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

Riffraff. Streetcat. I don’t buy that! Man, I’ve been spending too much time on the Disney channel. But announcing in this corner, the talking-weight-champion of the Cats interview series, weighing in at 9 minutes and 24 seconds… a record previously held by Rob Tucker in the 2022 production of Cats (8 minutes and 9 seconds though while holding the role of Quaxo/Rumpus Cat…not Mungojerrie, which he did play in the 2016 production of Bambi’s Cats…anyone need a graph-chart yet?) We are pleased to present MUNGOJERRIE!

Hi Austin!

Austin Barnes: Hi Mandy.

And this time around you’re playing Mungojerrie. And last time you were Tugger?

Austin: Yeah, Rum Tum.

Now tell me a little bit about Mungojerrie.

Austin Barnes as Mungojerrie in Cats at Cockpit in Court

Austin: He is notably the trickster cat. He’s a very playful cat. At least in this production, and I’ve been talking to Bambi about it, he has his own sex appeal. There are a lot of characteristics from my Tugger that we are bringing into this Mungo, because my Tugger was very playful. But with Veronica (Veronica Lane) who’s playing my other half, Rumpleteazer, our backstory is that we had owners but they either left us, or they died…we were abandoned somehow and we don’t necessarily know how or why.

Maybe they moved and just forgot to pack you two up with them.

Austin: Exactly. So we were kind of just left on the streets, me and her for a while, and we fell into the clowder. One thing that we’re trying to show that even within this family of the clowder, we look out for each other first, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer. We’re up there together a lot. I mean Veronica is up front a lot, she’s in the dance corps, but whenever my window of dancing the numbers is, it’s usually off of her. We’re trying to also show that relationship and connection of a brother and sister.

I love that. Now do you have real-life brothers and sisters?

Austin: I have a brother and two sisters. I was the oldest. All of us were adopted; I have two dads. I was the oldest for a time, and then they started adopting more so I lost my title as ‘the oldest child.’

You are the only person I have ever known who can say “I was the oldest child and now I’m not.”

Austin: It’s pretty wild.

Sounds like a unique experience for sure. Now how are you and Mungojerrie similar and or different?

Austin: Well, I don’t steal things. Anymore. I used to steal things all around the classroom, like my friends’ pencils and stuff. I do love to play pranks. But there’s a sense of loyalty that comes with Mungo and I think that’s shown in the fight when Macavity shows up. And the in the Macavity song there’s a callout to him being part of Macavity’s Gang. But when Macavity shows up to cause trouble, Mungo really steps up in that moment to show, “hey, no, the clowder’s my family at the end of the day.” And I’m a very big person when it comes to loyalty. And not biting the hand that feeds. I relate a lot to that, especially in the family element. I even have a tattoo that has ‘family’ and ‘loyalty’ at the center.

I really love that. Why did you want to come out and audition to be a part of Cats again?

Austin: I saw Bambi was attached to it. I had a good time the first time that I did it. I was aiming to play Rum Tum Tugger again, and I can’t lie, when the cast list came out and I saw that I wasn’t slotted for that role there was some disappointment because I had such a blast playing him the first time around. I mean he’s such a cool cat, you’re strutting around, getting to do all the cool licks and all that. But the bitterness faded as I opened up the character of Mungo. I think the hardest part is all that comfortability I had with Rum Tum. I knew the character, I had the physicality, and it felt easy in my body. I was actually fighting how I was standing and carrying my body during some of this choreo because we’re doing a lot of similar choreo from 2022 that’s been tweaked to fit this cast.

It’s good. The way I’ve explained it when talking to Bambi is that this experience is another life of my Rum Tum. He ascended through the Heaviside Layer and here he is as Mungo. I love the chance to get to dance; I love to be challenged. And especially with Mungo, what we’re doing with Mungo is very, very physical. I didn’t get to dance a whole lot last time because of the space at the Opera House and here I’m getting the chance to dance a lot more. And that’s an opportunity that I haven’t really had with a lot of roles that I’ve been cast in recently; I’ve been cast in a lot more singing-type roles. Being able to gravitate back towards my roots, I started out as a dancer, that’s been really cool. It’s been a blast.

Enola & Weasley (we think Weasley is the orange cat.) Both belong to Austin.

You consider yourself to be a dancer.

Austin: Well I used to! I consider myself to be more of a singer now. I say I’m more of a mover than anything nowadays, my body’s not as loose as it used to be! But I was more of a dancer back in the day.

Okay, so how are you finding the Bambiography this time around?

Austin: It’s hard! It’s a lot! And I keep finding myself getting added to different numbers, and Bambi will say, “Austin, do you remember this?” And I’ll say, “Nope. I was on the car sleeping.” Or “Nope. I was over there lounging around.” It’s such a fun challenge though and it really is pushing me. There’s so much physicality in this for me this time around. I get to be in the fight, we’re doing tandem cartwheels in “Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer”, we were just practicing that today! The physicality is just so much fun for me. Mandy, you saw me as LeFou (Phoenix Festival Theatre, Beauty & The Beast 2023) I love getting down and dirty and moving all around that stage.

Excellent! Now you are no stranger to working with Bambi Johnson. What has it been like getting to work with her this time around?

Austin: I think every time is truly a treat. This is her third time doing Cats. And if you could look into the theatre right now, you would see a set that we’ve never seen before. They’re doing a totally different take to where and how it’s set. The choreography is very similar, the blocking is very similar, but things are being tweaked and changed to fit the new vision that she has. Bambi takes a lot of time to focus on the details, which I think, given the way that a lot of community theatres are run, they don’t have the opportunities to do that. A lot of it tends to be pumping out shows and pumping them out quick and you miss those details when you do it that way. Bambi has us spending every rehearsal during warmups doing cat-like movements and exercises. She asks us how is our body supposed to move as a cat. We’re going over dances that we know are difficult more than others, we’re mapping our blocking meticulously. Where are our lines and our sight-lines, where are we supposed to hit? Where do we focus? What is needed to make the magic trick look alive on stage? And I think that is the magic of working with Bambs.

I love that you’ve just made her nickname Bambs. It’s like Bomb but Bambs.

Austin: Exactly. That’s what I love about working with her— it’s her magic because she pays attention to the details and it shows in the work ethic. It shows in the buy-in from the cast. I haven’t been a part of any one of her casts that hasn’t bought into what she’s pitching. I remember the very first time I worked with her— it was West Side Story— and she had a gate flying in and out of the rumble. It was wild. She has a vision for everything. And it’s cool to be a part of those details and to sell that magic to the audience.

What does it mean to you this time around to be a Jellicle Cat?

Austin: That actually is a really good question. I can’t necessarily explain how it feels to be a part of this version of the Jellicles. It’s been a rollercoaster. I think it started off more on the rougher side for me, you know, just swallowing pride. But like with every adventure and every cast— you find where the family fits, you find the dynamic of this group and I am truly having a blast. And I’m loving the different vision. I’m loving the different opportunities that I’m getting. I’m getting to sing a lot of different things from the last time. I’m getting some vocal parts that I have sang from the last time too. It’s cool watching Bambi take apart her Cats puzzle and put it back together again and that I still get to be a piece of her puzzle is really amazing.

Now, if memory serves…you still have cats…

Austin: Yep. Weasley and Enola.

And they’re still loveable and adorable.

Austin: Yep!

Perfect. 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 Mungojerrie?

Austin: In the naming of cats the name that I jump to is Peter. I mean that’s the word that Bambi told me to jump on, but I think he fits a little bit more of a ‘Jerry’ type. But I can’t lie, I think I’ve modeled a little bit of Mungo after my cat Weasley because he’s loveable, he’s ornery, and he’s a loyal boy. He knows where his bread is buttered!

What has been your big personal takeaway, this time around, Austin?

Austin: Why do you have all these hard questions, Mandy? Hmm. I’m not as young as I once was. My body feels different this time. But I think the biggest takeaway is probably similar or the same as it was last time. And it’s just that the experience is magical. It’s a community theatre show but it feels like a regional performance. It feels like it’s a higher level. It doesn’t matter how tired you are or how pissed off at the day you are, Bambi talks and you just want to execute. Even just going in there and spacing things out, the minute Bambi comes in and starts saying “look for this, watch for that” and you’re just locked in.

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?

Austin: Magical.

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: