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

[0:28] Speaker 2: to the wrong cat died, the podcast breakdown of the cat's atrophy. I'm your host, Mike Abrams, and today we have another amazing guest. I'm very excited, because he is the very first Mr. Police that I have had the opportunity to speak to he was Mr. Police in the third US national tour of cats. So welcome Randy sivaci, and thank you for joining me.

[0:49] Speaker 3: Absolutely. Thank you for having me. So I want to start with,

[0:53] Speaker 2: you know, before we get into misophys, which I'm very excited to have you answer a lot of the rumors and all the questions I have about your character. I want to hear about your history with the musical, because I have loved talking to your cast, because it's your history with the musical is different than the six 2016 Broadway revival. Who grew up with it, or saw the movie, or the 1998 you know, stage performance, or got to see it on Broadway. You were at the point where it been around for a little bit. It was kind of like this buzz and then you get casted in it. But I saw that you actually auditioned for Broadway before. What was your knowledge and history of the show before you got casted as misophys in this production,

[1:34] Speaker 3: I was still in college at Syracuse University as a music theater major when I first saw the Broadway production with almost the entire original Broadway company, including Betty Buckley. And knowing I was going to do this interview, I forgot something that crossed my mind that happened, and it was like at the beginning of my journey with cats, seeing the Broadway production at the Winter Garden. It just blew us all the way, because it was like 1982 that I saw it, and it was just the coolest thing in the world. It was just the coolest thing. And I remember walking out being blown away, and for no reason whatsoever, I never, ever thought I would play the role of Mr. Police. But I walked out, turned to my best friend, I said, Wow, I'll never be in cats, and I'll especially never be Mr. Police. I don't know why I would possibly even say that, but I did. And then fast forward to 1985 I moved to New York City. I'd graduated from Syracuse. I was a struggling, struggling, struggling actor. I was auditioning for everything for an entire year, I would get to the end of auditions for new Broadway shows and things and directors and choreographers would like me, but you realize there's this dynamic that happens in casting, especially with Broadway shows, is directors and choreographers come in knowing people they know, and so they're expecting to cast the people they know or have been in this Broadway show or that Broadway show, and then what happens? And now that I'm a choreographer myself, you have the people that come in and you're looking at them, but then someone new, you don't know shows up, and you're like, wow, they're they're pretty good. I like them too. And so I would get to the end of casting for all these Broadway shows and never get it, because they knew they were going to cast these other people. They knew anyway, but, but I landed on the radar, but I was not booking anything like I was in New York for a year, and it was just the longest year of my life, and I'm waiting tables. I'm getting up and going to auditions. You would line up outside equity for auditions, like for 10am audition. You'd like. Sometimes line up at seven in the morning, eight in the morning outside. It was, it was, it was rough, and people were nice to me. And then I guess I got to New York in August of 1985 February of 1986 there was an open call for a replacement in the first national of cats. And now when we number them, just so, you know, I don't know, this is probably been explained to you. It's always weird about these numbers, because Broadway was a Broadway company. I think they did. There's a California one, the Cal, the LA company was a permanent sit down company that never toured but I think it was cats technically one, because it followed Broadway. And then, technically, cats two was what we call the first national that would go and sit in Washington for six months, Boston for six months, Chicago for nine months, like San Francisco for eight months. So they weren't touring a whole lot, but their set was like almost identical to Broadway, but it didn't tour really well. So my company, cats three were really the second national tour, but anyway, all the numbers get funny.

[4:43] Speaker 2: Yeah, and you were really the first time cats went on, really first national tour somewhere where you really went to cities that that was seeing it for the very first time and had no idea. So I'm calling it third just because the technically, that's what everything's been told. Old, and that's been how, you know, I've been trying to stay as true to this as I can, because I I know nothing, but I'm like, yeah, it's the first time everyone went to Kansas City and all these other cities, but it's the third tour. And so, yeah, as we explained, I do want to go back to that very first viewing, though, of Broadway. How did you so I can? I'm just trying to think back to my first viewing. And I didn't see the original Broadway cast. I saw the revival. I knew about four cats as names by the time I walked out. It was Mongo Jerry and ripple teaser, because they sang their name over and over again. And it was just off with because he's saying his name over and over and again. And it was Grizabella, because that's the one song I knew going in. I'm very curious. How much did you know? Like, how did you walk out and say, like, I'm never going to be Mustafa. Is I'm never going to be in this. Like, were you aware of, like, what you were going to see? Like, what was that? Like, how much buzz was around it when there's not 40 years of history? Like, for me, I could have read every single take on this before I went in. I didn't, which was probably a mistake, but, but you didn't get that luxury of the time you saw it. So, like, bring me back to that time frame?

[6:00] Speaker 3: That's a really great question, because one thing I just have to throw at up front my husband, who's a publicist, got his start working on Broadway when he was in college as an intern in the publicity office that handled cats and Les Mis and Phantom and blah, blah, blah. And one of the things he told me later that I never knew was a conscious effort, was remember the classic poster for cats was just the cat's eyes with the dancers in the eyes. There were no photos of the show outside the theater. You did not get to see what was inside. You had to pay to see the same keyword was super cool. And they did that. Apparently, these are smarter people than me. They wanted to keep the mystery. They wanted you to not know what you were gonna about to see. All we knew was gonna be human beings playing cats. And then it was, it was environmental, like the entire theater. It's the first time I ever experienced this. The entire Winter Garden Theater was, was became the junkyard, and the cats would, at times, they could run up the sides of that. You can't see my hands, but I'm not pulling my hands up. They would run up the sides, and they could run up onto the balcony. And like during the naming of cats, I was sitting in the balcony, someone was had come up on the balcony and was perched in front of me on the edge of the balcony. And like, doing the naming of cats. And I thought, Okay, this is, like, super cool. And all the movement was super cool. I think I didn't know what I was I was seeing, and it's, we'll get to that too, because I have to tell you something about that also is I watched it, and I think it just hit me as this big thing. It was this big spectacle. I didn't really, I know, I didn't truly understand what was going on, because later in that first rehearsal, when they explained the show to us, we're like, no, really, but it was spectacular. It was cool, and the costumes were cool, and Betty Buckley was spectacular, just awesome. And then I was, I was kind of, I'd been this dancer guy, and I was kind of like this, I don't mean to sound ego as I was like the dancer guy at my school at Syracuse, when I was in school, that was, I was one of those guys. And so dancing, because I started performing as an actor and a singer, and when I went to Syracuse, suddenly they said, Oh, you're a dancer who can sing and act and be like, Oh, okay, well, whatever I want. I just want to work. So I suddenly was shifted into being this dancer. And suddenly I became this dancer guy. And so when you go see cats, you kind of focus on, who do you relate to? And for some reason, obviously, when you see the show must stop, please, has this big number in act two, and it's all big deal. And I guess that's why it landed with me. Plus, when you walk out the exit music, part of the exit music is Mustafa Lee, so you hear the song one more time. Everyone remembers, no stop, please, for some reason, but, but it did land with me. When I walked out, I was just blown away by the spectacle. Though I was like, wow, when at this point I'd seen maybe three shows on Broadway, so Wow, third show, and I'm, like, freaked out by all, wow, that was really super cool. Yeah,

