14-01-00 
The Vocal Audition:  

Considdering I was nervous as hell, it all went reasonably well. I spent the morning singing, warming my voice up with various Cats songs, the Cats video and my good ole trusty Starlight Express album. The audition was all I though it would be. Large, spacy hall, with a stage, and the three people behind it all, now behind 2 tables. They asked me what I was going to sing.  I told them that appart from Old Deuteronomy, I had no idea. They told me it didn't have to be Cats, but I insisted anyway. I sang the first verse from Old Deuteronomy (OLC version) and was accompanied on piano by
Susanne Nehring, one of the three organizers. This, to my relief, went rather well.  They asked me to do the Tugger song, and naturally I obliged. Out of nerves , I muddles the lyrics, but in the end, I dont think I sounded at all bad, if I do say so myself ;-)
After that I asked them a little about the production, and I said my goodbyes. I hung around the waiting area for a while, and talked to some of the other applicants. To my suprise, most of them didnt really know Cats at all.  What didnt suprise me was that most 
came because of the singing, and everyone was worried about the dancing in Cats. There where one or two that knew Cats better, including a girl who seemed to be quite a fan. She has over 9 years of ballet experiance, so I wonder what role she would be cast in. Whatever it is,  is will make this production all the better.  
Next week the 'movement' audition.  That probably means we will be crawling over the floor like cats for 2 hours.
One of the teachers told me to wear 'loose' clothing, and perpare for 2 hours of sweat and hard work. I would
expect no less from Cats :-)

22-01-00  
The Movement audition

I now saw all 25 applicants at once, and most people where suprised there where so many.  
I joined a group of people I had talked to last time and they said they where wondering if I was gonna turn up (I was one of the last to arrive, cause I had been to work in the morning)

Pretty soon we where all hearded to the main hall where we where introduced to our choreographer.  I was interesting to note that off all the people there, there where only 5 guys, including me.  The girls where  all between 14-18 I think whith some older people here and there.  They explained to us what the idea was and how they didnt yet know what they where gonna do from Cats, that it was dependant on what kinda talent they saw, and thus who they picked.  There are basicly only 15 roles.  The first hour was spent doing little movement practices on music. We basicly had to execute a certain sequence of moves on time. I very soon saw that these where typicle Cats moves. Stuff like hopping from side to side while hunched down, Making a turn and then streching to point to the ceiling with one arm...that kinda thing.   Having never done anything remotely like this before, I found it kinda hard to get the sequence right sometimes, especially when they reversed it all, by going left instead of right.  Some of the girls had obviously had expericance in it, as they made stretches and jumps that wheren't physicly possible for the most of us.

This went on for about an hour, one thing that was particularily funny was when we had to jump across the floor..  Just jump, inprovise and jump..  so you ended up seeing some of the most funny leaps and bounds!

Second hour was definatly more to the point.  "Imagin you are your cat".."Think like your cat" .. "Act like your cat".." Now imagin your cat standing on two legs"...  this went on and on till we where all a tribe of cats, leaping and stroling around the room, purring, mewing and rubbing heads together (fantastic to do that with a complete stranger!!).  Then they pulled out abit of the stage to let us get used to doing this on differnt levels.  5 of us at a time while the rest watched.  Well, I got into a nasty hissing competition with this other tom, and I tried to play "catch my tail" with another cat.  In this other group that went on, this female cat tried to scare off this one guy. But he stood up and turned out to be 2 heads above her, much to her suprise. Her reaction was golden and she scampered off, much to the delight of the audience (us)  that gave them a quick applause.  At the end I was still incredibly hyper.. I tried to talk to as many people as I could before everyone left.  Its a great group of people, and I wouldnt want to see 10 of them leave, even though they will have to.  Something that really delighted me, was whenever I talked to anyone about the video, they always mentioned the cute little kitten whith the huge eyes! ;-)  I cant wait to show them my pictures! LOL!!   

Somewhere this week I will hear weather I am in or not, but I think I stand a pretty good chance..

5-02-00  
First rehearsal

This was the first time I got to see who was in and who was out.  
It was great, all of the people that I had gotten to know got through.  
We started out by setting up some stage pieces to act like a temporary ‘junkyard’, as we had to learn to deal with the hight differnces from the very beginning.

