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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.

[0:13] Speaker 2: There's a cat over here. There's a cat over there. I'm the one who died. I'm the one who died.

[0:29] Mike Abrams: Welcome to the wrong cat died the podcast breakdown of the cats catastrophe. I'm your host, Mike Abrams, and today we have a special guest. She was a booth singer in the 2016 Broadway revival, and is currently on the national tour of cats. Welcome Maria Fauci and thank you for joining us.

[0:44] Speaker 3: Thanks for having me, guys. I'm loving the podcast episodes you've published so far. Amazing,

[0:49] Mike Abrams: amazing. So happy to have you here. But what I want to do first is we have a lot of non theater listeners, so I'm wondering if you could quickly break down the difference between a booth singer, a chorus member, a swing a lead cast member, just for anyone that's listening that might not be too sure on the different jobs, absolutely.

[1:08] Speaker 3: So let's actually go in reverse order from what you've said. So there's called playing cast members, which are the on stage actors that put the spandex on, put the makeup on, and go on stage and act like cats every night. Then after that, there are understudies. So those might be people who have an on stage position, you know, like in our cast, our tumble Brutus understudies, skimble shanks. So he's an on stage player, but he has understudies that are other cats that he might get bumped into, if that cat gets sick or goes on vacation. Then there are off stage covers or swings, who are people who do not put the spandex on every night they stand, they're off stage, kind of on call, and they have a collection of people that they understudy and can be a different cat at any moment. And then there's a very special thing that is actually unique to cats the musical, and that's what I do. And I'm called a booth singer, or cats chorus, and I report to the orchestra every night. There are four on Broadway when I did it, there were six booth singers on the tour. There's four just because we're a condensed cast. And we report to the orchestra every night, where we have kind of a makeshift recording booth with a microphone and headphones, pop filters. It's like a whole setup. And we actually sing along with the cats every night, kind of as backup singers. So as you know, cats is an entirely danced musical, and those cats are like dancing their hearts out, and they need some support, especially like towards the end of the number was where they're dancing so much, but they're also singing so high. Andrew Lloyd Webber writes unbelievable music for people with extreme ranges, and that's where we come in. So we're kind of their backup singer. So in cats, if you've seen it, and this was in the old Broadway company and the new Broadway company, what you don't know is there's four like, I like to call us like Phantom of the Opera. We're, you know, lurking in the back singing. No one really knows who we are, but we have on stage understudies. So we're so I'm the soprano one understudy. So sorry, I'm the soprano one booth singer. So I like to say that I sing all the high notes for the cats every night, and then sometimes I understudy two on stage cats. So I understudy Grizabella and who is not, from my understanding, not your favorite cat, but a fun cat to understudy. And then I also understudy jelly Lorem, who is the kind of soprano cat who sings Gus the theater cat in the second act. Yeah,

[3:36] Mike Abrams: wow. That is, that's incredible. So that is not, behind scoop. Yeah, that's not common in other shows. Yeah,

[3:43] Speaker 3: it's not common there. To my knowledge, no other shows do that. Sometimes I feel like maybe they've had swings that like, sing a portion of the show or something, but for people to show up and kind of be we're almost a part of the orchestra is a very special and unique thing, because cats is a really special and unique show where it is entirely Sung and entirely danced. Wow,

[4:06] Mike Abrams: that is, that's amazing. So before you audition for cats, had you ever seen the show growing up?

[4:15] Speaker 3: It's funny. I did not grow up like be obsessed with cats at all. I remember we my family was in London, and my mom took us to see the London production, and I remember being pretty confused. How old were you? You know, I don't even really remember between 10 and 12. Okay,

[4:33] Mike Abrams: that's a big that's a big sticking point for me, that parents

[4:38] Speaker 3: right? Like, I remember being confused. I think I was entertained, but I had no idea what was happening. And then, honestly, the next time I saw it was the Broadway revival, and I still, like, didn't quite understand what was happening when I saw the show. But something that I've learned about cats is it truly grows on you. The more you start to understand the story of what's actually going on on stage, the more. Can really fall in love with with what cats is all about. I mean, you can show up to cats and just be, like, completely entertained by the unbelievable skill of the dancers and singers, but there's a lot going on on stage that that it's sometimes hard to process when people are just doing back flips all the time. You know, absolutely.

[5:16] Mike Abrams: And I think that's what makes this show kind of fun and crazy and a little dark, which is why I was very curious why parents bring children to the show. Yeah, what made you decide to audition for cats?

