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Read and display your class’ work and tell the story ofthe musical again at least once before your trip to thetheatre to see the show.to behave. After a short time share and discuss theimprovisations – how do the depictions ofJennyanydots differ? Read the poem again and decidewhich is the most accurate.2. Exploring Eliot’s poemsn Macavity: the mystery catRead the poem aloud and discuss any unfamiliarlanguage.As a class make a spider diagram of words andphrases on the board or a large sheet of paper thatdescribe Macavity. What do your pupils think aboutMacavity – is he an exciting character or do theydisapprove of him?Make a second spider diagram of words and phrasesto describe the character of a detective cat who couldtrack Macavity down and capture him. Think of a namefor the detective cat.Using the spider diagram for ideas ask your class toeach write a short story about the detective cat whohunts for Macavity. Use information from the poemabout Macavity’s crimes, and explain how, eventually,Macavity is caught.Read some of the completed stories aloud and displaythem all with the poem.It is important to introduce your pupils to some of Eliot’spoems before seeing CATS as it will give them anopportunity to explore the stories, language, rhythmsand structure of the poems leading to a familiarity withthe songs and characters when they see the show.Four poems have been selected, with linked activitiesfor each one, but you can choose which poems youfeel most suitable for your pupils to study and adapt theactivities accordingly. Each activity begins with readingthe poem and discussing the content, any languageyour pupils are not familiar with (Eliot often made up hisown words to use in his poems!) and the charactersdescribed.n The Naming of CatsRead the poem aloud and discuss any unfamiliarlanguage.The poem explains each cat has three names – theone used by their human owner, one of their ownchoosing and one secret name that no one everknows.Discuss with the class why names are so important, isthere anyone who would change their name – to whatand why? – do they think it is a good idea to have threenames, especially if they can choose one of themthemselves?Ask them to work in pairs and choose one of the catnames from the poem, for example Alonzo, and write ashort description together of the cat’s appearance andcharacter suggested by the name.Read some of the descriptions aloud and display themall with the poem.n The Old Gumbie CatRead the poem aloud and discuss any unfamiliarlanguage.Ask your class to describe the two different sides toJennyanydot’s character – by day and by night.Working in groups of five or six ask your class toimprovise scenes depicting Jennyanydot’s night timeactivities with the mice and cockroaches, or any othercreatures they think she might discipline, like spiders orwoodlice. They should think about Jennyanydot’scharacter and how she gets the mice and cockroacheswww.catsthemusical.comn Gus: the theatre catRead the poem aloud and discuss any unfamiliarlanguage.Discuss the types of roles Gus has played in thetheatre, the performances he has seen or been in –and others he may have, such as Puss in Boots – withyour class, remembering that Gus is a cat fromVictorian times. Talk about the differences in theatre ahundred years ago, for example in the sets andlighting.Gus’ favourite character that he ever played – and hisgreatest triumph – was Fiorefrorefiddle, the Fiend ofthe Fell. Ask your class to imagine who or what thatcharacter was and do an illustration of Gus asFirefrorefiddle to accompany the poem.Display the illustrations with the poem.6

3. Creating a CATS environmentTo encourage your class to think about cats and theirmany different ways and habits, create a CATSEnvironment in your classroom.Collect together pictures of and books about cats tostart a display and ask your pupils to bring in photos oftheir own cats and any newspaper or magazine storiesor articles they may find.There are many other cats in fiction (such as SixDinner Sid, Orlando the Marmalade Cat, Gobbolino theWitches Cat, etc). Your pupils may enjoy searching thelibrary for other stories and poems about cats, whichcan be added to the display and may be useful for yourfollow up work.Any work that your pupils produce whilst you areworking on CATS (especially from the previous activity)can also be added to the display. You can obtainposters and leaflets for the show from your theatre toput on your display.4. Discussing CATS in the theatreBefore you see the show you may wish to discuss thevisit to the theatre with your class.Discuss - What they expect to see.How they think the performers may bedressed or made-up.What they think they might hear.You can look at posters and leaflets advertising theshow and listen to one or two of the songs on the CD(perhaps choosing the ones from Activity 2: ExploringEliot’s Poems). Is the music the same or different fromwhat they expected?Ask your pupils to write down their thoughts andfeelings about CATS before they see the show, eitheras a collection of words, a letter to a friend or even apoem! You can then return to these after your trip tothe theatre and discuss how their expectations wereright or wrong.www.catsthemusical.com7

