 So it took literal years; even before the whole world went to hell, I was ALWAYS stuck overseas at the exact moment any one of My Jellicles booked a new West End job or came anywhere near me on tour and it was driving me crazy. So much of life and circumstance got in the way and I'm not sure the frustration about all the shows I missed is ever going to really fade - having been back to the theatre again now it's stirred up a little bit of irritation in me towards my past self, a kind of "Well you could've made it happen if you'd tried harder" and whether that's true or not it doesn't matter because my resolve to go on to make sure I make it happen to get back to the theatre whenever I can is at an all-time high. Was it the feeling of walking into an auditorium and smelling the dry-ice and spotlights, was it that insane rush of delight that overtook me completely the moment Ben Mundy first appeared on the stage and we had that silly moment of me thinking "HE'S HERE!!" at the same moment there was this little look in his eyes of "YOU'RE HERE!!" or was it the feeling of standing out in the cold autumn air talking all things theatre with someone as delightfully good and wonderful and talented as Lovely Ben? I don't know, it was most likely a combination of all of those things. But I think I started planning my next trip to the theatre before I'd even got done walking away from the Bolton Octagon that night. (It'll be another trip to see Lovely Ben, and I intend to use my time at stage door next time I see him with trying to bribe him to just always tour so I can never be too long without experiencing just how sunlit his whole being is both on and off the stage!) I feel like this first post back after so long should be something more informative or coherant or should go more in depth about The Book Thief as a show, the Bolton Octagon as a theatre and stage door and Ben as a performer (exceptional) and human (radiant) but really I think the biggest and most important thing I have come away from the experience with is a deep and profound appreciation for the theatre, for stage door, for performers and the sound of the air before and after a show and the feeling of glitter sticking to my cheeks. I think maybe I forgot my own advice for a moment back there and I feel the need to keep repeating it to myself over and over again now: the whole world of the theatre is a unique kind of magic, it's a precious spell that gets cast on Monday nights and matinees and in dark, dry-ice-filled air where good and talented people tell winderful and wild stories and it should never, ever be taken for granted that something so special and improbable is right out there within reach, proving magic is real and starlight isn't so far out of our reach.
Not all of my pictures or write-up are on the page yet, but I will be working on it soon so if you're interested then pop back in to the visit page later for more in-depth thoughts and some pretty pictures of Bolton (which was truly a wonderful place and perfect for a theatre trip!)
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 As you will have noticed if you've scrolled through my blog recently, I was lucky enough to have travelled all the way to Antwerp especially because Joel Morris was reprising his role as my favourite character in Cats - Carbucketty - for one month only before once more returning to his 'retirement'. As the occasion was so special, and the memory an important piece of my stage door story with Joel, I of course wanted to find a space in my home for a new photo frame for our picture together, and just to add to the significance I wanted to also have my photograph of myself and Joel from the first night I met him beside it.
I think this is a really perfect way of highlighting a special stage door friend or significant stage door memory, especially if you've got a really great story to tell about your 'journey' with someone at stage door as I have with Joel. Paperchase offer several different ranges of photo frame for personalisation, and you can find those here.
I'm always looking for ways to keep my theatre memories close to me, and also to show as many people as possible just how much they mean to me, and I love this particular sort of souvenir because it not only gives me a smile every time I see it, but it also is great for giving me an excuse to tell people who see it the story of My Carbucketty!
"...but for you I can't find words" - My New Joel Morris Tribute Video Is Now Up On The Site19/4/2017  Click the image above to watch: 'Joel Morris as Carbucketty: Tribute & Showreel' I have had a "Joel Morris Highlights Reel" file saved on my computer for a long time now - it was basically just every clip I'd ever found on the internet which included Joel playing Carbucketty during all his different appearances in the show. The only sad thing about that version of the "Highlights Reel" was that it had no sound and therefore no real impact, and I thought Joel just deserved SO much better, because his portrayal desperately deserved some sort of tribute, especially after he was clearly the tour's first call when they needed someone to step in and cover Carbucketty once more! So I spent hours - literally, hours! - after my trip to Belgium editing together all these clips for a second time and set them to some of my favourite songs from my stage door playlist, including a song which I thought of frequently when in Antwerp which I think is so appropriate for Joel and that is "The Last Poet" by Take That: "...when you see something so beautiful, a monastery of light and soul, stand taller than the high cathedral walls...but for you I can't find words, but for you there are no words..." As well as here - you can find the video on Joel's page.
So I ended up seeing my 54th ever Jellicle Ball in Antwerp, Belgium, and no, I wasn't expecting to be saying that either, or at least I wasn't just a few short weeks ago...This is the explanation for it all, and also an explanation for why my Twitter was temporarily taken over by #blamecarbucketty Please watch my very special video blog and find out the whole story, including tears, show highlights and much discussion about what makes a certain dancer The Best Ever.
 Sometimes when it comes to a theatre trip, you really don't have the time to do anything too fancy with your hair or make-up, as much as you might want to, and other times - if you're going to a matinee as well as an evening or if the theatre you're going to is a more casual venue - you can't really dress up as much as you want to. A good way I have found of making a simple make-up look or outfit feel that bit more fittingly magical for the theatre is the fabulous invention from Barry M which is Dazzle Dust.
One of the great things about having my little pot of neutral dazzle dust to hand is that it saves me a lot of time and gives me a little bit more leeway when I'm going off on a trip that takes me away from home - this is because I know it will match ANY outfit, so it's an automatic first-pack before I've even thought of anything else, and on top of that I don't even have to think in advance about what make-up colours I'm going for with my outfit, I just pop the iridescent colour in and it will go with whatever eyeshadow I choose, so if I decide I don't like the first colour I try, I know I can try some different options without losing out on my little bit of extra sparkle.  Dazzle Dust is great for adding a subtle but shimmery touch to a theatre make-up look. My favourite place to buy my Dazzle Dust from is Superdrug, as they often seem to have the best deals and the best prices, but you can also get Dazzle Dust from Boots, so be sure to compare and contrast and shop around so you can maybe afford to get yourself more than one colour so you can have a whole range of new theatre look ideas right at your fingertips.
Going to see Cats again after a long time away from the show is always a special, magical experience for me - and it has often been the start of a whole new journey, given that that scenario is what first brought to the stage door and what brought me the unique and beautiful memories and friends I made over the course of the 2013 - 2014 UK & Europe tour of the show. I always tell myself I won't get attached to the new casts, and I always find out I was lying to myself. So to be coming back to the show after so long away, and at my local theatre in Stoke-on-Trent The Regent, the place where I stage doored for the first time, did mean I took in a certain heightened level of magic and nostalgia when I sat down in my second-row-of-the-stalls-end-of-row seat and looked up at the beautiful Cats set that night. Of course, this time was different to all those times before - this time Cats is a different show with changes made to it that completely alter the experience for me and change what I am able to take out of it. But, having said that? I cried. So much. It was a beautiful, wonderful, amazing night and the adrenalin crash from it was hard. That feeling, when the Overture starts is - to quote Trevor Nunn - "indelible" and nothing can quite match the emotion of watching The Jellicle Ball, Mistoffelees, Memory and The Ad-Dressing Of Cats live. And there were definitely some stand-out performers in this cast who really caught my eye and made me smile, and who I took the time to cheer for in the Finale too, of course, taking all the under-appreciated Jellicles by surprise as I always do!