The first one and a half hours where spent on singing. We did the usual warmup for that kinda thing; assuming the proper stance, concentrating on the ab muscles that should be used for singing, that kinda thing.  We started doing some scales and this went around the cirle so the coach could get an idea of what kinda voices we all had and how high we could go.   This took up much of the time, but we soon moved on to actual Cats music.   We did the chores of ‘Mr. Mistoffelees’ with 3 different vocal groups, or whatever its called.    Now, almost no one knows Cats, much less how one of the songs goes. So the coach did each group seperatly at first on the piano. After about 10 minutes the three groups sounded fantastic together! I mean.. here are people that have never even heard the song, singing it fantasticly and its sounding great after only 10 mins…   this just makes me SO look forward to the rest of the material! 

After all this we did movement. We practices the opening scene of our version of Cats.   The idea was that the hole group would stalk onto the stage before the music starts and then away again.  When the music starts again, we greep up again, and a group of us (including me) take center stage and do some ‘special’ moves, like jumping up into the air at certain points.   We then do this little round-about with our tails in the air and do a roll backwards.

Now.. this might sound resonably simple, but its not so easy with 15+ people that have never done anything like that before.  Enphasis was always layed on acting like a cat, that meant being quiet, landing softly on our ‘paws’ and moving about like we had a tail.. the hole Cats thing.. hehe.

We did this routine a few times and each time it went better and better.    Right now we havnt attached movement to any of the music, but that will come.   A few people got told that they where doing solo pieces,  however most of the roles havn't to have been cast yet.  I got the Tugger song in hand to study, and was asked to attend the soloist class on Vriday. In other words I am hereby the Rum Tum Tugger! J  Other stuff we had to learn by next week was the ‘Song of the Jellicles’ (the beginning of the Jellicle ball), though I doubt we will be doing the Jellicle ball itsself, and Grizabella the Glamour cat, and the chores that we already practices from Mr.  Mistoffelees. 

Vriday 11-02-00  
First Soloist rehearsal

Me and 3 others arrived at the music school for a seperate rehearsal for the solo pieces, which included 'the glamour' cat, Mr Mistoffelees and The Tugger song.    After a short warmup talked abit about the show and I got the chance to briefly explained the 'plot' of Cats to the people that didnt really know it yet. The hour was spent probing the songs, getting to know them.  I was pleasantly surprised to see how fast it was being picked up.  We sang the chores of Mr. Mistoffelees before 2 of them practices the main lyrics.  Mistoffelees isnt done by Tugger in this, its done by two female Cats.   I love the way the chores sounds. I never really sung the chores like that, and two hear the four of us sing with 3 differnt 'voices'  really was great.

In the end it was my turn, and I sung the Tugger song against the OLC recording that had been brought along on CD.   Tomorrow another rehearsal, and the more I get into it, the more I am convinced that this will be a great, great show.  

Saterday 12-02-00
Second Rehearsal  

After a warmup which consisted of doing some basic melodies and passing them on through the circel, we practices our English pronounciation. Alot of this production is based on the OLC of Cats, thus its all upper-class English. This pratcice consisted of singing a few sentences and then passing them along the circle again.  Stuff like “Cats and kittens cry.” Or  “Thirty three and more”. 

We then practiced the solo parts in Mr. Mistoffelees, and then the chores joined in, something we had worked on last week.  We also did the ‘Song of the Jellicles’, which is whispered for the most past. Pronounciation was a problem, as the lyrics are quite hard to get, and the tempo is high, as in the OLC. Still, for a group of Dutch speakers (and I will notice these things ;-), it didnt sound all that bad, and it will get even better, I am sure.

We then practices the opening scene again, and this time more attension was placed on detail; who is where, when do they do what.  The opening scene (that is done during the Overture music) has a little bit that is not unlike the infamous ‘cat nap’, from the Jellicle ball.  We are not doing Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats, but will start with Song of the Jellicles immediatly after the overture.  Most of the time was spent on the opener, and we practices being spontanious, and watching what others did. We had to make our own cues for doing improvides movements. This will be used later on, during a song, probably the song of the Jellicles.

We also received out tails today, which we wore thoughout the rehearsal. They are thick and mine is black, with a great, soft, velvety furr. We will have to sow them onto our clothing somehow. 

Saterday 19-02-00
Third rehearsal

Got alot of work done today. We started with the Song of the Jellicles, this time practicing it on our soon-to-be Junkyard, where we all have a set place to sit.  We them did some vocal warmup for the singing. The first thing we did was the chores to the Rum Tum Tugger which is devided into 2 voices. 
Then it was my little moment as we did the solo part for the Tugger song. Several of the cast insisted they do the famed ‘Etcetera, the screaming, hysterical kitten’ thing at the end, hehe.  I was pretty nervous, and since I had never done the song against a single piano before, I lost all my cues. After about 3 times the song was running pretty smooth, and the chores was right on the spot and I managed to get all the timing right with the lyrics in hand (shame on me! LOL!). At the end I got an spontanious applaus, that was great!

