1. Bombalurina is a cat called a Red Queen. She’s mysterious and feisty, and oozes sex appeal — the perfect character for Taylor. Bombalurina is a third of the “Gumbie trio” with two other cats, Jellylorum and Demeter. It doesn’t appear that they’ll be in the movie, though, as there is no listing for them on the IMDb cast list. She’s got a thing for a grumpy and fickle cat named Rum Tum Tugger, who “do as he do do, and there’s no doing anything about it,” according to the musical.
2. The plot of Cats is a little confusing, but will be fun to see on film. Bear with me here. Cats, the sung-through musical composed by Broadway legend Andrew Lloyd Webber, is based on “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” by T. S. Eliot. The 2019 film version will be directed by Tom Hooper of Les Miserables. In short, Cats is about a tribe called the Jellicles, and follows the night they make “the Jellicle choice” and decide which of their own will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life. Your guess is as good as mine!
3. Bombalurina is a fairly minor role. Sorry, folks. While Bombalurina does play a significant part in the plot of Cats, she’s not one of the main characters. Of course, we have no idea how the writers of the film adaptation are handling or changing the story yet. It could be totally different than the stage musical — though hopefully it’s not! Her big number (more on that below), introduces the famous character Macavity.
4. She sings four songs in the Broadway show. Since we don’t know much about the movie version of Cats yet, some of these songs may be cut or changed. But traditionally, Bombalurina sings four songs: “The Old Gumbie Cat”; “The Rum Tum Tugger”; “Grizabella: The Glamour Cat”, and “Macavity: The Mystery Cat”. That’s the big showstopper.
5. Cats has a seriously impressive cast. Taylor isn’t the only big name starring in the film adaptation. The cast includes Judi Dench as Old Deuteronomy, James Corden as Bustopher Jones, Rebel Wilson as Jennyanydots, Jennifer Hudson as Grizabella, Ian McKellen as Gus The Theatre Cat, and Idris Elba as Macavity. Seriously! So that showstopper that Taylor sings is all about Idris Elba. Who would have ever thought? Something else to look forward to — Jason Derulo is playing Rum Tum Tugger, Bombalurina’s love interest. We can’t wait to see how this turns out.
