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[0:00] Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Ariana Grande, Hi, I'm Cynthia ARIBO, and you're listening to the Broadway Podcast Network, visit vpn.fm to discover more. There's a cat over here. There's a cat over there. I'm a wrong one died. I'm a wrong one died. I welcome to

[0:27] Mike Abrams: the Ron cat died the podcast. Break down the catastrophe. I'm your host, Mike Abrams, and today we have another amazing guest. He was monkeys trap on the Royal Caribbean cruise Oasis of the Seas in 2016 so welcome Brett Marco blaster, and thank you for joining me. Thank you for having me. I love talking to a Royal Caribbean, especially since I believe you did the full show 16 right, because there was a point where they flipped into a 90 minute version. And so we're gonna get to your time on the boat, but I always gotta start. What was your introduction to cats? Was it the 1998 movie? Was it seeing it live? What was your very first viewing of the show?

[1:06] Speaker 2: So, interestingly enough, I didn't see cats myself until the most recent Broadway revival.

[1:17] Mike Abrams: Okay, so that was also 2016 after I got off the boat, wow.

[1:23] Speaker 2: And it was the third time that I had done cats, and I never seen a production. I've only been in it.

[1:30] Mike Abrams: So you never see what about movie? Not even a 1998 movie. After,

[1:35] Speaker 2: after the first time I did cats, I think I watched the movie, but that was never the Canon for me. My relationship, okay, was always in in the junkyard.

[1:48] Mike Abrams: Okay, so you've never seen it. You're a performer. You I, I've now seen it. Now you have. But I mean, at the time, let me go back to 2016 then before you've seen it. When you do it, you said you've done it three times. Was where was? Was the first Royal Caribbean? Or was that? That was the third? That was the walk you through the history? Tell me. Tell me the first, the first two. Oh,

[2:12] Speaker 2: I got a great community theater production. Uh, let's see, after my freshman year of college in 2012 that's aging myself, and it was really just as special as any other production of Cats, even though, in retrospect, we were definitely on a community theater budget, okay, but it was the creative team who were just community members really passionate about theater, and they changed my life forever in a million ways. This is Louis Polina and Richard alias Jordan Brennan. I will call them out any day. But they chose cats because they were scared of it. It was a weird show. They had done all the regulars their their musical theater. Hand and knowledge was paramount, and they wanted a challenge, so they picked cats, wow, and pulled a bunch of us along with them.

[3:13] Mike Abrams: And how long was this run? Oh, a couple weeks. Two weeks. Couple months, 202 weekends. Yeah, really, really quick. Oh, yeah,

[3:21] Speaker 2: good, because this was a, like a stock community theater, so we'd be rehearsing during the afternoons one show, and then go and perform a different one at night. And then if you were part of the alumni show, you could come in during the day, because it was over the summer, and you're doing two and three shows, but one of them was cats.

[3:42] Mike Abrams: How that is fascinating. Where in the country was this?

[3:46] Speaker 2: This is Southeastern Pennsylvania, okay, Bucha,

[3:49] Mike Abrams: you're doing a couple weekends, and you're, you know, this is your introduction to show you've never seen it. You don't write me the canon. You're doing two weekends. Are you monkeys trap at this time? Who are no for me as

[4:01] Speaker 2: I am, mccavity, who they chose to double with Alonzo.

[4:05] Mike Abrams: Okay, so cavity and Alonzo, so you're playing the villain. Yeah.

[4:11] Speaker 2: It was thrilling, because all of us were terrified, none of us. I mean, some people had seen the move, people like knew the gist of it, but no one had done the show, and that's a really rare experience, because so often you do the show and it's people's sixth time, and they're all very normalized into how to do it, but it was every single one of us were doing it for the first time

[4:38] Mike Abrams: that is crazy. So you're doing this, and now in the production of that, you have a such a short run, you're doing the rehearsals during the day. You're doing us. How much canon are you giving like, this is your as someone who didn't know the show, doesn't know the plot, did not know the background, probably didn't know Macavity. What are you told? Like, how did you build that character? In a two weekend type of show.

[5:02] Speaker 2: The process was very similar to the subsequent productions. It was redirected really well, the gimmick. We were a gimmick. We were not in a junkyard. We were in an abandoned video arcade. It was, it was really fun. So the the props were very playful. There was candy around. There were movie theater snacks. It was, like, very playful.

