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[0:15] Mike Abrams: Welcome to The Wrong Cat Died, the podcast based on the cat's atrophy. I'm your host, Mike Abrams, and I'm very excited about today's episode. In fact, I've been waiting for this conversation since September of 2023. Because back in September of 2023, I released episode 131 with Joey Abramowicz. And at the time, he's been in many productions of CATS. But at the time, when we phoned up, Joey told me that there was a chance that this could be coming to life. And, you know, obviously, we were very much weren't sure. And so we were waiting. But now it is official. And so we can go on the record that the Fulton Theatre has CATS coming into their lineup this summer. And so I'm excited to talk to the creative team for this production.

So we have director and choreographer Marc Robin, and associate director and makeup designer Joey Abramowicz. And thank you guys for joining me to discuss your production of CATS. I'm so excited. I can't wait to come see it. I can't wait to be involved in any way you will let me. I can't wait to pitch you all of my ideas. But I want to start, especially for you, Marc, with I know you've done a ton with CATS as a director and all the different things you've done with it. But what was your introduction to actually seeing it or learning about it? What was your first CATS experience?

[1:35] Marc Robin: My very first CATS experience, I was, I think I was 24 years old, and I just turned 63. So that's a long time ago. Okay. Auditioning for the original Broadway company on the stage of the Winter Garden. Wow. I didn't actually see the show. I went to New York and auditioned, had my audition day, but then still never saw it. I didn't actually see the show until I saw the national tour like two years later. But that was my first exposure to the world of the felines.

[2:11] Mike Abrams: And who did you want to be? Who were you auditioning for?

[2:16] Marc Robin: I was auditioning for Mistoffelees.

[2:16] Mike Abrams: Mistoffelees. Okay. And I actually wound up auditioning for the show a lot over the course of like eight years, and then eventually got cast as Skimbleshanks in the Vienna Company, but never did it. I got hired, but my life at that point, I had started to switch to the dark side of directing choreography. And I got the offer to perform at the same time that I got an offer to direct something in Chicago. And ultimately, that decision changed my life. So I've never, ever been in a production of CATS.

[2:49] Mike Abrams: Okay. So you had to choose between Vienna and Chicago?

[2:54] Marc Robin: Yes. Yes. Yes. I chose Chicago.

[2:59] Mike Abrams: I love it. I love it. Okay. So I want to hear from both of you. How many times have you been in the show or behind the scenes or involved? Let's go through your laundry list of the amount of times you've done it. Because I know, Joey, I think we were at like eight or nine when we recorded.

[3:10] Joey Abramowicz: Yeah. I've done nine productions, Mark. I've done nine productions as well.

[3:19] Mike Abrams: Okay. Run me through them. Give me them in order.

[3:22] Joey Abramowicz: Oh, golly. I told mine on the last episode, so you go.

[3:26] Marc Robin: I'm not having to thought about it. So the original one was at the Marriott, and then I did it five years later at the Marriott. Beef and Boards, The Dutch Apple, Broadway Palm, Seaside. Carousel.

[3:45] Joey Abramowicz: Carousel. Theater Under the Stars.

[3:47] Marc Robin: Theater Under the Stars. Main State Music Theater.

[3:50] Joey Abramowicz: Main State Music Theater. There you go.

[3:53] Marc Robin: So the other fun fact about this is I'm pretty sure that the Beef and Boards production was the one production my mom brought my sister to.

[4:02] Joey Abramowicz: Oh, my God.

[4:04] Marc Robin: Because I grew up in Indiana, and I've been to many things over my life at Beef and Boards, but I was not brought to that show. Only my sister was. And I think I realized that with Joey, that that might have been, timing-wise, it's about the time that my mom is convinced that they went to that show at Beef and Boards. Yeah, that first one was 2003, and then you did it again there in 2009, I think.

[4:26] Joey Abramowicz: I didn't. Oh, that was-

[4:27] Marc Robin: The only place that I've done it a second time was at the Marriott, but the woman who played our Bombalurina in the original one in 2003 set her version still on our scenery, I think, a little bit for my concept, but I haven't been involved. They've done it two more times since. And then I was in it again there in 2014, which is the last time I did the show. It was 2014.

