Cats 2019 Alternative Ideas

house cat ideas

cassandra :

she’s a model cat who was adopted by one of the models at her company, and it’s why she knows such elegant poses and also why she has a haughty personality.* the two often do photoshoots together and are pretty popular. cassandra is quite the icon in beauty magazines as well as cosmetics and fashion advertisements. she is beloved by many fashionable people for her elegant coat and her moonlit eyes.

she loves her owner very much and is constantly pampered by her. they absolutely see each other as best friends and cassandra’s favourite pasttime is their “girl’s nights” together. she gets to be bathed (unlike other cats she loves it) and brushed, relax and listen to gossip about her owner’s coworkers. this woman is the reason cassandra is in no rush to find a mate and is perfectly happy with her lavish life.

*(also why she stands up and glares at grizabella a bit during “grizabella the glamour cat”. it’s like to say “im better than u. look at what u could’ve been.” (and munk gives her a reprimanding look like “don’t push it”))

cuz… kitten heels. it was too perfect.

I LOVE CASSANDRA SHE IS MY QUEEN I LOVE HER SO MUCH every time she does her pose (she does it like 3.75 times in the whole show) i get a surge of dopamine. like yes feed me

she’s just so cool

alonzostrap ideas

what!!! am i finally making an alonzostrap post for once??? no freakin way…

this is my first post about them so it seems like i don’t ship them a lot, but ohohhh, i ship them a lot.

the fact that alonzo is meant to be an unsure cat, who hides his insecurities by putting up a front and acting vain and overconfident, is part of what made him my all-time favourite cat in the show. and munkustrap, especially gruberstrap, just has this really safe and soothing aura to him. like whenever michael gruber sings, it just feels like a big brother comforting you. their complimentary personalities combined with their close relationship and BOOM it’s one of my (two) favourite ships.

i have this idea that alonzo is actually really, like really terrified of lightning and thunderstorms and electricity and stuff (it’s why mistoffelees only uses lightning powers subtly around alonzo). no one is really sure why…. maybe he witnessed his mom get electrocuted or something and that’s how he was orphaned? maybe it’s just an irrational fear? either way, he obviously hates his phobia and doesn’t want anyone to know.

and he’s even more scared of macavity because… yk.

the whole ⚡️⚡️ thing. (and that’s why he was hesitant to hands-on fight macavity only until munkustrap was badly hurt. alonzo my man you are so brave for standing up to him like that <3 even tho u got ur ass kicked)

a little story-time based on this idea: when alonzo was still a stray who wasn’t part of the tribe yet, he took shelter under a trashed bench in the junkyard during a heavy thunderstorm. munkustrap, who had met alonzo but never managed to gain his trust, was worried about him. he knew where alonzo would be, so he led his owners there (much to their confusion at first), and they found him curled up and terrified out of his wits. they gladly took him in and dried him up.

although quite startled and angry at first, alonzo eventually calmed down and warmed up to them with munkustrap’s insistent comfort. they cuddled all night long in a peaceful slumber, with munk’s long fluffy fur as alonzo’s blanket. munkustrap slept quite well that night in satisfaction that he finally got alonzo to let his guard down. and for once in his life, alonzo didn’t flinch or shudder every time he heard the sound of booming thunder.

after that, munkustrap’s owners helped repurpose the old bench to turn it into a comfortable den for the two cats.

URRRHHHHH THEY’RE IN LOVE 😩😩💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗

GUYS THE FACT THAT BEFORE “THE OLD GUMBIE CAT”, ALL THE CATS ARE THE ONES TO GO UP TO MUNK AND GREET HIM, BUT ALONZO IS THE ONLY ONE THAT MUNK GOES TO INSTEAD.

beautiful. just beautiful.

previous post here, and the jellicle ball section names here. and also for this post the 1998 film jellicle ball & white cat solo. (i wanted to add the audios here individually but tumblr doesn’t allow that so sorry 🥲. if you can, speed the video up to 1.05x for the original speed.)

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jellicle ball appreciation posts :

character themes

i love how you can tell what kind of cats the cats are just by listening to the music that plays when they’re the subject of a dance. it’s like you can HEAR their characters. and we get the most of this during the jellicle ball, so i’ll list the tune and then how their character traits correlate with the music. exhibits below :

before we talk about the ball, we have the white cat solo for victoria’s theme.

victoria’s solo : simple, sweet, sincere high notes. delicate and unassuming. elegant; not needing to be elaborate.

now, listen to the “ricochet” section of the jellicle ball. you can hear traces of her in the music as she dances! it reflects how the white cat is always peeking out and catching your eye through the crowd.

now let’s look at the fugue section. unlike the second part of the ball, where they’re all basically considered ensemble cats, here we get the most individual characterisation through the different portions and their subjects. (hence, fugue.) starting from “fugue” itself all the way down to “bombalurina’s section”.

listen to the contrast between the two monochromatics —

mistoffelees begins “fugue” : soft, lower and duller notes that evoke the sense of fluffy paws creeping along the floor. has an air of mischief and mystery.

