Millidacious

There were many memorable moments: Ting and Tang (Clare and Jana), the horribly-spoiled house cats, encountering an empty food bowl for the first time in their lives; Felicious (Jesse) introducing the reluctant Tin and Tang to the sadhana of pure cathood; Septus (Otto), the blind city sewer rat, sniffing the country rats and discovering, to his amazement, they were “pollution-free”; and the delicious Ratrani (Veronique), slinking her way across the footlights of The Blue Rat as she croons to her entranced clientele, “The only way to go up/is to keep on digging downI You’ll find whatever you need deep inside”.

Yes, folks, this was Sri Aurobindo with a difference.

It was the kids who really carried the show. Whether they were flinging themselves round the stage as the Rocking Rats (choreography; Elodie), or scurrying for life as the city cats created mayhem, or whether it was the tiny Cutecus (Sita) terrorising Tin and Tang, they brought an energy and a commitment that swept everything before it.

For these kids are at home on the stage. Ahilya and Aloe, in particular, were superb as the mouse sisters, Milli and Alli, trying to break free from an over-possessive Mama (“Oh, why can’t you give us the space to be?”) to find their true place in the world. Their beautifully-sung duet, ‘Milli’s Song’, (“you may be different! but that’s all right / you’re one of a kind”) was one of the highlights of the show.

In fact, as in all the best musicals, the music (composed by Paul and Matt) was much more than an add-on. Whether it was the hard-driving ‘Rocking Rats’, the languidly feline ‘What’s the Point?’, the lyricism of ‘Milli’s Song’ or the dark menace of ‘You Ain’t See Nothing Yet’, the music established, deepened character and atmosphere.

Ultimately, this show was much more about teamwork than individuals. At the end it was astonishing to see the size of the cast; they filled the entire stage. And this was only part of a much bigger team – maybe 200 people in all of all ages and nationalities that worked, sweated, laughed together for many months to pull it off.

I dropped in at one of the earlier rehearsals. Of course, there were glitches: the sound system was not working properly, people forgot their lines, not all the props were ready. But permeating everything and everybody was an extraordinary spirit of togetherness, mutual support, good humour and, yes, love.

This doesn’t happen by chance. It requires vision, great organization and the inspiration to work together towards something bigger than our individual selves.

Hey, come to think of it, isn’t this why we’re here?