[4:55] Joey Abramowicz: 2014, okay. So it's been a few years.

[4:58] Marc Robin: I haven't done it since Houston, which was-

[5:02] Joey Abramowicz: Which was like 2005, 2006, yeah.

[5:05] Marc Robin: Yeah. It's been like a good 18, 19 years for me.

[5:10] Joey Abramowicz: Okay. So-

[5:11] Marc Robin: I mean, my story was I had auditioned for the national tour in 2002 and didn't get the tour, but then I was brought in to replace a Tumble Brutus at Westchester Broadway Theater, and then I went on the tour. I met Mark at Beef and Boards right after that. I did it with him at Carousel Dinner Theater. I did it at the Walnut Street Theater, Main State, Tuts, and Beef and Boards. So yeah, but this production for us is kind of like, I feel like we both think is kind of like a culmination of all of that to finally be able to do the production quality the way I think Mark's always envisioned it and just the way the timing has worked out and where we have both ended up professionally in our lives, we're able to combine efforts and work on it together. So it's an honor and it's really exciting.

[6:03] Marc Robin: Yeah. It's dreams come true for me, quite honestly. I was blessed, truly blessed to have been a performer for a number of years in Chicago. And when the rumor was that the original Broadway was closing, that the first regional theater rights were going to go to the Marriott Lincolnshire in Chicago, I had just started working as a director choreographer in Chicago and had done, I think, one or two shows at the Marriott in that capacity. But I was still very much performing still at the time. I had just done The Scarecrow and The Wizard of Oz for them. And I remember calling the producer and saying, I've heard that there's a chance that you're going to do this. And if you do, I just want to be considered to play Skimbleshanks.

Because at that time, I was like, that's who I want to be. I could have possibly done a Mistoffelees if I really had gotten myself back into Trina shape again. But at that point, I was, I don't know, not really in Trina shape. But I called them and they said, yes, your name is on the list. And just fun side story. I was driving to the Drury Lane in Evergreen Park, where I was then artistic director, when the producer, Rick Boynton, called me in my car and said, hey, we just made the decisions about we're definitely doing CATS and you had interest. So is it now a good time? And I'm like, sure. And I'm thinking to myself, oh, my God, I can't wait. I'm going to play Skimbleshanks. I'm so excited.

And he said, so we've decided that we know you'd like to do Skimbleshanks, but we would like for you to direct and choreograph it. And as he was saying it, I realized that my car was drifting into the lane next to mine. And then literally almost off the road. I was so excited.

[8:00] Mike Abrams: So they wanted you to be Skimbleshanks off behind the scenes.

[8:03] Marc Robin: Yeah, right.

[8:04] Mike Abrams: So of course, it launched everything for me in that particular production in it, and it opened up all sorts of artistic doors for me as a guest in other theaters. But to Joey's point, because the Marriott isn't around, and my original dream concept was to take it out of the junkyard, because at this point now I had seen CATS numerous times. And I wanted it to be someplace more magical for this event that only happens once a year, and to take it into a more magical place. And I had grown up in Fort Lauderdale, where there was an abandoned amusement park right near my house. And my friends and I would always just go play in there after dark. We'd climb the fence, and it was a scary but really cool place.

So we took it out of the junkyard and put it in an abandoned amusement park, as much as you could in an in-the-round setting. And as much as I was able to in the productions that weren't purchasing or recreating the original Broadway set, when I did it at Main State, when I did it in Houston, they had recreated that set. So Carousel, the artistic director, had a concept to do it in the Firestone factory, because Firestone is so indicative to their area. So I've always wanted to do it in an abandoned amusement park that comes back to life once a year, because Mistoffelees uses his magic to make this happen before the Cat is chosen. And I've always seen it in a full scale along the side of a roller coaster that comes back to life with Ferris wheels and carousel horses and a completely immersive, fully theatrical thing.