Meeting those three at stage door was another highlight of my night. It will never cease to astound me how much a smiling face in the stalls can mean to performers and my high-definition Cats fan in overload facial expression in the stalls - and of course my big cheers! - had not gone unnoticed by any of them, with all of them thanking me for it and telling me how much it meant to them to see and hear that reaction. I also give extra points to Shiv Rabheru for having the proper Cats fan reaction of "OH!! WHAT WAS THAT LIKE?!" when I mentioned I'd seen Jacob Brent and John Partridge as Mistoffelees and Rum Tum Tugger in the West End way back when!
However, being coldly, cruelly honest? Even though I came away on a cloud, and even though there were many moments of brilliance, the show is not as powerful as it was back in 2014 and some sense of tribe and personality has been lost since the 2014-2015 cast left the roles. And just to be clear, I don't mean that as an insult to this current cast: it is not their fault! They shine as individuals completely, but the changes to the show have shifted the dynamic of the tribe, tone down the opportunity to really personalise the characters and go crazy, sapped some of the humour out of the show and disrupted its flow and its warmth. Audience interaction is down, moments provided for the cast to give those little extra interactions and details have been clamped down, some of the physical and visual comedy, both centre stage and in the background of songs, have been stifled, something which I suspect has been handed down from on high from when the show was in London, as this was an aspect of 'Cats' second life' (as it was so infuriatingly dubbed) I picked up on back then, and it was so noticeable to me as I knew the 2014 cast so well I knew how much more they were beyond capable of putting into the show if they were allowed to.  On a more positive note, I did feel like the changes had been worked on sufficiently since they were first trialled in the Palladium production that some nice new moments could be found in them, and I actually enjoyed the changes a little more than I had done at previous trips to see the show at the Palladium and in Blackpool. I still am not comfortable with them, but they didn't ruin the show for me the same way they had before, and that is a good thing. However, sadly, I do still feel like the show has lost some of its spirit in this new form. I'm still not ok with the new, extended Jennyanydots tap routine: it's too long, there's too much focus on just Jenny rather than the whole beetle tattoo, the humour is gone and it feels neither catlike nor true to the character herself...though as a tap routine? Yes, it's an amazing tap routine, it just has no place in this show or this number.
Marcquelle Ward is by far the best person I have seen take on this new, revised Rum Tum Tugger and he almost - almost - convinced me to like the new Tugger...maybe if I'd never seen the old one, Marcquelle Ward is the absolute best you can get and he is doing the absolute best anyone can with the role as it is now. BUT...Tugger being this different, somehow smaller, less present personality leaves a gaping hole in the show and it makes the whole thing that bit more flat. Before the changes, every night, you could feel the moment the audience caved in and warmed up to the spirit and playfulness of the show - it was the Rum Tum Tugger's number! This larger than life, crazy-fun, rockstar character filled the auditorium and lit up the show, especially when he came into the audience, and his continued presence was always felt in every scene with the moments he was given even in the background of scenes...and, actually, a large part of that was just the costume alone, it was imposing and dramatic and the mane just drew attention. The new costume is not imposing or dramatic, and it's definitely not catlike, and having him being a breakdancing cat means that generally more compact body-type people are playing the role...makes for amazing breakdancing, but it also makes the Tugger less imposing, less of a presence...and yet the changes made to the character did not translate into changes to which numbers he sings or what he does in other characters' songs - the character no longer makes sense, and this dislodges him from the show and dislodges the characters around him as their reactions to him now take a little more to make sense of. The show also never gets that pure spark-to-life moments now until the Jellicle Ball - but that's almost the end of Act One, which is just too long to leave it since the audience will immediately lose that sensation when the interval happens. Tugger's number being changes bring the whole show down a level, and his character being changed brings the whole character of the tribe - and the personalities within it - down a level as they have to be subdued to give this new version of the Tugger any chance of seeming different.
The improvement comes largely from the return of humour to it - the cast have clearly been allowed to breathe a little bit more life and colour into it now than previous casts were allowed to and the number is much better for it - it feels faster and brighter than before and does a little bit of a better job of waking up the audience from the post-interval haze, even if it still doesn't achieve it quite as effectively as the old version did. I'm not a fan of the return of the aria, but I know that the aria v. Billy McCaw debate was raging long before the 'second life' changes between fans and it is a whole can of worms I won't be opening because I don't think there's a solution out there that will ever please everybody!
Make-up and costume changes - as well as marketing changes in the colour brochures - all indicate that terrible trend infecting more and more of the theatre: the idea of there being STARS and then everyone else who you shouldn't worry about sat at the back. And I'm not talking about the obvious costume changes (for example Grizabella, which I still loathe and think is so un-cat-like and so not graceful or intriguing but just kind of a mess. YUCK.) but more subtle things, alterations to the amount of colour, vibrancy and detail in characters' make-up and costumes, the dulling down of their individual patterns in favour of darker, more same-y matching shades of brown and black and beige whilst the 'star' characters are pushed forwards in terms of colour a little more but also in terms of having more lines or moments or more prominent positions on stage where previously those lines/movements/moments were shared over a greater number of characters, to the point where characters such as Cassandra and Tantomile and Coricopat - and even Jemima - almost felt like they were being pushed right out of the picture altogether at times, to me at least. Everything is muted and held back and toned down for the 'small' characters now in what seems to be an attempt to make them a homogeneous blob in order to point audiences towards 'who they should be looking at' and to give the audience a hint of who the 'stars' are and who they're 'supposed' to be watching and caring about, again taking away that special thing Cats had where any cat could be a star to anyone in an audience just by having one moment which they did something fun with, With that in mind, it's a small miracle the show still allows everyone their own bow at the end! Even the change I mentioned to Jennyanydots' solo seems to be aiming to stamp out individuality and the sense of this crazy tribe of different individuals who come together and match up only really when they're dancing, and the removal of a lot of the show's humorous moments is part of this too. It's sad and it's wrong and it drives me crazy. Cats was always set apart by the fact it had no such thing as a clear-cut star, but ALW and co. clearly don't care about that aspect, clearly favourite a more tacky, in-your-face approach.
