Munkustrap

The youthful leader of the Cats in Old Deuteronomy’s absence. When he grows older and Old Deuteronomy passes on, it is probably Munkustrap who will assume his position as leader. He likes to be in charge and is the one frequently telling the stories or directing the other cats.

Jennyanydots

A ‘mother’ figure, she, along with Jellylorum, looks after the younger cats and keeps them safe. She is also known as the “Old Gumbie Cat”, for all day she sits and sits and sits; but at night she rules the mice and cockroaches, commanding them to undertake music and crocheting, or perform good deeds as boy scouts, to learn nicer manners and curb their naturally destructive habits. ‘She’s even created a beetles tattoo.’

Rum Tum Tugger

‘The Rum Tum Tugger is a curious cat’. Whatever you offer him, he’ll want the opposite! If you offer him pheasant, he’ll want to eat grouse. If you set him on a rat, he’d rather chase a mouse.  He only likes what he finds for himself. The Tugger has a cool rock-star quality, and is also a bit of a playboy, flirting with all the females and quite happily leading them on.

Grizabella

The “glamour cat” who left the tribe to experience the outside world, and who now wants to come back. However, no one will accept her, until Jemima eventually touches her and reunites her with the tribe. It is Grizabella who is chosen by Old Deuteronomy to be reborn and journey to the Heaviside Layer.

Bustopher Jones

The ultimate cat about town, he’s a connoisseur of fine dining. He enjoys eating out at the best restaurants, which has caused him to be a ‘twenty five pounder’ who is ‘putting on weight every day!’

Mungojerrie & Rumpleteazer
This pair are small-time crooks, as well as ‘knock-about clowns’ and ‘acrobats’. They live together in Victoria Grove where they constantly cause trouble. It is believed they work for Macavity but nonetheless they are still Jellicles. They will steal just about anything.

Old Deuteronomy

The wise old leader of the Jellicles, he has been around for a very long time, ‘before Queen Victoria’s accession’. He is respected and fondly regarded by the rest of the tribe. He is captured by Macavity, and he helps Grizabella on her journey to the Heaviside Layer.

Asparagus, also known as ‘Gus’
The ‘theatre cat’ who was famous in his youth, as he was a cat of the stage. However, he is now very old, and soon will be gone, but he proudly tells the rest of the tribe of his youth and his roles on stage.

Growltiger & Griddlebone
Growltiger, a fearsome pirate, appears in Gus’s poem ‘Growltiger's Last Stand’, which is a dream-sequence pastiche of Music Hall dramas, as Gus is reminiscing about one of his favourite roles performing an old-fashioned melodrama. Growltiger has lost one eye, and one of his ears is "somewhat missing" after an incident involving a Siamese cat. He is desperately smitten by the beautiful Griddlebone (played by Jellylorum), and terrified of the Siamese.

Skimbleshanks

The ‘railway cat’ who runs the train to perfection - without him the trains wouldn’t start! He’s like an Uncle to the other cats. Along with Jellylorum and Jennyanydots, he helps watch out for the younger cats. In some productions, Skimbleshanks has a Scottish accent.

Macavity
Macavity is a notorious criminal known as ‘The Napoleon of Crime’. The character is a literary allusion to the Sherlock Holmes’ stories diabolical character Professor Moriarty. His powers of disappearance are phenomenal.

Mr. Mistoffelees

The original conjuring cat, he’s the tribe’s magician and always knows how to entertain either with a card trick, a dice or other magic. It is he who saves Old Deuteronomy and returns him from Macavity’s evil clutches.