It's a musical which promises to make the memory live on – and the opening night of Cats at Norwich Theatre Royal did just that.
It was a purr-fect show-stopping performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber's show, from the first feline footstep to the vivacious vocal finale.
Based on TS Eliot's characters from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, the show sees a group of cats gather every year on the night of the Jellicle Moon for their leader, Old Deuteronomy (Nicholas Pound), to choose one cat to be reborn and live a new life in the Heaviside Layer.
On a stage decked out as a junkyard and littered with empty dustbins, car tyres and paint pots and lit by a huge full moon, the performance gets in full swing right from the start.
Cockroaches tap dance, giant boots drop from the sky, cats sneak from discarded pipes and car boots and members of the audience were grabbed for a quick dance. It is no wonder why fans keep coming back again and again.
The record-breaking smash hit is a lavish, large-scale production which can only appear at theatres with enough space to accommodate the over-sized rubbish tip that creates the open air theatre where the eponymous cats congregate.
It is also one of the longest-running shows in the West End and Broadway history, enchanting audiences in over 300 cities around the world.
But the jaw-dropping moment which everyone is waiting for did not disappoint when Memories bellowed out from jaded glamourpuss Grizabella (Joanna Ampil).
The phenomenal performance brought more than just a single tear to everyone's eye. It is no surprise that this is a show which allows you to get your claws stuck in.
Cats is at Norwich Theatre Royal until Saturday April 12. Show tickets are still available for today and tomorrow. Call the box office on 01603 630000 or visit www.theatreroyalnorwich.co.uk to book.
• What did you think of the show? Leave your comments below or write to the Letter's Editor, with full details of name and address, at Prospect House, Rouen Road, Norwich, NR1 1RE or email edpletters@archant.co.uk.
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