BACKGROUND TO CATSTS Eliot – his life and writingsThomas Stearns Eliot is widely regarded as one of ourgreatest writers, whilst mostly noted for his poetry, healso wrote verse plays and a range of literary andsocial criticism. He received many honours anddistinctions for his writing, including the Nobel Prize forLiterature and a posthumous Tony Award for CATS(1983).Eliot had a lifelong affection for cats, often sendingletters and poems about his own cat to his godson,Tom Faber and making up unusual or outlandishnames for cats for friends – and complete strangers!Practical Cats was originally going to include poemsabout consequential dogs as well and ‘Mr Eliot’s Bookof Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats’ was advertised inFaber & Faber’s 1936 Spring catalogue. Eliot felt,however, that it would be “impolite to wrap cats up withdogs” and the book became only about cats. Thereason the book was eventually titled Old Possum’sBook of Practical Cats, is that Possum was Eliot’s aliasamongst his friends.Most of the poems were written between 1936 and1938. Many of the cats were modelled on other literaryfigures (Macavity is styled on Moriarty, the infamousvillain who challenged Sherlock Holmes andSkimbleshanks on a work by Rudyard Kipling – TheLong Trail) and some poems Eliot wrote with music inmind (The Marching Song of the Pollicle Dogs waswritten to the tune of ‘The Elliots of Minto’). Grizabella,the glamour cat remained incomplete and unpublishedas Eliot felt it was becoming too sad for his intendedyouthful audience.Timeline1888T S Eliot born in Saint Louis, Missouri, US1906-1909 Undergraduate at Harvard University1909-1910 Post-graduate studies at Harvard. Early writing,including the beginning of Prufrock1910-1911 Studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and inGermany. Completed Prufrock1911-1914 Returned to study at Harvard1914-1915 Further study in Germany interrupted by theFirst World War. Continued studying at MertonCollege, Oxford. Prufrock (verse) published inChicago1915Married to Vivien Haugh-Wood1915-1920 Settled in England and taught in two schoolsbefore working for Lloyds Bank and as a magazineassistant editor. Eliot continued to write whilstworking for the bank. In 1917 The Love Song ofAlfred J Prufrock (verse) was published in London.1921-1922 Worked as a correspondent for ‘The Dial’.Founded ‘The Criterion’, which he edited until 19391922The Wasteland (verse) published, his most famouswork.1927Confirmed in the Church of England and became anaturalised British Citizen1930Ash Wednesday (verse) published1932Selected Essays (literary criticism) published1935Verse play Murder in the Cathedral commissionedfor the Canterbury FestivalOld Possum’s Book of Practical Cats was firstpublished in October 1939, with illustrations by Eliothimself on the cover, at 3 shillings and sixpence a copy.Today they are recognised as classics, and have beentranslated into many other languages. Macavity, themystery cat was selected as number 66 in a BBC pollof the Nation’s favourite poem in 1995, and thepopularity of the musical CATS has sustained theworldwide interest in the original poems.1939The Family Reunion (play), Old Possum’s Book ofPractical Cats (verse) and The Idea of a ChristianSociety (social criticism) published1943The Four Quartets (verse), generally regarded ashis masterpiece, first published as a single work1947Death of Vivien, Eliot’s wife after a long illness1948On the right is a timeline of T S Eliot’s life, featuring keyevents and his most important writings.Received the Order of Merit – bestowed by KingGeorge VI. Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature1957www.catsthemusical.comMarried Valerie Fletcher1958The Elder Statesman (play) published1965January – Eliot died in London. There is amemorial to him in Poet’s Corner, WestminsterAbbey.8