Cats is still a unique, beautiful show. It still creates magic. And although this trip may not have started off any grand journeys, it did at least perhaps help me make a little peace with the new version of the show and it brought back the joy and love I have for the show, reminding me what it is truly about and what it's truly capable of making you feel, changes or no changes. This show has a piece of my soul and it sets it alight every time I watch it - there is no show on earth that can immerse you the way Cats can and no show on earth quite as magical as it is. So if you do see it - and if you're like me and worried about the changes - my advice would be to do what I did that night and just...let it go, just ignore that voice in your head saying it's ruined, immerse yourself in it and let yourself be transported to the world of the Jellicles again. It's still got it, you just have to let it take you and not let the changes throw off that feeling of being invited into the Jellicles' secret, magical world.
 So, one of my very favourite theatres to take in a tour at is the Birmingham Hippodrome - I've been there for Cats, Top Hat, Annie and Mary Poppins on multiple occasions and I will be heading back there to see Mamma Mia! in August. I actually really love planning visits there as, when you just know a few little secrets, it's all so simple and smooth, especially for anyone coming from other places in the Midlands. So I thought I would share some of my favourite hints and tips for a daytrip (or overnight stay) in Birmingham to take in a show and perhaps even head around to the stage door afterwards. If you have an upcoming trip to the theatre and/or stage door at the Birmingham Hippodrome, take a look!
So, as I hope you will have noticed, the site maintenance/revamping has now been completed and published for you all to explore, with some more content added in places such as the Hints & Tips page and all the profiles for My Jellicles, including the addition of a new member: Mr Benjamin Yates who you should all go and read about and fall in love with too!! I am continuing to work on uploading the many photos and stage door stories which are not yet on the pages as well as adding to the existing pages for all my stage door trips as best I can, but this is a tricky and time-consuming process, so I hope you understand why it might still be some time before every page features the detail of the early stage door pages. In the meantime, I am exciting to let you know about some projects of mine which you will be seeing more immediately, however:
I hope you are enjoying the new At The Stage Door and I look forward to bring you this new content in the near future. Thank you for visiting and reading my site! xxx
I have been extremely busy in the time since the Cats tour ended and the West End revival began, and as a result I haven't been working on maintaining and editing this website the way that I was previously. Over the next few weeks I'm hoping to put that right and update this site a little more, as well as possibly making some changes to the layout and content on some pages. I will also hopefully soon be writing up a blog post to give my full feelings on the Cats revival productions in both London and Blackpool and give a little bit of what my take is on the chances. Hopefully all of this will be done soon - but please try and be patient with me all the same!
 Recently, when talking about Cats - and the amazing current London cast - with some family friends I was asked "Why is Carbucketty your favourite?" and it surprised me how hard I had to think about that question. You'd think it'd be an easy answer, something I could sum up quickly and efficiently, but the truth of it is a lot more complicated - not due to a lack of reasons, but due to a plethora of them...and these days? Joel Morris is probably as much a part of the reason as anything. So what does any of this have to do with the title of "Two Years Ago Today"? Well, because it was two years ago today that I saw Joel Morris as Carbucketty for the first time, and it was the beginning a rare phenomenon occurring: I found my My Carbucketty - the ultimate, unbeatable performance of the role... "Excuse me, were you Carbucketty........?"
I think that, perhaps, in order to understand my anxiety before that show two years ago, you first have to understand just how thoroughly attached to the 2006 tour cast I was - I had never truly recovered from their 2007 cast changes, and seeing a whole new set of performers just felt like a recipe for heartbreak in a way, as dramatic as that may sound. And a large part of that worry was over Carbucketty. You see, Carbucketty wasn't always my out-and-out hands-down favourite. When I was a kid, Quaxo/Mistoffelees pretty much owned my heart - I mean, I was six when I first saw the show and he SPARKLES so come on!! But my point is that, Carbucketty only really began to win me over during the 'wilderness years' - the time between me seeing it in the West End when I was younger and me seeing it live again on tour, when I was watching the video over and over and noticing all the characters in new ways. Carbucketty - or Pouncival as the video labelled him - became more and more interesting to me, and the more interested in the show I became, the more the supposed 'smaller' parts became the ones I saw as crucial to the show as I realised just how much work and character and magic performers put into those roles, how vital they were to the show. When I saw the show on tour in 2003, I was disappointed - I don't know if it was a bad day, the fact it was a matinee or if I had just gone in with unrealistic expectations having only seen it live on the huge New London stage previously, but whatever it was, I didn't single out any characters, not even Carbucketty. No. Carbucketty's real time? The 2006 tour. Kevin McGuire stole my heart in that role - suddenly Carbucketty went from being A favourite to being THE favourite. I still loved Alonzo and the kittens and had a soft spot for Munk and Misto....but Carbucketty was the Jellicle I adored, whose every move I knew and whose personality and quirks made me smile. Even that make-up - I just couldn't think of any other character's make-up as coming close to that cute CB design. Kevin McGuire was the one whose performance really built Carbucketty up for me - and that, you see, was what I was thinking Joel Morris was 'up against'. Two years later and you might think from what I've said that Joel has 'set the new standard' - but no. Joel isn't the standard, Joel just IS: no one can or will compete, he has become My Carbucketty, the one I know no performer can beat and they needn't try - from now on, every performer who plays CB is almost playing an entirely different character, to my mind, because when I think of Carbucketty, I think of all the traits and moments Joel has put into his performances, I think of Joel's abilities as a dancer, the way he does the make-up, the characterisation he has created is the true nature of the character in my head now. Other people can still come along and astound me (Oh, Dane Quixall's CB, classic example!!! Urgh, amazing!!!!) but when I describe CB to others, or think of him or write about him, it will always be about Joel for me. It's hard to explain but it's such a rare phenomenon that I feel I have to try in order to even come close to giving Joel the full credit he deserves.
So what did Joel do? What makes Joel so special? I could pick out so many moments and cute little details or I could tell you again that he's an incredible dancer, I could explain to you every little action and reaction he makes as CB that makes me love him - and Carbucketty too! - even more. But at the real heart of what makes Joel so special is...well, Joel himself. Because Joel is Joel: special is just who he is. I know that's a terrible explanation but I think it's the only way to sum it up. Joel is an amazing person - I have such admiration and awe for him, his work rate and his dedication but also his brightness and sharpness and energy. He's only human: he's a crazy little so and so (I say that with so much love and affection you have no idea!) because he's a perfectionist and he's tightly wound, but that's what makes him the amazing performer that he is. He never gives himself a break, he's not capable of going out on stage and not giving everything he's got to give at that moment I don't think - because if he doesn't he won't forgive himself for it. If anything the stage is where things seem to make the most sense to him - he has total control over his performance out there, can realistically set high standards and meet them in a way the real world doesn't always allow. I have never seen him falter - of the 12 men I have seen play Carbucketty, he is the strongest, definitely in terms of his ballet ability but also, I think, perhaps, in terms of his strength of character too. I don't mean that disparagingly towards those other Carbuckettys, I just mean that Joel is someone truly unique: he's unwavering and determined in a way very few people in the world are capable of being, and there isn't a single moment of the show where he isn't switched on - every interaction, reaction, right down to his always-pointed toes, is thought about and honed and it's just beyond breathtaking and endearing to watch. "I notice you, I want to say. Even when no one else does, I do. I will."