[5:31] Speaker 3: Let's see. Well, I was I auditioned for the original revival, like two years ago. I guess I was always up for the role of booth singer. I think I maybe had my first audition for jelly Loram, and then was going to be a booth singer understudy. And, I mean, I guess as an actress, you kind of get auditions and you're excited to potentially be on a Broadway show. I can't really remember how I felt or why I got it. I think I was super excited it was coming back. I'm a soprano, so I'm always excited when there are scores that require people who sing high because that's really fun for me. And I feel like what I really love to do, and cats is also such a historic show. It's, it was always very exciting that it was coming back. And obviously, Andy blankenbueh is such an amazing choreographer, so it would be, you know, and it's exciting to be a part of of the new creation that they've brought to cats.

[6:23] Mike Abrams: So someone who's seen the show day in day out a bunch of times for many years, which is your favorite character, either to sing, to cover, and then also, who's your least favorite character?

[6:38] Speaker 3: Um, I think Mungo Jerry and rumpelteezer are the most impressive cats. I think their number, like, I've seen it a million times now, I'm never bored of that number. I think it's absolutely unbelievable what those dancers can dance and sing. And I think they're just like, funny and spunky singing memory, like when I go on for Grizabella singing memory to, you know, a sold out audience is a pretty special experience, and being able to, here's the thing, I actually agree with you. I understand why Grizabella gets reborn. I also have other cats I think that deserve to be reborn. But what Grizabella represents, which is, you know, an outcast that then becomes accepted by a community that's a really special arc to get to kind of go through as an as an actress, kind of inhabiting that role. So that's always a special experience. I also love going on for jelly Lorem, because, you know, she gets to dance, she gets to sing solo, like she kind of has a great she gets to kind of be in the whole show, but she doesn't have to do the really hard dance moments, but she gets to dance with all the cats anyway. So, you know, there's, there's reasons to like every cat, and you know, I don't think I dislike any of them,

[7:52] Speaker 4: not one, not Macavity. You know, gotta be Macavity, right?

[7:56] Speaker 3: I guess I would as jelly Laura, more as Grizabella. I think I would be definitely scared of Macavity as a cat, but at the same time, I think Macavity is such a cool track, like his dance numbers, the fight is so great, like I also love watching it. So I think it's hard also, you get to know the actors who play the the parts, and then all of a sudden they you see them as their characters, and that kind of makes you connected to all the characters. So I guess it's kind of hard for me to choose one.

[8:21] Mike Abrams: Okay, that's fair. I think it's macavities. The it is a great song, great track, but it's that cat. Yeah, is a little terrible. He's a bad cat. Yeah, it's pretty terrible, that's for sure. So there's a pretty dark cat River Mill out there on the internet. And I don't know if many people have dug into this, I hopeful I might be the first. But there's one that I really wanted to ask you about, because it's from the New York Broadway revival. And there it's really light on what's actually happening. But there was something written about the actors who played rum tug Tugger and skimble Shanks had some animosity, or there was some like, weird relationship between the two. Do you know what that was? What there's the rumor behind this is, there, is there something behind the scenes that that's missing? Because there's definitely some vague writing on it. You

[9:07] Speaker 3: know, I did some sleuthing because I heard you say that in one of your episodes, and I've come up dry. Okay, I I, to my knowledge, when I was at the theater, I was only in the Broadway company for three months, so I might have missed some stuff, but I am completely unaware of that rumor. It sounds really interesting. I can keep doing some more research for you, but I did text a couple of the Broadway company members asking if there was any scoop there. And I came up dry. So I'm sorry I can't help you with that, but I wish I could.

[9:36] Mike Abrams: I'm curious. People want to know, yeah, so there's the movie upcoming this December, and I'm curious. One, have you seen the trailer? And then two, what are your expectations for the movie?

[9:48] Speaker 3: Oh, you bet I've seen the trailer. I mean literally. I think every person I ever met sent me that trailer when it came out, knowing that I was on the cats tour right now, but I'm actually. Really excited. I feel like there's definitely mixed opinions amidst the cats community. One thing that you'll notice that's kind of funny is, for us, when we put the makeup on, getting your nose like, when you draw your nose on your face with the makeup, I feel like that's a really important moment for when you become a cat. And something we notice in the trailer is like, the cats don't really have noses. Like, they look kind of like avatars. Yeah, it got a

[10:24] Mike Abrams: lot of notes on, like, a lot of internet rumor about that was about the noses.

