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[0:15] Mike Abrams: Welcome to The Wrong Cat Died, a podcast breakdown the cast has for you. I'm your host, Mike Abrams, and today we have another amazing episode. This is definitely a different production, but she performed as Electra in one of the Stage Left Children's Theater productions of CATS in 2015. So welcome, Lex Miller, and thank you for joining me.

[0:32] Lex Miller: Of course. Thanks for having me.

[0:34] Mike Abrams: I have always been interested in like the children's version of this because I know they do CATS Jr. all over the place. And there's like a lot of variations to it. But I now have someone who is an adult that can tell me their experience and not being like me randomly asking, you know, a child of their experience while they're doing it. So I'm excited to hear about your production from 2015. But before we start there, I want to know, before 2015, did you know anything about CATS? Like where was CATS in your life?

[1:01] Lex Miller: So the children's theater that I did growing up, Stage Left, which is where I did CATS, they had done CATS nine years prior. And I started it two years later. So I always say like my generation, like girls I'm still friends with to this day, like at this children's theater, their first shows, they started and ended with CATS. So that was the only like touch point I had of the show, which I guess you could revoke my theater kid card at that point. But like, I only knew that like, all the older kids, all the big kids had done CATS the musical before. And all of a sudden, they had never repeated a show before. And next thing you know, like grumblings were happening, like we're doing CATS. And I'm like, we just did Shrek.

Like, why are we now doing CATS? And like, I played one of the three little pigs. I had completely painted my face for that. And I'm like, great, we're gonna have to do this like all over again, multiple times. And like, that's as much as I knew about CATS going into it. So it was the lore of like, you're the older kids that did it. Yeah, nine years older. And then coming back for round two, coming back around to it, there were only like three or four people who had been in the original and then had done ours. But like, of course, I was friends with them.

[2:11] Mike Abrams: Did they get to do like the younger kittens the first time and now they're the old cats?

[2:16] Lex Miller: Yeah. Oh, that's kind of interesting. I mean, sort of. Yeah. They were all baby kittens beforehand. But yeah.

[2:21] Mike Abrams: Okay, I'm fascinated. So what other like, what does a like this production like this theater in general, and I'm not familiar, I didn't grow up acting, performing, I didn't do Shrek to CATS, all this stuff. Like, is this a you do a season? And this is where you're doing your different shows? And are they like, six weeks? Are you doing like a weekend?

[2:38] Lex Miller: Oh, okay. So, um, this place, you had to be enrolled in one of their classes. So, okay, classes would start September, they would end in March. And when I first started, so they have one main stage during the year, which is eight to 18. And when I first started, I think we started rehearsing in November for three weekends of performances in May. My following year, we had started in like, December for two weekends. And then from there on out, you're rehearsing from January to two weekends in May, or to put up a show for two weekends in May double cast. If you are in like the red cast and the blue cast, if you were in the red cast, you after you hit sixth grade, you could do crew. So everyone working backstage is doing the show and like vice versa.

[3:28] Mike Abrams: Interesting. Yeah. So do so you perform and you do the backstage?

[3:34] Lex Miller: Oh, yeah. It was okay. Yeah, I'm still like, like I said, I'm still friends with some of these girls today. And when I saw you like, we army crawled like behind like the heavy side layer, like all that kind of stuff, just like trying to get props to the other side. It was great. I love it.

[3:49] Mike Abrams: So you're basically doing six performances?

[3:52] Lex Miller: Oh, one, two, three, four. Yeah. And each cast did six.

[3:58] Mike Abrams: Yeah, each one. Okay. And you're months rehearsing?

[4:02] Lex Miller: Oh, yeah. Like 10 to 4 every Saturday, sometimes 12 to five on Sundays.

[4:06] Mike Abrams: Yeah. Okay. All right. So now it's 2015. Walk me through the audition process. Like, how do you become Electra?