And all of that is just him on a normal night - I've been lucky enough to see what happens when he pushes himself to his absolute limits and it's just stunning. He's brought me to tears before now, I've just been so overwhelmed. Trying to truly thank him is next to impossible, of course. I find myself in a loop of endless praise, hoping that my words at least come close conveying my very genuine gratitude. So what exactly did I mean at the beginning of this blog when I said I got swept away with Joel's 'beautiful and surprising' journey with the show? Well to tell you that perhaps I should start with the story of the night I first met Joel at the stage door. Anyone who has read my page for Joel on this site will know that the night I first stage doored for Joel was actually the second night I saw the show in Wolverhampton and - Joel probably won't thank me for bringing this up again - it wasn't really going so great at stage door for him at first. Don't get me wrong - I have total sympathy for people who don't stage door for Cats regularly and don't know the show and make-up and characters the way I do, I know it's hard to tell them apart at stage door sometimes and that is totally understandable, but the mistaken identity that night seemed harsh even by Cats stage door standards: Joel came out of the stage door and a woman gasped and stopped him to ask "Oh! Excuse me - were you the White Cat by any chance?" - I swear my heart stopped!! I'd already worked out he was Carbucketty at this point (thank you Joel for being that rare breed of performer who actually resembles their headshot at stage door!) and I felt my stomach just drop at the confusion. Joel managed to tactfully smile and say "The white cat's a....girl...." and the woman explained she saw a smudge of white make-up and one of the cast girls ran off laughing at poor Joel's expense and everyone was about to go on their way when out I jump. I have no idea what Joel thought when I leapt abruptly into his path and went "EXCUSE ME!" somewhat frantically - perhaps his heart dropped and he wondered "what next - am I Bombalurina? Demeter??" but then I got to do that thing I so love doing at stage door and make a performer realise that, actually, someone out there was watching and cared immensely what they had done that night: "Were you Carbucketty?" - those big brown eyes of his went very wide and he gave me one of the best smiles I've ever seen before saying "YES!!" and I got to tell him how Carbucketty is my favourite and it felt so good. I'm not going to lie - I will always get a kick out of being there to make the under-appreciated ones feel appreciated and that's one of the reasons I so love to repeat the story of that night at stage door, because I think it helps form another piece of the puzzle about why I stage door and why Carbucketty is my favourite.
 "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." When I went to see the show next in Nottingham, the first phase of cast changes had already happened and I was so happy to find that some of those new people were just as up for stealing my heart as their predecessors had been (yes, hello Cassie Clare and Adam Lake, I adore you both, but this isn't about you right now!) But it was still a bittersweet occasion for me: I thought it was going to be my last time ever seeing Joel as Carbucketty, just at the time when it was starting to become clear he was my favourite ever in the part. I was there for two nights in Nottingham and the first night the new Rum Tum Tugger (Filippo Strocchi) picked me to dance with, making the mistake of asking "Who's your favourite cat?" and even though I'm normally shy, even though I knew the polite thing to do, even though I knew it was ridiculous....I told him "Cabucketty!" - and oh, it was worth it! "Carbucketty she says!!" - I could see Joel smiling behind him and I just grinned unashamedly. The magic was cemented when the two came out of stage door at similar times and Filipo despaired whilst Joel was afforded the opportunity to mock-gloat as Filipo looked at me and just went "Carbucketty?? Really?!?" whilst shaking his head at me. Everything was just starting to reach that magical point in the tour where I can no longer imagine the show any other way...but Joel was about to leave and the following night - my last night seeing Joel as CB before he left the tour - I was so emotional I was practically shaking. Joel put in one of his crazy-next-level performances that night and it sent shivers down my spine; I was in tears before the end of the Jellicle Ball and at the end of the show I blew him a kiss in the Finale and thought my heart was about to burst with gratitude for giving me a performance like that to remember him in the part by. Of course, little did I know there was going to be another twist in the tale...
And yet, I still didn't dare believe it until I finally got to see his gorgeous face in Carbucketty make-up once again. And once I'd seen that, I then proceeded to cry through most of Act One as Joel once more took my breath away as Carbucketty. That night at stage door I just wanted to hug him so tight and thank him a million times over. I was chatting away with a whole group of cast when he appeared - Adam Lake, Cassie Clare, Hannah Kenna Thomas, Ben Mundy...but I saw him, out of the corner of my eye, and I think everyone suddenly realised they no longer had my attention because they parted just perfectly to let him through and I don't think it's physically possible to smile any wider than I did that night as I finally got to give Joel a squeeze again, him asking "Was that a nice surprise?!!" whilst a cluster of my favourite cast members stood around us in a circle going "Awwww" at our little Reunion Special in the middle of the pavement! A nice surprise didn't even begin to describe it - it was magical and amazing and glorious and one of my favourite memories ever - you can't put into words what moments like that mean and just how special it is that the theatre and stage door can throw up these little surprises and memories here and there and take you off guard in the best way possible.  "It's been very rare to have known you, very strange and wonderful." Joel never ceases to amaze me of course: he saved perhaps his finest performance of all for my final night in Birmingham. I will always think of that as the last performance I saw of the show how I loved it - when I see it in London later this year it will be a different show from what it was that spell-binding, spine-tingling night..though I have every faith in Joel to make the London show beautiful for me. Still, I was floored by his performance that last night in Birmingham. He stole my breath, he made me cry, he stopped my heart and he filled me with all the awe and wonder possible. I was already emotional that night, but watching him dance the way he did, watching him put in a performance like that...I just couldn't believe how lucky I was to be there to see it, how lucky I was to know him and to be able to go to stage door after the show and hug him and thank him and let him know that every move he had made on the stage that night had mattered, so very much. By the end of Act One I was crying so much...good tears, overwhelmed tears, bittersweet tears, grateful tears - the best performers can do that do you, bring every emotion out of you and have you smiling and crying at the same time. The moment the lights went up in the interval I turned to my mum, tears running down my cheeks and I said "Joel is KILLING me" and I was smiling as I said it, even as I had to blink back a fresh wave of tears. Thirteen-and-a-half performances on from that first night in Wolverhampton and he'd done it - he'd met the standard set before him, surpassed it, set his own standard and then smashed through it to become beyond any standard. My Carbucketty. The Ultimate. Two years on from that Wolverhampton night and I am more grateful, more honoured than ever - if you'd have told me, even after I first met him at stage door, that he was going to leave the tour, return to the tour, break my heart, take my breath away, make me cry and then do the whole heart-stealing thing all over again in human form offstage...I probably wouldn't have believed you - it's just such a rare thing for any person to do, even in my beloved Cats, even in the role of Carbucketty. So to return to the question that I started this entry with - "Why is Carbucketty your favourite?": Carbucketty is my favourite for a lot of reasons, but, two years to the day since I first saw Joel Morris play Carbucketty I can safely say there's one more reason to add to the list...thank you Carbucketty for bringing Joel Morris into my world and thank you Joel Morris for being so very you. Just this week, I was at Top Hat's stage door, talking to the delightful Matthew Caputo and he asked me "What would you do if you saw Joel do Misto?" and I said "Probably weep uncontrollably with joy!" - I wasn't lying : to see him dance that Mistoffelees solo might actually make me explode with glee because really...the boy can dance and ohhh, the Mistoffelees solo is so gorgeous when a dancer of Joel's ability performs it!!! But I don't need Joel centre-stage doing the Mistofelees dance routine to know he's a special person, to know he is talented and to appreciate everything he has to give, and honestly I can selfishly appreciate having him play my favourite Jellicle instead. But I know him - onstage and offstage - and the light he has in him is unstoppable, whatever role he's playing. It's that light that made him into My Carbucketty, and two years on from that first performance I went into full of such anxious scepticism, I am delighted to say every worry I had was unfounded! Instead, now I am so happy and proud to know he is the one who got to bring Carbucketty back to the West End - I'm not sure there is anyone more deserving of being able to dance on the Palladium stage. So on that note...Happy Carbuckeversary to me! And anyone on their way to the Palladium before the show closes in April: just keep an eye on Joel Morris, because I promise you, you'll be amazed.
