A review by Rachel Flanagan.
By now the world has noticed that when you open up any of your social media accounts or browse almost any part of the Internet, you will likely come across news, photos and memes about cats. Cats have been an influential part of the Internet for many years now and the breadth of cat love seems to be endless. This is great news for the Kitty Bungalow Charm School for Wayward Cats, a 501c3 nonprofit organization that rescues, neuters, socialized and find homes for feral kittens. For the 6th year in a row, Kitty Bungalow has put on the CATbaret, an Annual Celebrity-Filled Musical Celebration of furry felines.
On Saturday, October 15, 2016, the Avalon theatre was dressed up with kitty ears galore as cat and animal supporters joined the 6th annual CATbaret hosted by Kitty Bungalow. The event began with the red carpet outside of the theatre where celebrities like Steve-O (Jackass), Nicole Sullivan (MadTV), and Addison Riecke (Thundermans) as well as a guest cat appearance by Bagel, better known as Sunglass Cat walked the red carpet (or in the case of Sunglass Cat, cuddled her way down the carpet). Inside the theatre, guests were treated to magic tricks by the Fantastic Fig with his feline companion Newton. Opportunities for gifts and donations were abundant. There were T-shirts for sale along with little cat claws as well as the opportunity to buy two different sizes of brick to become a permanent piece of the new location each for a specific donation. Additionally, there was a prize puss raffle where, for a donation, you could "Adopt" a stuffed animal kitty. If this kitty was adorned with a microchip, you would win the prize that matched the microchip numbers. There were prizes galore and many happy winners before the show even started.
4The CATbaret, rightly named for its cabaret style performances, started out with long time attendee Fred Willard and cat man, Steve-O beginning the show with Wilkommen. The ensemble made up of dancers and singers with celebrity performances mixed in performed a variety of short plays, songs, and dance numbers. Many of these numbers included astounding facts about feral cats in the Los Angeles region that amazed animal lovers like myself. When you wish there was more that you could do, auctions for celebrity decorated cat trees and other activities allowed those who were financially able to donate money to the cause to help the Kitty Bungalow in their quest to save all of the kittens and send them to charm school so they can charm their way into your heart. The second set had more numbers intermixed with ensemble and celebrity alike. There were fun moments, political mockery, laughter, and sadness, especially when it ended.
The CATbaret was followed by an after party fit for the VIP, of which I was unable to attend myself, but I did hear wonderful things about it. This year was the 6th year in a row that the Kitty Bungalow, Charm School for Wayward Cats has put on a performance to help, not only their rescue but to bring awareness to the problems that feral cats in Los Angeles face every day. Los Angeles, as a whole, does not promote the TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) initiative that many rescues promote which leads to an increase in the feral cat population. However, with the help of events like the CATbaret, and rescues like the Kitty Bungalow, they are bringing awareness to the residents of Los Angeles and surrounding areas to adopt, fix, and love stray animals in hopes to one day make the city a Kill Free City full of people with a cat (or cats or even dogs) to call their own.
Kitty Bungalow Charm School for Wayward Cats is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that rescues, neuters, socializes and find homes for feral kittens while providing outreach, education and Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR) services in Los Angeles.