BWW REVIEWS: CATS, London Palladium, Dec 12 2014

Andrew Lloyd Webber's 80s super musical returns to the West End for a Christmas run at the Palladium with Nicole Scherzinger as Grizabella.

CATS was my first West End Musical - I was about 9 years old and I remember being utterly enchanted. In fact my younger sister and I spent the next 6 months trying to recreate what we'd seen at the New London in our sitting room with the help of the Highlights album. I only saw the show once - by the time I'd reached independent show going age it had closed in the West End - so for super-fans hoping for a blow-by-blow account of how this production differs from the original - I apologise, but I not going to be able to provide the detail you want.

The first thing to say is that the star attraction really can sing. Her Grizabella has a touch of the Norma Desmonds about her, but I do still remain unconvinced that Ms Scherzinger is old enough to be a faded glamour cat. The Grizabella costume has been altered - seemingly to make it slightly more glamorous (shorter dress and coat, over-the-knee boot-style legwarmers) and she has a different wig and makeup (I think) none of which helped her in her quest to convince us that she's over the hill. But her performance of Memory in the second act packs a lot of a punch - she had me enjoying a song that I often feel sick to the back teeth of.

Away from Grizabella, the rest of the company dances a very demanding show very, very well. Hannah Kenna Thomas's Victoria/White Cat and Cassie Clare's Cassandra were the standouts amongst the girls and Joseph Poulton's Mistoffelees is as brilliant as the magician is meant to be. But there's some fantastic acrobatics from the rest of the boys too - and when the ensemble is dancing together they look spectacular. The singing also sounds impressive - particularly when you consider the amount of effort that the dancing requires.

There are a couple of obvious differences from the New London production - obviously the seating layout at the Palladium is very different and there is no revolve - which for me lessened the impact of the opening number. One of my lasting memories of that trip in the early 90s was being given a proper fright by a set of flashing cat eyes (attached to a dancer) popping up right in front of the barrier in front of my seat and I'm not sure it's possible to pull that trick off at the Palladium. But the set does looks greats still look great, with mounds of detail to pour over. One of the great appeals of the set I think is that it looks like it would be so much fun to play on - but by extending it out into the Royal Box and its equivalent on the other side I suspect there are a fair few seats in the stalls with obstructed views of those sections.

The other really obvious difference is the Rum Tum Tugger. Whereas the original was a rock and roller, this new incarnation is a rapper and street dancer, and for me it didn't quite work. The rap sections seemed to jar a little with the rest of the show - although that could be because I knew what those sections used to sound like. I also thought that Rapping Tugger had lost a bit of the dangerous edge that the original, with his lion-mane collar, used to have. And the very fact that he was rapping highlighted what hasn't changed in the show - and that's almost everything else. The orchestra sounds very retro, with its squelchy 80s synth sound - and some of the costumes look a little dated with their felt-tip style scribblings and early 80s ruffles.

But really these are minor quibbles - and people going to see Cats want to see Cats - 80s lycra cat suits, original orchestral sound and all - which makes it so perplexing that they've fiddled with the Rum Tum Tugger and left everything else pretty much alone. The audience when I saw it went wild for the show - and I did enjoyed it don't get me wrong - it is still a very good night at the theatre. I just didn't love it the way that I did when I was small. But perhaps that is to be expected - the imperfect memory of a show you adored 20ish years ago is always going to be very hard to beat. I suspect the grown-ups who loved it first time around will still love it now - and children may well still find it as magical as I did so long ago and newcomers to the show will find something to enjoy too -

I came away humming Skimbleshanks and admiring Mr Mistofelees - just like I did when I was a child - but this time I also came away thinking I need to start my post-Christmas diet early because I definitely don't fancy wearing the skintight anymore!

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