Character: Andrew Peterson

He is the only dancer to audition for Mistoffelees without having to move up from playing a kitten. He saw CATS when he was 11 years old and when he saw Misto on stage he decided that he was going to be that character one way or another. He was able to meet their Misto on tour and was told how to get into CATS. He told his mother who only encouraged it and quickly found him someone to teach and mentor him in dance.

The character Mistoffelees is extremely important to Andrew and everything to do him. His mind has been only on this one character since he was 11. It’s an unhealthy obsession but his mother only encouraged it. Because of this, the lines between character and himself start to blur sometimes and his friends have to yank him back. He is always wearing fake cat ears if he has a choice and prefers to be in costume as much as possible.

Andrew is from around the Raleigh Area in NC. His area is smaller and is slowly being turned from farmland to city (was just thinking Cary or Apex since it’s early 2000s).

He comes from a family of dancers. His mother was a swan and known for her performance. His father (that he doesn’t know of until later) is his mentor – Richard. He thinks for awhile that his mother’s “assaulter” Dean is his father but it’s later revealed through letters that Richard is his actual dad. He does not know this until his sleep walking (as explained later) becomes a problem.

Richard is a very important figure in Andrew’s life. He taught him how to dance, was his first contact within the CATS community, and mentored Andrew in other parts of his life. After his mom dies, he turns to Richard for help. When he officially moves up to New York, he’s in constant contact with Richard down in NC and Richard will often come up to see him on stage.

He was sheltered and doted on most of his life since he was an only child. For this reason, he’s had a not so normal training regimine. He was trained to dance Mistoffelees from age 11 and when he turned 15, Richard dropped the bomb on him that he’d need to learn the rest of it as well. He has been training since middleschool-high school to be in CATS. This also means that Andrew did and didn’t have forced breaks or stops put in so he wouldn’t over do it.

The conjurying turn is his favorite thing in the entire musical and he’s mastered it to where its a comfort and something he does to focus or to relax. As Blake calls it “a way to run away from reality”. It drives everyone else insane that he just does it over and over again.

Andrew has been in several other small productions all over North Carolina but doesn’t remember most of them. Richard had to bribe him to join their show and audition with “Misto Tapes” (videos of Mistoffelees dancers doing the song). He can’t tell you what he was in, but he can tell you what tape he got in return. Once the others start to pry into it, they realize he was the main role in most productions he was in.

When Andrew was 4 or 5 years old, one of his mothers old “friends” comes to visit and threatens to expose her to the theater world for having a child out of wedlock. His mother agrees to dance for him again but hides Andrew in a room/closet by himself every night for almost half a year.

Because of this, he now sleep walks and can’t sleep by himself. It’s implied that living on his own in New York was causing a problem and he had to make precautions in his old apartment (add to story) – like large padlocks or something like it. If he has to sleep by himself, Mistoffelees (his cat), pulls him out of it or at least keeps him safe and follows him around. He doesn’t tell anyone, not wanting to be made fun of for it, but the others quickly find out and accommodate it.