CATS was the first major foreign musical to come to Japan. That in itself gave rise to the question of whether or not a foreign musical would be successful there! But, as any CATS fan knows, there is something about the show that trancends all national bounderies. This is just as true in Japan as it is anywhere else in the world, and CATS has found amazing success, paving the way for other musicals like the Phantom of the Opera, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King. The most noticable trademark of the Japanese shows are that the costumes vividly reflect the art style native to the country. There is a lot of yellow and orange in the costumes, and the makeup is very clean and crisp. It is also the only show (I belive) to have both a Jemima and a Sillabub. Jemima looks very similar to the Jemimas/Sillabubs of the rest of the world, but Sillabub is the youngest kitten, is yellow, and it is she who touches Grizabella and accepts her. Other intersting facts include Tantomile being a Cassandra look-alike (and performs the same roll), while Cassandra and Tumblebrutus are the twins. In early productions, Tugger was a white Elvis clone, but has since adopted the more universal look of tans and black. Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer both wear costumes very much like what was in the origional London production, and their music is that same old jazzy tune.
