The ever-popular Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Cats, tours to Sunderland at the end of the month. Steve Pratt talks to Grizabella-playing Joanna Ampil about her Memories

EVEN while making her debut in Miss Saigon, Joanna Ampil had her eye on the role of Grizabella in Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s musical Cats.

“Unfortunately I was too young at that time and then the show closed in London.

When I heard about a touring version I called up my agent and asked if he could get me an audition,” she recalls.

She was successful and prowls the stage nightly singing the classic Memory song in this stage adaptation of TS Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book Of Practical Cats that played 21 record-breaking years on the London stage, won a best musical Olivier and seven Tony awards in the US.

The show has been seen by more than 50 million people in 26 countries. A few more will see Ampil, who made her name in another musical Miss Saigon, as Grizabella in the current UK tour, that reaches Sunderland Empire at the end of the month.

The show’s success, she feels, is down to the fact that so many people can relate to the characters and their stories. “I know so many friends and relatives who have stories similar to Grizabella, and the song Memory is iconic. People can relate to it and interpret it,” she says.

THE familiarity of the song with audiences puts pressure on singing it. “I always go through the lyrics in my head because so many people know it. I make sure I don’t go wrong, try to psych myself down and get into the zone,” she says.

“The story of Grizabella is about trying to get into the tribe and always trying to be part of a group, of being a pariah and telling her story. You can’t just sing and be on autopilot.

It’s a new show and a new experience. It’s giving more than 100 per cent every night.

“I do enjoy playing tragic roles. Most of the ones I’ve done have been tragic. I suppose having played all those roles in the past contributes to playing Grizabella.”

Tragic doesn’t apply to one of her most recent roles – Maria in The Sound Of Music at Resorts World Manila. That part meant a lot to her, not least because she won a best actress award. It was a departure in that there was a lot of text in it and she was used to sungthrough musicals with little or no dialogue.

She has homes in both Manila in the Philippines, where she was born, and London, where she debuted in Miss Saigon as a 17-year-old nearly 20 years ago.

A close friend saw a newspaper ad for auditions for Miss Saigon and brought it to Ampil’s attention. At the time the musical was big because many of the cast had been found in the Philippines. “Auditioning was a long process.

There was dancing, acting and singing – and I didn’t know anything about dancing or acting. They saw my resume and innocence because she’s like someone who has no experience whatsoever. That worked to my advantage.

“A couple of months after they told me the audition was successful, although I didn’t know what part I was up for.” She was set to enter college to study journalism, an aim that was abandoned when the Miss Saigon role was offered.

After appearing in the London run, she went to Australia to open the show there and then returned to London for the UK tour.

She thinks she was destined to do it because “I enjoy it – it never felt like work, it always had that fun factor”.

Because of her young age, her mother stayed with her in London for the first year. “She was away from my dad and siblings for a year. It was difficult for her to leave them in Manila. I am always grateful she sacrified that year for me. It made it easier for me because offstage I had her support,” says Ampil.

Since then, she’s added more musicals to her CV including Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Miserables, West Side Story and Rent.

She’s grateful that producers are so open to multi-racial casting. She was the first Asian Fantine in Les Miserables in London. Finding the right wig colour appears to have been the only problem.

Back home in Manila she’s a star. “They’ve been very welcoming. They consider the fact that I’ve done a few things internationally. I can only be grateful for that as well. I know people who work so hard and fight very hard to break into show business. I am grateful for everything that happens.”

She’s seen changes in her home country where musical theatre is much bigger now.

Miss Saigon set the ball rolling. “We had a couple of big production companies before but not a lot of people could afford to go to the theatre,” she says.

“Now there’s so much competition, which is good for actors who are there and so many people want to be educated with theatre and it’s very affordable now. I can have a career over there.”

  • Cats: Sunderland Empire, May 28-June 8. Box Office 0844- 8713022 and atgtickets.com/sunderland