Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Revival, Starring Scarlett Johansson, On Track for Broadway Winter Opening

The upcoming Broadway revival of Tennessee William's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, starring Scarlett Johansson, is on track to begin previews at the end of the year, with an opening night planned for January 2013, the show's director Rob Ashford told Broadway.com. No theater or further casting has been announced at this time. 

"I saw Scarlett in A View From the Bridge and thought she did a superb job," Ashford said. "What was impressive to me was the economy of her performance. She was so thrillingly simple and powerful in the part. I’m thrilled that Stuart Thompson, who is producing the show, believes in me and has seen the work and believes I can do this. I am so excited, I really am!"

Set in the Mississippi Delta, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof tells the story of Brick and his wife Maggie (presumably Johansson), who are celebrating the birthday of Brick’s father, Big Daddy Pollitt. At the gathering, the family grapples with the struggles they have repressed over the years. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof first opened on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre on March 24, 1955. The production starred Barbara Bel Geddes as Maggie and Ben Gazzara as Brick, and won the 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof has been revived on Broadway four times, including a 2003 production starring Ashley Judd and Jason Patric, and most recently in 2008, starring James Earl Jones, Anika Noni Rose, Terrence Howard and Phylicia Rashad.

Hollywood stars Chris Pine and Jeremy Renner have both been speculated to take on the role of Brick for the upcoming production.