[9:22] Speaker 2: that's why the show to throw in early on. Okay, so that's interesting. I don't know what was playing on the way out. I was so I was definitely shell shocked. I think still, as I walked out of the theater that I don't remember what was playing, all I remember was walking back from to my apartment, from, you know, the theater singing mango, Jerry Rumpel teaser, because I was stuck in my head still hours later. But I want to go now. I want to go to because, you this is my favorite thing to hear, is you got the show explained to you. And I did anyone else in the war, you know, besides someone who's performed in it, no one else gets that. And so I. That's been the void I feel like I'm trying to fill. So how would, how can you help explain the show? Like, what is if someone's gonna go see it on tour when it comes back, because it, you know, it will be back. There's no way it has more Jellicle lives. What? What is the what is the breakdown? What are they watching? What's the actual plot?

[10:22] Speaker 3: So we all get cast in this show. And we are at our first rehearsal at 890 Broadway, which is Michael Bennett's big studio, dance studio that we're at. Everyone rehearse Broadway shows at, and we sit down in this big circle, and our director David Taylor, who was the Production Supervisor for the show, basically Trevor Nunn's right hand man. He was given the job of supervising. He tells us the story of cats, and along the way, he goes around the entire circle, and every single cat had, like, an age range and had a very specific personality, and as they're telling this, like they're going cat to cat, they're like talking about tumble Brutus being a teenager. He thinks he's tough, but he's really not, and that's why he scratches Grizabella, to show how tough he is. But what he's really showing is how naive and young he is. Victoria is white and pure because she's the pure cat, and she's totally innocent, and that's why she's white and she's young. She's she's a young kitten, and syllabub is her friend, who's also a kitten. But she's curious about everything. Syllabu is totally curious. So at the end of Act One, when Grizabella comes back, right before the end of Act, one syllable is the one that ends up singing the little bit you see the corner of her, and then during memory, she sings it. Syllabe is very curious. I could go down the whole list of all the characters, but there we were sitting there with our jaws on the ground going, what we just thought it was a lot of cats, and we're dancing a lot. That's, you know, but it was, what was great about it was especially, I can just speak about my company, my group of people, that original cast, we really took it to heart. I would not say we were a bunch of dancers. We were a bunch of actors who could dance, and everyone was invested in being the best tumble Brutus, the best mistools, the best Plato Macavity, the best Alonzo monkey's track. Everybody took their acting choices really serious, which I know to the listeners might sound like, oh, how serious could you possibly be? It's cats. But we really, really did take it all seriously. Every night, I would interact with people as Mr. Police, our bomb ball arena, our original bomb, Ballina, Asia. Kane was an excellent bomb. And we created this relationship just out of glances across stage when Grizabella would come on. That meant something, and we never discussed it. One time I went to Asia and I started to say it. And Asia, she's just awesome. She went, don't say it. You'll break the magic. Don't say it, just you play what you're playing. I'll play what I'm playing, and it's working. And blah, blah, blah. And years later, I told our grizzabel. I said, you know, there was a whole thing with you, me and bomb, and I know what I was playing, but it was this thing. And when the swings would go on, who are super talented, but no one ever would tell them, oh, and I have this moment with Randy when Grizabella company. So those moments would go away when the swings would be on because they're just worrying about, like, not knocking people down and being in the right place and doing the steps, because you're covering like four rolls and but those moments would go away because it was literally this stuff that we created every night. Magically, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So, yeah, it was, it was amazing to hear that and to hear the story. And I can tell you the story if you want, but

[13:50] Speaker 2: Well, I want to hear, give me tuggers and your, what were you told about Tugger and most let's, let's at least cover those two, because there's definitely a lot there.

[14:02] Speaker 3: There is this thing about that Tugger and mestophys were, were very good friends. Tugger mesopheles and moncus trap and alanzo were all about the same age. Tugger and misophyllies were like besties, at least they were in my company. Now, no one told us this. No one said you and Tugger are besties.

[14:24] Speaker 2: Blah, blah, blah, okay, so that wasn't part of the storytelling that you had

[14:27] Speaker 3: no no but by virtue of the fact that Tugger introduces me and he sings the first verse, and when I was doing the show, I had the second verse of the song, I think now in the versions like most athletes doesn't sing anymore.

[14:41] Speaker 2: I don't think it depends. I don't know it really depends, because I most of my, like, my two seeings of it, I don't remember, and everything I go back to is the 1998 movie. And so it's like most of my knowledge is actually off of that, where I don't think most athletes sings in that, right?

