The cat that got the cream

Just thought I would pop a note down to let you know about my super exciting day yesterday.

S L Solutions is well and truly on the map with their first invitation to a press launch of a musical.  We arrived at The Winter Gardens in Blackpool on a bright but chilly day and mingled with likeminded socialites & business people.  We were then led through to the rear stalls entrance so that we could fill up the theatre from the front.

As I waited my turn in the queue to take our seats I was both surprised and delighted to see a number of cats in the audience.  They were posing and preening themselves and rubbing their ears and taking it all in.  One little mischievous cat (surely macavity?) was hiding under the seats and pawing at peoples’ feet making them jump.

As I was there on my own I could pick and choose where I sat and got a great seat about 10 rows back in an aisle seat.  I had a great view of the cats while they generally mingled with us and ‘performed’ – jumping and rolling about and play-fighting with each other.

The lights went down and the pianist came onto the stage closely followed by Heart FM presenters who introduced David Ian, the producer who will be bringing the CATS production from The London Palladium up to us here in Lancashire.

The Blackpool Opera House is THE only place that we will see CATS outside of London in 2015 and in 1989 it was the first venue outside London that the show was staged.

David Ian told us a bit about his work with Andrew Lloyd Webber and the history of the CATS musical.  He then went on to introduce the lead star of the show which is to be singer and presenter Jane McDonald.  Jane gave us a rendition of Memory sung beautifully and then had a quick Q&A session along with David.  During the session Jane told of her love of Blackpool and that it was the first venue after her show The Cruise where she brought her show and it seems ironic that the same venue has been chosen for her to star in the role of Grizabella.  She said it seemed like it was just meant to be and a “dream come true”.  David also confirmed that the show music will be in the form of a full orchestra and that “Andrew would not have it any other way” and he promised that the production would be as good as, “if not better”, than the current London show.

We finished with photo opportunities in the Winter Gardens with refreshments being served too and then off I popped to the box office to make our reservation.

So which cat got the cream? Me! Well it was such a great experience I feel like I did.

We should have a great afternoon in Blackpool seeing this wonderful show and having a drink or two before or after and an optional light lunch before hand too.  Contact me on event@slsoultions-nw.co.uk or find me on Facebook by popping slsolutionsnw in the search box.  Email or message me for tickets.

 I look forward to seeing you on this event or another one soon – check out my events pages to see which you fancy.