Broadway Musical Cats?

Question

In June my dance school is going to put on a production of Cats and the entire school is going to be in it. When i was checking the cast list i saw that i was one of the "Poms". what exactly are the "Poms"? There are four of us who have that part. Do the "Poms" have a special dance ( i take ballet). I read the play on its website but it never mentioned "Poms". So if you could clear this up for me that would be great. Thnx!!

If you have ever been in the show or played this part, could you fill me in a bit.

Answer 1

cats is based on a poem by t.s.eliot-----the love song of j. alfred prufrock.

Answer 2

I have directed CATS before, so I can give you an idea of how that role has been staged. Your teachers may certainly go a different route, however.

As others have said before me, the Poms are one of the dog gangs from the song "The Pekes and the Pollicles". I have seen the Poms played almost poodle-like, but the name is most likely taken from Pomeranian.

The major focus of this number is that four gangs of dogs are fighting it out in a park when they are frightened away by The Great Rumpus Cat - something of a hairy cat superhero. The Poms are later entrants into the battle, dancing a small solo line as they enter then performing with the others until being scared off. In the original choreography there is not a great deal of complicated dancing in this section. I would think your choreographers are probably planning to expand it.

If you pull up CATS pictures on the web and see the cats with strange boxes and such on their heads - those are scenes from "Pekes and Pollicles". The cats improvise dog costumes from the trash around them.

Answer 3

The Pekes and the Pollicles, everyone knows,
Are proud and implacable passionate foes;
It is always the same, wherever one goes.
And the Pugs and the Poms, although most people say
That they do not like fighting, will often display
Every symptom of wanting to join in the fray.
And they
Bark bark bark bark
Bark bark BARK BARK
Until you can hear them all over the Park.

Now on the occasion of which I shall speak
Almost nothing had happened for nearly a week
(And that's a long time for a Pol or a Peke).
The big Police Dog was away from his beat -
I don't know the reason, but most people think
He'd slipped into the Bricklayer's Arms for a drink -
And no one at all was about on the street
When a Peke and a Pollicle happened to meet.
They did not advance, or exactly retreat,
But they glared at each other and scraped their hind feet,
And started to
Bark bark bark bark
Bark bark BARK BARK
Until you could hear them all over the Park.

Now the Peke, although people may say what they please,
Is no British Dog, but a Heathen Chinese.
And so all the Pekes, when they heard the uproar,
Some came to the window, some came to the door;
There were surely a doyen, more likely a score.
And together they started to grumble and wheeye
In their huffery-snuffery Heathen Chinese.
But a terrible din is what Pollicles like,
for your Pollicle Dog is a dour Yorkshire tyke,
And his braw Scottish cousins are snappers and biters,
And every dog-jack of them notable fighters;
And so they stepped out, with their pipers in order,
Playing When the Blue Bonnets Came Over the Border.
Then the Pugs and the Poms held no longer aloof,
But some from the balcony, some from the roof,
Joined in
To the din
With a
Bark bark bark bark
Bark bark BARK BARK
Until you could hear them all over the Park.

Now when these bold heroes together assembled,
The traffic all stopped, and the Underground trembled,
And some of the neighbours were so much afraid
That they started to ring up the Fire Brigade.
When suddenly, up from a small basement flat,
Why who should stalk out but the GREAT RUMPUSCAT.
His eyes were like fireballs fearfully blazing,
He gave a great yawn, and his jaws were amazing;
And when he looked out through the bars of the area,
You never saw anything fiercer or hairier.
And what with the glare of his eyes and his yawning,
The Pekes and the Pollicles quickly took warning.
He looked at the sky and he gave a great leap -
And they every last one of them scattered like sheep.

And when the Police Dog returned to his beat,
There wasn't a single one left in the street.

This is one of TS Elliots poems called
Of the Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles
I am assuming since the entire show is based on all of these kinds of poems that their would be a scene featuring the acting and dancing of this particular poem. I think the special type of dance would have to be up to the director based on the groups ability. I wish you luck!!! Break a leg!

Answer 4

It is one of the four dog gangs. Pekes, Pollicles, Poms, and Pugs.

The Pekes and the Pollicles, everyone knows,
Are proud and implacable passionate foes;
It is always the same, wherever one goes.
And the Pugs and the Poms, although most people say
That they do not like fighting, will often display
Every symptom of wanting to join in the fray.
And they
Bark bark bark bark
Bark bark BARK BARK
Until you can hear them all over the Park.

Answer 5

I don't think so but it always depends on how the director envisions it. Some times the costumes can get revealing or just tight. The cat's kind of paw at each other but nothing vulgar (at least in the version I saw) Personally, I was disappointed but it had to be a hit on Broadway for some reason.

Answer 6

Why not just ask the others in the class (or the teacher). This seems the easiest route.