[14:58] Speaker 3: And the just so you. Know, the way they used to do it, because they're principal contracts. And course contracts, there's a white contract for principals, pink for course, it didn't really matter. We were all important to this. But there were six principals in cats. And the way they eventually determined with equity, because when a new Broadway show happens, equity comes in and says, Okay, he's a principal. She's a principal. They're a pink contract. They're a pink contract. And they finally decided, with cats, if you had two songs, you were principal. So my stuff is saying the invitation, Jellicle cats come out tonight. Jellicle cats come one, come on. I had that, and then I had the second chorus of my song. So I had two songs. So Grizabella, Tugger, Deuteronomy, Gus, moncus, trap and most awfully were the six principles just on paper. So because back in the day, you had to have two songs, that's how equity did it. We never looked at ourselves as principles in chorus and all that. But the union wanted to, like, differentiate things. So I had two songs. And so because Tugger seemed to be my champion, you know, when he introduces me in act two, there was clearly this kind of relationship there. And as actors, our first Tugger was Andy Spangler, and about halfway through the tour, his cover BK Keneally took over. It just was a relationship that developed. It was clear that we were friends. It was clear Tugger was cool. It was clear in his own very sparkly way, that most awfully was cool, as cool as you can be in black stretch velvet and spangles. So we just always knew that was there, that there was something to play off of. I know there's like fan fiction out there about there was, like a relationship between them or something, or

[16:45] Speaker 2: there's not just some fan fiction is out there. I think when I wrote my most awfully episode, I put off reading fan fiction because I was like, I don't want to get down. It's already a dark enough Deep Web and the cats. Like fandom in general, like there's a lot to it, and I was pretty early on and learning about it. I have a different belief on it now, having, like, really recorded 40 plus episodes over this, the fan fiction, the story writing, I would say I probably saw a website about 10,000 I'd say about 9000 of them are, are about Tugger Mustafa is in some form of sexual encounter, like, it's really aggressively over the top sexual Wow.

[17:34] Speaker 2: good. I did read some of it in that episode, if you want to see. Oh, I did, for the level of what it got that that took me, like I read probably four or five of them just to skim. And that one was, was a book. I mean, I was skimming it because it was, it was 20 something chapters. I forget exactly what it was. It was 1000s of words. Like it was someone wrote an entire story about their love triangle, and then I picked it, and I loved it because it ends with Tugger being the choice, the Jellicle choice. And so it's like, Ah, it's not Grizabella. Here we go. Someone else has no idea. But I couldn't, I couldn't find the writer. I mean, this is, these are from years ago. I mean, this stuff has been out there for a while. I don't, I don't recommend it. It's a very I have talked to a couple, a couple tuggers, and, you know, even Tyler Haynes, who is the Tucker in the revival, he said that some of the, you know, he got some, some pictures and some, like, like, fan drawings that were sent to them. That's that that is, is pretty aggressive and entertaining. So there's, you know, it's, it's part of the story, whether it was always played that way or not. But I do want to hear, I do want to hear, give me the if you were, because you could give the whole story. And I think that part of the beauty of this is not getting too deep into that story. Like, I love trying to uncover it, but I don't want to, like, I don't think I ever want to hear or record the exactly from Trevor Nunn type of thing, like, exactly what it is, because I think that kind of erases some of the beauty of the show. But if you were going to tell somebody they're gonna go see it for the first time, and you're gonna give them the cliff notes of what they're gonna go see, how would you describe it? You know,

[19:14] Speaker 3: what's funny is it's right there. So many people back in the day would say, I saw it and it was cool, but I didn't get it. I'm like, You got it? And I'm like, No, I didn't get I'm like, No, you got it. You got it because it's right there in the beginning, after the opening number, here come the cats, or it's whatever it's called, Jellicle songs for Jellicle cats, we used to joke, here come the cats right after that. And I would do the invitation. And then moncuss Trap steps forward, and he tells you the entire plot, almost in what we call the 12 lines, Jellicle cats meet once a year at the Jellicle Ball, where we all rejoice. And that's literally and he basically saying, we all come together once a year, we re enter, we introduce ourselves to the audience. And. One of us gets to be reborn to a new, special, wonderful Jellicle life. And that's really the whole thing. Now, there's this one little side thing about Macavity, which isn't quite clear, and what I will tell you what they told us in no uncertain terms, I know you just spoke to our original Demeter Jen, Deb Athens Deb Genevieve in the middle of this cavalcade. You know, the peaks and polls were entertaining. It's an entertainment stage for Deuteronomy. But Macavity keeps wrecking havoc in wrecking the party. And the whole Macavity thing in a nutshell, basically, is he's the bad guy. When you see dude Demeter running across at the beginning of the show, and the headlight, the headlights catch her, and she like, freaks out and runs away. She has been kidnapped by Macavity and taken to his lair and raped, and she has escaped. So there's that thing about him being the criminal, and he knows that the way to disrupt the tribe is to kidnap Deuteronomy, because without Deuteronomy, we cannot make the Jellicle choice. So he's there to do that now, right before he finally makes his final appearance, Demeter and bombardina Sing the cavity. And now bomb is obviously very sexy. We get that from her chorus of the song. Well, as it was explained to me, bomb ballerina was kidnapped too, and she liked it

[21:29] Speaker 3: she's kind of cool with she she like, gets mccavity, like, the whole thing. So deniers afraid of him that she escaped. But bombs like, well, he's pretty sexy too.

[21:38] Speaker 2: That was what was told us of that. Okay, that's an angle I had not thought about. So it's both were kidnapped. Both had the same experience. One kind of liked it, yeah, this was great, and the other was like, No, this was not good, right? And so then they sing this overly sexualized song about their cat, like the captor, yeah, yeah, that. I mean, I guess that does something new for you. That's new for me. I did not realize that bomb was also part of

[22:08] Speaker 3: that. Oh yeah, that's why she knows him. That's why she can sing about and that's why

[22:11] Speaker 2: she sings the song. And I see, I always thought she was the version I've kind of heard or interpreted, was that it was Demeter was kidnapped, and that's her sister when she's protecting her sister, not that she was part of the that whole experience with Macavity. So is Macavity even up for the Jellicle choice? Is he part of the Jellicle Tribe, or is he just trying to disrupt? We never,

[22:37] Speaker 3: he's just out to disrupt. We never, ever considered that that would be a possibility that Macavity would like, although, you know, he's a criminal, he'd get a second chance, I guess, if you're really going down the ethical, moral thing. But no, we never, ever consider that. Because also, Macavity is played by Plato. Interestingly enough, you know, Macavity is this very aggressive, violent criminal. He's big and powerful. It's always the actor who plays Plato as well. And Plato has traditionally played as kind of slow and maybe a little not too bright. So like the exact the opposite, opposite of this conniving, smart, aggressive, violent guy, our Plato, Macavity, David Roberts, made the choice of, he was on the opposite end of that, and little, not so much. And like, things would confuse him. And like, when I would do the magical trick and conjure up Deuteronomy, that really threw Plato off. Like, oh my god, yeah. So it was, it was interesting. And I would also tell people, when I would explain the show to people, you know, McCabe is the villain and I'm the hero.

