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SCMP Reporter

WITH a splash of hype bigger than Batmania or dinosaur fever, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway musical Cats is to pounce on the territory next year.

Television teasers in English and Cantonese featuring the famous glowing yellow eyes and the haunting lyrics have set the scene for the commercials beginning tomorrow night.

Special promotions are in the works, and American Express members will be bombarded with Cats literature.

Watched by more than 42 million people, the show comes to Hongkong's Academy for Performing Arts (APA) theatre on January 18, 1994, and will run for 14 weeks.

This is no ordinary hit-and-run performance. The Really Useful Company (RUC), founded by Lloyd Webber, plans to get Hongkong people involved in the production.

  Four places in the 32-strong cast have been allotted locally, including two lead roles - Grizabella the Glamour Cat and Rum Tum Tugger.

Auditions should commence next month, according to James Thane, managing director of the RUC's Australian branch.

  ''We are looking to have two local major stars take up roles,'' he said, but declined to say who may be in the running.

   Two smaller roles will be given to local dancers, possibly APA students. This reflects the RUC's commitment to the regions it visits.

  ''In France, we do it in French. In Germany, we do the production in German. This is not a one-off show. We want to be here a long time,'' Mr Thane said.

  ''And it is not unreasonable that in the long-term the show will be performed in Cantonese.

  ''Hongkong is the gateway to China and this has the potential to be the first Western musical to be performed there.''    The company will also rely on technical and support staff from the territory.

  The Lyric Theatre can accommodate more than 1,100 people.

  The show opens in Singapore on November 20 for seven weeks before coming to Hongkong. Singaporeans were so excited about the prospect of their first Lloyd Webber musical, the computer could not accommodate the flood of telephone and fax bookings.

  ''The lines couldn't cope,'' said John Duffus, a RUC consultant.

  For the many Lloyd Webber fans, Cats may be the first in what the RUC hopes will be a long line of Webber productions.

  ''We are already planning the next one, but it is not confirmed,'' Mr Duffus said.

  ''It is a bit early to say, but there are two shows that would have to be considered. There is a brand new version of Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat opening in the West End [London], Toronto, Sydney and Los Angeles.

  ''There is also a new concert version of Jesus Christ Superstar in Australia. It is an arena version costing A$45 million [HK$236 million]. It is now being scheduled for America.'' 



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