Mar 19
Day 94 of posting old cats pics! Anna McNeely as Jennyanydots and Bonnie Simmons as Jellylorum 1982, both holding cute little kitties!
seen from China
seen from Hong Kong SAR China
seen from China
seen from Brazil
seen from Bangladesh
seen from United States
seen from Brazil
seen from Italy
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Iraq
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
seen from Russia
seen from Netherlands
seen from Brazil
seen from Malaysia
seen from India
Day 94 of posting old cats pics! Anna McNeely as Jennyanydots and Bonnie Simmons as Jellylorum 1982, both holding cute little kitties!
The original Jennyanydots costume worn by Anna McNeely in CATS (1982)
Visited New York City for the first time last week, so I took the opportunity to visit the Museum Of Broadway because I only wanted to see the Cats display items and literally nothing else.
If anyone is interested, this is what they had for Cats. Two super cool costume pieces from the long running and record breaking production from the Winter Garden, plus a few other items.
First off, an elaborate Siamese costume in all its bright blue eyed glory:
A few framed display items, including an early playbill and six character designs.
Secondly, an absolutely stunning complete Gumbie Tap costume worn by Anna McNeely, originator of Jennyanydots on Broadway.
While both of those costumes were amazing, and I could have stared at them for hours, it was really disappointing to see the museum have so little Cats content given the shows significance to theaters in not only NYC, but in North America as a whole.
The Siamese was relegated to a corner of a non-related room, and the Tap costume was amongst a line-up of other (I believe, Phantom Of The Opera) costumes. I do understand that there is a section encompassing Andrew Lloyd Webber's impact on Broadway, which had a sizable PoTO representation and some pieces from Evita, Starlight Express, and Sunset Boulevard with some other stuff from that time period mixed in, but it was a bit of a letdown.
It is very possible that the MoB could not source more pieces, which if in that case, it is all fair. However, it is tiring to always see Cats made out to be some sort of unimportant or regrettable musical, and even the way the two costumes were shown reflected that. They could have easily had their day in the sun together with an expanded corner of all Cats stuff together, but maybe I am being pompous. Though, being a patron in the museum and hearing all the utter disgust and derision in the looks and voices of others seeing the Cats stuff reinforced the hatred theatre wankers have over the singing and dancing kitties. Plus, maybe just maybe, I verbally pushed back against someone shitting on Cats while I was admiring the Siamese, and let me tell you, he did not expect that at all.
If anyone has any questions about the museum, let me know. I took pictures of every room and every display item (not to the same caliber of the Cats stuff, but still). It was a very nice place with lots of pieces and history, and if I actually cared about any other musical, it would have been like visiting the Heavisde Layer itself. The Siamese and Gumbie Tap costumes were damn cool though.
Anna McNeely as Jennyanydots, Broadway 1982.
bonnie simmons as jellylorum, betty buckley as grizabella, anna mcneely as jennyanydots and ken page as old deuteronomy (broadway, 1982)
Something that makes me very happy is the early broadway promotional photos that placed mistoffelees and jenny next to each other
Anna McNeely as Jenyanydots, Original Broadway Cast
Day 30 of posting old cats pics! Jennyanydots 1983 played by Anna McNeely!