And I've had snippets of that, but I've never had all of that. And this production will fully realize, especially at a point in my career where this will probably be it for me. I can't imagine I'm going to get myself back into shape to teach this incredibly dance-heavy show and not die as a result of it. But it's the culmination of everything. And then to make it really personal, Joey was a part of my second production. So I did it at the Marriott, and then I went to do it at the Beef and Boards for the folks in Indianapolis. And that started my friendship with Joey. I met him then. I've been involved, and Joey's been involved in my artistic journey almost my entire life since. So when we picked it, I ran to him and said, look, we're going to do this. I don't know what our capacities will be at this point, but we're going to do this. So to be able to bring our relationship full circle in this dream is just amazing for us.

[11:05] Joey Abramowicz: Agreed.

[11:06] Mike Abrams: I love it. I love it. I want to come back to the amusement park stuff. But before we dive into this production, I'm very curious about how you choose your season. I'm always curious about how CATS ends up the choice. You always have to get rates, too. You have to choose. But you're picking five, six shows, whatever it is this year. How do you decide this is the CATS year, or this is the thing we want to bring in this year?

[11:30] Marc Robin: That's easy. For 14 years, it's been the CATS year. We've just been told no for 14 years. So honestly, with CATS, you pick the season around it. When you find out that you finally get the rights to it because of the national tours or the other people that have gotten it in between you, you then go, oh, great. This is the year. What are we doing around it? For us, this was the perfect year because it wound up being the year of the blockbusters. Because at the same time that we were getting CATS, we were also getting Frozen. So it just seemed like the perfect, well, then let's make this. Let's go after blockbusters or premieres. So Superstar has never been professionally done at Fulton. Anastasia, premiere.

Beautiful premiere. Then obviously Frozen and CATS, it felt like the perfect thing and Anastasia that lined up for this. In general, I will usually try to pick what is the Christmas title and build the season around it because it's usually your biggest title because it's our longest run, and then what goes along with that. So that's kind of the formula.

[12:46] Mike Abrams: Okay. So now we have CATS this summer, June and July, and you kind of teased a little bit of this. So this was my first question is, the Junkyard is going to be an amusement park. What are you willing to share? This is going to come out for audiences to hear. So that way, hopefully, we're going to get people from all over at least the East Coast to come take the train and if they're not in town and come see you all. We want the Superfans. We want the CATS Superfans. The CATS fans are traveling. The Miss Jellicles of the world. We want all of them. Okay. Everybody that's, you know, if you've written fan fiction or if you've drawn some art, we want you there. So you said that this is going to be an abandoned amusement park. So walk me through, like, what does that feel like and look like? What is that? Where do you tweak the story of that? Because I give the rights. This is obviously a 45 plus year old show. So how do you kind of make those adjustments?

[13:40] Marc Robin: We've had the chances to do this in a tire factory, in an abandoned theater, and like Marc said in previous productions of his, the amusement park, we've done it in the junkyard set, which is very strange because doing Marc's version of the show on the original set is also a completely crazy experience. But I think we're taking this version and it being in the amusement park, and we're already starting to have these new ideas about how we want to approach a show that has been biblied for the past 25 years almost for him, creating how we want to see Grizabella for the first time. We're talking about different ways of introducing her. So it's opened it to be a playground for us, no pun intended, to play on how we create the story within the setting.

[15:30] Joey Abramowicz: Coming over the heads of the audience and the infrastructure of the lighting, and we're building the set out over, literally over our front rows of the theater, which we've never done before. We're working with structural engineers and designers and collaborations with other companies to basically install infrastructure that's never existed in our theater that was built in 1852 so we can actually have a physical structure. And the reality is the story is the story. Where it takes place isn't indicative, like West Side Story has to take place on the streets of New York. Or Dolly, you should have it take place in the Harmony of Gardens. For Cats, it doesn't indicate that. What does happen for us in the environment is it allows a different set of toys for them to play with.

[16:28] Joey Abramowicz: And then the other, I wouldn't say change, but some people pay attention to it and some people don't, is the original set was oversized so that it felt like it was a cat's perspective in a human world. And I told this story recently, there's a friend of ours who's also been very involved as my assistant for years in this production, Buddy Reeder, who we talked once about the scale and he's a cat lover. He has cats. He's always had cats. And I recently went to visit him and in his house, he has a sort of jungle gym for cats in their perspective, not in a human perspective because we're not going to play on it. They are. And I was like, well, why couldn't this be their playground? Why does it have to be from a human scale so that the cats scaled down?