At The Stage Door in 2014: featuring Billy Elliot (Dean Maynard), Top Hat (Matthew Caputo & John McManus) &, of course, a whole lot of the Cats UK & Europe (& now London Palladium) Cast, with special mentions to Dawn Williams, Ben Mundy, Adam Lake, Cassie Clare &, of course, my Carbucketty: the incomparable Joel Morris. Thank you to all the amazing, talented, lovely people who helped make the year so very special! 2014 saw some changes to At The Stage Door, with Matthew Caputo, Cassie Clare, Adam Lake and Benjamin Mundy leaping, pirouetting, tap dancing smiling and singing their ways onto their own pages (see: The People or click the names) and of course into the Dream Cast, with a whole host of the UK Tour/Palladium Jellicles also joining them in the dream cast too, I was reunited with my Dream Cast's Skimbleshanks John McManus for the first time in four years, new stories were added to my book and many, many new photographs were added to all the pages on this site. But of course, 2014 was really The Year Of Carbucketty: I said goodbye to Joel Morris as CB in April (cried through all Act Two) and went on to meet two fabulous new Carbuckettys in the forms of Ryan Gover and Dane Quixall. And then, just when I thought I couldn't be any happier...guess who came back to the Cats tour? I danced in the foyer of the Birmingham Hippodrome and cried through all of Act One because Joel was back! And as if there wasn't enough Carbucketty-ness in my life I went to see Top Hat, to see former understudy Carbucketty Matthew Caputo dance up a storm (he kind of stole my heart)! Between Cats, Top Hat & a few trips to see Billy Elliot again before Dean Maynard left in May, 2014 had A LOT of theatre in it, but as magical as the theatre always is, it wouldn't have been even half as fun without the gorgeous people who I was lucky enough to get to know: so thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to John McManus, Dean Maynard, Matthew Caputo, Dawn Williams, Cassie Clare, Benjamin Mundy and Adam Lake, as well as ALL of you UK Tour/London Palladium Jellicles who have made me smile so very much this year. And, I don't normally like to play favourites, but I have to make an exception just this once: thank you, so very much, Joel Morris, because I don't think I have ever danced, smiled or cried so much simultaneously as I have this year, and this is almost entirely down to you. There are not enough thank yous or superlatives to describe any of these fantastic people whose talent and whose gorgeous souls have helped me make so many great memories this year; I don't think I have ever had so very much fun, not even at the theatre. And, if any of them should be reading this, I would like them to know that I don't say you're amazing just because, I say it because I mean it and I wish you all all the best for 2015.
So, Happy New Year everyone from At The Stage Door - here's to hoping for some more adventures to tell you all about in 2015. My scrapbook is finally finished!! It has taken weeks, and a lot of star stickers, but the end result is definitely worth it! I've really enjoyed reliving my stage door journey with this tour and being able to go through all these photos and tickets and remember all the crazy journeys and amazing performances. It was a huge task but immense fun, especially now that it's all done and I can sit down and look through it as a complete story. My favourite pages are possibly the ones I did for individual cast members - getting to remember the first time I met Dawn Williams, Cassie Clare, Ben Mundy, Joel Morris and Adam Lake - and going crazy with the star stickers on Adam Lake's page was a lot of fun, even if I was finding star stickers on the carpet for days after that! Some other very special, lovely pages to work on were the ones where I say both 'Goodbye' to Joel as Carbucketty and then suddenly there he is back again! Because really, those were possibly some of the best memories of the tour - that day in Birmingham when I first got to see him back in the programme but wouldn't let myself believe it until I saw his face as Carbucketty again was so special to me, and I did then proceed to cry throughout Act One because I was so overwhelmed - perhaps I should have added somewhere in this scrapbook that Joel Morris holds the title of 'Person Who Has Moved Me To Happy Tears With His Performance The Most Times Of Anyone Ever', as it is a title to be very proud of!! These people and these memories are so special to me and now I have this wonderful scrapbook to show people and tell them the stories of all these amazing, talented, magical people! So thank you to all of the cast members who signed this scrapbook for me and to all of the cast for every performance, photograph, memory and for just being such a fantastic bunch. And of course, thank you to those extra-special, lovely people who gave me so much of their time and became such a huge part of this Stage Door Scrapbook Story: Cassie Clare, Adam Lake, Joel Morris, Ben Mundy and Dawn Williams, you guys are amazing and I adore you all!
