IT MAY be the highpoint of her career to date, but Faith Brown's starring role in Sunset Boulevard means she will suffer the heartache of being separated from her loved ones - a cat and two dogs.

Animal-mad Faith, who plays Norma Desmond in the forthcoming tour of the classic Andrew Webber musical - at The Mayflower, Southampton in November - shares her London home with a Burmese Blue cat called Benji, a West Highland Terrier called Monty and a black Labrador called Harvey.

"Fortunately, some of the venues will be close enough for me to come home at weekends to see them," says Faith, who was at Harbour Lights cinema in Ocean Village, Southampton, this week to give the tour a high-profile launch.

But the performer, best known as an impressionist, will be leaving her little darlings in the safe hands of her husband-manager Len.

"He's wonderful. He always has a meal ready for me when I get home from rehearsals," says Faith, who says she is delighted to be appearing in her first serious acting role.

"I've done the West End before, but this is my first heavy-duty straight acting role.

"It's such a fantastic part, and so emotional. I'm really feeling my way into the role now. It's become like a second skin to me."

The show, already a long-running West End and Broadway hit, is based on the Billy Wilder film of the same name and tells the story of Norma Desmond, a faded movie star from the days of silent films who is now trying to recapture her former glory in the age of talkies.

Faith describes herself as "a singer first and foremost".

"I started out as a soul singer, and even now in my act I do impressions of people like Tina Turner and Mariah Carey.

"But to be playing something that is so meaty is just a gift from heaven.

"Even now, during rehearsals, people are coming up to me and saying, My God.

* Sunset Boulevard is at The Mayflower from November 6-December 8. For tickets and more information on the production, call the box office on 023 8071 1811.