[23:49] Speaker 3: have to call me to conjure up Deuteronomy, or we couldn't do the choice, your

[23:53] Speaker 2: judge is gone. Yeah, it's interesting too about that, because the new movie, The whatever happened there, they make a very big point of him, like, cavity disrupting to be the choice. Like, it's all about being the choice. Yeah. So it's kind of interesting, because I, I always thought mccavity was still in the running, was just not high in the running, but he was on the older end, but he's just done too much crime to be really considered. That's

[24:22] Speaker 3: I would go with that. It is something we never, ever thought about. And I in the movie that isn't there, I understand from Sir Andrew, Lord Andrew, that part of whatever the movie was, and everyone can have an opinion about it. He said that the director did not want to talk to anyone who'd ever been involved in the Broadway.

[24:48] Speaker 2: Distance himself from that movie so quick, so anything

[24:51] Speaker 3: that might have been in our heads where he did not want to know, he did not want to communicate. He did not want to put in there, so that, you know, there were things in the. Movie. Now, I'll admit I was on a cannabis gummy and a glass of wine when I saw it, so it was a lot of fun for me to watch. But I don't know if it was the movie or otherwise, I live in Las Vegas, Nevada, so cannabis gummies are legal. But like, I freaked out because, if I remember correctly, didn't mccavity Talk Buster for Jones into committing suicide or something. There's some weird moment, definitely,

[25:23] Speaker 2: like, there, there's the whole growl Tiger for like, brought back to the barge scene that was a little out of place. And it's also not in the revival. I don't believe it's not been in a lot of productions. And so that part was confusing. I also, I mean, as a Mustafa is, I think you probably had to be a little angry at the way that they took your characters, like very fun, upbeat, like lovable, exciting, showstopper, into this, like, kind of quirky, awkward, quiet character. That was actually one of my least favorite parts is what they did to misophys. Because I thought especially the 1998 movie, you know, where they added some of the special effects, where you're shooting lighting out of his hands and all the stuff. I was like, Man, how can you not enjoy this? Like this, this entire part?

[26:12] Speaker 3: Yeah, it was I, I'm never one of those people that says, Oh, it has to be this way, because it's the way it always was. I, you know, I did Chicago the musical on Broadway, this revival. And I did it way back in starting in 1998 and I was, I did 13 contracts with them in national companies on Broadway, in Europe and everything. And you would hear every now and then from people who've been in Chicago the musical in 1975 oh, well, it was much better. This is not as good as that. And I'm not one of those people who think you can't explore something new or bring something new or try something new. As a choreographer myself, I do try different things, and, you know, I Stage A Chorus Line, and I do not make people do the line readings the way we're used to hearing it with classic A Chorus Line. So I'm not one of those people. I had my vision of mistoolies, one of those things when you've been the actor that plays the role. And I did over 800 performances over two years, when you've done it every night, and you're really doing your job as an actor of trying to be moment to moment. And I never just kind of hit play in my head and did the role that I'd figured out. And this what I do every night. This is really boring. Every night, we were reinventing. We were being in the moment. If someone did something new, we responded to that. And it was never just, you know, hitting play. So for me, watching this, it turns into I had created, even watching the movie, I forgotten how much I'd created in my head, what misophys was to me, and one of the best acting lessons I ever got was during cats in rehearsals. David Taylor said to us, and this is a great thing to hear for any show that you're ever going to be in, the audience knows when you're playing something. They don't need to know what you're playing necessarily, but the audience will know if you're not playing anything. If you check out mind wise, the audience will know. But as long as they will know if you're playing something, playing some intention, some choice, you're being active in who this character is, whether it's Mungo, whether it's Mr. Police, whether it's Victoria, always making choices. Joanne Hunter was our Victoria. She was always making choices, always making choices. And every night, it sounds a little like goody two shoes or square or something, but we really took it seriously to be in the moment and make those choices. And so it made it interesting for us to be able to do 800 performances. And so when you do that, like I said, when I'm watching the movie, I had my own idea about what Mr. Police was. Someone else is allowed to create their own version of what that is, but that wasn't what I had pictured. And, yeah, I kind of thought there were some choices made that I was like, Well, I've already thought this 1000 times in my heads, because that's how I got to where I was. So that's not what I'd have done, but it's their version. So that's valid, yeah?

[29:02] Speaker 2: And you know, I think that's, again, part of the beauty of the show is it's almost a world was created with a loose storyline. And there's a lot like, I mean, just even the bomb thing, you just said like, like that to me, I don't I'm now gonna ask, I'm gonna go back to the couple of bombs I've talked to and be like, Did did you? Is this real? Is this how you thought you played it? Because I don't think I've, I've heard that, and now I'm very curious, but I also don't think like it diminishes or changes the bombs that the ones I saw no sister, because it's like, there's a little bit of difference, and there's a lot of like I did, one of the parts I found fascinating when I talk to the super fans, you know, the junkyard and the people have seen it hundreds of times and seen it on Broadway multiple times, they notice those nuances of like, you have your moment, but then you might have a different moment with something. Or those cats aren't supposed to have a moment, but maybe they're friends off stage, and so they actually have a moment. You. And that is something that's, like, very unique to the show that I've seen, or at least I've not heard with other shows. Well,

[30:06] Speaker 3: you know, it's funny. You mentioned that I when the revival happened, a bunch of us, like eight of us from my company, got together, and we all went at one time, and the press people knew we were coming and and they were really very nice to us, and, like, they had me take a photo with the Mr. Police, who had won America's mix top dancer. What is it? Ricky. He was Ricky who was just spectacular. He was spectacular. You know, one thing I will say about Ricky, they expanded the role for him. For the revival. There were things that he if he wasn't singing, but he was brought forward in moments that most of these traditionally was not. And I was like, Oh, well, good for you. That's awesome. That looks great. There was something to do with like Jenny, any dots? I want to say there were like two moments where I went, Oh, well, good. That's great. I totally see that. It was very different for me. But the reason I mentioned that was watching it because I was so used to the idea of those relationships that we would build ourselves and be moment to moment, and those characteristics that they taught us of who Mungo is, what Mungo is like. You know, Mungo and rumple are like the juvenile delinquents, and they're teenagers, but they get into way a lot of trouble, and they think it's a whole lot of fun. And so watching the revival, I was very well aware, and I'm not judging anyone, but I was aware of the cats that were really like moment to moment in that cat, like the Mungo Jerry, was spectacular in the revival. He was so in it every single second, and every now and then, there were a couple of cats that I thought were not as specific as what I had in my head. And that's not their job to fulfill my vision of what I think a, you know, a Cassandra or a syllabus or whatever. But for me, I would look around and I would see certain cats that were just like, Wow, look how specific he's being, and he's having this moment with this one and that one, and they would have that and you there was some really great stuff that happened in the revival that I really, really liked.