alonzo’s entrance : loud, sharp, brighter brass that only gets more and more intense, a testament to his bravado; a theme designed to impress and intimidate.

and if you listen for a bit longer you can hear them playing in tandem with each other as they dance, especially when alonzo does his hand thing at misto during what’s supposed to be “tours”. this isn’t just an orchestra, it’s the cats themselves.

now the queens —

cassandra cartwheels in : a solitary tune that chimes high and proud, and doesn’t stoop down for anyone. clearly a cat of high status and prestige.

bombalurina interrupts : jazzy, passionate and warm woodwinds. a bold and vibrant melody that goes straight to the point and screams “life of the party”.

moving on to the “boys ballet” - “sways” section, there are actually three subjects, mistoffelees, tumblebrutus, and victoria, and there’s kind of a call and response going on (which i love). as we already discussed victoria and mistoffelees, we can infer that the strings heard here are tumblebrutus, while the brass is misto, and if you listen very closely, the even higher pitched “whistles” (woodwind i think) are victoria. tumble is the call, while misto and vic respond.

the cats talk with each other through the music! how magical is that? and if you listen closer to moments like bomba and tugger, you can hear even more of these conversations! (you can hear a bit of tugger’s rock during “slithers”. also i love how tugger’s electric guitar comes back whenever he leads.) there are also moments where you can hear what the cats are saying, doing or feeling like with tumble and alonzo, or alonzo and bomba or cassandra. it’s one of the reasons that the jellicle ball is so memorable.

music is truly magic.

anyone who hates on cats just because of cats needs to realise there’s more to this show than meets the eye, or ear.

i actually find it really funny that tommi sliiden (coricopat) is now a registered osteopath. so here’s “costeopat” :

POV : you are a performer who couldn’t make it to your show because you got sick. now your back has been hurting but no doctor has been able to help. desperate, you resort to paying a visit to the mysterious witch in the woods, hoping she (or her psychic cats) has the answer.

i also recently found out in his website that he specialises in performers and their specific problems and it’s so poetic 😭 it genuinely makes me feel some kinda way

thank you, tommi.

hi everyone just gonna resurrect from my grave for a sec because i thought about having the gumbie trio in just dance

like… what if cats the musical but in just dance??

“the rum tum tugger” ft. his biggest fans

a modified jellicle ball with victoria as the dancer (this would be extreme difficulty)

other ideas that i was too lazy to draw :

- mungo and teazer duet obviously (extreme difficulty)

- macavity vs munkustrap dance battle (like majesty in just dance 2023)

- jellicle songs for jellicle cats quartet dance

- “macavity” duet with demeter and bomba is a must

- skimbleshanks quartet where the p1 is skimble and the rest are kittens who follow him around like a train

- mr mistoffelees solo at hard difficulty

ok see ya

pouncival ideas

before, i never really paid close attention to the ending of the show “the ad-dressing of cats”, there wasn’t much dancing or plot, and i just listened to ken page’s legendary singing. but i recently noticed something. pouncival. he’s front and centre of all the cats, and he even does slightly different poses/choreo than the rest of them. pouncival is also one of those cats that i never paid too much attention to, but he’s been nagging me ever since this discovery.

the more i thought about it, the more i realised that he doesn’t really have a proper “role” in the tribe other than being a troublemaker, which doesn’t help anyone. when i searched for inspiration on tumblr, there were hardly any pouncival hcs that were exclusively him. and even then, it was just things we already know about him.

i NEEDED to know him better. he would not let go of my brain for the past three days. but i’d like to thank him for giving me something to think real hard about. here’s my ideas for him!

this next part is a review of pouncival. feel free to skip to “finally, my ideas” below the screenshot of pounce —

what we know :

- pouncival is the youngest tom cat in the tribe

- he’s a mischievous and childish kitten with a knack for troublemaking

- he’s carefree and playful, just a happy kitten, sometimes callously so

- his alternate is carbucketty, a name invented by t.s. eliot for a “knockabout” cat

what we can infer :

- he loves his friends! (he pranks grizabella at tumble and plato’s idea, and he lets victoria snuggle up to him at the start of “mister mistoffelees”)

- he’s a comedic kitten who loves making people laugh, even at his own expense

- he’s the type of kid to roll in the mud and eat dirt (affectionate)

- he’s the class clown who’s lowkey an icon

• in my personal list of the cats and their three words (or more specifically “three adjectives describing their personality”), i gave him childish, blithe, and puckish.

his main character moments :

- causing trouble, and being the first “cockroach” to appear, during “the old gumbie cat”

- pranking grizabella twice

- getting reprimanded by jellylorum and electra during the jellicle ball “chant”

- being the pollicle who leads the march (it goes wrong, naturally)

- falling over a bunch, the little rascal (he’s very good at it too. top job, karl morgan /srs)

finally, my ideas :

other than the “boys group”, pouncival is also close friends with electra (and therefore etcetera). electra is something of a fussy and uptight kitten, like the type of girl who always wants to be the “boss” of the friend group and twist the story so she wins during roleplays. pouncival gives her the perfect excuse for someone to yell at as a frustration outlet. his carefree and playful attitude means that, not only does he not mind, he plays along and sometimes does cheeky things on purpose to rile her up or lift her spirits (electra is secretly very grateful).

pouncival’s childishness also means that he has a vivid imagination, and this lead to him being very inventive. also, as previously established, he has no qualms with being unhygienic, so he is very resourceful in digging through the trash, no matter for food, supplies or props for electra’s roleplays. as such, he was actually the one to make the costumes and props during jennyanydots’s number and for munkustrap’s play…

once, electra got really upset during a group roleplay, so as an apology and also to cheer her up, pouncival made mice and cockroach costumes, and along with the rest of the kittens, they performed a hilarious, modified to comedic version of the nutcracker for her. the costumes ended up being reused for jenny’s number.

another version of this could be: once, electra was scolded by jenny, and being especially sensitive to the disapproval of the older cats, especially one she admired, she got really upset. so pouncival and etcetera “took revenge” for her by sneakily asking demeter and bombalurina to help them write a musical number about jenny. pouncival made the costumes and they secretly performed it for electra, twisting the meaning to make fun of the old gumbie cat instead. normally electra wouldn’t be too happy about this, but she was still upset at jenny at the time and it gave her the catharsis she needed.

both were more than successful.

pouncival also made the notorious candy cane bagpipes. plato, being tugger’s other biggest fan, begged pounce to help him create a special birthday gift for him to give to tugger. pounce isn’t sure what tugger’s response was, but it left plato smiling for days.

during the production of “the pekes and the pollicles”, an extremely stressed out munkustrap gave pouncival the job of costume design, collaborating with mungojerrie and rumpleteazer. with the help of their smart looting skills, the three made exceptional costumes for all four breeds of dog as well as rumpus cat, earning them lead roles (though munkustrap might have regretted that) and a pat on the head.

pouncival the knockabout cat lives!!! or maybe pouncival the invention cat?

(also why are his eyes lowkey so beautiful)

i’ve been thinking a lot more about george (the cat who plays rumpus cat) lately, and there’s a really adorable shot during gus’s song where george looks up at old deuteronomy like this

like he’s saying “are you hearing this old deuteronomy?? he actually understudied whittington’s cat??!!”

i have thoughts about this

so george is normally a pretty shy kitten. he’s in the background a lot and hangs around older cats like old deuteronomy and jellylorum, he even flinches when gus looks at him.

but when he’s playing rumpus cat, all of a sudden he’s goofing around and enjoying the spotlight. i like to think acting helps him get out of his shell, and he loves being on stage and performing.

so obviously he admires gus a lot, but after hearing his story he realises that he wants to take acting more seriously, to create a persona that would be worthy of firefrorefiddle, and most of all, make gus proud.

“george the theatre cat”. has a nice ring to it!

p.s. george is literally one of the most underrated cats. like he’s so adorable!! and he has the biggest smile in the world!!

happy jellicle valentine’s day!! i feed thee, starved tumbletoria shippers (including myself 😄). but i tell you once, and once again: THIS SHIP DESERVES MORE LOVE 🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪

random but AUGHHH tumbletoria has got to be one of the prettiest ship names ever 😩💗💗

house cat ideas

jemima :

she was actually found by old deuteronomy shortly after she was born. jemima was barely surviving so her mother abandoned her, and he brought her to be taken care of by the oldest inhabitant of the village mentioned in his song, an old man with an affinity for flowers. (is old deuteronomy actually the cat distribution system???)

to the old man’s delight, jemima accompanied him for the final few weeks of his life. after he passed, she was old enough to live amongst the jellicles in the junkyard, but she still keeps her collar on. his influence shaped her into an observant, empathetic and compassionate kitten, who inherited his wistfulness in the form of daydreaming. and although she wouldn’t remember much of him, the stories he told rooted an innate wisdom within her, waiting to be unearthed.

a paper-mache mask i did in art class inspired by jemima + sunflowers! 🌻 (daylight is one of my favourite songs in the whole show!!)

hellooo i’m verdi and i’m a big fan of cats the musical. i’m starting this blog so i can talk about cats and share my ideas.

i love this musical with a PASSION because it’s fun and always manages to bring a smile to my face, even when i’m feeling down. i love the characters, especially the kittens, and i like making up a ton of ideas about all of them. i also love it because i used to do dance and when they dance it resonates with me on such a spiritual level that i can’t explain (i’ve watched the jellicle ball an ungodly amount of times).

my main ships are alonzostrap and tumbletoria, but i also ship demelurina and tuggoffelees. my favourite characters are alonzo, tumblebrutus, george, cassandra, victoria and jemima, but really i love all of them. i consider the 1998 film the definitive version so i’ll mostly be referring to that. i’m also an artist and all of the drawings you see are mine unless i credit others.

i hope you guys like my ideas! :D