Growltiger's Last Stand

derived from that book.

Growltiger was a "bravo cat who lived upon a barge", one who scoured the Thames from Gravesend to Oxford, terrorizing the inhabitants along the river, including "cottagers", canaries, geese, hens, "pampered Pekinese", and the "bristly Bandicoot that lurks on foreign ships". Growltiger is usually envisioned as a pirate, although he is never explicitly described as such. He is short an eye and had a "somewhat missing" ear.

"Growltiger's Last Stand" describes how he meets his fate when he least expects it.

"Cats", the musical

Andrew Lloyd Webber puts "Growltiger's Last Stand" to music in the musical "Cats". With the exception of one stanza, the poem is used nearly verbatim as the lyrics of the song.

The song appears as a reminiscence by Gus the Theatre Cat, who "once played Growltiger – could do it again". In most productions, the actor who plays Gus then becomes Growltiger, while Gus's companion Jellylorum becomes Growltiger's love interest, Griddlebone. Growltiger's crew of cats is played by male members of the troupe with pirate accoutrements over their cat costumes.

During Gus's reminiscence of Growltiger, Growltiger himself reminisces about good times at the Bull and Bush bar. In this song, "The Ballad of Bill M'caw", Webber puts an unpublished poem of Eliot's to music, describing the crowd at that bar on a "Sattaday night", in particular the barmaid Lily La Rose and the parrot Billy M'caw. The initial New York production of "Cats" replaced "The Ballad of Bill M'caw" with a "pastiche Italian aria" because the aria was "felt to be more of a crowd pleaser". [Webber, p.122.] The lyrics for the Italian aria come from the original Italian translation of "Growltiger's Last Stand". Webber "much prefers" "Billy M'caw", [Webber, p.122.] and in the recent UK touring production, "The Ballad of Billy McCaw" was re-instated and has subsequently replaced the Italian aria in most productions.

After the end of "Billy M'caw" (or the aria), the Siamese cats, lead by Ghengis, "swarm aboard" the barge and make Growltiger walk the plank, ending the song. At this point, Gus returns with a short reprise.

"Growltiger's Last Stand" does not appear in the 1998 filmed version of the musical – Gus only sings his initial song. This was primarily due to the age of Sir John Mills, who played Gus in the filmed version, as well as time restraints.Fact|date=July 2008

Notes

*Webber, Andrew Lloyd (2005) "Cats, Vocal Book", R & H Theatricals, New York.

External links

* [http://www.angelfire.com/musicals/rumplepounce/poems.html#3 Growltiger’s Last Stand]