Victoria

"Victoria's one of the kittens of the show. She's quite naive, and I feel that's because she's so much younger than the other cats. All she wants is to be like them. But then, throughout the show, she kind of grows up a little bit more."

--Caitlin McNamara, Victoria 

Victoria is a beautiful white kitten. She is very mature for her age, I think a symbol of a child coming into womanhood.
In Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, there was no cat named Victoria, but Queen Victoria was referred to more than once, and as there were too many names for toms but not enough for queens, they made a character out of that name for Cats...at least, I assume that's how Victoria came into being. She is always very pleased to hear her namesake mentioned.
Victoria's closest friends are Quaxo/Mr. Mistoffelees, with whom she invites all the Jellicles to the Jellicle Ball, and Jemima, with whom she...well...reiterates the invitation at the beginning of the "Song of the Jellicles". She is also good friends with the other kittens.
Munkustrap and Victoria seem to have a close connection, although it is not necessarily a romantic one--in the movie they dance together during "Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats", and when Munkustrap describes the Jellicle Choice, while all the other cats crouch down Victoria stays standing. She seems to have a special connection with the spirits beyond the Heaviside Layer.
Although Victoria does not participate in the big mating dance, she has a solo one later on with one of the toms. She does not seem to be portrayed as Alonzo's mate, but she often flirts with him during "Song of the Jellicles". She also admires the Rum Tum Tugger and Skimbleshanks, but not as much as some of the other kittens.
Victoria dances in the Macavity number, but--perhaps wisely--disappears during the battle. She sympathizes with Grizabella more than most other cats, and repeatedly tries to approach her but is stopped by Jellylorum. Finally, at the end of "Memory", Old Deuteronomy has her begin the acceptance circle that will eventually send Grizabella up to the Heaviside Layer.

Useful Facts About the Role

Victoria has no solo singing or speaking lines, and is mainly a dance role. Her biggest moments are a balletic solo early in the show and, of course, the solo mating dance, both of which require extreme flexibility.

Jellylorum

"She's a very practical, pragmatic cat, she's also very mature. She's the caretaker of the old cat, Gus, who was once a theatre cat, and she's very loving, but she's also quite cheeky at times and very playful."

--Sienna Embrey, Jellylorum

Jellylorum, who was named after TS Eliot's cat, is a conscientious female cat. She is very protective of the kittens. In the movie she appears to be the mother of Etcetera and Victoria. She repeatedly has to hold Victoria back from touching Grizabella, who she does not seem to trust.
Jellylorum is close friends with Demeter, Bombalurina and Jennyanydots. Like Bombalurina, she sings both Jennyanydots' and Bustopher Jones' songs, but unlike the fiery young cat, she seems to genuinely respect both.
She does not dance in the Macavity number, but she does help to fight him off. Like Jennyanydots and Demeter, she has no interest in the Rum Tum Tugger.
Jellylorum is very close to Gus. Her exact relationship to him is debatable...she is usually played by an actress young enough to be his daughter, and yet she does play Griddlebone to Gus's Growltiger, and Griddlebone and Growltiger are mates.
Either way, it is obvious that Jellylorum is Gus's caretaker and loves him very much. She is proud of his achievements and is concerned for his health, and seems to have an endless store of patience for all his whims (although she does try to stop him from going into too much detail about Fireforefiddle/Growltiger). When she is concerned for the kittens, however, she can be rougher and harsher, as is demonstrated in her confrontations with Grizabella and Macavity.

Useful Facts About the Role

Like Demeter, Jellylorum is mainly a background dance role. She has no speaking lines, and is best known for her high soprano voice.

Jellylorum can be played by a considerable age range, from around the age of Demeter and Bombalurina to around the age of Jennyanydots. She should, however, at least appear younger than Grizabella.

Mr. Mistoffelees

"He's a bit of a rascal, I think...I think he's a bit of a child prodigy of the Tribe, brilliant at what he does but a little wacky at the same time...and he's not really an adult yet; he's not a kitten, so he's in that in-between stage...but he has these magical powers, and he doesn't quite know how to use them yet, but he's learning."

