Jennifer Hudson and Taylor Swift Join an All-Star Cast for ‘Cats’

Composed by Lloyd Webber and based on T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, the original Broadway production opened in 1982 at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre (currently home to Lloyd Webber’s School of Rock), where it ran for 7,485 performances and 18 years. The musical was originally produced on Broadway by Cameron Mackintosh, The Really Useful Company Limited, David Geffen, and The Shubert Organization. A revival at the Neil Simon Theatre ran from July 2016 through December 2017.

The film will be directed by Oscar winner Tom Hooper (Les Misérables, The King’s Speech) and penned by Billy Elliot’s Lee Hall,  and will begin shooting in November.

There is no official word yet on which Jellicles the quartet will play, but it is speculated that Hudson, who won an Academy Award for her performance as Effie in the film version of Dreamgirls, will take on the faded glamour cat Grizabella, the role created in London and on Broadway by Elaine Paige and Betty Buckley, respectively. Jennifer Hudson would have the chance to belt out the musical’s best-known tune, the chart-topping “Memory.”