Felidae (Musical)

Felidae: The Musical is a Broadway musical based upon the 1994 German film Felidae and the 1989 German thriller novel of the same name of which the film was based upon. It takes many creative liberties, far more than the film, and is made much shorter than the novel, but longer than the movie. It is 2 hours long, with a 15 minute intermission. It was adapted into a musical by Stephen Sondheim, with songs written by Boy George, Frank Wildhorn, and Stephen Sondheim. It premiered on Broadway November 3, 2024, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the movie release, and premiered in Germany later that year.

Act 1
The Overture plays, beginning the musical, and after it ends, the show officially begins. The show begins on a silent, darkened stage, until the beginning guitar strums of "Felidae" plays, and a yellow spotlight that resembles the sun seen on the movie's cover is shown, revealing a black and white cat of which represents Francis, and narration can be heard, being Francis' voice, and, once this is over, the spotlight dies and the cat runs offstage, and the stage slowly lightens as "Felidae" is sung. (Overture/Felidae) The curtains open on a car, driven by Gustav Lobel, as Francis rides in the back and continues his narration. Once the car stops, both of them walk into their new home, and Francis is greeted by an odd smell, leading him outside, where he sees another tom, who's focusing his attention on, to Francis' shock, a corpse of a tom, with his throat slit open crudely. He discovers the cat's name is Bluebeard, and according to him, there's been corpses all over the neighborhood by this point. Francis, his owner being an avid fan of mystery novels and films, decides, in this fashion, to investigate the murders himself, and Bluebeard decides to tag along to see where this will lead him. (Blue Moon Rising) This ends the first scene, and the second scene opens on Francis going to sleep, only to have a nightmare, of which being of him chained to a faceless man of whom spoke in some odd language and tried to pull him away into a deep, black, pit. (No Escape) He wakes up with a yowl, and realizes this was just a nightmare, but hears that the yowl continues, discovering it's not his own call reverberated, but a she-cat's.  He decides to investigate, and discovers, in the house next to his, in their attic, a beautiful yet blind she-cat, of whom reveals her name to be Felicity. She informs Francis of her story, and how she is aware of the murders. (Blood Red Sky) He asks how she lost her sight, and she tells him she has a distant memory as a kitten, being in an odd place, and feeling a needle sunken into her neck painfully. Francis becomes suspicious, but is interrupted as Bluebeard, who reports to Francis that he's found another "smartass" who wants to work on the case with him. Francis is reluctant to leave Felicity, but she promises that she'll wait for him. Francis leaves, and this officially ends scene 2.

Act 1

 * "Overture" - A Composition Played Before The Musical
 * "Felidae" - Sung By Francis As He Describes The Story Itself Beforehand, Only Song From The Movie
 * "New Moon Rising" - Sung By Francis After Discovering The First Murder
 * "No Escape" - Sung By Professor Julius Preterius And The Ensemble During Francis' Nightmare, The Shortest But One Of The Most Intense Songs In The Musical
 * "Blood Red Sky" - Sung By Felicity When She First Meets Francis, As She Informs Francis Of Her Information, And Is Joined In By Francis Later In The Song
 * "Bits Of Data" - Sung By Pascal/Claudandus As He Shows Francis The Program He'll Store All Data Of The Murderer Inside A Computer, Of Which He Knows How To Utilize Mysteriously
 * "Go On Home" - Sung By Kong And The Hermans, In An Attempt To Intimidate Francis And Bluebeard
 * "Francis Has Come" - Sung By Francis, As He Declares He'll Do Whatever It Takes To Discover The Killer, The Final Song Of Act 1

Act 2

 * "Not As It Seems" - Half Sung, Half Dialogue From Francis, Professor Julius Preterius, Pascal/Claudandus, The Scientists, Lab Cats, And The Ensemble As Francis Reads The Scientists' Journal, And A Flashback Of The Experiments As He Sings, One Of The Most Intense Songs In The Musical, With Elements Of No Escape In It
 * "Bits Of Data (Reprise)" - A Brief Reprise Sung By Pascal/Claudandus As His Role As The Murderer Starts To Become More Apparent To The Audience


 * "Cult Meeting" - Sung By Francis, Pascal/Claudandus, Bluebeard, Felicity, Pepeline, Jesaja, And The Cult Cats During The Meeting, In Which Pepeline Reveals That Claudandus Didn't Die, And Her Identity As The Great-Granddaughter Of Joker, The Longest Song In The Musical
 * "I See Now" - Sung By Felicity As She Places The Final Pieces Of The Puzzle Together And Decides To Try To Warn Francis
 * "Felidae (Reprise)" - Sung By Pascal/Claudandus As He Reveals His Name, His Role As The True Murderer, And His Plan To Bring Back The Egyptian Breed Of Cat By Eradicating The Other Breeds To Francis, Being Another One Of The Most Intense Songs In The Musical
 * "Final Confrontation" - Sung By Pascal/Claudandus, Francis, Bluebeard, Felicity, Kong, The Hermans, The Ensemble, The Scientists, Professor Julius Preterius, And Pepeline, During The Final Confrontation/Battle Between Francis, The Other Cats, And Claudandus, By Far The Most Intense, Emotional Song In The Musical, Featuring Parts From Felidae, Not As It Seems, Francis Has Come, New Moon Rises, Cult Meeting, No Escape, Bits Of Data, And Blood Moon Rising, Only One Minute Shorter Than The Longest Song In The Musical
 * "Felidae (Finale)" - The Finale Of The Musical, Sung By Every Character, Of Which Is Sung After The Death Of Pascal/Claudandus, And Ends The Musical Similarly To The Movie, An Optimistic Yet Still Dark Note

