One of the new cast members for the musical is Chinese-Dutch actress Hsu Li-Tong, who was born and raised in Deventer, Netherlands.
She plays the role of Grizabella, or the Glamour Cat, who is the principal character in the musical and sings the hit song, Memory.
"It's one of the greatest musicals by Andrew Lloyd Webber. I never imagined myself in the show. It's like a dream. I feel proud of myself, especially to sing Memory," says Hsu in Beijing, where the musical was staged until July 14.
"Proud, hurt and indomitable, those were the three words our choreographer Chrissie Cartwright used to describe Grizabella, when we first started rehearsals in London," says Hsu.
"I learned to mimic the movements of cats, such as walking and yawning," says Hsu, adding that while she spent about two hours doing the makeup for the role at the start, she now does it in 20 minutes.
Hsu got the opportunity to do audition for Grizabella, when Cats toured China last year and the creative team members behind the musical saw Hsu's performance in another Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Tell Me On A Sunday. That show done in Mandarin, which opened in Shanghai in June last year and toured Chinese cities such as Beijing and Guangzhou, was a joint production between China and the United Kingdom.