[5:34] Mike Abrams: So fun. But,

[5:35] Speaker 2: yeah, we, I mean, we created a lot of the Canon ourselves. Of course, they're like, the the obvious pieces should we say that are either directly referenced in the lyrics or just are a common thread, one that has come up on your podcast before, Demeter was definitely with Macavity at some point in a not so great way. Yeah, and that was part of that. It was like it was a very real production of Cats for being incredibly under funded, with a lot of people who had had no idea.

[6:16] Mike Abrams: Yeah, I always feel like these community theaters like you, because it's so short and a show that has so much depth, you always wonder, how much depth can you get into in such a short period of time? But at the same time, it's still theater and a production and time put into it, in rehearsal, and there is the choreography and learning the show, but there is also building this kind of like, especially in cats, where it's open, you get to kind of build a piece of that yourself. And so I love to hear that it's not I never would expect a community theater to be like, Oh, we're gonna rush the process. We're gonna do it quicker. You have a different budget. But I love hearing it's like, no, we're going in, we're going all in on this, and we're bringing this to life, to the way it should be,

[6:57] Speaker 2: and especially a show like cats, the way that we already all knew each other very well from doing lots of shows the same summer, and we had shows after that still the summer, the group was really already cohesive. We were already a tribe. Whereas a lot of times you're doing cats and it's strangers pulled from different corners of the country, some might know each other, but it's about developing bonds through characters. We were all friends. We had been on stage a bunch together. It was about adapting our pre existing relationships to these characters, and it came together very naturally. Yeah, I'm really proud of that production, even if that's gonna be fun, say otherwise,

[7:48] Mike Abrams: that's also gonna be a little fun too, because, like you, since you know each other, it is a show where you're climbing on top of each other, and you have to be really close in a very, you know, UNITAR, like, a very tight outfit. So it's good to have that relationships already, because it makes it easier to kind of get on all fours and be cats together, which I'm sure is a little jarring the first time you're doing it. I want to fast forward to number two. So where's number two?

[8:14] Speaker 2: Number two is a summer stock theater while I was in college and a lot of my college classmates were in the same production. Okay, we're all upstate New York, and it wasn't a union production or anything, but we were all very excited to be there working professionally. We were getting paid. I might have been the only person to have done cats previously.

[8:43] Mike Abrams: So you bring in all the knowledge so well, I'm the team, and

[8:47] Speaker 2: this time I'm monk a strap. Okay, so at least it's appropriate that I know what's going on.

[8:56] Mike Abrams: So this is same type of deal you're, you know, again, quick production, like summer stock theater, and you are now, and I'm still blown away at this point, you've still never seen it. You've been in it twice, still have never actually seen it on stage or in a theater or on a VHS tape or any form of shot of this, of this play. So

[9:18] Speaker 2: no one does it. I mean, a few P I remember a few theaters in this time period, word like, audition a but never at a place that I could, like, just go see, yeah, the VHS is there, but that's not really something that occurs to you, Yeah, if it wasn't part of your childhood, you know, definitely, and especially once I had a connection with the show, I wasn't super curious for for the original interpretation, just because I had my Jellicle Tribe, yeah,

[9:58] Mike Abrams: yeah, you had your. You got the backstory in the history that you you had, so you didn't need to go do that, essentially, as like, research for it.

[10:06] Speaker 2: Yeah, so the second time I did cats and I was monkey strap, it was one of the first times I'd like played a lead, lead in a musical. And I was just terrified in a very ambitious way. And the more I look back on it, it's just a very monkey strap. It fits me very well, because I was worried about doing it right, and I was worried about doing it justice, and I would get up early and do my research on traditions of storytelling and tribe culture and feline relationships. And I was into the work at this point.

[10:55] Speaker 2: And again, it was creating a tribe with people that I already knew and some of my closest friends to this day were in that production. And we look back on it and we say, Wow, we did cats,

[11:11] Mike Abrams: yeah, a summer stock version in upstate. Like, that's, yeah, I mean, it's, it's a, it has to be an experience. Like, it's such a, already, a show that's builds a tribe within the cast, and then you add those layers of being younger in college and friends, and you get to kind of do this weird thing together. I'm sure it feels like you're building even more of a community from that. Yeah, that is super fun. So then, how long is that? What you said that was, what year was that like? How long is that before getting on the boat? That

[11:45] Speaker 2: was actually, these are all in increments of two years. So the first one was 2012 then 2014 and finally, 2016 on the boat. Okay,

[11:55] Mike Abrams: so it's, it's every two year you decide I gotta, gotta get back into the cats world.