--Jacob Brent, Mr. Mistoffelees

Mr. Mistoffelees, otherwise known as Quaxo, is a young magician-in-training. He only makes his official appearance as Mr. Mistoffelees toward the end of the show, in a glittery costume that can create the illusion of fire. As Quaxo, however, he participates a great deal in nearly every number, and performs magic several times, such as revealing Jennyanydots for her song, and turning on the lights for the second part of the Jellicle Ball.

Quaxo seems to get along well with Munkustrap, as they collaborate on various points. He has a more interesting relationship with the Rum Tum Tugger. He seems singularly unimpressed by him, calling him "a terrible bore", but the Rum Tum Tugger still sings his song and presents him to the Tribe.

Quaxo is especially close to Victoria; the exact nature of their relationship is questionable, although Andrew Lloyd Webber has hinted that he meant them to be siblings. The two of them call all the cats to the Jellicle Ball.

Like everyone else, Quaxo loves and respects Old Deuteronomy. He is the first to sense that the Jellicle leader is close at hand. This intuition is repeated during Grizabella's various appearances. In early productions, Quaxo was the one to call Macavity's name during the three "Macavity scares", but Demeter later took it over, partially to fit the plot and work up to her leading his song, and partially so the actor playing Quaxo would have time to change into his Mr. Mistoffelees costume.

There has been some controversy over whether Mr. Mistoffelees and Quaxo are the same character, or whether they are two different characters--brothers, maybe--played by the same actor. Although I portrayed them in my fanfiction as brothers, my personal opinion is that they are the same cat.

Useful Facts About the Role

I think that Mr. Mistoffelees probably has to be the best dancer in the cast, and to have had ballet training, since it is very much a dance role that includes complex turns, leaps and other acrobatic moves. He does not do much solo singing in current productions...in the past he did much more third-person singing--that is, he sang about Jennyanydots where Munkustrap does now, about Old Deuteronomy where the Rum Tum Tugger does now, and about Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer whereas now they introduce themselves. He also sang part of his own song. Even now, although there is much less, you cannot completely escape singing--there are some lines that you sing on your own or with others.

Mr. Mistoffelees also has two short speaking lines outside of "Song of the Jellicles": "Old Deuteronomy!" and "Presto!" Because spoken lines are so rare, this is something very special, even though all together this amounts to only three words.

Jennyanydots

Jennyanydots is a mostly friendly and outgoing she-cat, a mother/grandmother-like figure who can still put on style, as is demonstrated in her dance number. She seems to have a close relationship with Munkustrap, and is also friends with Jennyanydots and Bombalurina.
There is some debate about who Jennyanydots' mate is, as she spends quite a bit of time with Skimbleshanks, but is obviously attracted to Bustopher Jones.
She is fiercely protective of the kittens, and seems to distrust both the Rum Tum Tugger and Grizabella. She does not participate in the Macavity dance number, but (in the movie) later helps to fight him off.
Like Skimbleshanks, Jennyanydots is initially a fun and easygoing character, but can also be a strict disciplinarian. She has made a docile knitting circle out of the badly behaved mice, and a "troop of well-disciplined helpful boy scouts" of the "idle and wanton" cockroaches.

Useful Facts About the Role

Jennyanydots is a soprano, who shows off her skill by hitting a high C during "Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats". She leads a tap dance and participates in many group numbers.

Like Grizabella and Old Deuteronomy, Jennyanydots can be played by a wide age range.

Rumpleteazer and Mungojerrie

"I'm Rumpleteazer, and I'm part of a duo who is Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, and we're the two naughtiest cats in 'Cats', I suppose. We're always doing what we shouldn't, being where we shouldn't be, getting up to mischief, and creating a hassle for everyone else. The number 'Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer' talks through a process about when we decide to go out burgling one night, which we do often, of course. But she's lovable at the same time as being naughty and cheeky--she's always getting a clip around the ear from the older cats...but they like her really."

 --Jo Gibb, Rumpleteazer

Once again, there's not much I can say that will top that! What I do have to say is mainly some things about their relationships to the other cats, fan speculation, and (of course) useful facts for future Rumpleteazers and Mungojerries.

The two of them are very close, best friends and partners in crime, almost always seen together. Mungojerrie and in some versions Rumpleteazer get mention as agents of Macavity, but as Rumpleteazer dances in his song and Mungojerrie takes part in clawing him away, this is debatable.

