Gender Male/Tom Last appearance Cats | Species Jellicle cats | |
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Occupation Second-in-command to Munkustrap Significant other(s) Appears to be Cassandra First appearance Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats Similar Demeter, Munkustrap, Jemima, Pouncival, Bombalurina | ||
Alonzo is a character in T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats. His name is mentioned first in the "Naming of Cats". His actor sometimes doubles as the Great Rumpus Cat, depending on the production.
Alonzo is a black and white tom, and is often considered the 'second-hand-man' to Munkustrap. He saves Demeter from Macavity, and is the first to attack him after he defeats Munkustrap.
In the US and the first German Productions, he is depicted as being black and gold.
Alonzo is the most flirtatious of the cats; seen flirting with many of the kittens and queen cats. He acts cocky and arrogant around the male cats, and mischievously calls to the females. (Rum Tum Tugger seems to get more female cats attracted to him, but he typically blows them off instead of flirting like Alonzo.)
The part of Alonzo was originally created in the West End by Roland Alexander and on Broadway by Hector Jaime Mercado. In the Cats video Alonzo is portrayed by Jason Gardiner, who later became a judge on the UK TV show Dancing on Ice, and currently works for another UK TV Show, This Morning.
In the video, Alonzo can be seen dancing with quite a number of the queens. His duties always come first, though, as can be seen when he frightens away Grizabella in "The Jellicle Ball", when he rescues Demeter, and when he takes over fighting Macavity after Munkustrap falls. In the end he also tried to touch and accept Grizabella back to the tribe.
Actors to have played the part
Luke McCollum, Jason Gardiner, Roland Alexander, Hector Jaime Mercado, John Partridge, Edward Lawrence, Trenard Mobley, Leonardo Wagner, Mitchell Hartwell, Robin Langen, Ziyad Sadek, Ahmad Simmons and Shaun Mendum.