[12:00] Speaker 2: Yeah, I've taken a few, a few years off now. Okay, you've got a

[12:05] Mike Abrams: long time before you're ready for Gus, but that's gonna be, you know, that's when you revisit this. Okay, so 2016 you you know, you now know it's monkey strap again, and you see this opportunity to go on Royal Caribbean cruise. Is this something that you were seeking out? Is this something that was just part of an audition process? Like, how does, how do you end up in the boat? Like cruise theater world? Because it does feel like it's a it's not just doing theater. You got to do a lot of stuff when you're on the boat too.

[12:36] Speaker 2: Yeah, I did not know much about ship life. I'd had friends do Disney. I'd had friends of friends do royal or Norwegian. But even Norwegian then wasn't putting a lot of stock into their their book shows, so it was like Royal Caribbean, yeah. And at the time, they were still doing Chicago and Mamma mia, but cats was one of their newer shows that they were very proud of. That was prestigious. It was officially licensed by real useful group. The team in London still had to approve us, yeah. And so it was. It was prestigious. But, I mean, I'm pretty fresh out of college. I'd had a couple of jobs over the summer, but then it's the fall, and this is something I'm right for. It's a role I've played. It's a step up in my career. From what I had heard, you save a lot of money on cruise ships, yeah. So it is absolutely the job that I was interested in. And I got an agent appointment to sing on a Monday, and I went in with half the packet, and then they gave me peaks and polls and said, Come back in a half hour, and I can do, yeah, and the guy sitting next to me had never heard it before, yeah. And I pity I just say, Oh, it's a rough life.

[14:11] Mike Abrams: I so I want to, at this point, you obviously know the show and you're going on. It's, I think you're the fourth cast for the Oasis of the Seas, still pretty fresh for them. I think they're, yeah, they're, they're learning. And I know they built the boat around the grizzabella, like platform, essentially. It's like they actually started with that. And so you're going on this now, how many people in your cast had done cats when you got to the like, to the cruise? Like, was it just you, or were there a few that had some other experiences?

[14:43] Speaker 2: There were quite a few who had done cast number two, okay, the rules of ship life are that you can't be on board for a certain amount of time without time off on land. And so the done thing. In a lot of cruise ships, I believe to this day, because I still see people going back and forth and back and forth is to do a cast, and then you have a cast off, and then you do the other cast. So, like, there's a lot of cats that were in 24681357, interesting, and not all

[15:20] Mike Abrams: dating or on land, okay, but

[15:22] Speaker 2: particularly, like the old dudes, that's a sweet gig. So Doug Eskew, he was not about to stop just going and sitting on a tire. So he was a common thread between a lot of us. And even when I got back to land and we I talked with other casts, we shared so many friends because there were people that had done it on Royal before that were going back to do it again. People that I met on Royal are still doing the international tour. Yeah, yeah, it's it. That was really my introduction to the global community of cats. Yeah, plenty had done it before. It was also to some, but this was my first time in the proper canon, so I was nervous all over again. And, okay, I'd been a lead at summer stock, but this was like a big boy job, and I'm monk a strap. So it was, I mean, I felt the same neurotic pressure all over again, which I'm still right for the role,

[16:30] Mike Abrams: for sure. So let's talk about that Canon. So how did you build the Canon knowing that you're gonna have a much longer stay with the character? Was it stuff that came through rehearsals? Is it stuff that came over the time of the time of the ship, like, where is and what is your monkey strap cannon? So

[16:47] Speaker 2: we built the canon. It was actually the second show that we prepared at Rehearsal Studios. We got there, we spent two weeks on the production show, which is just a 90 minute variety with pop music, yep. And then we had a whole month for cats, okay, a month of Monday to Saturday, 10 to six. Everyone's usually called the whole time. So really intensive, and led by Michael clowers and David Rosales, and their guidance and Canon was so sentimental in an introspective way, in a community building way, it was such a safe space. And I mean, all three times that we that I've done this show, day one is crawling on the floor. I feel like that goes without saying, but I'll say it. Day one is crawling on the floor, rolling around, playing being a cat, identifying what you like about being a cat, thinking about how cats interact without anything to say. We're not talking about telling a story yet. We're just fooling around. Yeah? And they'd say, and we're just in a big, empty rehearsal studio, and I'd say, okay, hide. We'd say, hide, it's try to hide. Or they'd say, find someone, and it's all non verbal. I mean, yeah, so we're not discussing things explicitly, but okay, find someone and understand a relationship that you might have with them at this point, we only knew each other's character names if we hadn't done the show before, we don't really know who people are. But of course, the advantage to having done the show before is I know how I'm supposed to generally interact with the kittens. I know that I'm not gonna like, screw with old dude, you know? Yeah, there's certain things that are just obvious that I'm not really gonna play with just because it's the first day of rehearsal. So then, after we roll around on the floor for a while, we circle up and we get the story of cats. And that was when we were distributed our makeup plots with our three words. And we had, later we had, like little one on one meetings with Michael to discuss the three words and kind of flesh out what our narrative could be. And it was just so personal, which now I just have trouble seeing other productions be that personal in a commercial entity, because it's one thing to be a community theater where we're all doing it because we love it. It's another thing to do it at summer stock, where we're all in our first couple professional gigs and we want to do right by our teachers. Dollars and all of that. But now the same kind of care is being taken when there's real money behind it, and that is, yeah, that is rare. So even at the time, I'm like, this is thoughtful. This is healthy artistry. It was a real gift. Do you

