‘Cats’ Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber Has His Claws Out for the Movie Adaptation

Well, the cat’s out of the bag: Andrew Lloyd Webber hates the Cats movie. Since Webber unleashed his disdain for James Corden’s performance as Bustopher Jones earlier this summer, it seems the composer’s claws are out for the feature film adaptation of his acclaimed stage musical. The award-winning composer is not going to let sleeping cats lie, and doubled down on his criticisms of Tom Hooper’s adaptation in an interview that I might say is a little…catty.

I’m all out of cat puns, but Webber is not out of insults for Hooper’s adaptation of Cats, the composer’s long-running musical that ran for 21 years in London and 18 years on Broadway. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Webber revealed his thoughts on why Hooper’s Cats was such a cat-tastrophe (I got another one!):

“The problem with the film was that Tom Hooper decided that he didn’t want anybody involved in it who was involved in the original show. The whole thing was ridiculous.”

Ridiculous? Have you seen the original Cats, Webber?

Webber’s latest comments come two months after the composer made his first dig at the Cats movie, skewering James Corden’s performances as Bustopher Jones in a commentary track for the filmed 1998 stage version of Cats.

“Bustopher without interruption, as I wrote it,” Webber said, referring to the 1998 version of the character. “Do not be beguiled by other versions. Other versions with unfunny interpolations which I begged to be cut out. I did manage to get the worst of them removed. I cannot tell you how absolutely un-[T.S.] Eliot it all was in this song.”

Regardless, it seems that if Hooper had just given Webber a call, the composer might not be so miffed that Cats was such a glorious critical and box office disaster. Though I doubt Hooper could have salvaged his film simply by hewing closer to the stage version.

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