Okay cats have a third secret name that can't be express in mere words right?? And that name is like the essence of themselves? Some True Name kinda deal?
What if they actually ARE telling us their third names?? Hear me out.
Now, everyone knows that the big tenant of musical theater is: "When you can no longer speak, you sing, and when you can no longer sing, you dance."
So when the cats are out there singing and dancing about themselves, that's them telling you their third name!! The whole POINT if the songs is for them to say "This is who I am!" Dance especially is so important to the cats, as they sing in the intro to the Jellicle Ball with their "we know how to dance a gavotte and a jig" and "terpsichorean powers".
They ARE telling you their third name in the only way they can! Song and dance!!
Jennyanydots, Rum Tum Tugger, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, and the other principal cats are all fully realized and able to express the essence of themselves. They get big flashy songs all about themselves!!
The kittens are still young and developing their identities, so they're sticking with eachother and watching the adults.
Victoria has her own dance solo because she's transitioning into maturity and realizing herself.
Munkustrap and Jellylorum are here to help people tell their stories. They don't really have their own songs because their job is to help someone else express themselves.
Bombalurina and Demeter are an interesting case. They have their own song, but not about them. My take on this with the Name Theory in mind is that Demeter and Macavity clearly have history, and her past ties with him sort of robbed Demeter of her identity. She's still haunted by him and isn't truly herself. Bombalurina is trying to help Demeter reclaim herself by supporting her and helping her move past him. The song is about Macavity, but it's also about Demeter's pain.
And then there's Grizabella.
The Glamour Cat, the shining star of Junkyard, the cat who's beauty and talent knew no equal.
She still has her voice to be sure, but she's clearly unable to dance anymore. After the Ball, she tries to move like she was able to before, but she's too frail and broken to dance like the other Jellicles.
She's lost touch with her Name, just like Demeter. Grizabella is a ghost of her former self, devoid of any identity. She only has the memory of who she once was, and if she still remembers her Name, then it's far behind her reach and lost to her.
I think that's the difference between Gus and Grizabella. Gus still has his Name; he has Jellylorum, and the rest of the tribe, to keep the memory of his Name alive.
Grizabella goes to the Heaviside Layer, and Old D closes the show with The Addressing of Cats, and specifically, he says this: "You've seen us both at work and games, And learnt about our proper names"
This makes The Naming of Cats poem come full circle. We open the show by talking about a cat's names, and we close the show by talking about how we've learned about the cats at their names.
Skimbleshanks is the cat's name, but the song and dance is his Name.
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