[10:29] Speaker 3: Um, so I think that's something that we're like, Huh? I hope they like, go back in and post and like, maybe give those cats some noses. I'm excited. I mean, here's the thing, the revival that we're doing is a reimagined version of cats, right, with Andy blank and Bucha choreography. It's like a different iteration of it. And I think the movie is going to be a completely separate thing, like so if I'm going to sit here like, I would never want to compare our production and the cats movie, because I think that they're going to be very different things. You have these movie stars who aren't dancers and all of the lead parts. So obviously that's going to look different. I'm kind of excited to see how they kind of jump that hurdle and what they can bring to these characters, because now you know I know them all very intimately. So I'm actually really excited to see the movie. People should see the movie, and then if the tour comes to you see the tour to compare and contrast, or if you've seen the Broadway show, or if you've seen other iterations of the show, like, I just think it's a fun it's it'll be a fun discussion topic. But obviously movies can do like the set looked unbelievable, you know, the CGI, like, what you can do with a movie? Obviously you can do so many things with a movie you can't do just on a stage where the set doesn't change. So I'm actually very curious to see what it looks like.

[11:43] Mike Abrams: It's an interesting holiday movie. I'm excited Absolutely. So I want to ask the final question. You kind of answered it a little bit. But as you know, this podcast is about breaking down why I don't think Grizzle is the right choice at the end of the show. So my question is, do you agree or disagree with me? And then who would you make your case for obviously,

[12:01] Speaker 3: I love that the cast accepts Grizabella again. I think the idea of accepting an outcast trying to have empathy and compassion for someone that you don't necessarily see eye to eye with is a really important lesson that everybody needs to learn. And I love that we share that with our audiences. However, I will say someone that I don't think you're even talking about in your podcast, Jelly Loram, who is the cat who sings Gus, the theater cat. So this whole night is about this whole night the Jellicle. You know, the Jellicle moon is shining bright, and everybody is here to try and prove why they can get reborn, to go to the heavy side lair. And selfishly, everyone in the cast gets up and sings a song about themselves and why they deserve and jelly. Lorem is the only person who gets to take gets the chance to take the stage and actually stops and talks about Gus instead. And I think that's an incredibly selfless gesture. I think she's the one who kind of exemplifies learning the lesson that Deuteronomy teaches us the most, because she's actually there to help Gus get reborn and passes the torch to him. So I think my argument is actually that jelly Lorem deserves to be reborn. She's an elder. She's been with the tribe for a long time, and she, I think, exemplifies that selfness, selflessness, that Deuteronomy is looking for the best. I actually have

[13:19] Mike Abrams: a take on jelly. It's from the bus for Jones episode. So there is a rumor that busta, for Jones and Grizabella were friends. That were friends growing up, but when Grizabella was kicked out of the tribe, Buster fur was too important for her to talk to, so there was a lot of pain back and forth. There's then also a rumor that Grizabella and jelly are very, very close, and so you know that, as you said, Jelly gives up her chance to sing. Then there's also a rumor that jelly sleeps with Buster for Jones and has a falling out with Grizabella. So if I tie all those rumor together, is there a My theory is, is that jelly actually gives up her opportunity to sing as a, I'm sorry to Grizabella, so it gives that as a, I slept with your friend, but because I slept your friend, I'm gonna give up my chance to sing, so that way you can perform. And that's her forgiveness for making a mistake by sleeping with one of her best friend's friends.

[14:20] Speaker 3: Damn. I've never heard that before. I even heard any of those rumors. I mean, there's definitely chemistry between Buster for and jelly. That's really interesting. The one, the one argument there is, she gives up her chance to sing, but she still then advocates for Gus she doesn't advocate for Grizabella,

[14:41] Mike Abrams: yeah, there's some holes in my my theory, but that's, but that's my theorem.

[14:45] Speaker 3: I mean, I'm very interested to hear, to hear that episode, for sure. That's pretty amazing. Yeah, so

[14:50] Mike Abrams: that is an episode four with mustard for Jones. Very interesting character. Yes, absolutely. Well, thank you for taking the time to. Speak with us. It was great having on the show.

[15:01] Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me. I love that you're doing this, and I can't wait to keep listening. Awesome. Well, Maria, thanks

[15:07] Mike Abrams: for being part of this bonus episode on the wrong cat died, the podcast breakdown of the cat's atrophy. To follow along, you can subscribe on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or anywhere else you listen to podcasts, follow us on Twitter and Instagram at the wrong cat died. Or check out our website, the wrong cat died.com. You.