User blog comment:Belle pullman/Jemima / Sillabub/@comment-27942447-20160426062112/@comment-27942447-20160426161753

Speaking of complicated...

George and Electra a now listed in with the main cast, rather than under Cats Chrous like before. First time I saw this particular tour, Bree Langbridge was on for Tantomile, and Erin James was on as Electra, so she was understudied, yet Sam Hooper was coving Admetus/Macavity but there was no George understudy, and he played Admetus in his George costume. So they are main characters now, and have fixed places in the dances.

The rest of them, I think the names are unnoficiall (they are just listed as swing in the program, and booth singers on the cast board) and they just have names for themselves as it's what they're used to as most of them have done the show prior. The names they call themselves do not match up to their costume, however (Erin James is referred to as Etcetera, yet wears an old Jemima costume, for example).

This leaves the dilema of what to do during Naming of Cats, when they need to cover two balconies. To fix this, Electra a George ditch the group, and appear on the balconies, along with all of the swings, in full costume and makeup. The swings are out again at the end of interval. Andrew Dunne however, randomly appears on the ledge during Awful Battle, narrates the enitre scene into a giant moble phone, and then vanishes again. He does not have a bow, but does join the lineup after the bows and the final party off.

Prior to the changes (up until 2015), the swings were on in costume the whole show, unless they were coving another role, in which case the character was cut. The exception was the Resident Director and Choreographer. They were named in the program, but did not have their own costume. They would go on if they ran out of chorus cats, for example, in 2009, I saw Olivia cover Tantomile, and Electra cover Victoria. This left them with no female swing on stage should they need an instant replacement, so Jemima (resident Choreographer) went on, listed as Jemima on the cast board, but wearing an Electra costume.

All makes sense to me, but I've seen it in action. Might not be so clear for people who haven't seen it themselves.