We also completly did the 'Glamour Cat', which sounden VERY cool to hear.. if there is one melody in Cats that haunts me, its that song.
I continue to be amazed at the quality of the vocal talent that our group has. Everything we try sounds excellent.  

We practiced the opening number again, and we really started to get the timing sorted out. During this number I did my usual roll, but this time landed rather ackuardly on my shoulder, so that is still bothering me a bit.

We are off for 2 weeks due to holidays over here, but I intend to keep in shape (picture me leaping though the house like a cat for two hours  a few times a week)

--2 weeks holiday--

11/18-03-00
4th and 5th rehearsal

Havnt written for two weeks.. cause.. uhm... I forgot.. 
Plus my computer has been giving me headaches. This means I cant install frontpage, so no web stuff for me until then. (And no, I dont want to go and learn html)
Anyway.. the last two weeks we have been over alot of material, including a few songs that havnt been done before, like Bustopher Jones, and Peter impressed us all with his rendition  of it, it sounded great! We got the details sorted out on Mr. Mistoffelees and Memories was briefly practiced. We have all gotten tapes of the differnt vocal arangements for the musical,
and I have gotten my paws on the (unfinished) music that will be used in the musical itself, some of which was derived from Øyvind Schei's great midi's, which can be found in the music section of the Ticket. I will see if I can make this music publicly available, it sounds really good. Cudo's on Nick Mulder, our music guy! I am really exited about how the hole thing is building up.
Pretty soon we will be seeing our costumes, and I must say I cant wait. 

25-03-00

Today we set Bustopher Jones and Old Deuteronomy. The style is a bit differnt that I am used to, but I am beginning to get a feel for what the director wants to do, and its quite cool.
Since we are not doing all the songs, we inevitable miss some of the story line, so I have wondered about how this is al going to fit together. The director told me that the story isnt set yet, but that it will be ironed out in a few weeks. But Cats' story line is so vauge to begin with, I am not worried we will be able to make a coherent hole of it.In two weels we will do a complete run-though, and I will be able to take some pictures then. Also we are expecting the costumes to be coming along in a few weeks, or at least that is what I have heard. I wonder what they have cooked up for the Tugger.. I cant wait :-)


1-04-00

We concentrated on Macavity today, and trying to run through some of the songs in sequence.
Macavity was quite hard, as we had to combine mirroring eachothers movements with improvisation. That did lead to some very nice spontanious interaction, I think that on the hole, the cast are really getting a feel for the hole 'being a cat' thing. We are now getting to a point where the hole musical is almost set. The sequence of the songs is now set, and we only have the adressing of Cats left to practice. After that, we have almost 2 months to get the hole thing working as a flowing whole. 
After rehearsal, I invited some of the cast round to see the making of Cats, and we watched a piece of the Joseph Vid aswell. 

8-4-00

Today we did a complete run-though of the show, doing all the songs in sequence.  It went as one would expect a first  run-through to go, and there is still alot of work to be done it seems.  Now that the sequence is set, we can now start to concentrate on stuff like story line and motivation, and of course our all inportant ques.  The music as it will be is still in limbo at this point, but we will soon get cd's with the final music to practice with. 
The singing is sounding better than ever, we concetrated on Macavity alot today, as that was still a bit vague for most.  Taking a differnt direction from the normal show, the Mac song is sung by Mac's gang, consisting of 4 Cats., with Mac appearing at the very end, and leads to the kidnapping of old Deut.
Next week we will have a first look at our costumes, I will probably make some more pics then.  I would hereby like to thank Rogier for the use of the digital Cam, very much aprpeciated! :-) 

Saterday 13-5-00

Havn't been able to update due to some tecnical probs and we had 2 weeks break.. but here we are again...
2 weeks to curtain.. we set the Adressing of Cats today and did another complete runthough.  Though I thought it went well, there are still some points we have to work on. Also, there will have to be something thought up during the second Memories, as that is kinda drawn out right now..
I wore my suit for the first time...  its not really suite, basicly just a black pair of tight trousers.. but they will do. Later on I got a little jacket with little bits of plastic on it..  and I heard that all the suits will be painted, so I wonder what the end result will be.
Our director took a large number of pictures.. so I will have more to show soon..
I also went into town to buy myself some proper dance shoes.. I hope they will last me well beyond Cats.. :)