The source material "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats," is a collection of poems that T.S. Eliot wrote for his godchildren. "The poems were written in the nonsense tradition," Carolyn Vega, the curator for the Berg Collection, at the New York Public Library, explained recently. Sara Beth Joren, publicist for the library chimed in: "And that's why when people hate on 'Cats' -- like "Oh there's no plot.' It's just like, 'Yeah, there wasn't supposed to be'. And anyway, there is a plot. There's a cat trying to get to the Heaviside Layer. That's a plot.
The two women were waiting for Francesca Hayward, one of the stars of the "Cats" movie. Hayward, a principal dancer in the Royal Ballet, plays Victoria, a graceful white cat -- her first film role. Vega was ready to give Hayward a quick Eliot lesson; she had brought out a first edition of "Old Possum" and some photographs of the poet.
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An actor in need of information about her role consults a librarian. Sure, there is plenty about T.S. Eliot on the Internet, but it could be quite a slog to discover how we got from Eliot the poet to the musical "Cats." The librarian helps zero in on the nonsensical origins of what is, after all, a distinctly nonsensical musical. Hayward reacts appropriately to the first edition, experiencing that spooky sense of history that is connected to physical artifacts.
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