[32:07] Speaker 2: Yeah, I in this all as a Broadway outsider and just a spectator. All that went over my head. I mean, none of you, you can't,

[32:16] Speaker 3: you can't possibly watch the show and take this in and beginning I was the first time you should figure out

[32:22] Speaker 2: what was going on. I had, I couldn't I had no idea. I mean, I kind of got a, you know, the my my jokes always been. I got a very, very weird X Factor, Live X Factor. But I also was fascinated by the set. So I think the first time I was in there, I was kind of so blown away by the set. And then the lights go out, and the green eyes hit me, and I was not on the aisle, but like, that's also my a very big non for me. I'm not a big fan of audience participation in shows, especially ones where I'm not expecting it, and so when they first flashed up, I was so grateful that they scared the living daylights out of the person next to me and not me. But that was just like it was. It's a lot to take in as the first time to follow, let alone catch all the other intricacies of it that you like. Now I want to see it again live, because now that I know, you know, I've, I've put in some, some research and work having become the, you know, the, I guess, the the answer to what is in the world is happening in the cats plot for the podcasting world, I have a lot more that I think I would catch up on, yeah, that I did not catch the first couple times.

[33:30] Speaker 3: Even when it comes to the Jellicle choice, there was no one told me how to approach the Jellicle choice after I did this the gas number before brisbella comes in. And I remember, like, BK as Tugger, he would like, kind of stand his ground where he was on the other side of the stage, but he'd like, kind of turn his back a little bit in his shoulder, but he'd kind of reach out his hand a little low, like, just in case, if there's a chance I could get the pick, I would kind of go for it. Yeah, but, you know, Tugger thought it was pretty cool to be Tugger so and in those same in that same vein as misophyllies, there was a part of me that I always thought it's kind of cool to be misophys. I don't need to be reborn, like, what if I'm not this fabulous or something like you, and that's not like Randy's ego. But, you know, I real quick, I'll tell you, it was hard being misophys, because it was such a difficult dance number and it was so long, and it's in act two, and you've, like, cool down. And the first couple of months I was I, I'll say that I was a good misto police dance wise, but I wasn't great, because I kept trying to get an A I kept trying to dance it perfectly, like, if you're in a dance class, and you're trying to get it right. And then one day, I was up above the stage, and they're about to fly me in, and I had seen Donna McKechnie, the original Cassie, in a course line, who had come back to Broadway as we were opening, and I'd gone to see her, and she was spectacular. But the thing about Donna was, you got this lesson of she just danced. She just danced. And anyone who's listening to say. Were taking dance class, especially in New York. Usually at the end of a dance class, the teacher would like whatever combination we've done in that class, they would let you just do it one last time, but just do it your way. Just Dance. Just don't try and get it right. Dance. And one day, I was up above the stage, and I thought, you know myself, thinks he's the star already. I should just dance and not be so worried about getting it right. And it was one of the biggest lessons. I came down, and the minute I touched the ground, I started dancing just like Randy would dance this material. And it was one of the greatest learning moments of my life as a performer, because I stopped worrying about fitting inside the box and getting it right. And I just did what I could bring to the number. And as the cats are all around the perimeter of the stage, as I'm dancing, I would look at them, and you could see in their faces, their eyes were dropping. And I suddenly, like grew three levels in one moment, just because I stopped trying to get an A I stopped trying to get it right, and I just filtered this material through me, and if that makes any sense, and it made a world of difference. And I took that lesson with me as an actor to everything else I did after that. I took the information I was given as a director or as a dancer, and then you just filter that through the thing that you are, the artist that you are. And I became a much better mistool ease when I was not trying to get it right.

[36:25] Speaker 2: And that's a powerful lesson, I think, not just in the acting world and just in general, because, you know, there's you could have done anything up there, and most of us are seeing it for the first time. Yeah, maybe the junkyard again. Maybe there's some the super fans might know that you did it differently, but me that first I would have known no different. And so it's more about the like I think about public speaking, or any memory, or anything you do like they do, kind of give that recommendation, which is, you, you you'll notice you mess up. If you mess up, no one else is going to notice if you mess up. And just keep going and just going to keep continue with purpose. And so I think it's a really powerful lesson for everybody to just, you know, to be comfortable in what they're doing and their own skin, and to own the version of it, because that's going to be the best version of it is going to be yours in that moment. So when did that hit you? How many, how many episodes or shows ended and two

[37:19] Speaker 3: months into the run because, because my mindset as Randy was trying to get it right, I was trying to go A, B, C, D, and then you learn. What I learned was you can just go ABCD. And I never changed the steps. It was never about getting the steps right or or I never changed them, but it was about dancing full out and not worrying about being perfect, and somehow in not trying to worry about being perfect, I got better. I was that much better. Do you remember

[37:50] Speaker 2: what city you were in? Is it like a still a home for you? Like a

[37:55] Speaker 3: it was might have it might have been Miami, Miami Beach, it might have been, but it was about the two, two month mark, and it's something about it that I just something clicked in my head. I thought, you know, I'm just gonna dance. And anyone who's ever sung, here's an example that everyone can relate to. When you're singing in your living room and you just sing, you're probably doing really good, and then you stand in front of an audience. Now you have to get it perfect, so you kind of get tight and you kind of get tense. What you know, I happen to watch the voice last night, and I never watched the voice, but a couple of people got just a tiniest bit pitchy. They were great singers. Tiniest bit pitchy just because they're a little nervous. But the people who didn't get nervous and were able to just let that flow thing happen, they were the ones that we will look at that, wow, yeah, they're awesome. They're awesome. And my, my biggest thing that I had to overcome was when I got over that, that trying to be tight and perfect, and once I got rid of that, I just got so much better as as a performer. And I, like I said, I took that with me everywhere. Yeah,

[39:01] Speaker 2: that's, that's great. I want to, I mean, that's such a powerful message. I don't want to just completely pivot from that, but I do. I'm still kind of blown away by the bomb notes that you gave me. So I want to, I want to ask some other most athletes notes, and have you fill in the blanks on the rumor mill and some of the other stuff, if it was told to you or not. So let's, let's, let's. Let me ask a couple of things that I read, and you can tell me if it was intentional or if it's people reading between the lines. Sure. So one is, is that Macavity actually gets his powers from you? A truth to that. I've never heard that. And then it's also super cool, though, that you are cavity son, Oh, wow.