[20:18] Mike Abrams: think some of that is because of the show, like cats just brings that out more than other shows. Just given the nature of how it is, like, it's hard to go, you kind of can't half ass doing cats, like, it won't work. And so I do think there has to be some of the the story is being told through the characters, mostly non verbally. And so there has to be that kind of care put into it. And so I'm curious if that's a cat specific thing, or if it's just this production or these people, or is that something that you've kind of noticed?

[20:51] Speaker 2: It's certainly a common thread of the times that I've done cats, and it's certainly much rarer in any of the other work that I've done. Okay, it doesn't mean that there aren't shows that are ensemble driven mostly non verbal communication, but I think you're exactly right is that so much of it is behind the text and interwoven in implications, rather than scene work. Yeah.

[21:26] Mike Abrams: So as someone before, I want to talk about the audiences here in a second, but as someone who's who's listened to the podcast, and you know, is familiar with this show, what are some of the things that you either theories canon or crazy stories that happen that you're like all right? This, this needs to be on the record. This needs to be said here today for everyone to hear, yeah,

[21:53] Speaker 2: um, listen, but a big part of me just needed to come on and defend moncuss trap. All right, he gets a bad rap. You haven't talked to a lot of them, and true i It's a rough it's a rough time being in a leadership position when everyone's just trying to fool around. And you talk about herding cats, literally herding cats, and they're all trying to be cats, so they're not trying to be herded. But I have a job to do, and people don't even like me.

[22:39] Mike Abrams: Okay? So this is purely an invitation to come in and say, they, he monkeys trap has a following. They, it is a cat that it does get a lot of hate, but I have some people that this is their their fans. I've told me that is their cat loyal fan base. So it might be a smaller fan base, but it's a loyal group of people,

[23:01] Speaker 2: and I appreciate those people. Those people are rarely part of the cast,

[23:09] Mike Abrams: okay, okay,

[23:11] Speaker 2: just the power dynamics. Leaves, leaves monkey strap to be so unlikable in comparison, they're supposed to love Tugger. They're supposed to be turned on by Macavity, and they're supposed to warship old dude moncuss drops just kind of in the middle there. And needing to keep everyone under control, they don't want to be under control. It's the most exciting night of the year or of their lives, and they don't want to settle down and do the number I rehearse, yeah, but I want to do the number I rehearse.

[23:49] Mike Abrams: You're the you're the kid asking, Oh, you forgot to tell us homework to the teacher at the end of class, right before the bell rang.

[23:56] Speaker 2: You You caught me in both my character and my human form. Okay,

[24:05] Mike Abrams: I you know what I'm here for. I'm glad, I'm glad I could give you a platform to defend monk and fruitless you and everyone else out of there. We're gonna take a quick break, and then we back for more of the wrong cat died. Okay, I want to, I want to talk a little bit about audiences. Because since you did the one, an intermission version of the audiences, it's, it's a different thing where you had, don't have a paid, you know, you when most people are seeing it, they are paying for a ticket. They know what they're going into, and they're there for that reason, and this is the reverse. They are there for cruise, and you all are performing, and you are putting a ton of effort into this, but because of that, it brings a very different dynamic. And so I want to hear a little bit about what the audiences were like, and then any crazy stories that you remember from

[24:56] Speaker 2: this, the audiences were you. That phenomenal in the weirdest ways, like the crews provided the best and the worst audiences for cats, because it's people that wouldn't go see it. So they're either surprised and horrified or surprised and delighted. But like, surprise is what we're going for, yeah, so it was, it was the best and the worst. But I kind of love that, because very few people knew what to expect, and their experience was very much in our hands. I mean, aside from the fact that it's a weird show,

[25:41] Mike Abrams: which is, yeah, that's part of it. It's

[25:45] Speaker 2: part of it, but not everyone knows, because it's included in the price of their ticket. So they don't say it's free. They say it's included in the cruise.

