PHOTO CALL: Cat On a Hot Tin Roof at the West End's Novello Theatre

By Amy Lipson
02 Dec 2009

The 2008 Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, which featured an African-American cast led by James Earl Jones as Big Daddy and Phylicia Rashad as Big Mama, opened Dec. 1 at the West End's Novello Theatre.



Jones and Rashad reprise their roles for the limited run to April 10, 2010. Also in the cast are British actor Adrian Lester replacing Terrence Howard as Brick, while Broadway's Sanaa Lathan replaces Anika Noni Rose as Maggie. The company also features Richard Blackwood, Derek Griffiths, Nina Sosanya, Guy Burgess, Claudia Cadette, Peter De Jersey, Susan Lawson-Reynolds and Joseph Mydell. They are joined by Yvonne Gidden who will understudy Big Mama.

Director Debbie Allen made her Broadway directorial debut with this production.

When this production opened at Broadway's Broadhurst Theatre in 2008, it marked the first time that an African-American cast had appeared in the Williams play on Broadway. In a statement, its Broadway producer Stephen C. Byrd commented, "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof has been revived on Broadway four times before; this production marks the first African-American production approved by Williams estate for the Broadway stage. This revival of Cat is not only making Broadway history, it is making American theatre and black theatre history too!"

Here is a look at the West End production:

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James Earl Jones
Photo by Nobby Clark



To book tickets, contact the box office on 0844 482 5170, or visit www.catwestend.com