Rob Ashford to Helm CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF Revival?

According to an Equity casting notice, Rob Ashord is set to helm the upcoming Broadway revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in the Spring 2013. As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Scarlett Johansson, who won a 2010 Tony Award for her Broadway debut in A View From The Bridge, is rumored to play Maggie in the production. Those in the running to play Brick are Star Trek's Chris Pine and Johansson's The Avenger's co-star Jeremy Renner. Casting options for the remainder of the cast remain unknown.

Rehearsals are set to begin in November.

Ashford's Broadway credits include: How to Succeed (Tony nominations Direction/Choreography), Promises, Promises (Tony nomination Choreography); Thoroughly Modern Millie (Tony Award Best Choreography), Wedding Singer (Tony nom.), Cry Baby (Tony nom.), Curtains (Tony nom.).

The winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1955), the Tennessee Williams classic takes place on the Mississippi plantation of Big Daddy Pollitt, a wealthy cotton tycoon, and follows the relationships of Big Daddy's family, primarily between his alcoholic son Brick and Brick's wife Maggie the "Cat".

The original Broadway production, which opened in 1955, was directed by Elia Kazan and starred Barbara Bel Geddes as Maggie and Ben Gazzara as Brick. It was revived in 1974 by the American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, Connecticut starring Elizabeth Ashley and Keir Dullea. Kathleen Turner led a 1990 Broadway revival, which was followed up by a production in 2003 starring Ashley Judd and Jason Patric. The show was last staged on Broadway in 2008 featuring an all-African-American production directed by Debbie Allen starring Terrence Howard as Brick, James Earl Jones (Big Daddy), Phylicia Rashad (Big Mama), Anika Noni Rose (Maggie) and Lisa Arrindell Anderson (Mae). In November 2009, the production moved to London's West End, where it received the 2010 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Revival of a Play.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / Retna Ltd.