A topic of fan speculation is whether Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer are siblings or mates. Although their looking alike makes them likely siblings, the fact that in some productions they do the mating dance together and certain suggestive elements of their own song makes one wonder.

It is hard to tell exactly what either thinks of Grizabella, since they generally magically disappear when she's around. Like everyone else, they greatly respect Old Deuteronomy--he is just about the only cat/person they do respect.

Rumpleteazer is often one of the kittens who likes the Rum Tum Tugger. In smaller productions she may be the one squealing toward the end of his song.

In a production I saw, Mungojerrie often danced alongside the females, which made me wonder if he was gay...but since I have yet to hear of homosexual cats in the real world, I will leave it at that. Please don't attack me...it's just a theory!

Useful Facts About the Roles

Both characters do a lot of dancing and acrobatics. You have to be able to sing, but you don't have to be Julie Andrews or Idina Menzel. (Sorry, future Mungojerries--I'm not very well educated in the great male musical singers!)

The characters are comical and mischievous for the most part, with a little ego added in when they say their own names. Obviously you have to know the character and the story, but neither role is extremely difficult to play.
In smaller productions, they will cover Coricopat and Tantomile's lines and do their dancing, and there they may be portrayed as more serious or at least more insightful (see Coricopat and Tantomile).

Bustopher Jones

(I apologize for no picture...there are literally no good Bustopher pictures out there. All the ones I've found have gotten copyrighted.)

If Bustopher Jones was a modern-day human, his friends might well worry about him, for he is...um..."remarkably fat." He does little other than eat, drink and socialize, is twenty-five pounds (as opposed to the average cat, who is fourteen at most), and is only gaining in weight.

However, because he's a Jellicle Cat, and because he's a happy, easygoing character, we can only assume that this lifestyle agrees with him.

Bustopher, interestingly, looks quite a bit like an older, more overweight, less graceful version of Quaxo--the same black-with-white coloring, the same white tail-tip--so there is some speculation that they may be related.

Bustopher is a respected member of the Tribe, and the older queens seem to find him attractive, although the younger cats, especially Etcetera, seem secretly disgusted by him. Everyone defers to him, although he can be vain and inconsiderate. When he's in a good mood, he is very popular, and it seems to be a great honor to be noticed by him.

It is hard to tell what Bustopher thinks of Grizabella, since they are never on the stage at the same time. It is obvious that he is easily frightened, for he runs away at the first suggestion of Macavity.

Useful Facts About the Role

Despite the fact that Bustopher Jones has a whole song dedicated to him, it is actually the only time that he is onstage.
You need to have a pretty deep voice (I don't know the male vocal range, but I'd guess a baritone) to play him. It's not a challenging acting role, since all you need to do is walk very confidently and laugh easily. Bustopher never exactly dances, although the "walk" of his song is choreographed. The move that's closest to dance is when he, crossing and uncrossing his legs, nearly falls backward...or when walking, he wobbles forward and nearly falls offstage. (Please don't actually do so!)
Bustopher is usually played by a middle-aged actor, and I think in smaller productions may be played by the same actor that plays Gus, or even Old Deuteronomy.

Skimbleshanks

Skimbleshanks is--well, the railway cat. He is only formally introduced in the second act, during his song, but is a lead singer and dancer during the first. He is very playful and fun, always making the other cats laugh, although he sometimes goes overboard and has to be calmed down by one of his friends.
Ironically, during his song Skimbleshanks is very controlling, making sure that everything is in order on his train. He is very proud of his work, but is not egotistical...when Macavity interrupts his song his first thought is to protect the kittens.
Skimbleshanks seems to get along well with Quaxo...the two of them often come up with comical schemes of some sort. He is also very close to Jennyanydots, as whenever the cats are sitting down the two of them gravitate toward each other, and (in the movie) he watches her song from the back instead of dressing up as a mouse or cockroach.
Skimbleshanks shows no especial like or dislike of Grizabella...he seems wary of her, and keeps an eye on the younger cats when she's around, but doesn't hiss at her or spit on her, and towards the end (again, in the movie) he comes forward to help her when she stumbles.