©InTheater Magazine Sept. 19, 1997 The 6137 and 6138 Man By Kathy Henderson
Given the theatrical community’s affection for the gypsies of A Chorus Line, a bit of hand-wringing ensued when Cats assumed the mantle of ”longest-running Broadway show” on June 19. No one is more qualified to comment than actor Michael Gruber, who was onstage belting "I Can Do That" at the 6137th and final Broadway performance of A Chorus Line on April 28, 1990 – and presided as the feline narrator Munkustrap at performance number 6138 of Cats. “You know what? It’s not a competition,” says Gruber, who seems as surprised as anyone to find himself in two history-making cast lists. “Breaking the record doesn’t mean that Cats is a better or worse show than A Chorus Line; it just means it still has an audience. At some point Cats will close and Phantom will come along. Long-running shows have become a phenomenon now.” Gruber has very specific, "magical" memories of both record-breaking evenings. “It had been a hard winter at "A Chorus Line,” he recalls. “Sometimes there were maybe 200 people in the audience, but when they announced the closing, everyone started coming back for the last time. (At the final performance) the audience applauded for more than a minute after I finished my number, and I had to break out of my cross-legged pose and just stand there. People’s emotions were so strong. When that neon ‘6137’ sign was hung from the battens, I was thinking, ‘This is really amazing’.” Fast forward seven years to Cats' big night, and Gruber remembers spotting the original Munkustrap, Harry Groener, before stepping into the audience to sing “The Naming of Cats”. “Harry was on my right, and Ken Page (the original Old Deuteronomy), who did The Wizard of Oz with me, was on my left. They could not have been more supportive or excited, and I thought, 'There's a direct line here.' It felt more like a family reunion.” Though he sincerely enjoys Cats, Gruber admits, “Sometimes I feel a little defensive about telling people what I do. There’s a pre-conceived idea about it,” he says of the show lampooned by everybody from David Letterman to Paul Rudnick to Gerald Alessandrini. “Every actor wants to be in the hot new thing, and it’s easy to get into that toxic mindset of ‘What’s this doing for my career? Who cares about this show that’s been open for 15 years?’ I take a breath and remind myself that I have a great job. I’ve grown as an artist doing Cats, and that’s all that matters.” main Cats on Stage page

©InTheater Magazine
Sept. 19, 1997

The 6137 and 6138 Man
By Kathy Henderson

Given the theatrical community’s affection for the gypsies of A Chorus Line, a bit of hand-wringing ensued when Cats assumed the mantle of ”longest-running Broadway show” on June 19. No one is more qualified to comment than actor Michael Gruber, who was onstage belting "I Can Do That" at the 6137th and final Broadway performance of A Chorus Line on April 28, 1990 – and presided as the feline narrator Munkustrap at performance number 6138 of Cats.

“You know what? It’s not a competition,” says Gruber, who seems as surprised as anyone to find himself in two history-making cast lists. “Breaking the record doesn’t mean that Cats is a better or worse show than A Chorus Line; it just means it still has an audience. At some point Cats will close and Phantom will come along. Long-running shows have become a phenomenon now.”

Gruber has very specific, "magical" memories of both record-breaking evenings. “It had been a hard winter at "A Chorus Line,” he recalls. “Sometimes there were maybe 200 people in the audience, but when they announced the closing, everyone started coming back for the last time. (At the final performance) the audience applauded for more than a minute after I finished my number, and I had to break out of my cross-legged pose and just stand there. People’s emotions were so strong. When that neon ‘6137’ sign was hung from the battens, I was thinking, ‘This is really amazing’.”

Fast forward seven years to Cats' big night, and Gruber remembers spotting the original Munkustrap, Harry Groener, before stepping into the audience to sing “The Naming of Cats”. “Harry was on my right, and Ken Page (the original Old Deuteronomy), who did The Wizard of Oz with me, was on my left. They could not have been more supportive or excited, and I thought, 'There's a direct line here.' It felt more like a family reunion.”

Though he sincerely enjoys Cats, Gruber admits, “Sometimes I feel a little defensive about telling people what I do. There’s a pre-conceived idea about it,” he says of the show lampooned by everybody from David Letterman to Paul Rudnick to Gerald Alessandrini. “Every actor wants to be in the hot new thing, and it’s easy to get into that toxic mindset of ‘What’s this doing for my career? Who cares about this show that’s been open for 15 years?’ I take a breath and remind myself that I have a great job. I’ve grown as an artist doing Cats, and that’s all that matters.”

main Cats on Stage page