We're observing this. So this really is a full scale to them place. We're not trying to have one tire that looks like it takes up the whole set. This is, we're watching their environment so that we can have, I mean, it's a four story set, the highest platforms over 20 feet in the air. They will have the opportunity to perch in the house, in the seats. We're building an infrastructure that people can come from the back of our balconies, straight down and onto the stage along the sides of the audience so that it is a fully dimensional, wide and up playground.

[17:59] Marc Robin: I cannot wait to come see this. So when you're talking about scale, obviously that's been a hot topic for Cats, especially since 2019, where that movie kind of messed with the scale in a lot of different ways. But I'm interested to hear of like, since this is an abandoned amusement park, it's not as, so you're basically saying it's not a human abandoned amusement park. It's a cat's abandoned amusement park that they would go to and that, okay, I love that.

[18:25] Joey Abramowicz: So imagine, the best way to look at it is imagine that there is a, not a pet store, right? That is, used to be the best pet store ever. And the way you could view your potential new family member was behind a sort of fence. And on the other side of that fence was a giant area, like a toy train set, that is set up as in a playground for these cats. And you can come in and watch that playground. And then that goes out of business, but the cats in the area have found a hole somewhere to come back to this abandoned place. Does that make sense? So we're voyeurs in this room, but to them, it's their world.

[19:11] Marc Robin: Yeah. I, again, cannot wait. So let me ask you a tweak on this though. So you say you want the super fans, you want the Cats kind of loyalists, and these are the people that know every inch of this story. So do you think about, or are you thinking about when you're going to tell the Cats Bible to the performers, the tweaks and the personalities that could come from this? And I'll give you some examples, because I've thought a lot about this since I've heard that this is an amusement park. Like, is Skimbleshanks going to be a train conductor, like on the train? Or is he a roller coaster conductor? Or is he like doing some other stuff? Is Bustopher Jones, you know, working the sideshow room where he's kind of collecting the cash? Like, are you making those tweaks or are you sticking very true to here's kind of the story that we know? Because you open up a lot of options by adding this new element and dimension to it.

[20:05] Joey Abramowicz: I feel there's a little bit of both. There is a nod to the original production in parts, and there's also some new things. I had obviously done two productions of the original show before I met Marc, and that's one of the reasons why I really wanted to work with him on his show is to see where it could take me as a performer and what new things I could experience in the show. And I will say that in the whole process, I think he was very worried. There were two other people in the production that I think had done the original show before, and I just remember early on in the process, he was... What's the word I'm looking for? You made it a point to make sure that we were okay, that we weren't being dishonored by what we had done before.

And I think there was one moment where we said to him, hey, we signed the papers, we're here, we are ready to do whatever is asked of us, because this is the type of show that allows you to do that. So I think it's going to be a joy for a performer who may have done the show in its original state, and it's a joy for an audience member to go in and experience something that is different.

[21:17] Joey Abramowicz: I mean, the show you said, the show's as old as it is, and I think we pride ourselves on this at the Fulton as a whole if we're producing a show, to not show an audience something that they've seen before, because, I mean, yes, that's great, but it's also a show that you may have seen a gazillion times, and why not come and maybe take a new spin on it and see it in a different way?

[21:38] Marc Robin: The other thing, too, is when I was hired, it was a very strong edict. You cannot, must not, and will not recreate any of the original production. You must start from scratch, literally. If anything is reminiscent, it's got to be by accident, and certainly not, like, you know, folks that will do Crazy Few will still do the bass fiddles. Well, that's technically plagiarism because that's Susan Stroman's work, so I was encouraged immediately to make it ours by setting it in a new environment right out of the gate, and we're very, very different in our story. I mean, one of the biggest things that, you know, I've been consistent with since the very beginning because it always bothered me, which is no disrespect to the original production, but you want us to care about Grizabella, but she's not introduced until 20 minutes into the middle of the first act, and in a way that's so interruptive that you're having all this fun, and wait a minute, what is that?

