ALI Kirkham is directing Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats for the first time since her Ryedale Youth Theatre production in Malton six years ago.

At the invitation of artistic director Robert Readman, the ever-busy professional Ryedale director and choreographer is at the helm of Pick Me Up Theatre's show, running at the Grand Opera House in York from November 10 to 17.

"I hadn't met Robert before, but I'd heard of him and his theatre work, and he messaged me about the possibility of directing the show in York, as he'd seen a lot of Ryedale Youth Theatre shows," Ali recalls.

"I sill freelance-choreograph shows all over the world, from Spain to India, so I knew I'd have to fiddle around a few things to do such a busy, full-on dancing and singing show, but I did say 'Yes' because it's a great show and this is the 'normal' full-scale production."

Such are the requirements of performing Cats that Ali started rehearsals in September for Lloyd Webber's musical adaptation of T S Eliot's Old Possum’s Book Of Practical Cats, with its stories of the Jellicle Cats, who come out to play on one special night of the year, the night of the Jellicle Ball in a larger-than-life junkyard playground.

One by one, such favourite feline characters as Rum Tum Tugger, Macavity, Grizabella, Mr Mistoffelees, Old Deuteronemy and Skimbleshanks make their entry to tell a story for the amusement of Old Deuteronomy, their wise and benevolent leader, who must choose one cat to ascend to The Heaviside Layer and be reborn into a whole new Jellicle life.

Ali is working in tandem with musical director Jessica Douglas for the first time. "Pick Me Up have some great musicians and Jessica is a fantastic MD; we've got on really well, and in fact I offered her a chance to do the panto in Torquay, but she's already committed to doing the Rowntree Players show in York," she says.

By comparison with Jessica, Ali knows one of her cast members very well: Tracey Rea. "I had the last say on casting and when I told Tracey I was doing Cats, I said , 'I want you to be in it'." she says.

"But York is so full of talent, it's never guaranteed that you will get the part, so I was really glad I got it," says Tracey, who will play Grizabella, having appeared in Pick Me Up's production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies in July.

Follies gave Tracey her first acting role in 31 years, although she had spent 15 years as a principal dancer and singer on Olsen, Celebrity and P&O cruise liners. "When I started singing for Ali on the Fred Olsen cruise ships, my first production number was Macavity from Cats – and I'd first done Macavity as part of dance group at the Pamela Gray Dancing Academy in Hull when I was 14, back in 1981," she says.

"I was really having kittens when I sang it for the first time because I'd never sung in a show; I was a dancer, but Ali said, 'You couldn't sing, could you?', but I didn't have anything prepared to sing as I'd always concentrated on dancing."

Ali takes up the story. "Tracey sang Yazz's The Only Way Is Up to me, and then Every Time You Say Goodbye, and I thought, 'why have you not sung before? You have a beautiful voice'. She could hit top C, no problem, but she'd never sung professionally."

"My life would have been so different if it were not for that moment," says Tracey, who is delighted to be starring in Cats, a show she loves. "Every time it's been on tour, I've seen it. It's my bible of musicals.

"It's clever and witty and funny and beautiful; Lloyd Webber's music brings it alive, and they're all such well written characters. What's not to like? And the beautiful thing is that everyone started reading T S Eliot's poetry again after Cats."

The only way is indeed up, as that great pop philosopher Yazz asserted. "I never thought I'd be singing Macavity; it's a tough song, it's on the 'break' in my voice, so what you have to do is think ahead with singing the 'belty' stuff, which is not natural for me, so it's a bit of a mind game," says Tracey.

It will all come good on the night, just as it will for Grizabella. "I like the fact that her story is a bit of a fairytale and she gets welcomed back into the fold at the end, after they've been so mean to her, so she's a cat re-born!" says Tracey.

Pick Me Up Theatre present Cats at Grand Opera House, York, from November 10 to 17. Performances start at 2.30pm and 7.30pm, November 10 and 17; 3pm, November 11; 7.30pm, November 12 to 16. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york.