[39:45] Speaker 3: Uh, I've never heard that because in my mind, mccavity and misophys are the same age, but that's a cool rumor.

[39:53] Speaker 2: Okay, so you play, see, I maybe I'm I'm wrong here, but I always have a cavity in the older bucket with bus for Jones. Just Jenny. Oh,

[40:07] Speaker 3: no, McCabe, maybe was. Yeah, that's possible. Mr. Police was a peer of Alonzo and Tugger and monkey strap. Okay,

[40:19] Speaker 2: what about so you kind of alluded this already, but you don't, you think you're just buddies with Tugger. There's no, yeah,

[40:25] Speaker 3: no, yeah, but that's super cool. Yeah, with my tuggers, if they'd give me that, I'd have run with that ball, so to speak. That would have been fun,

[40:33] Speaker 2: but it's a cool idea. And then, so what about any other relationships with other cats, because the cat's family tree is super yeah, there's a lot of dotted lines. It's not, there's no, there's no real family tree. So those are the ones that were written. Were potentially Macavity, son, but what other like? What other things were you told? I wasn't

[40:55] Speaker 3: told this, but it was what I played, and they always seem to like the powers that be. Always seem to like it. There's a reason why misto police in my company, at least when Grizabella enters Myles, is the one that cuts off Mungo and rumple, or if you're if you're on the Broadway, if they have tantamount corcopat for my company, they cut two cats to save money, and so they cut the twins 10 Mile and corcopat and Mungo and Rumpel took over that kind of twin ishness. And so in my company, when Grizabella first enters, Mungo and Rumpel run at her, and most of these is the one to block the way to protect Grizabella. And because of that, and because of her entering after my number neck too. There was something that I always felt that the Grizz and mistools were very close, close. They were very close. Mother, no, not romantic,

[41:55] Speaker 3: never thought about being related, but we were close. We had a relationship in my head. I'll go ahead and tell you what Asia and I thought we were Asia bomb, ballerina, misto police in my company. This is Joe, who we played. No one ever told us this, but we played that bomb and misto police and Grizz were all great friends, from like being young people, like young cats, teenagers and all. And when Grizz went off, got a little too wild, fell from grace. When she comes back, it was this moment for Mr. Feliz in Bombardier, and I used to catch Asia's eyes across the stage, and we would both be like, she's back. And part of the reason why I was the one to protect her, because you always have to realize that on stage, if something is happening, there has to be a reason for that action and the fact that misto police is the one that stops Mungo and rumple, there had to be a reason. We couldn't just leave it that a cat stopped Mongo and rumple. It had to be mistool for a reason. So when I did, I made the choice that Grizz and I were very close. I don't go any farther than just stopping them, because it's not my authority to do so I can't ban her. I can't attack her myself. I would never do that, but I can protect her from being attacked. And then I step back, because monk has strap is in charge, so I can't take that away from him, okay? But monkey strap and I are peers in my in my mind, and so I can look at him and say, you know why I did that? You know?

[43:26] Speaker 2: Yeah, so it sounds like your, your cast, played a lot less family than what's out, what's on the rumor? Mel, yeah,

[43:33] Speaker 3: I think. So, yeah. Like, like, people, did people think, like, syllabu and Victoria might have been sisters or something, because they're together a lot. There's

[43:40] Speaker 2: a lot. I mean, there's, there's some relationships with Jenny being the mom on some and who's all Deuteronomy is the father of monk. Are supposed to be brothers?

[43:51] Speaker 3: Yes, yes. Now that you mentioned, I mean, there was something about Tugger monk being brothers or something. There was something about that.

[43:57] Speaker 2: There's a there's a lot to it. And it's like there's not a lot verified. Like, there's only a couple where somebody has come out from either the Trevor Nunns or Andrew the whoever's come out and said, like, yes, that is it, and the rest is just the means of the world. I mean, I there's a lot of rumors that I have 100% made up, that I know there's nothing too, but I've tied it together myself in this weird way. So that's what, you know, that's where most of the stuff comes from. It comes from the super fans and the me's of the world saying, If I'm rewriting this, here's how I hear I saw it. But

[44:30] Speaker 3: well, you know, it's interesting. You say that about like, Tugger and monk. And since I mentioned, if something happens on stage, it has to have a reason. It can't just be because it was and because Tugger, like, teases, like he ruins, speaks in pollicles with the bagpipes thing, and he keeps making fun in the in the Old Deuteronomy, you know, monkey strap speaks of him so stoically. And then Tugger, kind of, like, throws a little fun in there that he's like, sired all these kittens. You. Really could see that they were brothers, but because there's a relationship there that only your brother could get away with teasing monkey strap that way, like poking monkeys, sometimes only your brother could do that. So I could totally see that that would play well, that monk and Tugger would be brothers. So I want to do some rapid

[45:15] Speaker 2: fire, because I do want to get to the very I want to get to the, you know, the million dollar question. And I also want to hear about the fundraiser. Fundraiser that your cast did recently. But let's do a couple quick, rapid fire first. So if you were not misophonies, which other cat would you want to play? And I'm going to say, Forget your vocal range, dance ability, male, female, anybody who just would do the track you'd want to do, Grizabella. Grizabella, you want Belltown memory at the end?

[45:43] Speaker 3: Yeah, I do in the acting range. I love the acting range and sensibility.

