Stephen Mo Hanan, a spirited artist known for his street performances in San Francisco and his memorable roles on Broadway, including three characters in the original cast of “Cats,” passed away on April 3 at his Manhattan residence. He was 78 years old.
His husband, Gary Widlund, who is his sole immediate family member, confirmed that Hanan died from a heart attack.
At his audition for “Cats,” Hanan shared with composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and director Trevor Nunn that he had spent several years performing solo with a concertina at a ferry terminal near Market Street in San Francisco.
Recalling the audition in a 1982 interview, he said he brought his concertina along and was asked to sing something in Italian. Without hesitation, he performed the lively aria “Funiculi, Funicula,” demonstrating his confident stage presence.
Hanan was ultimately cast in three distinct roles in “Cats”: the portly Bustopher Jones; Asparagus, an elderly theater cat who transforms during the show into Growltiger, a fierce pirate character. This dual role involved a comedic parody of Puccini’s opera “Turandot,” enhanced by the use of an inflatable costume.
During the rehearsal process, Hanan meticulously documented his experiences, later publishing these reflections in 2002 under the title “A Cat’s Diary.”
In one journal entry describing the second day of rehearsals, he recounted a task assigned by director Trevor Nunn: to select a familiar cartoon cat, retreat to reflect on that character, develop a brief vignette embodying it, and then present it to the group in turn.
