I think that’s what makes CATS so special; it’s all about the connection between the performers and the audience.

[27:31] Shane Hall: I also enjoyed the challenge of the choreography. It kept me on my toes.

[27:41] Shane Hall: There were times when I would have to improvise, and that was always a fun challenge.

[27:51] Shane Hall: The energy from the audience really fueled our performances.

[28:01] Shane Hall: I remember one night when the audience was particularly lively, and it just made the show feel electric.

[28:11] Shane Hall: Those moments are what you live for as a performer.

[28:21] Shane Hall: I think every cast member brought something unique to their role, and that made each performance special.

[28:31] Shane Hall: It was a collaborative effort, and I loved being part of that team.

[28:41] Shane Hall: The friendships I made on tour are ones I will cherish forever.

[28:51] Shane Hall: We went through so much together, and those bonds are unbreakable.

[29:01] Shane Hall: I feel so grateful for the opportunity to play Mr. Mistoffelees and to be part of such an iconic show.

[29:11] Shane Hall: It’s a role that I will always hold close to my heart.

[29:21] Shane Hall: I hope to continue sharing that magic with audiences in the future.

[29:31] Shane Hall: CATS has a way of bringing people together, and I think that’s beautiful.

[29:41] Shane Hall: I can’t wait to see where my journey takes me next.

[29:51] Shane Hall: Thank you for having me on the podcast and letting me share my experiences.

[30:01] Shane Hall: It’s been a pleasure to talk about my time as Mr. Mistoffelees.

[30:11] Shane Hall: I hope everyone continues to enjoy CATS and all the magic it brings.

[30:21] Shane Hall: Until next time!

[30:31] Shane Hall: Bye!

[30:41] Shane Hall: Take care!

[30:51] Shane Hall: See you soon!

[31:01] Shane Hall: Thanks again!

[31:11] Shane Hall: Bye!

[31:21] Shane Hall: Bye!

[31:31] Shane Hall: Bye!

[31:41] Shane Hall: Bye!

[31:51] Shane Hall: Bye!

[32:01] Shane Hall: Bye!

[32:11] Shane Hall: Bye!

[32:21] Shane Hall: Bye!

[32:31] Shane Hall: Bye!

[32:41] Shane Hall: Bye!

[32:51] Shane Hall: Bye!

[33:01] Shane Hall: Bye!

[33:11] Shane Hall: Bye!

[33:21] Shane Hall: Bye!

[33:31] Shane Hall: Bye!

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[34:01] Shane Hall: Bye!

[34:11] Shane Hall: Bye!

[34:21] Shane Hall: Bye!

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[35:01] Shane Hall: Bye!

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[35:21] Shane Hall: Bye!

[35:31] Shane Hall: Bye!

[35:41] Shane Hall: Bye!

[35:46] Shane Hall: Cesar Samayoa, who is a Broadway veteran now, was our Gus and Growl Tiger. Adrienne Warren, who played Tina and other wonderful Broadway roles, she was actually going into her senior year at the Governor's School there in Virginia, and she played Demeter. So she was already powerhousing it as a junior in high school on the stage. So it was great to work with her in that capacity. And we're still friends to this day. She lives in Harlem, and we run into each other on the subway. So it's still like, we talk about that time every now and then. I don't see her too, too often, because her career has taken her to so many other areas. And then Grant Gustin, who was also well known for, I think he was on Glee for a minute, but he's well known for playing The Flash on CW.

He was my Mungo Jerry. And I remember, I had a soft spot for him because his mom would always come to rehearsals and film what he learned that day to go home and practice. And so it very much reminded me of the love and care of my parents, always being around. And so that was very sweet. I haven't seen or spoken to Grant since that, but it's just so nice to see his magnitude of success at this point and what he went on to do. There's just such talent in that cast, such talent, and people that have really risen in their careers.

[37:06] Mike Abrams: It's so fun to hear, because you hear all the stories of these early stages of original production. You're early on in your career, you're feeling it out, you're learning, and then you take off and do all these other really cool stuff. And so I'm sure it's fun for you. You can tell probably at that point, this person's going to be a star. Especially now, a lot of the original productions has some high school kids jump in and some other things where it's like, yeah, they're still very, very early in a career.

[37:35] Shane Hall: Yeah, it's great too, because every area has talent within their community. And so it's great when they get to mesh that within the professional world and they get to learn what it's like and get to hear stories of the lifestyle of being the actor, if that's what they're trying to go into. And you become friends. And those are great resources to have if you do go to such and such city, whether it's LA, New York, Chicago, and you know somebody there, you now have a friend or resource to call upon for questions or mentorship. So it's really great for the community to be involved as well sometimes.

