Siamese

The Siamese cats are the antagonists in Growltiger's Last Stand, in which Gus reminisces about a performance in which he played Growltiger, a ferocious pirate taken down by the Siamese crew, led by Gilbert / Ghengis.

Character
The Siamese cats are portrayed as ruthless, efficient, yet possibly merciful towards Griddlebone. It can be speculated that Griddlebone may have been working in league with the Siamese to provide a distraction.

Lyrics
But most to cats of foreign race his hatred had been vowed To cats of foreign name and race, no quarter was allowed The Persian and the Siamese regarded him with fear Because it was a Siamese had mauled his missing ear

... And his raffish crew were sleeping in their barrels and their bunks As the Siamese came creeping in their sampans and their junks

Growltiger had no eye or ear for aught but Griddlebone And the lady seemed enraptured by my manly baritone Disposed to relaxation and awaiting no surprise But the moonlight shone reflected from a thousand bright blue eyes

And closer still and closer the sampans circled 'round And yet from all the enemy there was not heard a sound The foe was armed with toasting forks and cruel carving knives And the lovers sang their last duet in danger of their lives

(Duet)

Then Genghis gave the signal to his fierce Mongolian horde With a frightful burst of fireworks, the siamese swarmed aboard Abandoning their sampans, their pullaways, and junks They battened down the hatches on the crew within their bunks

Then Griddlebone she gave a screech for she was badly skeered I am sorry to admit it, but she quickly disappeared She probably escaped with ease I'm sure she was not drowned But a serried ring of flashing steel Growltiger did surround

The ruthless foe pressed forward in stubborn rank on rank Growltiger to his vast surprise was forced to walk the plank He who a hundred victims had driven to that drop At the end of all his crimes was forced to go kerflip, kerflop

Oh there was joy in Wapping when the news flew through the land At Maidenhead and Henley there was dancing on the Strand Rats were roasted whole in Brentford and Victoria Dock And a day of celebration was commanded in Bangkok!

Design
The original London production dressed the Siamese characters in simple, generic "Asian" style robes patterned with triangular blue-eyed Siamese cat faces. The choreography included large fans.

The Broadway production, the following year, had a far larger budget for costumes and the Siamese upgraded to some of the most intricate and complex costumes in the show. Patterned after historic Thai Armour, they included complex headdress, a broad collar with pointed shoulders, and a tabard, worn over fawn to brown ombre satin. The collar and tabard included electrified light-up blue eyes that glowed. They also gained the prop carving knives and toasting forks as mentioned in the lyrics. These more elaborate designs became the standard world-wide and replaced the simple fan costumes in the UK by the mid-1990s.