[25:54] Mike Abrams: It's paid for as part of the cruise. Okay? And you do,

[25:58] Speaker 2: you do have an opportunity when you are doing your cruise check in or stuff to declare what night your ticket to cats is, because theoretically, every show was spoken for, or every seat is spoken for every show.

[26:12] Mike Abrams: Did it feel that way? Or just

[26:16] Speaker 2: people? People miss their ticket all the time and had no intention of going whatsoever. And then, oh gosh, intermission, I don't know that even half the audience ever stayed, which was both demoralizing, but also it was kind of like, weeding out the people who weren't in for it. So on the other hand, act two was always more intimate, because there were literally fewer people in the house, but it was also the people who were buying in, yeah. So it was, it wasn't as, you know, horrible than people as people who had paid a lot of money have high expectations and are not enjoying themselves, stuck in their seats for a whole second act, people rolling their eyes and checking their phones because they're not having a good time. No, they left there at the bar. Now they said, we'll catch up with you later. We don't want we don't want this. We're playing tennis, yeah. So it comes with good and bad, but we had all of Act One to screw with the people who didn't want to be there. And that was great.

[27:37] Mike Abrams: It is I had never thought about it until I talked to my first Royal Caribbean cruise cast member that act one ends with little memory. And if you're not familiar with the show, you know that part of that song, and you think it's over. So there are definitely, I think, some people that maybe thought, Oh, I saw the, you know, the stuff I knew, the one song I might have known and and then leave. And then there's also, to your point, the people that just they took their call, their spoken for ticket, and then realized it's not for them and sat through until it was awkward because they didn't want to get up and then left at intermission.

[28:15] Speaker 2: I mean, and people left during the show too, people during Act One. It was funny to see how many people we lost, even just during the overtures, they realized what they were in for, not the overture, the first introduction catalogs. Yeah,

[28:29] Mike Abrams: it's definitely jarring, if you're not expecting it, right? It's a different it's a different scene, it's different vibe, it's a dance heavy show. And as someone who's had that experience with a spoken for ticket given to me. I at least knew it was two, two acts. So I wasn't I wasn't like, ready to leave intermission, but I wasn't expecting what I saw. I just did not really know I walked in pretty, pretty open and knowing no knowledge. Just so it was cats. I knew memory and cats, and that was it, and it was a lot. And so if you're not ready for that, it is now. I walked out being like, this was fascinating, you know, because I saw the revival. But I can't imagine being on a cruise ship where you're going to drink and gamble and lay out in a pool and then going in, and you're starting with green eyes, or, you know, you're starting with a cat scaring you in the aisle, or just even in general, that that overture music like it's a very different vibe than what most cruise ship life feels like. Agreed,

[29:33] Speaker 2: it was a strong choice for the for the company, but that's especially at the time, I know that they're still very much pushing their entertainment division, but other companies have gotten in the game with Bucha. Yeah, Norwegian is now a huge player. Um, at the time, it was prestigious, and it didn't matter if it was weird and and. And off the beaten path for cruise ships, because that's what they were selling, as you were seeing, yeah, capital, art, yeah. And I mean, the rest of the ship very much fit that there were jazz clubs and salsa clubs and an ice rink, and with a professional ice cast, I should say, and an aqua show with world class high divers. So they were like, their brand was top tier entertainment, weird, fun, commercial, whatever it may be. Yeah, we were the weird. Yeah. We were

[30:38] Mike Abrams: for sure, this is, this is awesome. Okay, I want to talk a little bit about a separate thing, because I know that you did cats in quarantine, and you participated in that in 2020,

[30:52] Mike Abrams: Perfect. Yeah. I'm not expecting this question, were you, okay? No, because

[30:56] Speaker 2: it was very random and quick, and I don't know there might have been one clip of me in the final cut.

