The curtain goes up on Australian production of the world famous West End musical Cats this April in Xi'an, in northwest China.

Before arriving in Xi'an, the Australian troupe of 80, will held performances in other Chinese cities including Chengdu and Shenzhen.

Altogether eight performances will be staged in Xi'an between April 7-13.

Cats was composed by British playwright, Andrew LIoyd Webber, and is based on T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats and other poems. The show debuted in London in 1981 then in Sydney in 1985 and has since gone on to become one of the most successful and longest running modern musical performances. The musical has been performed around the world and translated into numerous languages.

Xi'an, one of China's most popular tourist destinations, is most famous for the terra-cotta figures from the tomb of Qinshihuang, China's First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221 to 207 B.C.).

(Xinhua News Agency March 22, 2008)