When the UK leg of the 2014 tour of Cats was coming to an end, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I could come up with to buy as a unique souvenir of the time I had spent getting to know the tour and its cast - naturally my first thought was to ask the cast to sign a programme or poster/picture for me, but it occurred to me that something like that really didn't come close to capturing the amazing story of the tour and of all the wonderful people I had come to know in its cast. Eventually, after a lot of though, I decided the best way to tell that story would be through a scrapbook, which I bought shortly before my final visit to the show in Birmingham and asked the cast to sign for me on the 'title page', with a view to putting all of the photographs and theatre and train tickets and the like I had amassed in the time that the tour had been going, and all the little stories and jokes which had been shared and told, all together in one place throughout the rest of the scrapbook. I recently completed all the pages of this scrapbook and it has been so lovely to be able to go back over all those memories and really see the story of my time with that tour told back to me in pictures and tickets, and I honestly think that it's a great idea for anyone who regularly visits stage door as it really is a wonderful use of all those photos and tickets, and there are so many beautiful and creative things you can do to really make each page of a scrapbook unique, special and magical, really capturing the atmosphere of that stage door experience or paying a special tribute to a cast member/cast members who you have spent the most time with, incorporating favourite quotes and song lyrics and decorating each page with different arrangements of photographs, by using photo corners on some of your photos or by creating borders using stickers or glitter, or even by drawing in arrows and adding different comments about certain pictures and noting down times, dates and names.       By far my favourite place to go to for projects like this is Paperchase, who I think have the best and most creative ranges of all sorts of things, but are particularly good when it comes to offering a wide range of different, beautiful scrapbooks whilst also offering more basic designs. Another thing I love about Paperchase is the number of scrapbooks with black pages which they have on offer, as I was very clear in my mind that pictures and memories from Cats the Musical would really look special with gold and silver picked out against a black background. Paperchase have an entire scrapbooking section on their website for you to look through, and they cover it all from stickers to photo-corners, even offering different types of photo corners such as some gorgeous silver ones and smart black ones - there is so much choice on their site and it really helps you get creative and come up with the look and feel and style you want so you can match it up to the mood and tone of the show/tour/stage door/person who the scrapbook is based around. Don't get me wrong, it's time-consuming and is of course an awful lot more complicated than a signed programme or poster would be, but it is something which would be unique and special to you and which you can tailor to you own memories and experiences, giving you something that you are more likely to look back on and be able to tell a real story about.
A long overdue change has been made to my Dream Cast! Ever since I saw Kathryn Barnes and Benjamin Mundy as Tantomile and Coricopat for the first time back in May in Llandudno, I knew these two were just a whole different class. I'm not one for watching the twins normally, but these two had my attention immediately and I've grown to love them more and more ever since. As indiviuals and as a pair, these two are stunning as the gorgeous Jelilce twins and had already made my Dream Swing section, but really and truly, I couldn't justify keeping them out of the main cast any longer and so this September they both got bumped up into the main Dream Cast with new collages to match!
 And so another chapter of my stage door story has come to a close. This September at the Birmingham Hippodrome, I said an emotional goodbye to the Cats UK & Europe Tour 2013-2014 in a whirlwind of five shows and an awful lot of time spent, once again, at the stage door. I have to say that although it broke my heart, I was, and still am, glad I was there. It's funny, but I still remember, so clearly, my emotions back in March 2013 as I prepared for seeing the new Cats UK Tour for the first time. If I'm honest I was coming from a place of scepticism; I had loved the last tour cast of Cats so very much that I wasn't sure what it would be like to see new people in those parts, offering their new interpretations and performing the show their way. Of course, the moment I heard the opening notes of Cats' Overture, I realised how ridiculous those worries had been. Because Cats is my favourite show, and just because it was new people in those parts didn't mean I would love it any less - perhaps I might still have favourites from the last cast, but this new cast were equally talented, equally capable of enchanting me. Appropriately it was Dawn Williams who first won me over and broke down all my remaining sceptisim; one smile from her in the part of Jemima and I was sold, and she became the first person I spoke to at stage door for the 2013-14 tour and never faltered for a moment in the tour, a constant favourite of mine on and off the stage. And then, of course, I must mention my lovely Carbucketty for the majority of the tour; Joel Morris danced, my jaw dropped, I told him I was a Carbucketty fan at stage door and, from that moment on, I realised that he too is an unfaltering star. With two new favourite, I was able to relax, to start to appreciate the show even more and to see the joy of other new people in parts I had thought the 2006 tour only could play. And as the cast travelled and changed, I grew to love them more and more to the point where they stole my heart completely. And there were some members of the cast I grew closer to than others - Cassie Clare, Adam Lake and Benjamin Mundy are three more incredibly bright, shiny stars who I was lucky enough to spend so much time with at stage door and who I feel honoured to have seen perform and to have gotten to know. And of course I said goodbye to Joel in Nottingham, only to have him return and take my breath away (and make me cry happy, overwhelmed tears) in Birmingham. So much has happened, so many memories have been made, and I have cried, laughed, smiled, hugged and danced more than I could ever imagine - getting to know this tour, spending time with this cast and watching them perform has been like living a dream and it breaks my heart that this time in my stage door story has had to end. Of course I wish nothing but the best for my dear friends from this cast as they begin the new challenge that Cats in London will provide, but for me it is an unknown quantity, as, between changes to the show, stunt casting which I am yet to be convinced of as being in the best interests of the show, ticket pricing issues, ticket booking issues and travel expenses, I don't know if or when I will be able to make it to the show again, and if I will ever love it so much as I do now even if i do manage to see it. But for all the tears and emotion on my last night in Birmingham, I am so very glad for the time I have spent with this tour and so very grateful for the wonderful people I have met. So thank you, Cats Tour 2013-2014, from the bottom of my heart.  As, no doubt, many of you will be aware, last weekend the announcement of the casting of Cats' West End return was announced last weekend amid a publicity flurry, with Andrew Lloyd Webber, the people who run Cats' online media and the West End press doing their very best to convince me that the only thing I ought to be excited about was the fact that Nicole Scherzinger had deigned to grace the Jellicle Junkyard with her presence. Meanwhile, the news that the majoirty of the Cats UK & Europe Tour Cast - who have been entertaining audiences up and down the country to great acclaim all year - will also be reprising their roles for the London run was laregely brushed aside. As I have stated before; my excitement for these hardworking, lovely, talented people is genuine and boundless, I am so happy for them and so proud of them for being involved in such a prestigious event in London's world-famous West End, at such a famous theatre as the Palladium as well. I wish them nothing but the best and I wish them every success and to finally be allowed to announce to anyone and everything that, yes, these people who I have done nothing but tell you about for months on end, these people whose talents I have told you about for so long, they are the ones who will be trusted with taking Cats into the West End at the end of this year has been a joy. But I cannot be joyful without a certain amount of caution. Make no mistake about it, Scherzinger's casting is out and out stunt