RETURN TO THE JELLICLE BALL: MEETING THE NEWEST 2024 ADDITIONS TO THE CLOWDER OF COCKPIT IN COURT’S CATS: Bombalurina

Peculiar and more dignified, so says that magical, Jellicle book of poems…a combination of bombastic and ballerina…can you guess, can you really, really guess which cat we’re meeting today?

Thank you so much for joining us! Tell who you are and who you’re playing!

Lizzie Detar: I’m Lizzie Detar and I play Bombalurina.

Tell us a little bit about Bombalurina.

Lizzie: Bombalurina is the sultry, sexy cat. She likes the boys and she’s really fun. She’s been a dream role of mine since I was four, so I’m really excited about getting to play her.

That’s awesome and it’s the perfect segue into my next question, which is why did you want to come out and audition to be a part of Cats?

Lizzie: Cats is the show that got me into musical theatre. I saw the 1998 version when I was four. And I just thought “I want to do that!” And now full-circle, I’m almost 30 and here we are!

That is pretty wild. Now how are you and Bombalurina similar and or different?

Lizzie: That’s a good question. I think we’re similar in the sense that we kind of both have big personalities. She’s definitely a lot more flirtatious than forward-going than I am? I’m a little bit more reserved as far as that goes.

Are you a dancer?

Lizzie: I put myself in the ‘strong mover’ category. I danced off and on growing up so I can dance? But I would never say that I’m a technically trained dancer.

Lucy, who is not Lizzie Detar's cat but owned by someone related to Lizzie. — Lucy, who is not Lizzie Detar’s cat but owned by someone related to Lizzie.

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

Lizzie: What it means to me to be a Jellicle Cat…I would say being the most free version of yourself and allowing yourself to truly just live and be who you are.

Do you have any cats at home?

Lizzie: I actually do not. I’m a dog person, first and foremost. So it’s kind of ironic. I grew up having dogs. My aunts have cats— my aunt and my cousin, my aunt’s cat is Lucy and my cousin’s cat is Ernest— and I always call him Ernie P. Hemmingway, even though that is not what he’s named after but it just flows for me so that’s what I call him. And Lucy is totally my inspiration for Bomb because she’s just a pretty girl. She sits and puts her paws out, she’s just the sweetest girl, she loves to cuddle, I swear she’s a dog trapped in a cat’s body because she’ll play fetch with sticks. But I grew up with dogs, I had a cocker spaniel-beagle mix who passed away in 2017 when she was 17 years old. I had her from first grade all the way through college. And now my Dad has this Pitbull-terrier mix, Sadie, who is just a big baked potato, she kind of looks like a baked potato. And then my brother has five dogs.

Lucky, the Beagle-Spaniel who crossed the rainbow bridge in 2017 at age 17

That definitely sounds like a dog family! Wowee. So getting back to cats… we know that cats have three names. The name that the humans call them or their daily use name, their more dignified name, and their third, secret name that we can never know. What do you think the humans are calling Bombalurina?

Lizzie: Honestly? I’m going to go with Lucy. I feel like she’s a Lucy.

What has been your big personal takeaway from this experience?

Lizzie: It’s been a dream come true. It’s a show I’ve wanted to do since I was four and now here I am, finally getting to do it. It feels like life has come full circle and it’s true that dreams really do come true if you are persistent and just keep going after it.

Now is this your first Bambi show?

Lizzie: I think technically it’s my second? I did Newsies with her back in 2018 and then she choreographed Heathers in 2018 also, so maybe it’s really my third? But I love working with her, very, very much.

Always love to hear that. If you had to sum up your experience here at Cockpit in Court with Bambi and Cats using just one word, which word would you use?

Lizzie: Jellicle.

Cats plays July 19^th 2024 through August 4^th 2024 in the F. Scott Black Theatre of The Robert and Eleanor Romadka College Center at the Community College of Baltimore County Essex Campus— 7201 Rossville Boulevard, Essex MD. For tickets call the box office at (443) 840-2787 or purchase them online.

Follow along in the “Return to the Jellicle Ball” Series here: