Posted on 07/20/2018 7:14:23 AM PDT by EdnaMode
Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift, James Corden and Ian McKellen have been cast in Working Title’s upcoming movie version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s smash musical “Cats.”
Tom Hooper, the Oscar-winning director of “The King’s Speech,” will direct “Cats,” which is set to begin shooting in Britain in November. The screenplay by Lee Hall (“Billy Elliot”) is based on Lloyd Webber’s musical, which was itself adapted from a book of children’s poems by T.S. Eliot.
Hudson, who won an Oscar in 2007 for her breakout role in “Dreamgirls,” will play Grizabella, the former “glamour cat” who falls on hard times and gets to sing about it in showstopper “Memory.” It’s unclear which roles will be played by Swift, Corden and McKellen.
The Daily Mail was the first to report the casting news, which was confirmed to Variety.
“Cats” is one of the most successful musicals in history, enjoying long runs both in London’s West End and on Broadway. The possibility of a movie version has long been bandied about.
Working Title’s Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan brought another beloved stage musical, “Les Miserables,” to the big screen in 2012. That film was nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards and won a statuette for Anne Hathaway as best supporting actress.
Eliot’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,” published in 1939, is a collection of poems about creatures known as “Jellicle cats” and their secret world, but lacks an overarching story line. Lloyd Webber’s musical stitches the poems together into a tale of cats seeking some sort of feline redemption in the “Heaviside layer,” somewhere above London, “up, up, up past the Russell Hotel.”
Besides tired and tattered Grizabella, other characters include Old Deuteronomy, Macavity, Skimbleshanks and the Rum Tum Tugger.
And they’ll be wearing those pink hats.
Went to see it in the ‘90s. Wow! What a boring POS it was.
I’ve seen the Broadway production of cats and it put me to sleep. I also saw a performance by a local teen acting company and it was riveting.
Amazing difference.
“Old Possum” was Ezra Pound’s nickname for T.S. Eliot
Eliot had given up writing poetry and was about to go to grad school in philosophy, but Pound made him show him something he’d written. It turned out to be “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” that Pound forced the editor of Poetry Magazine to publish, even though she thought it was rubbish.
Wow. That’s a serious reach. But I got it.
Once upon a time, our high school “gifted” class got to go on a trip to DC as part of our budding socialist indoctrination program. I don’t remember much about the trip, but we did meet our greasy (dem) congressman, have a (lame) mock debate, and the best part, see Cats on its original run in the National theatre.
It was a good time, the show was fun, and the pretty girls in catty outfits were stimulating to a young mind. (ahem)
Bought the OST on cassette, and nearly wore it out. Have the CDs now.
Years later, I discovered Sarah Brightman, and my ears were definitely in for a treat. (She was one of the original cast)
Anyway, I loved the show, especially the Growltiger part, and I was very disappointed when I learned much later that it had been removed from the show, presumably because the set, etc. (being an animated pirate ship) was too expensive. I have the DVD that they released of the show, and the lack of the pirate cat just leaves a hole in the experience for me.
I’d like to hope that this movie will recapture some of the wonder and magic, but I suspect that like many things (star wars...) much of it is just all tied up with the wonder and magic of youth which is long gone.
(sigh)
Pardon me while I go find some clouds to yell at.
LOL! That’s why is was Zzzzzzzzzzz within the first 5 minutes. Nice nap.
I can listen to the music. I never could watch the play. I walked out on the broadway show, leaving my friends to watch it on their own. Something about adults acting as adult animals in animal costumes is a mixture I just can’t stand. I find it revolting. Call me an old prude. Or, maybe I just hate cats.
Congratulations on catching it.
I now anoint you to be...
...old.
I generally don’t like theater, can’t stand the necessary over-projection and exaggerated expressions. But a smaller, more intimate venue might be better.
Love Cats. Can you guess why?
Probably 5,000 people there in an outdoor theater, Miller theater. Huge tightly packed crowds.
Oh my! You really think Taylor would be a crazy cat lady?
I clicked on this to see if someone had made that reference. Well done!
Gays taking over musical comedy. What's next?
“Russel Crowe”
He was good in that part, but really not up to the singing. Hugh Jackman was good, though.
I’m excited about Jennifer Hudson, she’s great.
"Bring Him Home" turns me into a bawling baby every time I hear it.
“Sarah Brightman”
Wasn’t she/isn’t she married to Andrew Lloyd Webber?
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