Former PEPS students in Mirvish CATS

July 4, 2013 · 0 Comments

A former Princess Elizabeth Public School student is starring as Bombalurina in the Mirvish production of CATS at the Panasonic Theatre in Toronto.

Judy Kovacs was helped into the National Ballet of Canada program 12 years ago by “financial support from the Dufferin Arts Council and the Royal Canadian Legion in Orangeville and we are still very grateful for their wonderful gift,” says her mother, Petry Sijtsma Poll.

Judy couldn’t be reached for comment but, in earlier interviews with mainline media when the cast was announced around the beginning of June, she had also thanked several supporters including members of her family. Petry was a single mother at the time Judy made her transition from PETS to the National Ballet School and, later, when she completed high school at Etobicoke School of Art.

Her own personal experience appears to be one of sacrifice for the sake of the art. Judy was Demeter in her high school CATS performance. Since then, she has performed in the Ross Petty production of Snow White; Anne of Green Gables; Ring of Fire and The Full Monty at the Charlottetown Festival, Cinderella and Joseph at The Grand Theatre; Joanie in Happy Days at Stage West; Erma in Anything Goes and Kost in Cabaret at Theatre Sheridan; as well as dances in Nutcracker, the Contract and Pastoral for National Ballet and, in films, Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure and Camp Rock, Disney productions.

Sound impressive? As with most artists, irrespective of the form the art takes, it doesn’t always pay the bills, Petry says Judy still does a day job to support her dancing, acting and films.

But some of her reward might be that she loves what she does. Judy has described herself as something of a “female feline,” and the National Post describes Bombalurina, as a “sensual, earthy, womanly cat. She (Judy) has a lot of … fun.”

Lithium Mazazine describes CATS as a play “composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and based on ‘Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats’ and other poems’ by T. S. Eliot, opened in London in 1981 where it ran for 21 years. The Broadway production, which opened in 1982, ran for 18 years. Both set long-run records: CATS is the second-longest-running show in Broadway history, and the fourth longest-running West End musical.

“CATS has been performed around the world many times and has been translated into more than 20 languages. Produced by Nu Musical Theatricals Inc., in association with Classical Theatre Project and Starvox Entertainment, this is the first resident Canadian production in Toronto since the original Canadian production opened in 1985 launching the age of the mega musical in Canada,” the magazine reported.

By Wes Keller