casting on Lloyd Webber's part - and, whilst I mean no disresepect to her and certainly do not dispute her vocal abilities, I am still angry that it has been allowed to happen. My first issue with it is that Sophia Ragavelas has had to accept being made 'alternate' in order for Scherzinger to join the cast. Sophia has been playing Grizabella week in, week out, and let me tell you, there is no-one - possibly not even Elaine Paige - who is a better fit for that part right now than she is. I have never - in all the 49 performances of Cats which I have been to - seen anyone hold an audience the way she does, the atmosphere in the theatre when that woman sings is phenomenal, like nothing I've ever experienced before. Could Nicole Scherzinger recreate that? Who knows. But should the question even be being asked when someone as talented as Sophia is ALREADY DOING IT? Absolutely not. You have your Grizabella already - no celebrity was needed for the job. Not to mention the fact that Scherzinger, predicatbly, will not be performing as many shows as the rest of the cast; if a mere mortal, non-celebrity performer of equal or more talent to Scherzinger walked into an audition and was asked "Can you perform from the 6th of December up to February 7th, including shows over the holiday period?" and their answer wasn't a "Yes, I'm available for ALL those dates and am happy to perform over the holidays" then it is likely that they wouldn't be given the part - but the rules are different for a celebrity, of course, and so Scherzinger gets New Year's off (not wholly unheard of for a 'leading' role) and to bow out before the rest of the cast (not exactly fair considering she is being billed as 'starring' in the show - despite Cats being a show where there is really no such thing as a singular 'starring'' role.) The show is yet to even start its London run, the hype for this London Cats revival has barely even begun and I alreayd can hardly bear it, because everyone has already started jumping on the celebrity bandwagon in a show which simply didn't need such a ridiuclous stun. And yet Lloyd Webber has decided to undermine his own work by going ahead and invinting the circus. Weeks before previews even begin and Nicole Scherzinger is already recieving all of the credit, all of the plaudits and all of the attention, as though Cats were a one woman show; will she be running round in quick-change trying to get on a Macavity costume in time? Will she be flat-out dancing for fourteen minutes every night in the Jellicle Ball? Will she be putting in a year's shift to make up for all the time the rest of the cast have been doing the show compared to her? Of course not. And yet it was barely possible to make out the casting of the rest of the show it was shoved so far down the press release, and already the banners of 'See Nicole Scherzinger in Cats' have begun to crop up, as though there is nothing more to the show than her. It angers me, and it is representative of so much that is wrong in theatre at the moment. And to cement my anger with the decision, there are now people buying tickets exclusively to see her - people who will no doubt feel somehow disappointed or cheated should they happen to be there on a day when Scherzinger cannot perform, despite the fact that they would be seeing the immensely talented, incredible Sophia Ragavelas instead. And these people - these people who don't care for the show at all, some of whom were happy to slag it off and will no doubt miss out on so much of the joy of Cats because of their evident prejudice against it, these are the people I am losing out on tickets to. Expensive tickets that I am struggling to find a way of choosing for myself, tickets I was already having a hard time getting due to a need to save up and a need to try and find tickets in specific seats despite the Palladium not offering an option to select seats on line, these tickets are no disappearing faster and faster and forcing me into a situation where I need to decide to get tickets before I neccessarily have th money too. The whole thing feels unfair, and wrong and it is turning something I love into something which upsets me. Every time I see an advert for Cats right now, my joy is dimmed, as instead of thinking of my beautiful friends in the cast, my favourite characters or songs, my favourite memories and moments in the show...instead of all that, I think about all the press attention that has totally dismissed the rest of the cast in favour of a stunt-casted celebrity, I think about how on earth I am going to get tickets, whether I can afford to get down to London and whether or not I'll be able to get seats that I want to sit in, I think about what changes are being made to this show that is so dear to me and wonder if it will ever be as beautiful as it once was again. This whole thing has upset me, stressed me out, angered me, and it's so sad that I'm being made to feel this way about the show I love. Andrew Lloyd Webber has so much to answer for - and yet he doesn't have to answer to any of it, because, really, it seems he is beyond out of touch these days, and too stubborn to take criticism even from those people who actually DO support him and appreciate his talent, giving little more regard to fans of his shows than he does to those members of the press and the musical theatre world who have, for so long, so stubbornly refused to acknowledge his talent.
So this video is a little tribute to the incredible spectacle of the Jellicle Ball, as performed by the beautiful, talented guys and girls who have been part of the 2006-2009 & 2013-2014 UK & Europe tours - and actually, the video also doubles as a tribute to all the amazing dancers who have been part of these tours! Basically I pooled clips from the UK Tour in 2006, their stop in Portugal, Germany in 2008/9 and then the clips of the 2013 cast from the Olivier Awards as well as the 2014 cast launching Cats at the London Palladium. Hope you enjoy the video, which can now be found on the Videos page along with all my other theatre-related videos to date.
 Some long-awaited changes have finally been made to my 'Dream Cast' page! I've been waiting a long long time for the good people in charge of the Cats Official Site to release the brand new promotional photographs taken of the show following their April cast change in order for me to be able to move the amazing Adam Lake and the fabulous Cassie Clare from my Dream Cast's swing section and up into the roles that I have come to love them playing: Alonzo and Cassandra! As well as moving these two lovely, talented people into the main body of the cast, I've added a whole load of 2014 UK & Europe Tour Jellicles into the swing section, bringing the swing section up to being 30-people-strong meaning, you guessed it, there are now more swings than characters in the show! But I simply couldn't do without adding Adam Salter, Ben Mundy, Ben Yates, Callum Train, Dane Quixall, Filipo Strocchi, Hannah Kenna Thomas, Kathryn Barnes, Natasha Mould, Ross Finnie, Ryan Gover and Zizi Strallen to the ranks - and my reasons as to why can now all be read on the Dream Cast page. Incientally, because I clearly have far too much time on my hands, I've also named the dance captain, his assistant, the musical director, the resident director and even the company manager! So the question is...do you agree with me?! Enjoy reading and thinking it all over!!
 So, the official 'press launch' for Cats' West End return happened yesterday and tickets for the twelve-week run (from December 6th 2014 to February 28th 2015) finally went onsale amidst a not-insignificant amount of hype at the London Palladium, with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Gillian Lynne and Trevor Nunn all coming together to answer questions for the press, whilst the utterly delightful and talented UK & Europe Tour Cast assembled to perform a few numbers from the show for the gathered journalists and to scamper through the crowds. And the very first thing I would like to say about the whole thing is that I don't ever want to dampen the excitement and enthusiasm of that cast for what they were a part of yesterday; they were excellent, as they always are, and it is wonderful for them to have been involved in such a prestigious event, though it is no less than what they deserve. They also deserve to be able to be proud and excited of what they have done and nothing - least of all my reservations regarding the upcoming London run - should spoil that for them. They were amazing, they made people smile and feel the awe and wonder that makes Cats what it is and they deserve all the praise in the world for the incredible work they have been doing on the tour during their run. I know these people, on and offstage, I know what they do and I know how lovely they are and I am so excited, proud and happy for them to have been able to show off their talents for the assembled press yesterday. However, for me personally, yesterday was not exciting or joyful, and instead I, like many Cats fans, ended up feeling disappointed, angry and concerned.
