Do you tap like a beetle when dancing on paws? Do you sing narrations and ballads and songs? Are you Jellicle now and Jellicle hence and Jellicle before and Jellicle after? Meow…?
Thank you for giving us some of your time! If you could tell us who you are and who you’re playing that would be great!
Rob Tucker: I’m Rob Tucker and I’m playing Quaxo. And also I’m the Rumpus Cat. I think those are the only two. You wind up doing so many different things in a Bambi show you might lose count!
Tell me about Quaxo.
Rob: Quaxo is one of the central core movement cats. He’s one of the cats that visually brings moments— like the entrance of Deuteronomy— to life. Otherwise he’s just kind of there to fill in and have fun. I perceive Quaxo as being ‘all business’ reverent. I have this whole thing where he can’t detract his claws without great effort, so he’s always ready to go. He’s there for the process. He loves being there for the ceremony, he’s all about the ceremony and wanting it to go off without a hitch and wanting to be as helpful as he possibly can.
We learn that all cats have three names. Quaxo is your cat’s ‘more dignified name’ and while we can never know the ‘secret name’ that he calls himself, what do you think his ‘family daily use’ name is? What are the humans calling him every day?
Rob: He feels like a smokey to me.
Do you have cats? I feel like Amy (Jennyanydots) told me the answer to this question but I cannot remember what she said.
Rob: Yeah, she definitely would have answered ‘yes’ because we have cats. The last time we did Cats (with Bambi in 2016) we had two cats. This time we also have two cats but one of them is different. We have Stormy and we have Ravioli. Stormy and Ravioli are both striped tiger tabbies. One of them is a proper rescue from the Humane Society. The other…well this barn cat that Amy’s cousin took in suddenly had five kittens in the basement of their home. So we took one of them, and that was after we had found Wonka under a bush…literally under a bush. When Wonka passed away— that was August 12th of last year (2021). And it took us a while. It took us until December when the Humane Society was having their holiday clear-out, where they were discounting their adoption fees, practically handing out animals for free because the end of the year was approaching. And we saw Ravioli— literally the only medium-to-long-haired cat in the entire facility at the Humane Society. I am a complete sucker for long-haired cats. And I mean complete sucker. Short-haired cats? Yeah, okay, cool, whatever. But long-haired cats? Like something fluffy you can just rub your face in? I love it. We love it.
You did this once before with Bambi about six years ago. Who did you play then?
Rob: I played Mungojerrie!
That’s a fun role. Why did you want to come back and do Cats again?
Rob: You know, I wasn’t originally planning to come out. I needed a break, I was going to start the process for National Board Certification and that is, like it sounds, a process. So I wanted to keep my schedule as clear as possible. In my brain, I thought ‘it’s November, I can’t do anything in November.’ Once October is done, I’m done. But then Amy (wife Amy Tucker) got cast and told me it’s in September. And immediately my brain went, “Oh? September? I guess I’ll go out for it!” But I didn’t want anyone particular or special, I just wanted to do something. Doing Cats is ‘are you capable of doing something this physical, this exhausting, this taxing, this exact and this precise at 37 years old?’ I think in the answer of that question somewhere there is a very cat-like curiosity. This show is just such an utterly unique show. It does rely so much on physical storytelling. A lot of musical theatre does not; it takes the storytelling into the singing. So the idea of portraying an animal and that really unique combination of balletic dance, jazz dance, and a cat seems like a match made in heaven sometimes. Andrew Lloyd Webber struck gold with it.
I know a lot of people get impatient with Cats because it doesn’t really have your proper linear story or any of that other structured narrative stuff. I love it because it is almost a showcase of all of the other theatrical elements that can pull an audience into a piece of musical theatre. You love musical theatre, but why do you love musical theatre? You love musical theatre because of the story. But a play is a story. Are you going to sit and watch Long Day’s Journey Into Night as many times as you’re going to watch Les Mis for the love of storytelling in theatre? You’re not. That tells me that the story is not the only reason you go. You go for the movement, you go for the conceit, you go for the spectacle. You go for all of those wonderful things that make theatrical experiences worth experiencing. Cats has that in spades. It’s not something driven by story, it’s driven by character and it’s driven by spectacle. It’s a rather unique piece in that right, even in musical theatre.
What does it mean to you to be a Jellicle Cat?
Rob: A Jellicle Cat could be a domesticated cat, it has not lost its sense of the street. A Jellicle cat is a social cat is a mischievous cat. I’m just going to stop there. Although it could be domesticated, it might be a stray, it’s always street.
What has been your big personal takeaway from this whole 2022 Cats experience?
Rob: My toe hurts. My hip hurts. I’m in pain everywhere. This is the second show in a row that I’ve talked to you about sharing the stage with former students and how that is a big passion of mine. The takeaway is that I get as much satisfaction being on stage myself as I get when I watch them succeed. I subbed in Austin’s (Rum Tum Tugger, Austin Barnes) theatre classes and other classes when he was in high school. I taught Stanley (Skimbleshanks/Macavity, Stanley Evans) when he went to Edgewood High School, and then of course I directed Erin (Tantomile, Erin Acerno) in theatre camps. That’s the fun part for me. I get such joy out of this community because it has members that I have known for a while, since they were forming their theatrical bonds and cutting their theatrical teeth.
If you had to choose just one word to describe Cats, what would you choose for this experience?
Rob: Surreal. It’s always surreal.
Cats plays September 16th 2022 through September 25th 2022 with Tidewater Players, in residence at the Cultural Center at The Havre de Grace Opera House— 121 N. Union Street in historic downtown Havre de Grace, MD. For tickets call the box office at 667-225-8433 or purchase them online.
Meet Rum Tum Tugger
Meet Carbucketty
Meet Jellylorum
Meet Coricopat
Meet Tantomile
Meet Griddlebone/Sillabub
Meet Cassandra
Meet Euterpeco
Meet Victoria
Meet Mungojerrie
Meet Rumpleteazer
Meet Munkustrap
Meet Demeter
Meet Alonzo
Meet Jennyanydots
Meet Victor
Meet Electra
Meet Bill Bailey/Ghengis
