User blog:Timebomb192potato/El TV Kadsre News: Rehearsals for upcoming Sagwa stage tour

El TV Kadsre News Report - June 3, 2004


 * LEONARD ROCK (male voice; Mid-Atlantic accent): It seems everybody loves Sagwa the Chinese Siamese Cat, ETVKK's Siamese passion. In case you haven't heard, Sagwa and her friends & family will be in El Kadsre City for ETVKK Session 2004 at the El Kadsre Entertainment Center with a live stage show. But a few months ago, we at El TV Kadsre News had the chance to go behind the scenes of the show as it rehearsed over in the United States in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region.
 * [CAPTION] LEONARD "LENNY" ROCK | EMAIL: lennyrock@eltvkadsre.co.ek
 * DANIEL YABUSAKI (male voice; Japanese accent): Yes, Sagwa the Chinese Siamese Cat is on the road for the first time ever, and is entertaining us with a live stage show alongside her friends, family, and even her owners. It's a million-dollar production, that has so far toured in several U.S. states. However the show got it's act together in the most unlikely of locations... the Lee & Rose Warner Coliseum at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. We talked to performer Aourine Flemming Jr., one of the two performers of Mama Miao, about this arrangement.
 * AOURINE FLEMMING JR. (female voice; Minnesota accent): Falcon Heights is kind of the Twin Cities' backyard, and it's much more quiet and laid-back than the hustle & bustle of, y'know, New York or Los Angeles.
 * [CAPTION] AOURINE FLEMMING JR. | Performer of Mama Miao, Sagwa the Chinese Siamese Cat Live!
 * YABUSAKI: Having performed in Weeki Wachee Springs' famous mermaid show and at Universal Studios Florida, Sagwa co-performer Barbara de Rijke of Garden City, Georgia knows the work of wearing a costume and dancing to a pre-recorded track well.
 * BARBARA DE RIJKE (female voice; Southern U.S. accent): The costumes are usually very hot & very heavy. The vision's poor, but Sagwa's the easiest to perform in since she's just that type of character, the one who's short, sweet, and friendly.
 * [CAPTION] BARBARA DE RIJKE | Co-Performer of Sagwa, Sagwa the Chinese Siamese Cat Live!
 * YABUSAKI: Also sharing the role of the titular Siamese kitten is 22-year old Katie Fogerty, a native of El Kadsre's Welchemens territory who moved to the United States as a child. She is the main performer, and knows the personality of the Siamese cat all to well.
 * KATIE FOGERTY (female voice; Mid-Atlantic accent): Sagwa's the one character who's plucky and curious, kinda like how I was as a child. And ironically before I was Sagwa, I was in my university's production of Cats, which means I have experience with playing a fuzzy feline. *giggles*
 * [CAPTION] KATIE FOGERTY | Main Performer of Sagwa, Sagwa the Chinese Siamese Cat Live!
 * YABUSAKI: Perhaps the hardest costume to perform in is that of Fu-Fu the bat, performed by Mason Rock of Denmark, Wisconsin and Mason Sabbagh of St. Paul, Minnesota.
 * MASON ROCK (male voice; nasally American accent): Fu-Fu's costume is very hot and the wings kinda weigh the costume down a bit.
 * MASON SABBAGH (male voice; American accent): The vision's very poor, and it takes a lot of stamina to perform in the costume for more than a hour or two.
 * MASON ROCK: It ain't no Munchkin outfit. *giggles*
 * SABBAGH: Yeah! *laughs*
 * YABUSAKI: Meanwhile, Alexander Edward Collins, a native of Hamilton, Bermuda, performs the role of Lik-Lik the sly black cat.
 * A. EDWARD COLLINS (male voice; Caribbean accent): Lik-Lik's a very sly type of character, and he's often the one who'd be the leader of the pack in a way. I know feline behavior since I used to work in animal control in college, and I tried to sort of wire it into my performance.
 * YABUSAKI: The humans are more naive when it comes to their animal friends. But the talent behind them are proud of their work on the stage show, especially Brandon Ming Zhi Mok of San Francisco, who plays The Foolish Magistrate.
 * BRANDON MING ZHI MOK (male voice; Asian-American accent): I think it's kinda fate that I wound up playing the Foolish Magistrate, since I was kind of a big eater as a kid, and participated in Model UN meetings in high school.
 * YABUSAKI: As a result of the Magistrate's outlandish outfits, Brandon is often surrounded by wardrobe people backstage. The costumes were conceived and built in Minneapolis and New York City while the voice & music recordings were done in Montreal and Ottawa. And as for the relationship between Sagwa and Fu-Fu? We'll have Mason Sabbagh and Katie Fogerty have their last words on that.
 * SABBAGH: I don't think Fu-Fu is interested in cats for all I know! *laughs* He might want a female bat though.
 * FOGERTY: You'll have to come to the show to see!
 * YABUSAKI: Daniel Yabusaki, El TV Kadsre News.