"CATS" the Musical: 1988 - Moscow

During the Gorbachev era in the U.S.S.R., BBCTV News was covering many of the political events of the 1980s. In April 1985,,coincidentally, Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical "Cats" arrived for it's premier in Moscow. Ian Pritchard filmed Gillian Lynne, the choreographer, fine tuning the dancers during rehearsals, and the evening's 1st perfomance of the show. I edited this highlights video from unused videotape footage. The cast of the show were staying at the same hotel - the Rossija on Red Square, and after their first night there was a party thrown for the whole cast and crew in the Rossija hotel. Several of the dancers came to the edit suite in my hotel room to watch this video!. We all had a memoable evening with champagne and caviar in abundant supply!Ian and I were invited to the after show party in a large ballroom in a very exclusive part of the hotel, where we drank the best local vodka and celebrated with dancers and guests 'til the early hours!! What a fantastic night!