When you fall on your head do you land on your feet? Are you tense when you sense there’s a storm in the air? Which Jellicle Cat will you meet today— not Macavity— he’s not there. Swish.

Thank you so much for giving us a moment of your time! If you could tell us who you are and who you play, we’ll get things underway!

Sam Ranocchia: I’m Sam Ranocchia and for this show I’m playing Victor.

Tell me about Victor.

Sam: Victor is a wonderful cat. Victor is his everyday name. He just likes to be in the middle of everything. He doesn’t always get involved but he likes to witness everything. He’s kind of like a watcher.

Do you share similar qualities with Victor or are you a little different?

Sam: No I do not share qualities with Victor because I’m more of a doer. I like to be in the thick of things. I love to be in the mix. If I could be doing everything that the entire cast is doing, I would. Unfortunately, I cannot.

Why did you want to be a part of Cats?

Sam: Oh, this one’s going to be a long one! I first saw the show in 1985. I was 15. It was the very first Broadway show I ever saw in my life. My Junior High School Drama Club went up to see it. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life until I saw Cats. I knew then that’s what I wanted to do. When I was in high school, I was in drama club and when I went off to college I studied theatre. I’m still in touch with my theatre teacher, and my goal was to always be in Cats someday. Here it is 37 years later, thanks to Bambi. I am living my dream.

What was number one?

Sam: Number one was Titanic, which I’ve done twice. Number three is Les Mis and number four is Miss Saigon. But I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to check this one off my bucket list.

That’s incredible! Now, you told us that Victor is your cat’s everyday name, and of course we can’t know his secret name, but what is the name he calls himself? What is Victor’s more Jellicle name?

Victor: His fancy name? Definitely Caesar. Like I said, he’s a watcher but he sees himself as maybe a ‘someday leader.’ Caesar was a leader; he was a good leader. And Victor is trying to learn. Now, unfortunately, his secret name, I cannot tell you. But if you gave me some catnip, I might let it slip!

Do you have cats?

Sam: I had two. Unfortunately one crossed over the rainbow bridge last year. It was hard. But we still have another one. We have a black cat named Bella. She’s crazy. She just likes to run around the house. When my son was younger, he had a fish tank and we put the fish tank on the bottom shelf of a bookshelf, so she was always headbutting the fish tank. Boo, which is the one who has crossed the rainbow bridge, he was a wonderful white cat. He was my son’s cat, he slept with him, he liked to sit in the sink. He was just gorgeous.

What does it mean to you to be a Jellicle Cat?

Sam: Jellicle Cat means being part of something special. Being part of a collective, a crew. Jellicle Cats are different than regular old household cats, even though we have our regular names, our fancy names, and our Jellicle names, a Jellicle Cat is part of a crew. I feel like that scene in Good Fellas. “We always call each other Good Fellas because you’re part of a crew. It means something.” That’s what this is. We gather once a year. The Jellicle Leader comes at that time and we get to see him, and we get to celebrate each other and dance and have a good night.

What has been your big personal takeaway from this experience?

Sam: Unity. The talent in this cast is phenomenal. At least half the cast I’ve worked with. Bambi I’ve worked with; I love her as a person, as a choreographer, as a director. She knows my situation— 2009 I was diagnosed with MS. So I don’t have the ability to do some of the things that I used to be able to do. The hardcore dancing? I just can’t do that anymore and she knows that, and she knows what this show means to me and she thought my singing audition was beautiful. So she found a way to make this work for me. She gives me little things to do as Victor and she loves what I do with it. I love Bambi. I will always work with Bambi. She is a phenomenal human being. Everybody gets together here. We help each other, we dance together, we sing together, we do everything together. It’s a collective and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

If you had to choose one word to sum up the experience here at Cats what word would you choose?

Sam: Life-changing.

Cats plays September 16^th 2022 through September 25^th 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.

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