Grizabella

Elaine Paige as Grizabella in the 1998 Cats video.

Grizabella is the "Glamour Cat" in the musical production Cats. She does not appear in T. S. Eliot's work Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, but she is a prominent character in the stageplay. It appears that she is the feline version of the woman mentioned in T.S. Eliot's poem "Rhapsody on a Windy Night".

"Remark the cat
Who hesitates toward you in the light of the door
Which opens on her like a grin.
You see the border of her coat
Is torn and stained with sand,
And you see the corner of her eye
Twists like a crooked pin."

The character of Grizabella featured in an unpublished poem that T. S. Eliot wrote for his godchildren, intending to include it in Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. However, as his widow, Valerie Eliot pointed out, he thought it was too "sad for children" and so did not include it in the finished work. Valerie Eliot came to the 1980 Sydmonton Festival concert where Andrew Lloyd Webber premiered some of his settings of the Old Possum poems, and gave him the paper with the fragment of Grizabella written on it. From there Lloyd Webber and director Trevor Nunn incorporated the Grizabella poem as a main strand of the plot of the show.

Grizabella is, at the time of her appearance, a very old cat, withered by her age to the point that she no longer resembles the proud, carefree, flamboyant dancer of her youth. Her fellow Jellicles are quite repulsed by Grizabella's dishevelled condition, and taunt her.

Possibly because of this, it is Grizabella whom Old Deuteronomy consigns to the Heaviside Layer to be reborn. During her change, Grizabella sings the song "Memory", which has been thought of by audiences as a very emotionally touching, profound, and even mysterious composition. It has been recorded by over 150 different artists, including Barry Manilow, Michael Crawford, Barbra Streisand and Kikki Danielsson.

Another interpretation of Grizabella's past is that she left the Jellicle tribe to explore the outside world ("Grizabella the Glamour Cat"), despite knowing that she would never be allowed back in. The other cats shun her for leaving them, despite the fact that she wants to be with them again. After several attempts to gain their acceptance, Grizabella's emotional appeal (represented by "Memory") is accepted; seeing how much she is suffering, she is chosen to be reborn.

The name Grizabella is probably derived from "grizzle" which means either "grey" or "disheveled", and "bella" which means "beautiful". Hence "Grizabella"; "The grey beauty" or "the disheveled beauty".

The role of Grizabella was originated by Elaine Paige in the West End production. She later reprised the role for the video. In the first Broadway production, Grizabella was played by Betty Buckley. Buckley won the Tony Award for outstanding achievement in the theater in 1983 for playing Grizabella. Laurie Beechman headed the First National Company of Cats and in 1984 she replaced Buckley. Beechman stayed with the show for more than four years and made occasional return engagements over the next decade. Dee Roscioli played the role in the US National Touring Company in 2003-2004. Dianne Pilkington (2006–2007) & Chrissie Hammond (2007–2008) played the role in the recent UK National Tour (2006–2008). Lea Salonga will star as Grizabella in the musical's Philippine run on July 24 - August 22, 2010.

Adaptation

Two weeks before the opening of Cats in May 1981, Webber wrote the melody for "Memory" and then Trevor Nunn wrote the lyrics, based on T. S. Eliot’s “Rhapsody on a Windy Night” and “Preludes”. The name Grizabella was from the title of another poem "Grizabella the Glamour Cat" by Eliot.

phrases T. S. Eliot wrote in Rhapsody on a Windy Night	adaptation by Trevor Nunn for Cats
Twelve o'clock	Midnight
The moon has lost her memory	Has the moon lost her memory?
She is alone	She is smiling alone
Every street lamp that I pass Beats like a fatalistic drum	Every street lamp seems to beat a fatalistic warning
The street lamp sputtered The street lamp muttered	Someone mutters and a street lamp sputters
With all the old nocturnal smells	The stale cold smell of morning
Memory!	All alone with the memory
Sleep, prepare for life	Look, a new day has begun

Players

• Elaine Paige
• Betty Buckley
• Angela Richards
• Marti Webb
• Anita Harris
• Lea Salonga
• Stephanie Lawrence
• Rosemarie Ford
• Linda Balgord
• Sally Ann Triplett
• Loni Ackerman
• Chrissie Hammond
• Laurie Beechman
• Dianne Pilkington
• Debra Byrne
• Kim Criswell
• Diane Langton
• Lillias White
• Liz Callaway
• Natalie Toro
• Ruthie Henshall
• Stephanie J. Block
• Maarja-Liis Ilus
• Di Botcher
• Pia Douwes
• Ruth Jacott
• Carol Nielsson
• Verity Anne Meldrum
• Sharon Benson
• Clare Burt
• Jacqui Scott
• Shezwae Powell
• Lindsey Danvers
• Ria Jones
• Jodie Langel
• Kathryn Holtkamp
• Angie Smith
• Anastasia Lange
• Delia Hannah
• Gretchen Goldsworthy
• Bev Harrell
• Donna Lee Marshall

References

• Rhapsody on a Windy Night by T.S. Eliot

See also

Jellicle cats