[4:11] Lex Miller: So they make everyone, they give you like five or six choices of songs from the show to sing. And I must have at my gawky 15 year old self must have sang Macavity because I said, all right, this sounds fun. Not knowing what it's about. We all they didn't really do besides like Grizabella and tapping for Jenny any dots, they didn't really do character specific callbacks. So I think they made all of us learn to dance to Macavity. They put us into groups of three and just made us do it. I'm pretty sure I remember somebody being like, Oh, honey, when I was doing it, because I was like, I don't know what's going on. I don't know how to move like a cat, like all that stuff. And I really only had to do like Macavity and dance a little bit for my callback.

And they make you wait for so long for these cast lists. They tell you like the night before Thanksgiving, and then they're closed from Thursday to Monday. And then they can get like, they can speak to the parents. It's very strategic and honestly, very smart. But I remember I it's funny, one of my best friends to this day was my counterpart, but she had just played Pinocchio. So she had like a huge part and she had been all the kid parts. And I like to say I had a very like steady trajectory there. Like I started from the bottom and ended is like the lead my senior year, like gradually worked my way up. Okay, I was counterparts with Natalie and she will laugh at this like, she was royalty. And then here I was like counterparts with her.

I'm like, Oh shit, I'm good. And then I'm thinking about it. I'm like, my name is Alexis. Electra sounds a lot like Alexis. Is that why I got this part? So I'm the wheels are just spinning in my brain at this point. And I'm like, I'm either really freaking talented, like Natalie, or they just didn't. So yeah, but I ended up making it into the McAvity numbers. So I'll say that.

[6:05] Mike Abrams: Okay. Now, how many people were in your cast? Like not that because there's red and blue, right? Yeah. Where there's how many cats were there? Was it like, I've heard high school productions where it's like we have 50 cats because we had all these extra people in the in the high school that needed to be in it. But there's only like 30 or so, you know, that are supposed to be there.

[6:22] Lex Miller: Yeah, I want to say there were probably anywhere between 20 and 30 per cast, but maybe a little normal. Yeah. So there wasn't like adding a bunch of cat you weren't making up names.

[6:27] Lex Miller: Not we weren't making up names. No, but they were splitting a lot of like the singing parts into different roles.

[6:34] Mike Abrams: Yeah, yeah. Okay. So now tell me about like this production. Was it a full is it is it the junior production? Is it was it supposed to be the full production with tweaks? Because obviously you have the range of 818?

[6:45] Lex Miller: Yeah, it was definitely the full production with tweaks. Like, I'm trying the whole thing like the polyglot dogs and jetlit that whole thing. Not there. Okay. Um, for some reason, we did do the whole Jellicle ball, I'm pretty sure. All 11 or 12 minutes straight. Okay. Um, maybe a little less than that. But it definitely. Um, and I think those are really, we really did like the whole show. I'm pretty sure. Yeah. Did I understand what was going on? Not a clue. But

[7:21] Mike Abrams: that was my next question. What do they like tell you? In rehearsals? Like how much story do they tell you? Do they tell you any back story for your character? Or is it just purely dance and saying, don't kick each other in the face and make sure you can get off safe? Like stage safely?

[7:35] Lex Miller: Yeah, pretty much. So no story, at least not for my role, because I don't think there was anything exciting that needed to be known. But no, there was no crazy backstory.

[7:47] Mike Abrams: Did you think about it at all with your cast? Or did you just like, no, let's go out there and do it?

[7:50] Lex Miller: Not a clue. But not until like, actually speaking with you, there were certain things that I had learned. And I saw it on Broadway twice and still went over my head.

[8:00] Mike Abrams: Okay, so just for context, we met at an event. And that's where you told me this. And I answered questions of random cat stuff that you'd had no idea about, because I've spent way too much time on this topic. And so okay, so you, this 2015, the Broadway revival is a year later. So you do this, you know nothing about it. You're told nothing. You just do your number. You did Shrek the year before. I don't know what you did that. What'd you do the year after?

[8:25] Lex Miller: Peter Pan.

[8:25] Mike Abrams: Peter Pan. Okay. And then The Little Mermaid and then I graduated.

[8:29] Lex Miller: Okay. Okay. So you got to be Ariel, I'm assuming?

[8:36] Lex Miller: Yeah, I was Ariel and I was Wendy the year before.

[8:36] Mike Abrams: Okay, so you were Electra.

[8:42] Lex Miller: Yeah, exactly. All right. All right. So who were you in Shrek?