[38:08] Mike Abrams: Totally. Super fun. Let's do some rapid fire. I'm ready to hit you with a couple of the important questions here. So if you could go on for one day, one night, any track in Cats, whether it's male, female, whether you can dance it, sing it, who would you want to go on as?

[38:27] Shane Hall: Cassandra.

[38:31] Mike Abrams: Cassandra? Ooh.

[38:32] Shane Hall: Yeah. The makeup is fire. It's amazing.

[38:35] Mike Abrams: Okay.

[38:36] Shane Hall: There's just something great about that cat. She's stunning.

[38:39] Mike Abrams: Love it. Who are your favorite and least favorite characters of Cats? Who bugs you? Who do you love? Ignore actors and performers, purely cat personalities.

[38:51] Shane Hall: Um, we could go without a Macavity.

[38:56] Mike Abrams: Okay.

[38:57] Shane Hall: And I think probably my favorite would be Victoria, besides Mistoffelees, of course.

[39:03] Mike Abrams: Yeah, yeah. Okay. What is your favorite song in the show?

[39:07] Shane Hall: Skimbleshanks.

[39:08] Mike Abrams: Love it.

[39:09] Shane Hall: And as Mistoffelees, I was taken out. You know, I'm not a part of that routine.

[39:12] Mike Abrams: Yeah, yeah. So it's your break. That's why you love it.

[39:14] Shane Hall: That's my break and changing costumes, but I loved it. I think the number is so jubilant and fun, and there's such a great spirit about it. And I always loved it. And I would sing it backstage. And as Pounceable, I got to experience that number, but not as Mistoffelees.

[39:25] Mike Abrams: Yeah.

[39:26] Shane Hall: Yeah.

[39:26] Mike Abrams: Okay. My fun question. I always like to ask one fun one. I know that you run a dance studio, you own a dance studio. Which cat, and I feel like there's probably multiple, would be the best cat at opening a dance studio? Like who would be the best running one?

[39:41] Shane Hall: Oh, Jelly Lorem.

[39:44] Mike Abrams: Jelly Lorem.

[39:45] Shane Hall: Jelly Lorem. She's like the mom, the one that little girls or little boys would love and that she would take care of and be tender with and make sure that their, you know, psyches are protected and make sure that they are nurtured and make sure that they feel good every time they come to class and would be great with the parents. If there's questions, I just feel like there's such a device within her spirit, taking care of Gus, that I feel like she would be great with kids, if you know what I mean. And like, take care of that and nurture that spirit. They would want to come back and see Miss Jelly Lorem every week in ballet class or jazz class or whatever.

[40:19] Mike Abrams: You're totally right. I've asked this question a lot about teachers. That is an interesting question. I've never thought about that.

[40:24] Shane Hall: I've asked it a lot of teachers. I like to think about if we take the cats outside of the cat world, like what would they be good at? And so I've always thought it was Jenny. Jenny would be like the most like studious teacher.

[40:32] Shane Hall: Oh, I could see that too, because she's like very militant, you know?

[40:37] Mike Abrams: Yeah, I would definitely say her too.

[40:40] Shane Hall: StambleShanks is running my operations, Bustaverse funding. I've got some of this planned out. And then like, Mistoffelees and Tugger would be my special guest teachers every once in a while.

[40:50] Mike Abrams: I love that.

[40:51] Shane Hall: Really bring in some chaos into the crowd. I always call them the substitute teachers for like regular school. But yeah.

[40:58] Mike Abrams: They keep the kids hype and excited when they show up.

[41:01] Shane Hall: Yeah, you got to come in. They're probably not going to do any of the lesson plan, but they're going to come in and have some fun.

[41:07] Mike Abrams: Of course.

[41:09] Shane Hall: Okay. Million dollar question. This whole podcast is centered around the idea that I don't think Grizabella is the right jellicle choice. So I want to hear from you, Shane. If you are Old Deuteronomy, if you're picking, who are you sending and why?

[41:25] Shane Hall: Oh my God. This is like, who am I voting off of like, I don't know, some reality TV show. Um, who would I choose? Um, oh my gosh. Um, I think maybe Gus.

[41:45] Mike Abrams: Love it.

[41:46] Shane Hall: I think maybe Gus. And I think we get to know more of Gus than we know more of Grizabella. And I think that there's because of the production and the way that they produce his storyline and the flashback to the pirates, I think there's a more sympathetic heart for Gus. And we see his age as well. And we know that Grizabella has a dilapidation as they call it. And, you know, she is a, has been of this tribe and this world. Um, but I think that they don't, they don't flush her story out as much as they do for Gus, you know?

[42:21] Mike Abrams: And I think that it's just so beautiful to see that he goes, I hate this word I'm going to say, but that he would go peacefully at that point, you know what I mean? I think that that's who my vote would be.

