New York City Broadway Theater Guide

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Broadway Drama

Previews  October 9 2003
Opened  November 2 2003
Closed March 7 2004

Run 28 previews | 146 performances

Running Time  2 hr 50 mins | 2 intermissions

Tickets  $66.25 to $86.25

Prices do not include any taxes, service charges or other charges

Performances

Creative

Tennessee Williams author
Anthony Page director

Note Ms Judd was forced to leave the cast due to a torn ligament suffered during the February 17th performance. Understudy Kelly McAndrew replaced her 

Synopsis

Lies, lies, it's all lies and everybody's a liar on this hot, steamy Mississippi night as a family gathers to celebrate its patriarch's birthday. Or, as Big Daddy puts it, "What's that smell in this room? Didn't you notice it, Brick? Didn't you notice the powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room?"

High school football hero turned drunk, Brick simply no longer cares. Since his dear friend Skipper died, Brick doesn't care about his wife Maggie; nor does he care about his brother's attempts to influence their father's decisions to whom to leave his fortune. He seemingly doesn't care that his father is dying -- and doesn't know it -- nor that both father and wife think his relationship with Skipper might have been a bit "abnormal"

Maggie cares. She cares about Big Daddy's money. So much so that in order to make Brick help to make the baby that she's already told the family is on the way, she tells Brick she loves him

"Wouldn't it be funny if that was true?"

Broadway Show History

Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof made its Broadway debut March 24, 1955, at the Morosco Theater. The show starred Barbara Bel Geddes, Burl Ives, Mildred Dunnock and Ben Gazara. The play received the 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for four 1956 Tony Awards®

The play has been revived twice on Broadway before this production. The first was at the ANTA Theater in 1974 with Kate Reid, Fred Gwynne, Keir Dullea and Elizabeth Ashley. Ms Ashley was nominated for a 1975 Tony®

1990 featured Kathleen Turner, Charles Durning, Polly Holliday and Daniel Hugh Kelly at the Eugene O'Neill Theater. The Howard Davies-directed show ran for 149 performances and was nominated for three 1990 Tony Awards®, with Mr Durning getting the win for featured actor

A third revival, with an all-Black cast, played the Broadhurst Theater from March 6th to June 22nd 2008. Phylicia Rashad and James Earl Jones appeared as Big Mama and Big Daddy, with Terrence Howard as Brick and Anika Noni Rose as Maggie

In the Movies

Richard Brooks penned the screenplay and directed the 1958 screen version of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Starring Paul Newman as Brick and Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie, the film featured Judith Anderson as Big Mama and Burl Ives reprising his role as Big Daddy. It was nominated for six 1959 Academy Awards, for picture, writing, direction, cinematography, and actor and actress for Mr Newman and Ms Taylor. The folks left the RKO Pantages Theater empty handed

On Television

Granada Television produced made-for-television version for its Laurence Olivier Presents series in 1976. Mr Olivier played Big Daddy opposite Maureen Stapleton's Big Mama. Husband and wife team Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood appeared as Brick and Maggie

Jack Hofsiss directed another TV version in 1984 with Tommy Lee Jones and Jessica Lange as Brick and Maggie, and Rip Torn and Kim Stanley in the roles of Big Daddy and Big Mama

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