Yesterday's news started, of course, with tickets for the London run finally going on sale. Initially I was considering putting aside the (considerable) amount of money it would take for me to get myself down to London, see the show, stay the night and return home, because Cats is too dear to my heart for me to miss out on something as prestigious as a second (albeit limited) London run. My concerns about casting were somewhat alleivated by the fact that the current touring cast were the ones who were on hand at the launch, though different articles disagree on whether or not this cast will be the cast which is brought through to the London shows. However, when I followed the link to the booking page for Cats in London, I was dismayed to find that the top pricing band for tickets in the stalls was £75. A spectacular show, a limited run, and in London...so I suppose, though I still felt £75 a little excessive (given that a front row seat to see the tour in Birmingham cost me only £31), I wasn't completely disillusioned until I realised that it wasn't possible for you to choose your own seat. Now, anyone who loves and knows the show is well aware that being in certain seats at Cats is a neccessaity if you hope to be able to interact with the cats when they come through the auditorium, and if you know the show well enough, you might even have preferences beyond being on an aisle or front row, since you may know the best part of the stage to see and/or interact with your favourite characters. In this modern era, it is common practice to at least give people the option of chosing their own seats, but, despite wishing to charge me £75, this was not available to me unless I booked through Ticketmaster, and even then, their choice of seats was incredibly limited and was mostly to the rear of the stalls. To me, this is just arrogant and cruel on the part of whichever people decide the pricing for such things; I am merely paying for the priviledge of seeing the show in the West End, am I not? Well, let me explain to you what that 'priviledge' means to those of us who are not from London: it means paying up to £100 in rail fare, at least £100 for a bed for the night, it means other expenses such as food and drink, both of which are more expensive in London than in my hometown. It is a massive undertaking and a huge financial expense, and then on top of all of that, I am expected to pay £75 for a seat I can't even chose for myself? It's disgusting, really. And don't get me wrong, I'm a huge supporter of the theatre and I understand the costs it takes to put on a show - but if it is possible to charge only £31 for a front row seat on tour, I can't help but wonder how £75 can possibly be considered reasonable once the show is stationed in London. To add to my disappointment and anger, Andrew Lloyd Webber then began his talk of changes to the show. Small changes after all these years, perhaps I can understand; more modern rubbish int the Junkyard, I can understand that even if I don't fully agree with it. Things such as tweaking certain points in choreography, costume or meoldy to make things easier or better for the performers, or maybe even bringing in more modern technology to make Mistoffelees or Macavity seem more dramatic to a more modern audience, I could have understood. But then Andrew Lloyd Webber decided to talk about making wholesale changes to Tugger. First things first, I'm actually pretty much against even smaller changes: given that the touring production has been going down a storm without too much meddling, I think modern audiences are actually as in love with the show as audiences ever were. But outright changing the nature of a character is downright wrong, especially an iconic character such as the Tugger. Night after night, the Rum Tum Tugger is the song which warms up even the stiffest, most nonplussed audience - night after night people laugh, smile and dance along and they relate to the entire tone of his character. To some generations he's Elvis, to others Robbie Williams, there is always a reference point, always a popstar or singer which audiences percieve him as representing within the world of the Jellicles. But still Andrew Lloyd Webber wants to 'modernize' this iconic character? And in the worst possible way: by making his song hip-hop, making him rap, and calling him a 'street-dancer'. This is going to be painful and embarrassing - there is almost no other way this can end. Because Andrew Lloyd Webber is a man who knows nothing about hip-hop, rap, street dance, or the youth of today. It'll be like some embarrassing uncle at a wedding trying to be 'down with the kids'. It'll make the so-called 'new generation' of theatre-goers he's aiming for roll their eyes in distaste and will make the regular theatre-goers cringe, all the while making the loyal and dedicated fans of the show who have stood by it and defended it against the anti-Lloyd Webber crowd for years want to cry as they see what has become of it. Cats is a timeless show. Cats is full of wonder and spectacle. The dancing is incredible, the music beautiful, the make-up and costumes innovative and delightful. These characters have all got their place in musical theatre now and the many performers who have taken on these roles have built even the quietest kitten into something which fans of the show look out for and remember. They are not to be messed with at this point, they hold too dear a place in too many people's hearts. And as for the feeling in a theatre when Grizabella reprises Memory...that is still as electric as it ever was and, for many people, everything else falls away when she sings her final verse. Whether Lloyd Webber feels he HAS to change the show in order to justify a limited London run I don't know, but if that's the reason then he is wrong, so very wrong. Cats deserves a chance to be in the West End again on merit, on years of service to thousands of theatre-goers, on the grounds that it has inspired so many dancers and performers over the years, some of whom are within the ranks of the 2014 tour cast right now!! And all this brings me back to the point of price...because ok, maybe to some people £75 is a justifiable price, maybe I am just one of a handful of people who feels strongly about picking their own seat...but £75 to see a show I love potentially butchered in front of my eyes? I cannot in any way justify spending that amount of money (because remember, it comes to well over £200 all-in for someone like me who must travel down to London for the show) on something which could potentially be an awful, upsetting experience. In terms of casting, I don't know if the current tour cast will continue in their parts or not, as I said, the press has been very conflicting in its information on casting, but I want to make it clear that I love this current cast so very much. They are amazing and I have an immense amount of respect and love for them for what they have created; a truly amazing version of my very favourite show. If they do continue to London then I wish them personally all the best and I hope that they enjoy every moment and that Andrew Lloyd Webber's meddling will not reflect in any way upon them and their hard work. They are truly a remarkable bunch and I hope that as many people as possible get to see them on what is left of their UK and European tour and can see just what wonderful things they have done with the show as it was and how I honestly hope and pray it will remain even after the London run has been and gone. For any other Cats fans who are trying to weigh up what to do regarding the London run, I will just say this: I am going to see five evening performances of the show in Birmingham, performances of the show in its unaltered, much-loved form. For each of those five shows I am in the front three rows of the stalls, in seats I chose for myself. For three nights I will also be staying overnight in Birmingham. The total cost of all of this? Comes in only £50 over what it would cost me if I had decided to go for it and book myself a ticket for a seat I hadn't chosen for one performance of the show in a form I could potentially hate in London in January.  So, does anyone else besides me recognize that blurry but adorable face just to the right of Michael Palin on the big screen?? Last night at Monty Python Live, I got a LOVELY surprise in the form of my original Stage Door Superstar Kevin McGuire, dancing in the show's ensemble! My adorable Carbucketty was obvious to me straight away, but I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing, so in the interval, when I checked the programme, my yelp of surprise was still very eccentric! It's just been so long since I've been able to see him! I only wish someone had had a camera trained on me to capture the most shocked face I've ever pulled in my life!! Still, it made me very happy to see Kevin onstage again and I definitely still love watching him dance! The show was fabulous and funny too, but Kevin absolutely made my night!
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