Class 10: The Jellicle Ball

Handout (flat) Handout (folded) Return to Index

10. The Jellicle Ball. Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948– ) originally conceived of CATS as an unstaged setting of TS Eliot's whimsical poems for children, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939)—pure fantasy. But director Trevor Nunn (1940– ) convinced him that it could work as a stage musical if the separate numbers were connected by a story, and proceeded to provide one, plus the text of the most famous number, "Memory." The resultant show (1981), in which cats of all sorts and sizes gather for the annual Jellicle Ball, is often cited as the first mega-musical. Nunn's original production ran for 21 years in London's West End and 18 years on Broadway.

In the first hour, we will look at the process of this unlikely conversion from page to stage, much of which took place only once rehearsals had already started. It will be illustrated by a variety of numbers from Act I. The second hour will be devoted to two extended sequences from Act II. The handouts contain a synopsis.

The script, videos, and images will be posted immediately after class.

Handout (flat) Handout (folded) Class Script

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Q AND A

Hoe does Old Possum's book of Practical Cats end?
Good guess! The Eliot collection does end with "The Ad-Dressing of Cats," which Andrew Lloyd Webber set as the final number of the musical. You can read it here, together with a recording of Eliot reciting it.

Has the sound problem been solved?
I think so, yes. The strange thing is that it has probably been affecting sound quality in every class up to now, but nobody has noticed it. I assumed that the volume control on the TV remote basically set the base level which I could then vary with my own control, but it appears that it opens a separate channel, slightly staggered in time. I will make some more experiments before next class, but the result will probably be that the sound in the last two classes will seem clearer than before.

Are you really so scornful of Thanksgiving?
Not really. It seemed strange at first, and the experience of eating strange foods around a stranger's table to which one has only been invited out of kindness was an oddly disconcerting one. But now we are hosts to our own extended family, and have a good time. I even have a couple of special dishes I always make: Cranberry with Orange, Ginger, and Toasted Almonds, and Root Vegetable Purée. Have a great Turkey Day yourselves!

VIDEO LINKS

The 1998 film of the London production that I played in class does not seem to be available on YouTube or for sale on DVD; I think I got mine online during COVID, when Andrew Lloyd Webber was making a lot of things available. However, there are individual clips of most of the numbers I showed, issued in a similar impulse under the rubric "The Shows Must Go On." These are at least as good in quality as the clips I showed; their only problem is that they are not connected to one another, and most do not have titles.

With the exception of the first three parts of the Act I Jellicle Ball, I have only listed the scenes that I actually played in class. But you can still see them all, albeit without the connective tissue joining them all together. Simply click on the right arrow (>|) under the video window to move to the next clip, in the order they appear in the show.

Much of the information I gave you comes from the Lloyd Webber interview that I also include below, together with some Eliot readings and a bit of sheer nonsense involving real cats! rb.

THE SHOWS MUST GO ON
	Jellicle Songs	part 1 part 2
	The naming of Cats	song Victoria's dance
	Invitation to the Jellicle Ball	complete
	Rum Tum Tugger	complete
	Grizabella, the Glamour Cat	complete
	The Jellicle Ball	part 1 (invitation) part 2 (dance: all) part 3 (dance: Victoria and Plato) part 4 (dance: the part we saw in class)
	Grizabella	rejection by the other cats Memory (Act I version)
	The Moments of Happiness	Old Deuteronomy's song (not the entire scene)
	Gus, the Theatre Cat	introduction Gus himself sings
	Skimbleshanks, the Railway Cat	part 1 part 2
	Mister Mistoffelees	part 1 part 2
	Finale	Old Deuteronomy's song Memory (Act II version) Journey to the Heaviside Layer The Ad-Dressing of Cats
MISCELLANEOUS
	Lloyd Webber interview	The genesis of CATS
	TS Eliot reads	The Naming of Cats (audio) The Rum Tum Tugger (audio) Gus, the Theatre Cat (audio)
	Cats watching CATS	A fun video!


IMAGES
The thumbnails below cover the slides shown in class, though there may be a few small discrepancies. Click the thumbnail to see a larger image. Click on the right or left of the larger picture to go forward or back, or outside it to close.

Here are brief bios of the composers and writers considered in the class, listed in order of birth.

	Thoman Stearns (T.S.) Eliot, 1888–1965. American-British poet. One of the leading modernist poets of the 20th century, known for works such as The Waste Land (1922) and Four Quartets (1936–42), Eliot also found success in the theatre with works such as Murder in the Cathedral (1935). His light verse collection Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939) was the source for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats.
	Trevor Nunn, 1940– . English director and author. Directors do not normally figure in these biographies, but Nunn shares much of the credit for shaping Andrew Lloyd Webber's CATS into a stage musical, as well as for writing the text of its best-known number, "Memory." Beginning in staight theater, he has served as Artistic Director of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. His musical-theater credits also include the blockbuster Les Misérabes (1985).
	Andrew Lloyd Webber, 1948– . English composer. Baron Lloyd-Webber is credited with reinvigorating the stage musical with a series of hits that include Jesus Christ Superstar (1970), Evita (1976), CATS (1981), and The Phantom of the Opera (1986). He has also written a certain amount of non-theatrical music, including an anthem for the coronation of King Charles III.