[8:42] Lex Miller: I was one of the three little pigs.

[8:47] Mike Abrams: Three little pigs. Okay. So yeah, you did work your way.

[8:47] Lex Miller: Yeah. God, you were two years away from being Grizabella.

[8:53] Mike Abrams: I know. I probably would have been like, what's her name? Bomb Ballerina or Jenny Any Dots, but.

[8:59] Lex Miller: Okay. Seniors. Okay. So then you go see it. And you still have no idea what's happening. I'm like, wow, I was in that number. Or that looks cool. Or my costume looked like that. Or I think my friend played Bustopher Jones as a girl better. There's Bustopher Jones. Interesting.

[9:15] Mike Abrams: Yeah. Okay. So now that you've seen it on Broadway, do you recognize it? Did they do more? Like Muggle Jerry Ripple Teaser by themselves. Were there other people dancing in that number? Were there?

[9:23] Lex Miller: Maybe. That's pretty true. Yeah, it was pretty true. I mean, there might. No, there definitely were. I think it was just the two of them.

[9:29] Mike Abrams: How many people were on the Macavity number then?

[9:32] Lex Miller: Eight or nine.

[9:32] Mike Abrams: Okay. Because that's usually just Bomb Ballerina and Demeter.

[9:36] Lex Miller: Yeah. There was a row of us in the back. We all came downstage and did it. All the girl, like the adult girl cats.

[9:41] Mike Abrams: Okay. Do you remember any other changes like that? Or is it just two weekends in and out of your brain?

[9:47] Lex Miller: Pretty much. I mean, I know there are a bunch of tappers in Gumby Cat. I was one of those. And then Bustopher Jones was my moment. It was Electra, another cat, and Jenny Any Dots. I can't remember what my friend's cat was named, but the three of us split the parts for Bustopher Jones.

[10:08] Mike Abrams: Okay. I guess it was supposed to be Demeter, Bomb Ballerina, whatever it is.

[10:15] Lex Miller: Yeah. But they gave other people a chance to do that. And then the Gus song. Is that two people or is it just one person who sings it?

[10:27] Lex Miller: It's usually Jellylorum starts it, and then Gus sings his part.

[10:27] Mike Abrams: Okay. So they split Jellylorum and I think it was Cassandra who sang the other part. So there were certain things that they gave people more opportunities, but we were pretty much on stage the whole time, including intermission.

[10:42] Mike Abrams: Okay. Oh, so you sat up there with Old Deuteronomy too? Because Old Deuteronomy usually sits on stage during intermission.

[10:47] Lex Miller: The cool thing about the children's theater is you got to miss four days of school because kids would come on field trips to go see it. So you would do two shows. The other cast would do two shows. And I had the extreme fortune of sitting on stage during one of the school shows and people were just coming up and petting me the whole thing.

[11:07] Mike Abrams: That seems inappropriate.

[11:15] Lex Miller: They were like little, little kids, like kindergarten first grade.

[11:20] Mike Abrams: Okay. So the whole school comes to you miss that is all right. This is quite a program.

[11:26] Lex Miller: Yeah. But then they come up and then when we actually did this in the middle of the actual shows, like at intermission and my friends would come up and try to make me not be a cat. But yeah, to stay as a cat.

[11:32] Mike Abrams: To stay in character the whole time.

[11:39] Lex Miller: Okay. I'm fascinated about what is like, I want to do this exercise. What would be your story today for Electra? If you go back to 2015, what's Electra's story?

[11:47] Lex Miller: I'm going to say she probably just got thrown in here by one of her friends. Like, she definitely was a wannabe with the in with these cool kids. And I was the only gray cat for some reason, like it was the only but they put pink on my eyes. And I was like, that's it. I'm cool. Like pink was my favorite color. Again, I'm pretty sure she's like, she's me as a cat. But I have to believe she was like, I want to be a cool kid with like a little edge. So like, she definitely was like, I'm here to fit in, but I don't want to stand out too much. But like, I got to have my own little vibe here.

[12:18] Mike Abrams: Okay. All right. And they told you none of this?

