George is a minor character in the musical Cats. He appears only rarely, originating in the London production as part of the ensemble and then occasionally in larger worldwide productions as a swing character. He appears as an ensemble character in the 1998 film, his performer credited on-screen only as the Rumpus Cat.
Personality[]
George is a young adult cat, more mature than the kittens Carbucketty and Bill Bailey, but not taking responsibility like Alonzo or Skimbleshanks. In London, he was often seen with Victor.
In the 1998 film, he seemed rather shy but excitable. Most of his screen time was spent with open-mouthed expressions, often times grinning.
Appearance[]
George's costume is one of the hardest to describe. He has brown and black hatching but no strong features except for his wig, which has a brown ear, a black ear, and the bangs between being white. Onstage his makeup consists of eye patches to match his ears and a brown spot on his lip, looking somewhat similar to Alonzo, Bill Bailey and Carbucketty.
The original design shows a relatively non-descript grey/brown cat, with prominent stripes on his left thigh and right arm, and black hatching on his right torso. The George costumes focused on the stripe elements but the torso hatching tended to be rather vague. The Palladium costume features the torso hatching far more prominently but less focus is placed on the long stripes on the thigh. Both costumes are clearly interpretations of the same design.
Gallery[]
Role[]
George's main featured role is playing the Rumpus Cat. He was also the 6th member of Growltiger's Raffish Crew , wearing a black and white striped shirt with an orange bandana. Otherwise he part of the dancing ensemble.
In the London production, Steven Wayne, an original cast member, played Admetus and then George for most of the 21 year run. When Steven Wayne left the show in 2000, the character of George was retired with him in honour of his outstanding run with the show. George rarely appears in other productions worldwide - he did not feature in the Broadway production or any other early replica productions. In more recent years when an extra ensemble cat has been added, the name "George" might be used if "Pouncival" is already present.
When the Broadway Production opened in 1982, George did not feature as a full character, but was an unofficially named swing played by Steven Hack. Steven would wear his "George" costume when covering other ensemble tracks, saving the need for many duplicate costumes being constructed at the opening of the production. This was a different structure to the later Australia-based onstage swings.
Australian George[]
Australian-based productions have often featured Onstage Swings - in addition to the main ensemble, the swings have their own distinct characters, and appear in every performance. The distinction between the main ensemble and the onstage swings is that should a swing performer be unavailable, that character is not replaced. The name "George" is often used, along with other names pulled from "The Naming of Cats".
With the changes brought in in Australia NZ 2015, both George and Electra were promoted to main cast, with understudies, along with the addition of Carbucketty to the cast. George retained his previous Australian style costume, with Pouncival receiving the London George based costume. Since then his status in Australian-based productions has varied from onstage swing (cut when the performer is unavailable) to full character (understudied role).
Film "Admetus"[]
In the 1998 film, Frank Thompson is only credited onscreen as the Rumpus Cat, his ensemble role uncredited. The film is based on the London production playing at the time in which George doubled as the Rumpus Cat, and indeed, the film costume is George's but worn with softer makeup than onstage. However, the film's now-defunct website www.catsvideo.com credited the actor as "Admetus/Rumpus Cat",[1] the former of which is usually an alternate name for Plato. Given other inaccuracies on the website and the fact that the "Admetus" name had not been used for the role of George before, it is unknown whether this was an error by the website or an intentional renaming of the character.
Palladium Pouncival[]
The 2014 London Palladium production features an extra male kitten in the ensemble, besides the normal London-based character names Bill Bailey and Carbucketty; named Pouncival. However he is in design much closer to George - including the double eye patches, than being a duplicate of Carbucketty as the name would suggest. His costume developed from an old London George wig used in the UK Tour for swings in the large group photoshoots, and similar to George lacks bold design features in the unitard, particularly Carbucketty's gold and black chest stripes. Pouncival also takes George's role as the 6th member of Growltiger's Raffish Crew.
Etymology[]
"George" is mentioned in "The Naming of Cats" as one of the "sensible, everyday names".
Translations[]
The following names have also been used for the character of George in various international productions:
- Flattpot - Oslo 1985
- Yrjö - Helsinki 1986
Cast[]
Performers who have played George.
Fandom[]
For fandom headcanons and theories, CLICK HERE.
References[]
- ↑ CATS the Video Credits, www.catsvideo.com - via the Wayback Machine (1998). Note: The www.reallyuseful.com website also released a cast list for the video on March 12, 1998, where Frank Thompson is credited as "Admetus/Cover".