Moggie musical left me feline off-key

Cats PG ★★★★★

Until I saw the film version of Cats I’m pretty sure I’d never heard the word ‘Jellicle’, but by the time I came out I seemed to have heard it more than 100 times and still didn’t know what it meant.

Turns out it’s a type of street cat, invented by T S Eliot, whose collection of poems, Old Possum’s Book Of Practical Cats, provided the basis for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical.

Even after watching the film, I thought the cats were electing a new leader but I was wrong about that too.

I’ve never seen the musical on which the film is based and this did little to make me regret that choice. I didn’t mind the digitised half-cat, half-human visual effects hybrid that caused such upset when the first trailer was unveiled. Not least because dancer Francesca Hayward makes the prettiest cat/human hybrid you’ll probably ever see, not to mention the most graceful – but the lack of narrative and the thinness of the lyrics took their toll.

I’m well aware that many of you think otherwise. So, warning fellow sceptics that this is a sung-through musical with no speaking at all, I can say that early on there are some poor songs and some distinctly indifferent singing but things improve. Judi Dench, above, and Ian McKellen join the feline fun, the dancing gets significantly better and the likes of Jennifer Hudson and Taylor Swift do wonders for the vocals.

Still, I don’t want to hear Memory again for a very long time. Miaow!