CONTEXTTHE CREATIVE TEAMIn order to help understand some of the complexitiesthat surround the musical CATS it is useful to explorethe context and timescale of the journey from T SEliot’s poetry to the London stage.CATS was the idea of Andrew Lloyd Webber, whocomposed the music to T S Eliot’s poems. Once he hadbegun to create the show Andrew Lloyd Webbergathered a number of other people together to work onCATS, including Trevor Nunn and Gillian Lynne.T S Eliot was born in America in 1888 but became aBritish citizen in 1927 after twelve years of living in theUnited Kingdom. His writing would have beeninfluenced by the different cultures he grew up with, thelong years he spent studying at different universitiesand the political and social changes he experienced,including the First World War.Eliot wrote Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats duringthe late 1930’s and it was published in October 1939,just after the outbreak of the Second World War.Eliot was writing of cats during a time when cats wereowned to be useful – to keep down mice – as much aspets. A time when a different class system existed andwhen the pace of life was very different to the early21st Century. His cat poems were mainly set inLondon, but one that we would not recognise, aLondon of theatre, gentlemen’s clubs and publichouses, telling of a bygone age with nostalgia andfondness. Gus the theatre cat mentions Henry Irving,a great actor in the Victorian era, Skimbleshankstravels on steam trains and Mungojerrie andRumpelteaser live in a house with a cook and otherservants to attend to their owners.Andrew Lloyd Webber was born in 1948 and enjoyedreading Eliot’s cat poems as a child. He began writingCATS in the late 1970’s, after the success of Josephand the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus ChristSuperstar and Evita, on which he collaborated with TimRice. CATS opened in 1981, forty-two years after thepoems were published and was a close collaborationwith Trevor Nunn and Gillian Lynne, who hadpreviously worked together at the Royal ShakespeareCompany. All these different people, with their differentbackgrounds in the arts and various ideas had aninfluence when creating the show.The current tour of CATS (2003/4) brings both thepoetry and the musical to new audiences, over half acentury since the poems were written and twenty-twoyears since the musical was first produced. Onceagain the attitudes and viewpoints of audiences haschanged and it is the nature of the enduring quality andcharm of both the poems and the musical that they stillremain so popular today.www.catsthemusical.comAndrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd Webber has writtensome of the world’s best-knownmusicals in the world, includingJesus Christ Superstar, Evita andSunset Boulevard. He has alsocomposed film scores and a settingfor a Latin Requiem Mass. He haswon numerous awards for his work– from Tonys, Grammys andLaurence Olivier Awards to an Oscar and a GoldenGlobe. In 1982 he became the first person to havethree musicals running simultaneously in the West Endand on Broadway. In 1992 he was knighted and in1996 received the Richard Rodgers Award forExcellence in Musical Theatre. In 1997 he waselevated to the peerage as Lord Lloyd Webber ofSydmonton.Late in 1977 Andrew Lloyd Webber began setting thepoems from T S Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of PracticalCats to music. He knew the poems well from hischildhood and wanted to attempt writing music to lyricsalready set, rather than the other way around, whichwas his normal practise. Initially the idea was as muchfor his own interest as for public performance, althoughhe did feel that it may form the basis for a concertpiece. In 1980 some of the songs he had set to musicwere performed at his annual Sydmonton Festival.They were seen by Valerie Eliot, T S Eliot’s widow, whogenerously gave access to many of his unpublishedwritings and enabled the creation of CATS to move onto a different level.Creating a musical is a collaborative process andAndrew Lloyd Webber knew he had to have the rightteam working with him to make CATS work. He initiallyapproached producer Cameron Mackintosh with theidea that CATS could form a double bill with Variationsbut it was soon decided that it should form a completemusical on its own. It was vital to find the right directorand choreographer to work with Andrew Lloyd Webberand Trevor Nunn was approached as director, followedby choreographer Gillian Lynne who had collaboratedwith Trevor Nunn (at the RSC) and CameronMackintosh before.9

