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At a cost of \xa32m, Andrew Lloyd Webber\u2019s musical \u2018Cats\u2019 premiered at the New London Theatre on 11th May, 1981 - and the world had never seen anything like it.\xa0\n\xa0\nWith a cast including Brian Blessed and Elaine Paige, the original production was innovative, sexy, creepy, bizarre - and an enormous gamble for the impresarios who backed it.\n\xa0\nIn this episode, Olly, Rebecca and Arion look back at the original reviews for the show, consider whether John Napier\u2019s award-winning costume design was actually incredibly lazy, and reveal how the show\u2019s signature song, \u2018Memory\u2019, nearly didn\u2019t happen at all...\n\xa0\nFurther reading:\n\u2022 Elaine Paige performs \u2018Memory\u2019 in the original production:\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm5w7gHEtJI\n\u2022 Sue MacGregor interviews the cast and crew for Radio 4\u2019s \u2018The Reunion\u2019:\nhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0008jyn\n\u2022 \u2018Cats\u2019 - a timeline from London\u2019s Evening Standard:\nhttps://www.standard.co.uk/culture/theatre/cats-musical-history-a4439316.html\nFor bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/Retrospectors\nWe'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/Retrospectors\n\xa0\nThe Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.\nTheme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.\nCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2021.\n#80s\xa0#Arts #Theatre #UK\n Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices