It was July 22, 2000. I'll never forget it. My mom, a few friends, and I had 
driven down to New York to see CATS. Just two weeks before, I had totally 
flipped out because my mom had told me that we were going to see CATS and we 
were also going to go backstage and get our face painted by the cat that was 
showing us backstage. We didn't have anytime to go to the apartment we were 
staying in so we had to change in the car. All of a sudden I saw The Winter 
Garden Theater and started to get a little misty. I said to my friend, "I'm 
going to see CATS, I can't believe it." and I couldn't believe it. While we 
were waiting outside for our "tour guide" to come, we saw and met a lot of 
CATS. I felt so bad because at one point, we had met James Hadley and I had 
asked him what cat he played and he said Skimbleshanks. I totally flipped out 
and was like "Oh my God, he's Skimbleshanks!" My friends start! ed laughing, my 
mom told me to quite down, and I think I kinda scared him. Oh well!! I'm 
sorry James if you're reading this!! Anyways, while outside the theater and 
my friend said to me wouldn't it be funny if the girl showing us around was 
Rumpleteazer? (who happens to be my favorite cat) All of a sudden we hear, 
"Hi, I'm Maria Jo Ralabate, are you the group that I'm showing around?" We 
said yes and headed inside. On the way in, I asked Maria Jo what cat she 
played, and wouldn't you know she said Rumpleteazer? When we headed into the 
theater, the first thing we saw was the stage being turned into a ship and I 
asked what that was used for,(as if i didn't know) and she told me 
Growltiger's last stand. She showed us the costume rooms first. I was really 
excited to see all of them. The last costume room she showed us was the room 
that had all the costumes from Growtiger's Last Stand in it. She picked up 
one of the masks and aske! d my friend and I if we wanted to try it on.(I have 
some relly embaressing of that.) Then it was on to the orcastra pit. I was 
surprised to see how small it was. The bass player was in there practicing 
and my mom had to take a picture because my dad plays bass. Then it was on to 
the stage. I was really hopeing that we would be able to go on it so i could 
get a cats eye view of it. There, Maria Jo told us the set was made to three 
sizes bigger so that it made them look really small. My mom wanted to take a 
picture but I told her that we weren't allowed to take pictures on the stage 
but Maria Jo said if we did it really quick, it would be okay. Then it was 
time to go get our make up done but before we went to go do that we ran into 
Mr. Mistoffelees played by Julius Sermonia. He was telling us a story that 
Maria Jo hadn't heard yet. I won't tell the story just to save him the 
embarressment. On to makeup. I had a fun time at this poi! nt because we got to 
ask her any question we wanted to. I was the first to get my make up done and 
of course I got it done like Rumpleteazer, my friend lacey got her makeup 
done like Sillabub, and my friend Britt wanted to get her make up done like 
Victoria and while she was getting it done, I accidentally sang "A long while 
before Queen Victoria's accession." She told me that i had a really good 
voice and how to get involved in theater. She also told me that if I worked 
hard enough that I could be in the revival of CATS playing Rumpleteazer, but 
she was probably joking. Then it was time for the show she said good bye and 
hoped that we enjoyed the show. I won't into detail because everyone knows 
how it goes. After the show we got autographs from Stephen Bienskie (The Rum 
Tum Tugger), Lenny Daniel (Alonzo), James Hadley (Skimbleshanks, who happened 
to remember me from earlier that day), Melissa Rea Mahon (Cassandra) of 
course ! Maria Jo Ralabate (Rumplteazer, duh), Julius Sermonia (Mr. 
Mistffelees, who also remebered us), and Sharon Wheatley. (Jennyanydots) 
Where ever you are, thank you so much Maria Jo for the best day of my life. 
                                                                             
                                               ~Mimi~