Who is she? What's going on, and where is she going, you know? So in our show, at the end of the overture, before music really begins and comes back in, which is still respectful to the material on the page because we're not rewriting, we're not doing anything, we're just artistically telling a story, there's a sort of storm that's going on around this park, and especially now because we have all these video walls, which I'm so excited about, so we have the ability for the audience to feel the superstructure but not see it, these clouds that are covering the moon with this storm of some kind, and these noises, and into the room walks this hidden figure that then you see touching things from a memory standpoint, hugging this sort of carousel horse, and you know, reexamining this environment, and you know instantly this is somebody that's come to a place that was once familiar to them, and then they hear, da-da-da-da, sound crash, and they look, and then they look, and then they decide, I don't have the courage to stay, people are coming, and you see them run away.

[23:48] Marc Robin: So the person you're supposed to have the principal relationship with in the show, you meet first. So then when she comes back 20 minutes later, you're like, oh, that, what's going on here? Then you see everybody react to her and snare at her, except in our version, one cat immediately goes to her, which is Cillabub, so you're establishing a relationship. So it isn't just about doing the show, it's about telling a story, and how that all transpires in the world of a theme park, where Skimbleshanks, to go back to your question, does come in on a railway car, because almost every theme park has some sort of a, get on here and go to this land, so he's coming in on that little thing. He's the railway cat. He's our park conductor. He's never as a visitor. He's always been a visitor. So he's just some visitor that goes from place to place to get food, and go on. He's probably financing it.

[24:50] Joey Abramowicz: You know what, hearing you say that, I wonder if this show even exists, if I'm introduced to your version first, versus seeing the version I saw first, because I did walk away with this, why are we picking her? And I have a lot of reasons for that, but I feel like part of that was, I didn't understand the arc until the very end, and then I was also like, why can't she stay? Like why can't she ride some of these rides for a little bit longer? And so I kind of always felt that way, and that's where the story kind of started, but I feel like that tweak would maybe have prevented that from coming up, because I'd be like, oh, okay, I kind of see this as the introduction to it. Because in most of the productions I've seen, or at least a lot of them, that performer is actually dancing in the opening number, just as a different cat, as a different character, with some ambiguous name.

[25:46] Marc Robin: Yeah. Well, we have 36 cats, so we've got enough to answer. We've got a lot of people on stage.

[25:53] Joey Abramowicz: Do you have to add some names doing that?

[25:55] Marc Robin: We've been creative with some names.

[25:58] Joey Abramowicz: Okay, so who have we added? Can I make some backstories up for some of these cats, if we need to add people?

[26:04] Marc Robin: Sure.

[26:05] Joey Abramowicz: So we've added some of the names from the naming of cats, obviously, and then we've kind of asked some staff, do you have kitties at home that you'd like to have in the show? So my cat, her name's Callie. We call her Calliope. We call her Callie Girl. So Marc's like, let's name one of them Calliope. And how perfect to have a cat named Calliope in an amusement park. I'm trying to think of the other ones. There's Fantasia, I think, is the one we came up with, or I think Mia and David might have had that character, our costume designers. And it's partly, if this cat, if this park was alive, what would they be? Were they a performer? Were they a barker? Were they just somebody that was attending?

Were they doing the foods and the concessions and all that? But the reality is that this is a place where everybody gathers at least once a year. This is an hour story where the candidates are being presented to old dude to make the decision on who gets to come back for their final or their new life.

[27:21] Marc Robin: Jenny Annie Dotz, who's sort of a Betty White character from an island character, who's just sort of like, tell me where I'm supposed to go. But then you give her tap shoes, and she reverts right back to her performance days. And then there's Gus, who's in the world of dementia, and in the world of living his past life. And so they're the two that are presented, but the audience and this community are introduced to Grizabella as the accident. I say to casts all the time that life is what happens when you don't expect something. It's the, hey, you've come into this room to accomplish this conversation, but somebody else comes in with the new information and the entire trajectory of that next moment goes on another path.

For me, if we do it right, Grizabella coming in is the accident that transforms everybody because the truth is, every good play is hinged on the one particular character having a life changing moment. Grizabella does not change in this play. None of these leads change in this play. The only thing that changes now, or that can change for us, is the community. So it's a community that changes because they have decided that this particular person is undeserving of acceptance. So if we do it right, when Grizabella goes to the heavy side layer, the audience's every single person is rooting for them to come to their senses and go, you guys need to open up your eyes. So in Cats, in our version, it's the community that changes.

It's not unlike West Side Story. Tony doesn't change. Maria doesn't change. Doc doesn't change. It's the community that changes. And those are, to me, the most powerful so that people don't come seeing, oh, you're going to see another production of Cats and they're going to dance. Oh, my God, they're going to dance. This cast is astonishing. But Joey and I have always really cared about why are they dancing? What do we want the audience to feel? And what are we going to do so that they know we want them to feel?

[29:53] Joey Abramowicz: So what is the heavy side layer in your production? What is that definition? For me, it is the opportunity where somebody can go to come back. Okay. It's where they go not to stay. It's where they go to come back. By giving them the opportunity to be chosen to go to the heavy side layer, they come back for their chance at a new, jellicle life. You go, you come back. Now, we're not going so far because at one point I thought, do we for the bows, does Grizabella come back in one of her fabulous gowns and she's been reborn? And if there wasn't three minutes, maybe. But no, you know that they go to have the chance to come back and do it again because cats have nightmares.

[30:41] Marc Robin: Okay. I can't wait. We're going to take a quick break and then we'll be back for more of The Wrong Cat Died. I want to hear a little bit more about choreography because this is something that I know nothing about. But I do know that there's very clear distinctions between Joy Lynn and Andy Weichenbuehler and you have kind of your own. So, how do you take some of what people know cats for, some of that essence of like, this is what the jellicle ball is, but also put your own spin on it?

[31:06] Joey Abramowicz: Sorry, I'm talking so much, Marc. You start with a different story and then you tell the story through dance. You don't study what's been done before. You obviously keep your movement in a consistent vocabulary. So, I will totally take it for granted that Joey can bring to this that I could never because I never did Cats. Even though I can choreograph, I never embodied what it was to be that character or be a character. So, where Joey is always keeping me and the cast honest is making sure that whatever the actual dance steps are still get filtered through the feline movement vocabulary. So, the combination, what that vocabulary is to Joey and I automatically informs it to be different. But the story, case in point, our jellicle ball is very specific.

I wrote out a syllabus that said, the ball is an annual event, just like any society, whether it's the Masons, whether it's anything that says, hey, at this thing, there is a series of events that always happens. It's like the May King and Queen in a high school or the Prom King and Queen. In order for us to get to the final event, which is going to be the assembly of the council to choose who's going up to the heavy side layer, you have to pick your court, which is your queen, who is her king. So, there's truly a pageantry. There's in its 13 sections in ours that people will know. They might not know exactly what's going on because it's all being done through dance, but they'll know, oh, this person, in our case, Victoria, was just chosen to be something.

And you see her literally pick her court. Then the court then has their sort of formal ball. Then there's a moment where Victoria gets to become of age because it's her time, much like a cotillion, where she's going from being the kitten to being the cat. But then it gets interrupted because Macavity almost shows up on the scene. It's a very specific thing until the celebration at the end. That, by structure, necessitates a completely different set of choreography. That's just one example.

[33:48] Marc Robin: Okay. Joe, having been in so many productions, what's your favorite change or maybe tweak in the story that somebody who's a traditionalist, original less than original Broadway person is going to see? You're going to like this change, or this is a little tweak to the story that you might find really interesting.

[34:03] Joey Abramowicz: Referencing what Marc spoke about, the Grizabella, introducing her early, knowing that there's some relationship with Cillabub. There's a creation of relationship with Bombalurina, Demeter, Jellylorum with Griz, that they were obviously best girlfriends before Grizabella decided to leave. You see some of the tension and the anger from those three women, cats, that they show her when she arrives, when she shows up again. I never want to say that the original production didn't give me the opportunity, but I always felt doing Marc's version of the show that it was, yes, it was a huge dance thing. You danced your face off. You sang your face off. In his production, it is an actor's show, which as a dancer, which everyone looked at my entire career as a dancer, doing his production of the show, it let me exercise my acting skills.

I think that's the thing I love most about it, is that if we do it right and if the performers live in that world as well, the people who are watching it, whether they are purists or not, they're going to feel that and be a part and that's going to seep into their experience of watching the show. It's still a very difficult dance show. There's no way around that because you're not only dancing the entire time, but you're on your hands and knees and you're climbing and you're laying in positions that your body shouldn't be in for long periods of time. I'm going on a tangent here, but when people say, oh, the show doesn't do it for me or it's silly, I take offense to it because as a performer, it's one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life.

For me, if we were able to get the audience to let that go and really join us, it's a great experience. You have to be willing to come in as an audience member and willing to get on that roller coaster, so to speak.

[36:13] Marc Robin: And you've got to pray and hope that your cast gets on board because even in times where cast are like, oh, this is ridiculous. Can we just dance? It's like, why? Why would you just want to dance? How about dance with purpose? What's also great is I think the way we've always done rehearsal process with Marc for the show is early on, we do have those conversations. We sit around and say, okay, how do you know this cat? How long have you known them? Are you a kitten? Have you been around? Do you like that person? Do you not like that? So establishing that kind of connection within the actors because they don't say a word. They don't speak to one another on stage. You have to emote that physically.

So having those kinds of conversations are really important too, which I joined the original show as a replacement. So I didn't really get a full rehearsal process with the original show. So it was on me to kind of step into another person's track and kind of develop my own new relationships with people who'd been on the road for three months already and had established a relationship. But that's the fun of the show for me is anytime anyone new came in, it always opens up the opportunity to have new experiences and shape the show around who that person is and what they bring to it. And I really think that's why I can keep this show going because there doesn't seem like there's clear answers on a lot of stuff because these two people might have been best friends and their characters aren't supposed to or they might have been married and their characters are not supposed to.

There's a lot of that. And so I kind of love this and we're not going to have time to get into it today. But part of what I'm hoping we can do is like during that rehearsal process is I've been asking someone to give me like I want a documented book of cats. Like what is, if even for just this production, what is what you're going to tell Bombalurina and Demeter? What are you going to tell? Are Mungo, Jerry and Rumpelteazer together or brother and sister or friends or what? Or do you just not tell them at all and let them kind of figure it out? Because there's so many ways to answer that. And there's a very, it's not definitive even amongst the superfans of what's the truth. Exactly. And I think we'll give them a roadmap.

Obviously, we're going to kind of give them this is the idea of our story and how we want to get from point A to point B. But then let them, I think, develop what they develop within rehearsal and create mold it around them. And that's always it's been that way the five times I've done the show with him. Like it's never been the same every time. I mean, you have the same structure, but it's kind of like any quote, typical musical theater piece, almost always the script, which doesn't exist for Cats as a script, will say, your journey is this, your journey is this, your relationship is this. But it's usually a finite group of people. In our production, the people that Joey was talking about, was Monkestrap, Tugger, Bomb, Demeter, Grizabella, Cillabub, they're very involved in the center conflict of our version.

How everybody else plays into that, every production changes, because you get to the point of did you know about it? Or did you hear about it? Were you part of it? Do you not care about it? Are you only here because you want the free food? Are you only here because you want to celebrate? So we get to do that, which changes every single show. But what's documented, and they'll get this on the first day of rehearsal from us, is here is our story. This is what we're telling. Here is the script that doesn't exist, that you're ascribing your lyrics toward. Who will it be? Who will it be? Can be a question to the audience, or it can be, who will it be? Who will it be? As a pass off to a character that's now saying, I have a Gumby cat in mind.

It could be horror, versus this resounding thing in the audience like, they're so strange. What just happened? What's going on? And why is this person dancing under a moonlight? It's giving context. That will be specific. I will give that to them literally in a document, that once we have our first day of school, I will be happy to share with you.

[40:43] Joey Abramowicz: I would love it. I absolutely love it. How they flesh that out. And in every show, perfect example, Teaser and Mungojer and Rumpelteazer. They change every time. Sometimes they're a brother and sister. Sometimes they're a couple. Sometimes they don't even know each other, except to show up and do heists together.