[12:24] Lex Miller: No. They didn't tell you any? Like, what is the what's like the aha or the thing you want to learn? Like, what's the part you wish you knew now going back?

[12:31] Lex Miller: That it wasn't just like a cat cabaret?

[12:37] Mike Abrams: Yeah, that there's a lot more to it. Like, I was like, Oh, each like big cat gets their own song. And we dance. And we're cats.

[12:42] Lex Miller: Yeah. So wholesome. That's the children's exactly.

[12:49] Mike Abrams: But it was the folder. I don't know. I kind of love that. I mean, I was I thought a lot about the junior one because the junior one is where it's usually like two performances. It's not even I've heard about it more. I didn't know it was a thing until recently. And I didn't know there was a junior version.

[13:05] Lex Miller: Yeah, there's a junior version where they usually do it when they're doing it regionally in another part or just in general, but it's so it's so short. It's very much a just like, we're gonna teach you some singing and dancing. And there's not any of it because the first time I heard about it, that when I got started in the show, I was kind of fascinated blown away by how dark the story can be if you depending on how you interpret it. And like, there's some parts that are very clear, like two of the most clear things that are definitive is that Demeter is being abused. And Victoria is like basically having her first orgasm on stage. Like those are the two things that have been stated by the creative team as like, they're nobody debates those facts. And to me, that's wild that that's like the only, like, for sure, without any question, pieces of information that we know for fact.

[13:51] Lex Miller: Yeah, so I didn't know that about Demeter. But the Victoria thing is what we discussed because I had not a clue. Yep. Yeah.

[13:59] Mike Abrams: Wow. Yeah, I definitely was thinking a lot about cats after we spoke about it because I was like, holy crap. Yeah, I was fascinated because I remember when we were chatting, it was like, oh, I did it. And then you said in a children's production, and I was like wait a second, I have so many questions. I've been wanting to ask somebody for so long about like, what does that look like from a production standpoint, because of how oppressive it can be. And the fact

[14:24] Lex Page Miller: My name is Alexis. Electra sounds a lot like Alexis. Is that why I got this part?

[14:54] Lex Page Miller: I was very lucky, I had like, I had a group of girls who probably came to all nine of my shows and it was really great but like that was one it was like, probably could have missed it but also like, what did I just watch?

[15:24] Lex Page Miller: Yeah, I mean, yeah, and clearly you didn't even have the full context of it at that point. I mean, we came out after the show in our cats outfits taking pictures.

[15:54] Lex Page Miller: Okay, what questions, now that you've thought about this more since clearly since we chatted, like I clearly ruined your evening from that night, what other questions do you have about cats?

[16:24] Lex Page Miller: Like what are the points of some of the cats, like I get like Gus is kind of there looking over everybody or like what is Bustopher Jones doing there? Like what are these people just like doing there?

[16:54] Lex Page Miller: It's kind of like a group of cats, it kind of feels cultish. They come together for their one ritual annually and it's supposed to be a parading of like, here's them making their case for why there should be the choice for the Heaviside Lair but not everyone really is kind of like really truly into that.

[16:58] Lex Page Miller: And so there is some kind of things of like, eh, maybe they're just there, they want to kind of do it or Tugger really just wants to kind of cause chaos in the scene.

[17:02] Lex Page Miller: Um, Mastopheles comes to save the day, Bustopher Jones, like I added to what I think the story is, because there's a in the lyrics, it talks about gentlemen's clubs, and I think in London that's a different word than in the US, and so I didn't really pick up on that, so I was like, he's a really rich fat cat who's financing Macavity's Crime, but that's I think my addition.

[17:06] Lex Page Miller: I don't think that's actually like what they tell the cast.

[17:10] Lex Page Miller: Interesting. Then also like, Skimbleshanks isn't a train?

[17:14] Lex Page Miller: Yeah, he keeps a train on time. I want it to be Skimbleshanks.

[17:18] Lex Page Miller: That's a fun number. Yeah, that's why. Because they had girls play it the first time they did it and then they cast boys the second go around, and I was kind of sad.

[17:22] Lex Page Miller: Do they have to just basically go on how many, like who auditions like how many performances they have?