[45:51] Speaker 3: The opening number, delicate songs for delical cats, is my favorite song and my least favorite number, let me say is a tie between peaks and pollicles and growl Tiger, okay? Because we just, we used to, we used to talk about backstage that if we could, when they do this in dinner theaters in the future, they're gonna have to cut numbers. We would cut peaks and pollicules, and we would cut grow Tiger. Because we just, we just want to go be cats. Yeah, but yeah,

[46:17] Speaker 2: what about favorite and newspaper cat? Not, not cast member character on ballyna favorite, yeah, what about least favorite? Oh,

[46:27] Speaker 3: I don't have a least favorite. Yeah? Such a cool answer. You know, yeah, I would be slandering one of my co characters, but I guess forget the person I'm talking about, super Jones Buster for, just for John's that's, I think, yeah, he's like, like, he has nothing to do with my stuff, please. Whatever. You know. Yeah, Buster. Okay.

[46:46] Speaker 2: And now the million dollar question, and then we'll get into the fundraiser. But I do want to hear, I've argued for many episodes with everybody too, that I don't think Isabel was the right Jollof choice. So do you agree or disagree with me? And then if you're gonna not, if you're not gonna choose Grizzle, who are you gonna choose?

[47:04] Speaker 3: I think Grizabella is the right choice, but I think it would have been a cool twist if it wasn't Grizabella, that it was Deuteronomy.

[47:14] Speaker 2: Deuteronomy. So he picks himself, yep, okay, because

[47:22] Speaker 2: that, because a lot of a lot of people, don't think he's even eligible in the he may not be,

[47:27] Speaker 3: because he makes a choice. You know, you're right when you get technical about that, that's true. But if I was being asked who should get the nod, if it's not Grizabella, I would say Deuteronomy, because he's been so honorable, and he's been the leader of the tribe, and he's aged to this point, and he's made it this far, and if anyone was really worthy of it, having been such a great leader, having been such a great father and grandfather to so many cats, having been so morally upstanding that I misto Phillies would Give it to Deuteronomy if I got the choice to make that, can I make? Put it that way? Yeah, that's great.

[48:09] Speaker 3: it up ourselves. But yeah, if no stop Ali's got to make the choice, I would have picked Deuteronomy kind of like giving our grandfather another chance, yeah, because he did such a great job. I

[48:19] Speaker 2: think it's interesting too, because monk clearly wants his opportunity to take over. So I I've never understood why. I mean, I kind of get it at the same time, but like Deuteronomy, I don't feel like was eligible, but he's in the range of the group that you could consider if you're looking at it from a technical storytelling standpoint. I didn't look at it from that way, obviously, which is very clear by my choice. I looked at it from one very parallel, simple path. But I do like I like that. I like that. You're arguing somebody else on his behalf. What about tell

[48:54] Speaker 3: me real quick, one thing I used to always say, because I mentioned about BK would kind of like flirt with the idea of Tugger maybe getting the nod in my mind as misophys. I never, ever thought about it, getting it because I thought, well, it's pretty cool to be me. Like, how much better can it get? And I don't mean me, Randy slovakic misophyllies. Thought, yeah, if you're that fabulous, you probably think this is pretty fabulous. So I never, I never thought it should be. I stood there and waited for the right cat to be picked, but I never thought it would

[49:23] Speaker 2: be me if I'm picking off of that type of merit. Tugger and most office are never even into consideration because they're they've got more life to live. They're enjoying themselves. They're just putting on their show. They're doing it because they've been asked, but they're not, they're not there. So you do

[49:39] Speaker 3: think that Mr. Lees would rank pretty high, by the way. I do know from listening to all your episodes you think

[49:44] Speaker 2: with with the angle of, if I'm Old Deuteronomy, judging this as a which performance Did I enjoy most when you're giving your rationale and why? So I'm ignoring the if I look at it from. The voice or the American Idol X Factor version. I'm basically saying I'm watching the show, but I'm gonna forget the little story they're gonna tell me before, which is actually how I usually watch those shows. I skipped the whole story in the beginning, which is always a very well packaged production of like, some trauma or something that's happened in their life, which is grizabella's angle. She's got her trauma. She's got what happens. She's kicked out like but if I cut that package out, then I'm watching purely on performance. And grisabelle puts a compelling performance with memory. But I personally thought again, X Factor. We're gonna take the two that I think would make the best, where all the fan fiction is written about, yeah, and I'm gonna take Tugger Mustafa's, two of the best, two of the showstoppers, the numbers that I was floored with, and that's how I voted, and that's the only way I think you're

[50:50] Speaker 2: of joke too. Like, if you're if you're allowing you know, most of the public that's voting on this is the Midwest, which is where I'm from, so I don't mind mine, kind of poking fun there, but the Midwest at home voting family, and I think the Midwest at home voting family probably that, that Midwest mom has probably enjoyed tuggers performance a lot. The Midwest dad, who's probably not voting, probably enjoyed bombing Demeter and then Mustafa please is one of the last things you see showstopper magic always does well on America's Got Talent. Yeah, that's, that's the, that's my argument. But again, very, very, very one track mind tactic here to get to this answer, I want to be mindful of time. I want to I know if you can tell me, we've talked to a bunch of your cast, but you guys came back together to do something for fundraisers. So tell me about what that was like to, I think, 30 years later, come back and and do something for the Broadway community. Can

