Scarlett Johansson to star in Broadway play

Scarlett Johansson is heading back to Broadway.

The movie star received rave reviews — and a Tony award — for her performance in Broadway’s 2010 revival of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge. Now the Avenger is officially set to star in a new revival of another classic American play: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Tennessee Williams’ 1955 tale of greed, family, and sexual repression in the South. Cat was last seen on Broadway four years ago, in an all-black revival starring Anika Noni Rose as Maggie and Terrence Howard as Brick.

Johansson will be stepping into Rose’s shoes, playing the determined sexpot whose nickname appears in the play’s title. Before casting was official, rumors speculated that she’d be joined by another A-list movie star — possibly even her fellow Avenger Jeremy Renner. Instead, the production has selected Broadway vet Benjamin Walker, best known for playing the title role in 2010’s Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, to play opposite Johansson as Maggie’s depressed husband Brick.

Irish character actor Ciarán Hinds and Tony winner Debra Monk will round out the main cast as Big Daddy and Big Mama, respectively.

The production begins preview performances this December at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. It opens officially on January 17, 2013.

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