[17:26] Lex Page Miller: Yeah. So did you, you could have had any, I mean, you're cats at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what gender.

[17:30] Lex Page Miller: Yeah, I mean, Bustopher Jones, we had two girls playing Bustopher Jones um, guys as Tugger, um, I'm trying to think if anything else was, I think that year we actually kept it pretty like close to what the originals were.

[17:34] Lex Page Miller: Yeah. Because, I mean, we had a girl playing Shrek, we had a girl playing Fagin and Oliver, same one actually um, but then she went and played Grizabella.

[17:38] Lex Page Miller: Yeah. She has range.

[17:42] Lex Page Miller: Yeah, Shrek to Grizabella. Literally in one year.

[17:46] Lex Page Miller: Yeah, wow. Okay, um, let's do some Ravifier, I'm curious if you're even going to be able to do this because it's all cats related.

[17:50] Lex Page Miller: Alright. Um, if you could go on for any character one night today, who would you want to go on as?

[17:54] Lex Page Miller: Um, either Rumpleteazer or Skimbleshanks.

[17:58] Lex Page Miller: Okay, I love it. Who are your favorite and least favorite cats from a personality standpoint, which might be hard to answer if you don't know the personalities, so ignore your friends who did it, like let's not throw an individual under the bus.

[18:02] Lex Page Miller: Okay. But let's, let's, I can help give some examples for cats if you're not sure about their personalities.

[18:06] Lex Page Miller: I feel like my favorite might have to be Jenny Annie Dots, because she's kind of just like, hee hee hee, and then just like show number, and then just like, she's really there for the plot, she's really there to make her case, now that you say that.

[18:10] Lex Page Miller: Um, least favorite I have so many memories flooding through my head right now that I probably shouldn't say um, probably Tugger, he just seems like a lot.

[18:14] Lex Page Miller: Yeah. Okay, favorite song in the show.

[18:18] Lex Page Miller: Hmm, Skimbleshanks, or um, I do love Macavity.

[18:22] Lex Page Miller: Yeah, I think those are two of my favorites too.

[18:26] Lex Page Miller: Um, since this is a children's production, who, which character or cat do you think would be the best at directing it for a children's production?

[18:30] Lex Page Miller: I'm gonna say Gus, he's been around a while, loves the theater and just feels wise.

[18:34] Lex Page Miller: I like him. I was thinking Gus and Jenny Annie Dots, because Jenny is kind of just like motherly.

[18:38] Lex Page Miller: Yeah, definitely. Forgot about that part of it, but yes.

[18:42] Lex Page Miller: Okay, this whole podcast centers around the fact that I don't think Grizabella is the right Jellicle Choice. I'm assuming your production did not make a change there and still sent her to the Heaviside Lair, but I want to know, you Lex, who is your Jellicle Choice and why?

[18:46] Lex Page Miller: I think I'm gonna have to go with Gus again, just cause, it's the natural order of things. Like, he's old, it's his time.

[18:50] Lex Page Miller: I mean, I'm not gonna argue, that's my argument.

[18:54] Lex Page Miller: I agree. Did you discuss this at all?

[18:58] Lex Page Miller: No, I was kinda, I was trying to think about it.

[19:03] Lex Page Miller: Who was your Gus?

[19:06] Lex Page Miller: Who was my Gus? Same guy who played Deuteronomy.

[19:10] Lex Page Miller: Okay, I want to know what they played in Shrek and the other stuff. I want to know what the trajectory for Gus was in your stuff, if you remember.

[19:14] Lex Page Miller: Um, one of them was, okay, I remember this now, it's coming back to me. It was the same person who played both. We had one kid who was two years younger than me, and it was one guy who was a year older than me.

[19:18] Lex Page Miller: Okay. Kevin was Gus in Old Deuteronomy, and he's the one that was older than me.

[19:22] Lex Page Miller: In Shrek, I remember he was like Papa Ogre, he was the knight, he was kinda just like the funny guy.

[19:26] Lex Page Miller: Yeah, all the, like a bunch of characters, okay. And then Liam was Papa Bear in Shrek.

[19:30] Lex Page Miller: I don't know why I remember this, and my friends are gonna make fun of me for remembering.

