Barbara Lawlor, Nederland. In one of the last rehearsals before spring break, the Nederland Middle/Senior High School Cats cast had a run-through from the top and were so ready they could have performed in front of an audience the next night.

When the actors return from spring break, they will have another week of rehearsal and then the curtain will rise on one of their most powerful performances in a couple years.

The focus and intensity of the acting, the finesse and agility of the dancing and the trueness of the vocal emotion is profoundly moving as the cat characters move their tumultuous, tumbling, and tender lives.

The story takes place in a junkyard where the Jellicle cats are meeting. This special breed are each given three names, one from their humans, one that is unique to their personality and one known only by the cat itself.

On this particular night, the Jellicle Ball, one of the cats will have a chance to be reborn. Old Deuteronomy will announce the lucky feline. Three cats, Jennyanydots, Rum Tum Tugger, and Bustopher Jones are in the running. A former Glamour Cat, Grizabella, pleads with the cats to be allowed to the ball but is turned away.

She comes back to again ask for a second chance for life and beauty and to change her behavior. In the morning Old Deuteronomy says he will choose the cat who has found meaning in the happiness he or she has experienced.

The cats compete, telling stories, performing, singing, and vying for Old Deuteronomy’s attention. But Deuteronomy is spirited away, leading to mutiny among the cats. After the screeching and fighting, the old cat returns.

So does Grizabella, and the Jellicle Ball ends with the Old Deuteronomy’s choice of the cat to be reborn. The cats go back to their lives and the junkyard is empty, until the next ball.

You don’t have to even like cats to have this show tug at your heart strings. The characters are filled with all the human traits that make them vulnerable and lovable. And yet, when they slink around the stage, paws extended carefully, heads twisting, listening, ready to flee or pounce, they become cats.

As they poise on the edge of the stage and stare into the audience, even without costume, they take on the all-encompassing, distant look of the feline species.

Although there are only two males in the cast, the vocal numbers are complete with some of NMSHS’ finest singers. The dancing is phenomenal, with graceful ballet moves as well as a show-stopping tap dance number.

Long time Nederland actor Michael Wood plays Alonzo/Macavity. Old Deuteronomy/Rum Tum Tugger is played by senior Ben Rubio, who owns the stage as the lovable, respected wise old leader of the Jellicle Cats as well as his flashy tomcat brother.

Natasha Kinczel shines as Munkustrap, the show’s main narrator, a tabby tomcat who is the protector of the Jellicle tribe and Deuteronomy’s second in command.

Grizabella is played by Cara Bloomquist, who sings the signature song, “Memory,” that is sure to do a reprise in your music brain for the next week.

Show times will be Thursday, April 9, 7 p.m.; Friday, April 10, 7 p.m.; Saturday, April 11, 7 p.m.; Friday, April 17, 7 p.m.; and Saturday, April 18, noon and 7 p.m.