Francis

 * Role In Musical: Lead
 * Gender Of Portrayer: Male
 * Age Range: 25-40
 * Vocal Range: Tenor-Baritone

Bluebeard

 * Role In Musical: Lead
 * Gender Of Portrayer: Male
 * Age Range: 35-50
 * Vocal Range: Baritone-Bass

Claudandus/Pascal

 * Role In Musical: Lead
 * Gender Of Portrayer: Male
 * Age Range: 40-60
 * Vocal Range: Bass

Felicity

 * Role In Musical: Lead
 * Gender Of Portrayer: Female
 * Age Range: 25-40
 * Vocal Range: Alto-Tenor

Jesaja

 * Role In Musical: Minor, But Important To The Plot
 * Gender Of Portrayer: Male
 * Age Range: 40-70
 * Vocal Range: Baritone

Kong

 * Role In Musical: Minor
 * Gender Of Portrayer: Male
 * Age Range: 30-45
 * Vocal Range: Baritone

The Hermans

 * Role In Musical: Minor
 * Gender Of Portrayers: Both Male
 * Age Range: Both 25-35
 * Vocal Range: Tenor

Professor Julius Preterius

 * Role In Musical: Supporting, But Important To The Plot
 * Gender Of Portrayer: Male
 * Age Range: 40-70
 * Vocal Range: Tenor-Baritone

Joker

 * Role In Musical: Minor, But Important To The Plot
 * Gender Of Portrayer: Male
 * Age Range: 40-60
 * Vocal Range: Baritone-Bass

Pepeline

 * Role In Musical: Supporting
 * Gender Of Portrayer: Female
 * Age Range: 18-25 (Although she's a kitten, the content of this musical makes a child unsuitable to participate.)
 * Vocal Range: Mezzo-Soprano

Gustav Lobel

 * Role In Musical: Minor
 * Gender Of Portrayer: Male
 * Age Range: 40-45
 * Vocal Range: Doesn't Matter, As He Only Sings During The Finale

Archie

 * Role In Musical: Minor
 * Gender Of Portrayer: Male
 * Age Range: Same As Gustav
 * Vocal Range: Same As Gustav

Victims Of Murder/Lab Cats

 * Role In Musical: Minor, But Important To Plot
 * Gender Of Portrayer: Depends On The Character
 * Age Range: Depends On The Character
 * Vocal Range: Depends On The Character, As They Only Sing During The Finale

Scientists

 * Role In Musical: Minor, But Important To Plot
 * Gender Of Portrayer: Depends On The Character
 * Age Range: Depends On The Character
 * Vocal Range: Depends On The Character, As They Only Sing During The Finale

Cult Cats

 * Role In Musical: Ensemble
 * Gender Of Portrayer: Depends On The Character
 * Age Range: Depends On The Character
 * Vocal Range: Depends On The Character

Ensemble

 * Role In Musical: The General Ensemble/Chorus
 * Gender Of Portrayer: Depends On The Character
 * Age Range: Depends On The Character
 * Vocal Range: Depends On The Character

Original Broadway Cast

 * Jeremy Jordan as Francis
 * Michael Lanning as Bluebeard
 * Tim Curry as Claudandus
 * Carrie Manolakos as Felicity
 * Christopher Gurr as Jesaja
 * Eric Anderson as Kong
 * Trey Parker and Matt Stone as The Hermans
 * Stephen Carlile as Professor Julius Preterius
 * Quentin Earl Darrington as Joker
 * Celeste Javier as Pepeline
 * Andy Huntington Jones as Gustav Lobel
 * Cameron Pow as Archie
 * TBA as Victims Of Murder/Lab Cats
 * TBA as Scientists
 * TBA as Cult Cats
 * TBA as The Ensemble

Differences From The Film/Novel

 * The musical is slightly closer to the novel than the movie, adding back in the removed nightmare sequence, changing the video diary from the film back into a journal like in the book, changing Pepeline's breed back to a black and white Harlequin, like in the novel, and Francis calls The Guardian Of The Dead to the cult meeting. However, it also maintains many elements of the movie.
 * The musical is also noticeably lighter than both the movie or novel, sparing Felicity, developing her and Francis' relationship, and making many of the deaths less gruesome, or not even there at all.
 * Felicity is spared in the musical, develops a romantic relationship with Francis, and becomes his mate.
 * Felicity is given a far, far larger, much, much, much more prominent role in the musical for this reason, becoming a main character.
 * Pepeline is given a much larger, much more prominent role in the musical, but not as large as Felicity.
 * The character Nhozemphtekh is completely cut from the musical, though she is seen, or at least a similarly dressed/looking she-cat in the ensemble.
 * Pepeline is also changed back into a black and white Harlequin, like in the novel, unlike in the movie, in which she was a Turkish Van.
 * In the novel and movie, during the final battle with Claudandus/Pascal, only Francis is present. However, in the musical, Bluebeard, Kong, the Hermans, Felicity, Pepeline, and the rest of the cats appear to assist in the battle.
 * Bluebeard attends the cult meeting.
 * The sexual scenes were removed, due to the exclusion of Nhozemphtekh. Along with this, all mentions of sex in general were removed, to focus more on the drama and action.
 * Francis is much younger in the musical than in the novel or movie, in which he was fairly old, being a young adult tomcat in the musical.
 * Solitaire's death is greatly toned down, with only her throat slashed, without her stomach and uterus ripped open. It is also only stated by one of the Hermans that she was pregnant.
 * Pepeline, along with her far larger role, is made more mature than portrayed in both.

Trivia

 * The musical uses an animal actor, being a black and white real cat that is used to represent Francis at the beginning and end briefly and was professionally trained.