[31:05] Mike Abrams: Okay, well, I was gonna ask, I mean, how did that, like, I remember seeing it. I actually talked to, you know, the people that put together, but I just remember seeing it when it happened, and I'm like, Oh, that's really cool, that everyone did it. But it was from, I mean, it was productions from all over and, you know, showed the depth of the show. And I was still pretty early in this podcast life, so it kind of like for me, I knew, but it opened my eyes. I'm like, wow, there's that many more productions I hadn't even thought about, and that's not even talking about the summer stocks and the regionals. Like, you know, I can't find that information, that stuff's not documented anywhere very easily. So I couldn't find your first two versions of it. You know, of cats I have your Royal Caribbean. So I just wanted to hear a little bit about, how did that, how that request come to you? And then, what was it like filming that and then seeing the out, you know, the output of it,

[31:56] Speaker 2: the initial request. I mean, it was definitely an email. Okay, I don't know who it would have been from, or maybe it was a post in our Facebook group at the time, okay, but I was very aware at the time that it was like, We want everyone who's done the Canon show. The more the more the merrier. We're looking to impress by numbers. This is a global phenomenon, and we love to come together as a community and represent that over the pandemic. That's exactly what we wanted. That's the hardest part of the uncertainty of that time in the world for us was if we were ever gonna see our friends again, whether stage performance was gone for a year, four years, 10 years, we really didn't know if live performance would be viable in the foreseeable future. So the prospect of joining a community, a far reaching community with people that we certainly know. Because if you're participating, you know other people who are participating, it was, it was an exciting moment of community at a time when we really needed it.

[33:17] Mike Abrams: Yeah, yeah. I mean, it was really cool to see the output of it. And I was fascinated by I was, half of me was going, who edited this? Like this is because, assuming you did a couple pieces, you know, a part of the ball, right? Like, did a dance number, either in their apartment or backyard, then someone had to time and put that all together. And it was such a cool output. They

[33:37] Speaker 2: gave us an MP. They gave us MP, three tracks, okay, so they were at least able to sync to that, yeah, but we were all using the same, the same version of the instrumentals. Wow.

[33:51] Mike Abrams: What a cool piece. I mean, that's another little weird clearly not as you know, I think I surprised you with this question, but a cool piece of your cat's cat's history. I guess that adds to that was four years after. So, you know, you took a two year break, and then that's a four year after. So now we're four more years. So you've got a couple months to figure out how to do something cats related here, to get back on track.

[34:15] Speaker 2: That's true. I think right now, my only opportunity would be the international tour. International

[34:20] Mike Abrams: tour. There are, I believe, still some regional productions happening, but I'm not sure where stuff seems to pop up every once in a while, and then the the cruise just, I think, just went back out as as we're recording this, I think they're either on the boat or getting on the boat in the next couple weeks. The funny

[34:38] Speaker 2: part about the cruise life is that you're rehearsing for so long, and you can only stay on the boat for so long, it's an ongoing cycle. If someone's not just about to get on the boat, then they're getting ready to hold auditions. And if someone's not finishing up their run, then they're prepping for the next one, like the. It's always turning over. It's an endless machine. And I talk about the people who did casts, 135246, they weren't out of they weren't not doing cats for more than a couple months, because they'd be off the boat. They'd go say hi to their family, they'd chill for maybe three weeks, and then they'd go back to Florida and start the rehearsals again. Wow. It was a really high turnover. I think it's it's different now for a few reasons, but the contract months have definitely extended. Some people are doing it for longer, yeah,

[35:37] Mike Abrams: right. Is it now? I think it's around eight months. Now,

[35:39] Speaker 2: my contract was eight months, but that includes two months of rehearsal. And now, now I think it's 10 months with eight months, eight on the boat, yeah, but then I don't know, I haven't done it, maybe I'm Yeah,

[35:52] Mike Abrams: yeah. Well, we, we can get that answer really quickly from a couple people who are, who are now there. All right, let's, let's do some rapid fire. Um, if you could go on for one night, any cat, whether male, female, can do it physically, sing it. Who would you want to perform

[36:08] Speaker 2: as that's a really good question. I think I have to answer it feasibly, because if I were to do the show again today, I feel like more of a Tugger in my current space. And part of that might just be resentment and a desire to feel the other side of the tribe's energy, yeah, but I think I have to say Tucker going

[36:33] Mike Abrams: full opposite of monk. You're gonna take the other brother, yeah,

[36:41] Mike Abrams: Just want to cause a wreak havoc. I love, yeah, okay, who are your favorite and least favorite characters in the show?

[36:49] Speaker 2: Oh, here's, here's, here's a hot take one of my favorite cats is often not part of it. I love griddle bone. Yeah, I love griddle bone. Also jelly Lorem. But like in that moment, the character griddle bone is so much fun, and you don't ever really get an explanation of how she came to be. It's like a mysterious cat, but she's so much fun. The role in that scene is just ridiculous, and then she goes away forever more, never to be heard from again. Yeah, so that's exciting to me, because everyone else, you get a two and a half hour arc, and you see a lot of them, and you they can be mysterious, but by the end of the show, you're, you're used to looking at them, griddle bones in and out. You catch her, that's a ridiculous costume, and then she's gone.

