Whitaker, Rashad, McDonald to NOT Star in "Cat" Revival- Page 2

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 2:50pm

With Debbie Allen directing it, they may as well just shoot the thing in the head.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 3:03pm

So true, TheatreDiva.

Then again, if somehow Allen manages to find a way to add a few interpretive dance numbers, wild horses couldn't keep me from seeing this.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 3:04pm

And you know this sucker is doomed if Allen's own sister bolted from the production, leaving her holding the bag.

[Dark Gable]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 3:14pm

Thanks for the input Margo. I forgot about Jasmine's breakdown.

You also bring up a good point about Givens being too old (I didn't know she was 42). Even so, she would still make a better Maggie than Whitney (who is 44?).

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 3:29pm

Oh well, you're absolutely right, but then I never even remotely considered the possibility of Whitney actually being cast. Imagine Whitney as Maggie and Bobby as Brick with Allen directing? That, right there, very well may be the single greatest trainwreck in the history of theatre...... and I wouldn't miss it for the world.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 3:30pm

It's really too bad that this cast fell through. Could have been perfect....even Whitaker, despite the fact that he's about 20 years too young.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 4:17pm

Even Debbie wouldn't add dance numbers...

Who she?


*Shudders*

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 4:50pm

This whole thing sounds horrifying. There are no words for it beyond horrifying.


ETF: drunken mistakes

Updated On: 4/11/07 at 04:50 PM

[LittleFish8386]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 4:52pm

Wasn't this show JUST on Broadway?

[landryjames2]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 4:56pm

Forest Whitaker looks too young to people?

Maybe it's just that he is not attractive at all, but he looks like he could play a fifty year old EASILY.

How old is Big Daddy? Is it ever mentioned in the play? I imagine Brick and Maggie to be what--late-mid twenties or so? So a 50 year old is not too young for their father.

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 5:08pm

I do believe Forest Whitaker is too young. To me he has always had a youthfulness unrelated to his age.

And, yes, LittleFish, it WAS just on Broadway. But the characters were played by white people, so it doesn't count. Plus, I don't think it was very well-received by anyone.

[LittleFish8386]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 5:12pm

Yeah, well that shouldn't matter. New material people!!!

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 5:13pm

Forest is 45 years old. He'll be 46 in July.

Burl Ives was 49 in the film, and he was 46 in the original Broadway production. They also "aged" him a bit for the part.

So, while I may not agree with you that he's "not attractive at all," I do agree that he's the right age to play Big Daddy, given a little help with makeup.

As for the rest of the original cast:

Big Mama - Mildred Dunnock (54)
Maggie - Barbara Bel Geddes (33)
Brick - Ben Gazzara (25)
Sister Woman - Madeleine Sherwood (33)
Gooper - Pat Hingle (31)

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 5:32pm

Regardless of actual ages, Whitaker still looks like he's in his mid- to late 30s to me, while Ives seemed to ALWAYS look to be at least 60 years old -- maybe it's the girth and the white beard, but he looks old enough to be Whitaker's father.

Maybe it's that old thing about people just used to look older a generation or two ago than they do today. Lots of 40-something actors (Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt) still look like kids compared to actors like William Holden and Humphrey Bogart who even in their earliest films looked middle-aged (or at least were always adults and NEVER looked like kids). Compare someone like Ethel Merman to, say, Bernadette Peters. Merman looked middle aged in her 20s and when she played Rose at 51, she looked two decades older than Peters did when she played the role at 55 (but looking barely 40).

Anyway, it's a moot point now. I think Danny Glover (who's 60) would have been a better pick anyway, though if I had my druthers (and could replace Allen while I'm at it), I'd have tried to get Charles Dutton for Big Daddy. He has the age, the size, the gravitas, the fiery charisma -- talk about stage presence, he's among the greatest powerhouse performers I've ever seen on stage and he'd make an incredible Big Daddy. But theres no way in hell he'd waste his time if Debbie Allen is at the helm.

[sidneybruhl]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 6:02pm

Looks like Rashad is back on board:

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/107223.html

[AC126748]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 6:04pm

Thandie Newton is a great choice for Maggie, but LL Cool J? Seriously?

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 6:14pm

"Audra McDonald was one of the performers originally considered as a possibility for Maggie. Byrd did not rule out the possibility of casting McDonald if other offers fall through, but he cited her many projects, including her recent CD and her upcoming role in Broadway's 110 in the Shade, which would presumably end right before Cat on a Hot Tin Roof rehearsals: "It's just a little too much Audra," he said."

....which means she said no.