Mr. Mistoffelees

Mr. Mistoffelees (sometimes written as Mistoffolees) is a character in T. S. Eliot's poetry book Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats and its stage adaptation, Andrew Lloyd Webber's popular musical Cats. He is an important primary character, and one of the most popular of the show. He is also sometimes referred to as Quaxo or Misto by fans.

The Poem

Mistoffelees' name derives from the demon Mephistopheles. However, the character is not sinister as the name implies, and instead is described by Eliot as being "the original conjuring cat", who is "always deceiving you into believing that he's only hunting for mice" — a mysterious quiet and small black feline capable of performing feats of magic and sleight of hand. These traits are portrayed as amusing, not fearsome or particularly deadly.

Mr. Mistoffelees (Excerpt)

He is quiet and small, he is black
From his ears to the tip of his tail;
He can creep through the tiniest crack,
He can walk on the narrowest rail.
He can pick any card from a pack,
He is equally cunning with dice;
He is always deceiving you into believing
That he's only hunting for mice.
He can play any trick with a cork
Or a spoon and a bit of fish-paste;
If you look for a knife or a fork
And you think it is merely misplaced--
You have seen it one moment, and then it is gawn!
But you'll find it next week lying out on the lawn.

T. S. Eliot, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

The Musical

In Cats, Mistoffelees is a principal role and maintains most of the same attributes as Eliot's original character, although he is much flashier. He has his own song and an extended dance solo in the second act of the show, and, in most productions, also sings the "Invitation to the Jellicle Ball" in the first act. In the original London Cast, Mistoffelees also sang "The Old Gumbie Cat"; and in the original Broadway production, he sang "Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer". However, the song was reworked to allow those two characters to sing it. In some versions of the musical, he is given a second name, 'Quaxo'. Often his "chorus" version is known as Quaxo, and his special song costume is known as Mistoffelees. Mistoffelees performs the most difficult choreography in the show, including 24 fouettés en tournant and dancers cast in the role frequently have extensive ballet and gymnastic experience. Because the role's technical demands necessarily trump the performer's vocal abilities, the show permits multiple vocal tracks for the character--thereby allowing some dancers to sing quite a bit, while others do no singing at all. Unlike most of the other cats, he is not impressed by Rum Tum Tugger, and Tugger sings his song for him. They appear to have some kind of love-hate relationship.

Relationships

While the show is quite unstructured in its portrayal of relationships and how they are portrayed, there are several quite common pairings and theories about them created by the fans. Mistoffelees is frequently portrayed as being very close to Victoria, Which is more often than not portrayed in a platonic relationship(i.e. Best friends, Siblings) and in some cases mates. They open the Jellicle Ball together, and are often seen spending time together. Mistoffelees's parents are not directly stated in the show, but his father is commonly believed to be Macavity, as they share magical powers. Others believe him to be the Nephew or son of Bustopher Jones, and/or brother to Alonzo and Victoria due to the colouring the four share. One of the most commonly used pairings in the fan base is a slash relationship between Mistoffelees and Rum Tum Tugger. In some productions Tugger kisses Mistoffelees after his line "The Rum Tum Tugger is a terrible bore". Some other popular pairings are Mistoffelees and Victoria, and Mistoffelees and Jemima, one of the kittens in the musical.

Costume

Although the poetry is specific about his appearance being "Black/from the ears to the tip of his tail", the practicalities of stage costume mean he is usually portrayed as a black and white tuxedo cat (as seen above), as a pure black costume would be completely lost under stage lighting. He wears two costumes, a basic black hatched leotard with white chest and fluffy warmers through the majority of the show. However for his feature song, he has a far more glamorous black velvet and rhinestone costume, with a black jacket fitted with electric flashing fairy lights to make the most spectacular and magical entrance.

Cast

Actors who have portrayed Mistoffelees onstage include Wayne Sleep, Louie Spence, Timothy Scott, Gen Horiuchi, Lindsay Chambers, Ryan Patrick Ferrell, Chris Mackenthun, Shane Hall, Eddie Buffum, George de la Peña, Guy-Paul Ruolt, and Connor Sweeney. In the 1998 DVD production of the show, Mistoffelees is portrayed by Jacob Brent, reprising his Broadway role. Guy-Paul de Ruolt portrayed the role in London and France. Julius Sermonia was the last Mistoffelees on Broadway when Cats closed on September 10, 2000. In 2010, the CCS Thespian production of Cats has Jake Burnham cast in the role of Mistoffelees.

In Popular Culture

When Neil Patrick Harris hosted Saturday Night Live in 2009, Bobby Moynihan played Mr. Mistoffelees in a Save Broadway Sketch.

Mistoffelees is referenced in Tim Minchin's free verse poem Perineum Millennium. The track is based on the works of T. S. Eliot.

Mistoffelees is also the name of the cat familiar owned by Penny Dreadful in the Mage: the Ascension universe.

He is also mentioned as abusing Chris in the movie Team America: World Police.

He shares the name of one of three cats in the Tim and Eric episode "Jazz", the other two being Skimbleshanks and Grizabella. Skimbleshanks is another cat from Eliot's book, while Grizabella does not make an appearance in the book. Both cats do however star in the musical Cats alongside Mr. Mistoffelees.

References

• Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, T. S. Eliot, Harcourt, 1982, ISBN 0-15-168656-4
• A Cat's Diary: How the Broadway Production of Cats was born, Stephen Hanan, Smith & Kraus, 2002, ISBN 1-57525-281-3
• Mr. Mistoffelees and other poems, T. S. Eliot, Errol Le Cain, Faber & Faber, 1990, ISBN 0-571-15347-X