Broadway's Starry Cat to Jump from Stage to Screen

The current African-American cast of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof will have their performances preserved in a feature film, according to Variety. Producer Stephen Byrd has secured rights to the new film adaptation from the estate of playwright Tennessee Williams and intends to begin filming in 2009, depending on the availability of current stage stars Terrence Howard, Anika Noni Rose, James Earl Jones and Phylicia Rashad. The revival opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on March 6 and is scheduled to continue through June 22.

The stage revival of Cat, directed by Debbie Allen, is the first African-American production approved by the Williams estate for the Broadway stage. In addition to a film version, Byrd told Variety that he is organizing a simulcast of a live performance of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof to be shown in Regal Cinemas nationwide.

Although Cat was shut out of this week's Tony nominations, it has been one of the season's biggest hits, regularly playing to sellout business, especially when Howard is onstage as Brick. He took a short break to promote the hit movie Ironman but is now back in the cast. In less than three months, the starry production has recouped its $2.1 million investment.

Producer Byrd was also reported to have bought the rights to Williams' classic A Streetcar Named Desire with the intent to mount a multiracial film adaptation in the future. A film version of the hit 2004 revival of A Raisin in the Sun also featuring Rashad, who won a Tony for her performances, as well as Tony winner Audra McDonald, Sean Combs and Sanaa Latham, was shown on ABC-TV earlier this season and has just been released on DVD.

The original 1958 film version of Cat on a Hot Tin Roofstarred Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Jack Carson and Judith Anderson, and was nominated for six Academy Awards.