[37:53] Mike Abrams: You're, yeah, you get, it's a story within a story, right? Like, yeah, it's a little piece of it. So that's, it's true. What about Lee's favorite? And

[38:01] Speaker 2: if this is, this is as me, the actor, rather than as monkey strap, because I am so used to interpreting the characters only through the character, um, but objectively, do I dislike any of the cats? No,

[38:20] Mike Abrams: so let me reframe it. Yeah, please. You're a family. You're a family, yeah? Which is the one that you're like enough you personally, because you know you love them all. They're all still your family, but you're just like, Oh, God, this cat again today, you know, but as you and not as because monk, I'm sure, has a couple answers for that question.

[38:39] Speaker 2: I don't know that I have a lot of time for Buster fur, yeah, okay. And I'm, if

[38:45] Mike Abrams: you go back on the boat, he's gone totally Yeah. He's out. What else does Gus do? I think Gus does. Gus. Gus does, yeah, and probably the opening number dancing and some other stuff. But yeah, that was to make it 90 minutes.

[39:04] Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, Buster. I mean, he didn't stick around for the choice he's passing through. I don't it's not that he's not a Jellicle. He's absolutely a Jellicle. But he just didn't seem committed to the bet

[39:22] Mike Abrams: he might be the most common answer in this question, or at least really feel like I hear, yeah, oh, I hate being productive. Definitely get some definitely get some hate. But I think it's warranted. Uh, favorite song in the show,

[39:38] Mike Abrams: Pigs and follicles. Okay, it's the audition song got you the got you on the boat. You're ready. So

[39:44] Speaker 2: for auditions, they had me, they had us, they had me do a couple. It was definitely Gumby cat initially, and Old Deuteronomy. And then the callback was peaks and pollicles. Nice. Okay, I think Old Deuteronomy would be my second favorite. Yeah. Uh. Great

[40:00] Mike Abrams: choices. Okay, I got a fun one for you. Yeah, fun question. The fun question I always ask, I always do a different fun question. And what I'm curious for knowing that you came on here to defend monkey strap is, which cat do you think would come to monks defense quickest? Like, if there's a, you know, there, you know, there's a bunch of hate going on, and everyone's kind of annoyed that he's asking for more and more and more and trying to keep everybody in order. Who's the first one that's coming to his defense?

[40:28] Speaker 2: Okay, here's who's on my side? Old Deuteronomy, yeah, he put the right cat in charge, and he trusts me. Yep. But then I got along really well with Alonzo and misto. Misto and I were tight. The kittens look up to me if they weren't already corrupted by Tugger, because, like, at least in my production pouncival, he was tuggers mini me. He was never gonna, he was never gonna be my friend, you know, yeah, yeah. But syllabub was super impressionable, and she just wanted to do right? Okay, so syllabub was my friend,

[41:09] Mike Abrams: yeah? So you've got, like, a lunch table worth of people you can have to at least,

[41:17] Mike Abrams: Okay, all right, now, most important question, and you knew this was coming, but I've argued at length. I don't think Grizabella should be the Jellicle choice, even on the boat. So I want to know, who are you picking, if you are making the Jellicle choice,

[41:33] Speaker 2: yeah, and I knew this question was coming, obviously, my immediate reaction is, of course, it should be Grizabella, because that's who old dude chose, and that's kind of the end of the story. He's in charge. It's not worth discussing. But I understand monk answer, but I understand the spirit of the question. The teacher said that this is the homework, so we're gonna do the homework, okay, but that's, I mean, that's how I played it. Is that because Marcus trap doesn't want her either? Um, yeah, he's built this whole community of deserving jellicles, and it's not in his interest to reward the one person who's not in it. Um, but boss says. Boss does so a lot of it is just having to live in that for so long that I've convinced myself. Gus is very clearly a popular alternative. He's falling apart on stage. Please send him off. Yeah. But then I think there are other valid options. I think Jenny any dots is great, and she puts on a hell of a performance for herself. She has a lot she's got a track record of accomplishment. She's done a lot in her life. I do think I have to be boring and say Gus.

[43:03] Mike Abrams: I don't think so anything. So as I say, What am I putting your vote down as your Gus? Gus,

[43:09] Speaker 2: okay, yeah, it's uninteresting. But so much of the the text points the audience to expect him, yeah, and I think that's a reasonable expectation as he's, like, limping off stage, he's the only person that needs help to get around, yeah, potentially, aside from old dude. But, like, the whole his whole character is frailty after magnificence. So you're supposed to want him to receive his dues

[43:42] Mike Abrams: completely.

