Grizabella

She really, really did.

Jennifer Hudson plays Grizabella.

Laurie Davidson plays Mr. Mistoffelees.

Yeah.

That's true.

So

Uh, we meet sad, dejected, former glamor cat, Grizabella.

That's your Jennifer Hudson character who you, you within moments of meeting her again, I'll spoil the rest of the plot here.

I have literally never even seen the original theater movie, and I did not see the movie with Taylor Swift in it, James Corden, because everyone told me I didn't need to.

And it served as this thing that I was like, well, maybe when I'm older, I'll play Grizabella one day.

But until then, like, it's just not a show I'm going to be in because... you have to look good in a unitard and point your toes.

And like, those are things that I, I don't, not entirely sure that someone's going to hire me to do.

And someone's like, great, done.

Like, what? So, yeah, I think it is.

I wonder, for people who don't know anything about categories, if they really understood what Grizabella's category was and sort of what we were kind of implying there and sort of why, from the inside perspective, I always felt really moved when she would be singing about I was beautiful then and, like, how her beauty was her entire identity as a competitor.

Like...

I want to see this too.

So the trio of West End stars will share the role as Cats has announced the performers who will play Grizabella on its new UK and Ireland tour, which opens at the Theatre Royal Plymouth on the 6th of October, 2026.

Now, this is the Michael Harris... production for Lloyd Webber Harris musicals after the record break in London Region Park Open Air which was directed and choreographed by Drew McConey so that is the production we're talking about but Louise Dearman wow

yep

Alice Fern, wow, and Rachel Wooding will share the role of Grizabella.

Wooding played it in Regent Park recently.

So Dearman is scheduled to appear in Plymouth, Bristol, Birmingham, Norwich and Edinburgh.

Alice Fern is playing Grizabella in Belfast.

So it's a hard one to balance up.

Because I do remember the last time Grizabella came being really disappointed because she was a little bit too light on it and she wasn't quite belty

enough.

So actually, on the flip side, this woman was really belty, but just kind of gave it a bit too much and then cracked on it.

So I was like, touch me! At 26.

I was the youngest Grizabella on tour in Cats.

Amazing.

And then what happened? But then it was like, all of a sudden I was like, oh, it's all coming.

Yeah, so 28 years later.

I will be returning to the show, cats, but this time playing Grizabella.

And it's so weird because, obviously, it was unexpected that that would be my first ever job because I was an actor-singer.

First and foremost, I've wanted to work at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre for as long as I can remember.

that.

But what I'm saying is that I...

I'd gone through all of that and how he was explaining who she was, Grizabella, and what he wanted from her.

I was like, you know when you're like, I don't need you, I know.