The 30-year-old says she relates to the much older part of Grizabella because she has experienced a lot for someone so young.
“You don’t have to be an old cat to have experienced a lot,” says The Voice judge, who is already getting rave reviews in her first musical.
“I’ve lead a very colourful life. I don’t have to be much older to feel the moments that she has felt – the rainbow of colours that each of us has been through.”
The ARIA chart-topper was just 18 when she was diagnosed in 2003 with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of blood cancer.
After undergoing intensive chemo and radiation treatment, she’s since made a full recovery, but never once taken her second lease on life for granted.
A brave Delta says it’s those type of experiences that allow her to inject so much emotion into her Andrew Lloyd Webber crowd-pleaser Memory.
“You do go into all the old memories,” she said. “And you do dig into the memory bank of what you’ve done that day. But I do have strings of energy that every single person can relate to when they listen to that song…
“Going back in time, thinking about growing up and as time moves on. There are certain chapters we can reflect on and I definitely feel it in my heart when it’s time to go there.”
Although she’s more used to having a stage all to herself, Delta says she’s made no diva demands for her three-city stint in a rebooted version of Cats.
“I’ve never been like that – I feel like I’m one of the gang.
“Being part of theatre in Australia — honestly, my heart is just really smiling.
“We’re all Aussies. We all get it. We’re culturally the same and we all have a good laugh, and when it’s time to be serious and focus, we do.”
But there’s one aspect of her life that ironically didn’t help in the preparation for her Cats role: her two cats Venus and Priscilla.
“I have two cats,” she says. “My cats don’t inspire much in the way of movement…they’re more the snuggly cats.”