[43:46] Speaker 2: So in some ways, I not to oversimplify the podcast, but I think Gus is the right answer.

[43:54] Mike Abrams: So Gus is still the number two choice, really, outside of Grizabella. Grizabella has at least as of one to 50, because I track it every you know, 50 or so, 25 or 50 or so episodes. Grizabell is like 48 49% and then Gus is not far behind her. And then everyone else has a handful of votes. Or not everyone but a couple cats have some handful of votes, usually for humorous, humorous reasons, or like, I want you know this is who I played, and I just want to finally defend them. That's kind of the the core of it. But it's really a two cat race between Grisel and Gus, yeah, and I've I agree that I think it's Gus is a choice I

[44:36] Speaker 2: have a hard time buying that any of the tribe would even consider nominating Grizabella if old dude hadn't explicitly pointed his paw and said, Yeah, her Yeah, so so that that was that 49% I'm not calling bullshit on their ability to. Designate from cast and actor, but like, zero cats are interested in her winning. One cat sounds interested in her winning. For

[45:08] Mike Abrams: sure, I think the I think what's, what's fascinating about it is that's the way for 40 plus years This show isn't so the fact that I'm getting close to half voting against her, or really more voting against her, but more like, I'm slowly changing the perception to the point where I can maybe get a show where she doesn't win. It's, that's what I'm working towards.

[45:32] Speaker 2: I mean, you picked a great topic because it is a contentious resolution. Yeah,

[45:40] Mike Abrams: it's, it's ripe for change. It's ready. So that's, that's why, that's what I'm here for. That's the only reason this podcast still exists,

[45:51] Mike Abrams: Gus or an Edwin drew style. That's still my dream, is to just have a different cat every night voted on by the audience.

[45:57] Speaker 2: That is very sweet.

[46:05] Mike Abrams: Fascinating I I mean, I'm saying it almost every episode now slowly, hoping that the more I say it, the more likely I can manifest it into real life.

[46:14] Speaker 2: Well, it's not out of the question from a technological perspective. Now completely even when I was on the ship and on the ship, people don't necessarily have cell service, but vote on your phones. You got 20 options. You can scroll through them.

[46:30] Mike Abrams: It's easy. It's the technology is there. It's easy. Yeah, part's the easy part. And I think the choreography part is pretty easy, because you can run the exact same show, and just at the moment where they line up, you just pause for the vote, and then you just got to train everyone on how to get harnessed in, right like to go up, and then grizabell can just take the spot of whoever goes in the inner place and just joins.

[46:57] Speaker 2: I think that that is a very viable option. I might have Grizabella peace out.

[47:02] Mike Abrams: Yeah, okay, I'm fine with that too.

[47:07] Speaker 2: If she's not picked, she's not hanging just to watch something else with I don't

[47:13] Mike Abrams: know. I think that that's part of the fun. Is if she can still be accepted back into the family, and she can have a year with her children, she abandoned and all the other stuff that's happened, like, let her have her her year. She can go next year. I'm fine with her going next year.

[47:27] Speaker 2: Okay, you're nicer than I am. Yeah,

[47:31] Mike Abrams: monk. Monk is done with grizzabel. She

[47:34] Speaker 2: abandoned us. She's, like, totally not as bad as Macavity. But yeah, his empathy is with is with the tribe and the protection of his friends. I

[47:47] Mike Abrams: love it. Well, I got another non Grizabella vote. Learn some new things. Got some fun stories. Got a very strong defense for monkeys trap. What else do you need in an episode? So how can people stay in touch with you and keep up with everything you're going got going on in your life?

[48:04] Speaker 2: Hey, you can follow me on Instagram. My handle is at BMC, Glauser, G, l, a, U, S, E, R. I can't say I post every day, but I definitely post when something changes in my life.

[48:21] Mike Abrams: That's all you can ask for, right? Hopefully fun things coming up. So this has been super fun. I appreciate you coming on and and sharing your stories and having some fun with us today.

[48:31] Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you so much for having me, Mike. It was awesome.

[48:35] Mike Abrams: So thank you, and thanks everyone for listening to this episode of The Ron cat die, the podcast, break down the cast couch feed to follow along. You can subscribe on Apple podcast, Spotify, or any assistance podcast, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok and threads at the rocket died. Or check out our website, the rocket died.com.