[19:34] Lex Page Miller: I mean, these things are, these are types of things that sometimes don't leave your brain.

[19:38] Lex Page Miller: And that's what makes it fun in general. And that's why, honestly, we were able to do this, because I remember when we were talking, I was like, should we even do a full-on, like, do you remember enough of it? And you're like, yeah, I do.

[19:42] Lex Page Miller: Yeah, and like, again, I just remember, we were like, there was a whole thing, a shoe was supposed to fall, and some kid couldn't run across the stage and like do the bit in time, and we were like, ah, stupid child!

[19:46] Lex Page Miller: Like, it was seven.

[19:50] Lex Page Miller: And I'm sure every parent had no idea, unless that was like the one moment they were supposed to see their child.

[19:54] Lex Page Miller: Exactly. So, it's, I'm fascinated by the whole thing, the decision, the choice to do it, how they did it, what they decided to tell you and not tell you. It's wild to me.

[19:58] Lex Page Miller: But, I mean, again, it's transformative, it's part of your upbringing and life, and the memories that come with it.

[20:02] Lex Page Miller: Yeah, it's always a fun talking point. Just being like, yeah, I did the show, and then they're like, where, when? Where, when, how?

[20:06] Lex Page Miller: Yeah. As what? It's great, though.

[20:10] Lex Page Miller: Yeah! I mean, just think, if you weren't Electra, you might not have been able to be Ariel and Wendy.

[20:14] Lex Page Miller: Wendy, yeah. That's definitely true.

[20:18] Lex Page Miller: Yeah. Like, you had to crawl around that stage.

[20:22] Lex Page Miller: I really did. And I intermission catted for that.

[20:26] Lex Page Miller: You had to sit there for 15 minutes while your parents used the restroom and got another drink.

[20:30] Lex Page Miller: Yeah. And then the kindergarten nurse came up to say hi.

[20:34] Lex Page Miller: Yeah, there was one, I remember, there were times where we were like, can we just fake being asleep? Because they had life-size tubes, the cat things.

[20:38] Lex Page Miller: I was like, I'm pretty sure I'd fake being asleep for an entire intermission, just so nobody would come talk to me.

[20:42] Lex Page Miller: Just so no one would bug you?

[20:46] Lex Page Miller: Yeah. I can't believe they didn't give you a break. Because it's coming out right after the Jellicle Ball, which is an extremely difficult dance number.

[20:50] Lex Page Miller: And then, what starts with Old Deuteronomy, right?

[20:54] Lex Page Miller: Yeah, so we would crawl off stage after that.

[20:58] Lex Page Miller: Okay, so you get your break there.

[21:02] Lex Page Miller: Everyone would come on and we would switch there. But I remember our gloves that we had on our hands were so... they were like wool or whatever.

[21:06] Lex Page Miller: We would stand in front of the AC like this and take them off and just air-dry them afterwards.

[21:10] Lex Page Miller: What time of year did you say this was?

[21:14] Lex Page Miller: May.

[21:18] Lex Page Miller: Okay, so you're kind of in the peak of warm weather back and a little humidity. It's not like you're doing this in the winter.

[21:22] Lex Page Miller: No. On the East Coast.

[21:26] Lex Page Miller: Yeah. Craziness.

[21:30] Lex Page Miller: Well, this has been so fun. How can people stay in touch with you and hear more of your fun?

[21:34] Lex Page Miller: Yeah. I'm on all socials at LexPageMiller. We love a full name like that. Everyone who I did Children's Theater with still calls me LexPageMiller.

[21:38] Lex Page Miller: Everything there.

[21:42] Lex Page Miller: Amazing. Well, this was so fun. Thanks for coming on and sharing your story.

[21:46] Lex Page Miller: We will, for sure, get that picture to add to the social media posts with this.

[21:50] Lex Page Miller: You got it. Awesome. Yay.

[21:54] Lex Page Miller: Thank you and thanks everyone for listening to this episode of The Wrong Cat Died, the podcast for the cast and crew.

[21:58] Lex Page Miller: To subscribe to our podcast, follow us on social media at TheWrongCatDied.com or check our website at TheWrongCatDied.com.