If there was any doubt the world was shrinking that the internet, Skype, Viber, Facebook, You Tube, Instagram or Twitter hasn't answered, then a Broadway musical being performed in Mandarin in Beijing puts the case to rest.
Cats, the hit Broadway musical opened in China late last year to sell out audiences. Based on T.S Elliot's "Old Possum's book of practical cats", the venture brings the magic of New York to the east, but it has managed to give the show a distictly asian flavor.
The Chinese version, which will tour Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi'an, Wuhan and Chongqing is not a carbon copy of the western version, the obvious local touch is the language. The line in the ballad Memories goes from "Memory...All alone in the moonlight" to "jì yì...qiān líng dīng zhōng yuè guāng"
As well as language, the theatre culture of China has stayed local. When one audience member wanted to make a phone call, something clearly forbidden by a pre-performance announcement, he was thoughtful enough to speak only while the characters sang, so the music very nearly covered up the sound of his voice and didn't disturb the people around him quite so much.
It was tempting when writing a blog about Cats to sign off by using a cheesy pun, like the show being "purr-fect", or hoping the performers don't get furrballs, but I couldn't think of a good one so I'm going to be a pussy and not use one
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