[41:01] Marc Robin: The truth is every good play is hinged on the one particular character having a life changing moment.

[41:22] Joey Abramowicz: Absolutely, and in our production, we really want to highlight those moments and make them resonate with the audience.

[41:43] Marc Robin: Right, and setting it in an abandoned amusement park gives us a unique backdrop to explore those character dynamics.

[42:03] Joey Abramowicz: It does! The juxtaposition of the whimsical and the eerie really enhances the storytelling.

[42:23] Marc Robin: And it allows us to play with the idea of nostalgia, which is such a big part of the original CATS.

[42:43] Joey Abramowicz: Exactly, and we’re also focusing on how the characters interact with this environment, which adds depth to their stories.

[43:03] Marc Robin: Yes, and the choreography is going to reflect that as well, incorporating elements that speak to the amusement park theme.

[43:23] Joey Abramowicz: We want the audience to feel like they’re part of this world, experiencing the characters' journeys firsthand.

[43:43] Marc Robin: And the Heaviside Layer concept will also be reimagined in a way that ties into the amusement park setting.

[44:03] Joey Abramowicz: It’s going to be a fresh take, while still honoring the essence of what CATS is all about.

[44:23] Marc Robin: Absolutely, and the Jellicle Ball will have its own unique flair in this context.

[44:43] Joey Abramowicz: We’re excited to see how the characters’ relationships and tensions evolve throughout the production.

[45:03] Marc Robin: The rehearsal process has been enlightening, as we discover new layers to these well-known characters.

[45:23] Joey Abramowicz: Yes, and it’s fascinating to see how the dynamics shift as we work through the choreography and staging.

[45:43] Marc Robin: The ever-changing nature of the show keeps it fresh for both the cast and the audience.

[46:13] Joey Abramowicz: And we’re committed to making sure that each performance feels unique and engaging.

[46:33] Marc Robin: It’s all about creating an experience that resonates emotionally with everyone in the room.

[46:53] Joey Abramowicz: Exactly, and we’re looking forward to sharing this vision with our audience.

[47:13] Marc Robin: It’s going to be a journey, and we hope everyone will come along for the ride.

[47:33] Joey Abramowicz: We can’t wait to see the audience’s reactions to our interpretation of CATS.

[47:53] Marc Robin: And we’re thrilled to be part of this iconic musical’s legacy in a new way.

[48:13] Joey Abramowicz: It’s a privilege to work on such a beloved show and to bring our own creativity to it.

[48:33] Marc Robin: Yes, and we’re eager to showcase the talent of our cast in this unique setting.

[48:53] Joey Abramowicz: The energy in the rehearsal room has been incredible, and it’s inspiring to see everyone’s dedication.

[49:13] Marc Robin: We’re all in this together, and that sense of collaboration really shines through.

[49:33] Joey Abramowicz: It’s a testament to the power of theatre and how it brings people together.

[49:53] Marc Robin: And we’re excited to see how our audience connects with the story we’re telling.

[50:13] Joey Abramowicz: It’s going to be a memorable experience for everyone involved.

[50:33] Marc Robin: We hope to create lasting memories for our audience as they witness this reimagined CATS.

[50:53] Joey Abramowicz: And we’re looking forward to the journey ahead as we continue to develop this production.

[51:13] Marc Robin: It’s an exciting time for us, and we can’t wait to share it with the world.

[51:33] Joey Abramowicz: Thank you for having us and for allowing us to share our vision for CATS.

[51:53] Marc Robin: Absolutely, it’s been a pleasure discussing our creative process with you.

[52:13] Joey Abramowicz: We appreciate the opportunity to talk about our work and the passion behind it.

[52:33] Marc Robin: And we hope to see everyone at the Fulton Theatre for our production of CATS!

[52:53] Joey Abramowicz: Yes, come join us for this exciting new take on a classic!

[53:13] Marc Robin: Thank you again for having us on the show.

[53:33] Joey Abramowicz: We’re grateful for the support and can’t wait to bring this vision to life.

[53:53] Marc Robin: See you at the theatre!

[54:13] Joey Abramowicz: Bye!