[51:52] Speaker 3: you imagine? Well, as you mentioned, another episode, and if you guys don't know what we're talking about, go back and listen to Mike's other episode, because about in detail, but yeah, we came together back in the day when Michael Bennet and our dance supervisor T Michael Reed died in 1987 we the whole AIDS epidemic was just just unrelenting, and we were out on the road. And this is before any touring company ever did big benefits. And long story short, we did this. We decided to do something. We had to do something. And we put together a tribute to Michael Bennet. We basically did selections from all of Michael Bennett's Broadway shows, from Promises, promises and the course line and Dream Girls and Follies, so many things seesaw. And we did this in one night. We raised over like, something like something like $35,000 and at the time we were doing this, back in October, I put that figure into a calculator that calculates for inflation, and in one night, in today's dollars, we raised over $80,000 in Kansas City, which was really amazing. And so fast forward, the real short version is, is in last year, one of our cast members jumped out and said, you know, everyone's raising money, and we all haven't seen each other in 30 years. And seriously, Mike, we had not, most of us had not seen each other in 30 years. And we, Christine toy wrote this, and Jonathan Cirillo, our skinless Shanks directed it, and we did a version of the opening number, and we did the naming of cats, and we did these tributes to Broadway performers and the actress fund. And then our incredible, incredible Grizabella, Leslie Ellis and our syllabus Christine toy recreated their version of memory today, and it was gorgeous. And I have to tell you when you have bought into a performance 100% that I was talking about 30 minutes ago, about moment to moment, being in it, hearing Leslie, who is a Grammy Award winner, by the way, hearing Leslie sing that song again, 30 years later, we all start crying, and it was spectacular. And she still is just this amazing artist. And we all came together, and we raised upward of $25,000 with this video presentation for Broadway, cares, equity, fights, AIDS and the Actors Fund. And it was amazing to get together and see each other's faces that we hadn't seen in so long and and remember those things that we did with each other, and be creative again together. Yeah,

[54:26] Speaker 2: and, you know, it's, it's still raising money, so the link will be in the description. And you know, anything that you, you can do that it'll be there to go, because I think they're holding it open through June or July of this year. So still, still be around for a little bit a while longer. I want to hear just quickly before we go tell me about the things you're up to today, because I know you've got a couple other projects that you work on. Thanks. Well, after

[54:53] Speaker 3: my Broadway and performing career, I went after cats. I went on to I used to joke that I was the king of the national touring companies. I did like. 13 national tours, and then made it to Broadway. And I was in the Broadway revival of Hello Dolly in 1995 with Carol Channing. And I went in Chicago the musical on Broadway. And I did the first Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's Follies. I say the first because every show I've done now has been revived again, which shows how old I am, or it makes me feel old. But about 10 years ago, almost 10 years to the day, 10 years in a month, I I would read all these blogs, and my husband one day said, you know, you should start writing your own blog. I'm like, Oh, great. So it'll be kind of sad. Two people read it, you and me. So I started the Randy report, which covers LGBTQ news of interest to the LG news, political, pop culture, entertainment, not just LGBTQ, but of interest to the community. 10 years ago in 2011 and it's now grown to having around 200,000 readers a month. And I also have a podcast called The Randy report, which you can find on any podcast, wherever you get your podcast, Apple and Stitcher and Spotify and everywhere. And I do like I call it the 60 minutes of gay news, only shorter because I was at a party several years ago. And I keep up with the news a lot. I'm kind of a news junkie, and I would talk about things. And someone once said to me, how do you know that? And jokingly, I said, How do you don't? Because, how do you not? Because I'm just naturally curious. I've just always been curious, and people make fun of me how curious I am. I really want to know everything. And so in doing that, I decided I want everyone to know stuff, just so they should know it. And so I started the Randy report for that. So the blog, the Randy report.com, and the podcast, the Randy report is the quick, easy way, it's almost the Cliff Notes news. If you don't want to read a 2000 word article on The New York Times, which, by the way, the New York Times is fabulous. I'm not slamming them, but in this day and age where people have short attention spans, my thing is brevity and bringing it all down to the five or six things that you need to know in about 300 words, which takes two and a half minutes to read. Or if you're listening to the podcast, in 15 minutes each week, I bring the top news stories for the LGBTQ community, whether it's entertainment or politics or something, just so you know what's happening. And it's easy, so you play it in your car, in the subway, and same thing with the rain report, you check in once a day or once a week, and it's quick and it's easy, and you don't have to do tons of reading, but you know what's happening. And I don't slant things, I don't till things. I just report the facts. I call it the 60 minutes of gay news, only shorter, and that's my thing.

[57:34] Speaker 2: That's great. And I love hearing that too, because it's kind of a a there's so much information out there these days,

[57:42] Speaker 3: I swear I don't put a spin. I just report the facts. But I just want you to know what the facts are, so you can make up your own mind, yeah. You think, yeah,

[57:50] Speaker 2: and that's, and that's a challenging piece these days, with so much out there, with so many angles and so many just even slight slants of certain headline writing to full on pieces. But I love that. I'm glad that you, you know, you have that, that ability out there. And a lot of, I mean, you went from two to 200,000 so that's few, few more, a few more readers. And I think you probably started when you when you opened it

[58:15] Speaker 3: up. And I really appreciate everyone that reads it. I do, and it's interesting every now and then, if I have, if I'm slow to post, because I I don't think I missed a day in in probably six or seven years of posting something, I have readers who will email me, and it's so touching. I've had the email readers email me, saying, are you okay? Yeah, because you haven't posted today. Are you okay? Which is just the sweetest thing ever, and I really appreciate it, but it's great that they you have these regular readers. They get to know this, and I'm so proud of them for wanting to be up to date on stuff. Anyway.

[58:46] Speaker 2: Yeah, it's always being informed is never a bad thing. So how else can we find you on? So that's the pod, the podcast and the website. What about social media? How can we find you there? Social

[58:56] Speaker 3: media is all easy. Randy Slovak, so Facebook, slash facebook.com, forward slash Randy Slovak check, twitter.com, forward slash Randy slovacek and Instagram, forward slash Randy Slovak check, I'd put, I'd make it the Randy report, but it would be ridiculous. So everyone can find me there, and it's easy to find the blog, the Randy report.com not a randy report.com. The Randy report.com. Awesome. Well,

[59:23] Speaker 2: thank you so much for joining me today, telling a bunch of stories, making me very, very much questioning now everything I know about bomb and everything in between. It was super fun to have you on

[59:37] Speaker 3: Well, this was so much fun to revisit all this stuff. It really was. And thank you for sharing with me all those things. I have to go back and think about all the moments I might have missed not being like, you know, more than bros with Tugger

[59:48] Speaker 2: now, yeah, it's a, it's a very be, be careful when you start digging in to that, that line of fan fiction, because it gets it. Steep quickly, thanks, man. Well, thank you. And thanks everyone else for listening to this episode of the wrong cat died the podcast breaking of the catastrophe. To follow along. You can subscribe on Apple podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or anywhere else you listen to podcasts, follow us follow us on Twitter and Instagram, at the wrong cat died. Or check out our website, the wrong cat died.com. You.