Trevor NunnTrevor Nunn was Artistic Director of the RSC foreighteen years and his work there included a greatnumber of Shakespeare plays, alongside RestorationComedy and new writing. With his colleague JohnCaird, he co-directed Nicholas Nickleby and LesMiserables. He has also directed Starlight Express,Aspects of Love and Sunset Boulevard for AndrewLloyd Webber and a number of operas forGlyndebourne and the Royal Opera house. He spentseveral years as Director of the Royal NationalTheatre, has directed many television productions andthree films.Trevor Nunn was intrigued by the premise of CATS butfelt that some sort of narrative was vital to making thepiece work. When Valerie Eliot sent the fragment ofEliot’s poem Grizabella, the glamour cat to AndrewLloyd Webber, Trevor Nunn felt it was the key to thewhole piece and could be used to form a story that theother poems and dance would fit in to. He workedalongside Andrew Lloyd Webber creating the musicaland even contributed lyrics – in the structure of thesong ‘Memory’. CATS was difficult to cast. At thebeginning there was no script and few of the catcharacters had names. Trevor Nunn knew Judi Denchfrom his work with the RSC and she expressed aninterest – asking if there was a sleepy old cat that shecould play. She was cast as the Old Gumbie Cat, andalso as Grizabella, and gradually the rest of the castcame together, including Paul Nicholas as the RumTum Tugger. Initially rehearsals were spent working onthe dancing and also improvisation and characterdevelopment. Several days into rehearsals, after alunch time spent in the pub, Trevor Nunn was able tocome up with sixteen cat names (all from the poems)and allocate them to the different performers based onthe improvisation work they had done, and so enableeach cat to have a character and begin to tell theirindividual story.Gillian LynneGillian Lynne has been involved in over fifty West Endand Broadway shows as either director orchoreographer, as well as working extensively in filmand television.She was instrumental in thedevelopment of Jazz Dance in Great Britain and isrecognised world-wide for her groundbreakingchoreographic style.Gillian Lynne was asked to go and see Andrew LloydWebber regarding a new project based on Oldwww.catsthemusical.comPossum’s book of Practical Cats. She had never readthe poems, so quickly bought a copy to read on thetrain on her way to the meeting. He played her someof the music he had composed and she was instantlyvery excited by it and became involved in the creativeprocess. She worked with a small team (danceassistant, dance captain and one boy and one girldancer) and put together ideas for movement andchoreography for three quarters of the show, whichwas then presented to Andrew Lloyd Webber andTrevor Nunn.She observed her own cats indeveloping the dances, often creating completely newsteps and movements and helped Andrew LloydWebber develop some of the music, especially for theJellicle Ball, as he had never written music purely fordance before. Once rehearsals began, she workedwith the cast, alongside Trevor Nunn developing thepiece and making sure all the dancers were of thesame standard, fit and flexible enough to cope with ashow that demanded two and a half hours ofexhausting dancing. There were only five weeksavailable for rehearsal and when they began therewere still some songs incomplete and constantchanges to the music.Many characters weredeveloped through the way that they moved, withconstant reference back to the poems.As rehearsals progressed the show began to cometogether more. It was a challenging time for everyone– a show like this had never been seen before andthere was great scepticism about whether it would work– even to the extent that the New London Theatre,chosen as the venue, had to be persuaded not to pullout at the last moment. Then disaster struck when JudiDench snapped her Achilles tendon during rehearsalsand had to go into hospital. An anxious wait to see ifshe would recover in time ensued, but when shereturned to rehearsals she fell off the stage and injuredherself again and it was obvious she would have to bereplaced. Elaine Paige, who had starred in Evita,agreed to save the day and, with minimal rehearsal,was ready for the first preview, even though the songshe has become famous for – ‘Memory’ – wasn’t.The show continued to be changed and developedthroughout the previews but was receiving a favourableresponse from the audiences. On opening night CATSwas well received by the critics and soon queuesbegan to form at the box office. Broadway producers

Eliot's poems as lyrics and set them to music to create the musical CATS. The inclusion of elements of Rhapsody on a Windy Night and some of Eliot's unpublished writings enabled the character of Grizabella the glamour cat to be used and so a storyline emerged that formed a shape for the poems and abasis for a musical.