Gus: The Theatre Cat

Gus the Theatre Cat is the first character we are introduced to in act 2. He is elderly, frail and deaf, interrupting Jellylorum as she tells his story. Gus spins off into a reverie, which leads to the dream sequence "Growltiger's Last Stand."

Lyrics
Gus is the cat at the theater door

His name, as I ought to have told you before

Is really Asparagus, but that's such a fuss to pronounce

That we usually call him just Gus

-

His coat's very shabby, he's thin as a rake

And he suffers from palsy that makes his paw shake

For he was in his youth quite the smartest of cats

But no longer a terror to mice or to rats

-

For he isn't the cat that he was in his prime

Though his name was quite famous, he says, in his time

And whenever he joins his friends at their club

Which takes place at the back of the neighboring pub

He loves to regale them, if someone else pays

With anecdotes drawn from his palmiest days

For he once was a star of the highest degree

He has acted with Irving, he's acted with Tree

And he likes to relate his success on the halls

Where the gallery once gave him seven cat calls

But his greatest creation as he loves to tell

Was Firefrorefiddle, the fiend of the fell

-

I have played in my time every possible part

And I used to know seventy speeches by heart

I'd extemporize back chat, I knew how to gag

And I knew how to let the cat out of the bag

I knew how to act with my back and my tail

With an hour of rehearsal, I never could fail

I'd a voice that would soften the hardest of hearts

Whether I took love lead or in character parts

I have sat by the bedside of poor little Nell

When the curfew was rung then I swung on the bell

In the pantomime season, I never fell flat

And I once understudied Dick Whittington's cat

But my grandest creation, as history will tell

Was Firefrorefiddle, the fiend of the fell

-

Then, if someone will give him a toothful of gin

He will tell how he once played a part in East Lynne

At a Shakespeare performance he once walked on pat

When some actor suggested the need for a cat

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And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained

As we did in the days when Victoria reigned

They never get drilled in a regular troupe

And they think, they are smart just to jump through a hoop

-

And he says as he scratches himself with his claws

Well the theater is certainly not what is was

These modern productions are all very well

But there's nothing to equal from what I hear tell

That moment of mystery when I made history

As Firefrorefiddle, the fiend of the fell

- I once crossed the stage on the telegraph wire

To rescue a child when a house was on fire

And I think that I still can much better than most

Produce blood curdling noises to bring on the ghost

And I once played Growltiger could do it again

Could do it again, could do it again