Gus

Gus (the Theatre Cat) is a character from Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, Cats.

In the 1998 Film of the musical, The actor playing Gus the Theatre Cat (the famous Sir John Mills) was too elderly to play more than a cameo role. This has led to many fans considering Gus and Asparagus are different characters. Onstage Gus is played by the actor who also portrays Bustopher Jones, Growltiger, and the chorus cat commonly called Asparagus.

Personality
Gus is an old, frail cat. He has a lot of history, and as a result of being so old, he is very slow and quiet. He sings about having a past of acting in shows, particularily as Growltiger.

Role
Gus is the first cat we are introduced to in Act II of Cats where he and Jellylorum relate highlights of his career, contrasting his present state with his acting heyday. In that time, it was claimed, "He has acted with Irving, he's acted with Tree." He and Jellylorum stress in particular his creation of the role of Firefrorefiddle, the "Fiend of the Fell". Onstage he goes on to relate how he "Once played Growltiger, could do it again..." which leads into the "Growltiger's Last Stand" scene. In the Broadway Revival, however, he plays the Rumpus Cat in The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles instead.

Appearance
Gus is a striped brown cat, with some black markings too. His wig has small rolled ears, as with some of the other cats. In his song outfit, he has a large brown coat, with lots of patches sewn onto it.

Song
In its only major deviation from the poem, the song modifies one short passage from the poem: "He once played a Tiger — could do it again — Which an Indian Colonel pursued down a drain." to "I once played Growltiger — could do it again" and uses this to segue into the song "Growltiger's Last Stand", wherein Gus recreates his role of Growltiger, a pirate cat. At the end of "Growltiger's Last Stand", Gus returns in a short reprise.

"Growltiger's Last Stand" does not appear in the 1998 filmed version of the musical – Asparagus only sings his initial song. This was primarily due to the age of Sir John Mills, whose filming took far longer than anticipated, resulting in the whole Pirate sequence being cut. Tony Timberlake had been due to play Growltiger.