[42:35] Mike Abrams: I love it. Uh, it's, it's not an uncommon vote. It's the number two vote right now.

[42:41] Shane Hall: Oh yeah. I think there's a very big team Gus contingency out in the world. Um, for, for why? And I'm, I'm all for, I'm really all for any non-Grizabella vote, but, but there is a big, big Gus. I think it's exactly what you said. Like there is a, he's an older character. He tells a story, you get to kind of really experience his life. He looks like he needs it. Yeah. Um, versus Grizabella, this kind of like coming in midway through here's my 15 minutes on stage is all I'm going to give you. And this is why I need it type of thing. So, you know, if you ignore the redemption arc, of course, Isabella, I love it. And you know, there's, you only get just a little bit of her backstory with bomb and Demeter singing what they sing in act one about her when she comes out of her first entrance.

And so if you're paying attention or realizing that there, that is important information based around Grizabella's existence, that's all you really get. And then you have to put two and two together that she was something. And we, there are cats that are drawn to her, want to help her, but then there's a scorn about it and a push away about it. Um, and so you have to pay attention to that. And then of course she continues in her, in her stature and her, you know, fight for it all to sing memory and tell the rest.

[43:58] Mike Abrams: Yeah. So if you were staging the show and you got free reign to like add more of her story, let's say we want to stick to her being there. What would you want to tell the like, like the audience and where would you try to slide that in?

[44:11] Shane Hall: You know, you don't see Grizabella in the opening. Now the character comes out in a neutralized costume. They're on the stage, but you don't know that that's Grizabella. The same for Tugger. Um, I think that there could be more information about her in the entrance, the naming of cats and we see her more. I don't know that it would be, you know, the naming of cats were all in one tableau and blocking, uh, in a formation. But so would she stand with us as we're just like overviewing all of the cats as one without opinions toward each cat or, you know, anything like that, or, you know, how would that work? But I could see the opening being a little more developed for her to be visible in that. Maybe there's choices about her during that time that we see, or a little bit more information or script musically, musically created for her at that time. I don't know. Maybe that's a great place because we don't see her as Grizabella in that opener.

[45:14] Mike Abrams: What if you had her like off on the side doing the, like trying to dance with you all?

[45:17] Shane Hall: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, cause she does that, you know, she does that later on. Yeah. She tries to mimic the ball and the movement. And of course it's something that she used to do. And of course aches and pains age, you know, take over. But yeah, I think that that's a great place that we could see more of her development in the opening.

[45:35] Mike Abrams: I love it. I, I, I think there's, yeah, there's more ways to throw her in and tell her story. I've learned a lot of it over the years, but you aren't given a ton to your point. If you heard the early part, you see them shun her in act one, and then you're coming in and you're pretty much going to hear the belt of memory. Right.

[45:52] Shane Hall: And then bye, you know, then she's going up. Hopefully, you know, the pod, if they, if she can go up the pod, depending on the place, I guess.

[45:58] Mike Abrams: Of course.

[46:00] Shane Hall: This has been super fun. How can people stay in touch with you, who learn about the dance studio and know more about you?

[46:07] Shane Hall: Oh, my goodness. I have an Instagram handle. It's Shane Hall Creates, very as it is S-H-A-N-E-H-A-L-L-C-R-E-A-T-E-S, Shane Hall Creates on my Instagram. And my studio is Prodigy Dance Center. We're located in Columbus, Georgia. You can find that Prodigy Dance G-A on Instagram. Prodigy Dance Center G-A, that's R-E, spelled the French spelling. Or you can Google Prodigy Dance Center, Columbus, Georgia. I'm celebrating 16 years in business. And it's so wonderful to take all of this experience. And of course, I'm still based in New York to give to all these great kids in my community and give back and share the love of theater and help them if they want to go into the industry, give them as much as I've learned and, you know, feed them and nurture them to be great performers and respectful artists and kind people to go out into this world.

[46:59] Mike Abrams: So amazing. We'll link both so people can find everything. And this has been so much fun. Thanks for coming on, telling the story.

[47:06] Shane Hall: My gosh, thank you. I haven't talked about cats in years, so this has been a joy.

[47:10] Mike Abrams: That's what I'm here for. I'm making people reminisce about things that they should not and have not been thinking about.

[47:14] Shane Hall: I love it.

[47:15] Mike Abrams: Oh, this has been awesome. So thank you. And thanks, everyone, for listening to this episode of The Wrong Cat Diet, the podcast based on the cat's fetish feet. To follow along, you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other source in the podcast. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Threads at TheWrongCatDiet or check our website, TheWrongCatDiet.com.