There were many, many things wrong with Tom Hooper’s 2019 Cats film, but one of the most ridiculed performances was James Corden’s as Bustopher Jones.
His “society cat” can be seen ingesting whole prawns in single gulps in the movie and he sports an enormous fake belly. He also spits a furball into Ray Winstone’s face.
But it's Corden’s ad-libbing during the song “Bustopher Jones” that the musical’s original composer Andrew Lloyd Webber appears to have a problem with.
In a new commentary on the 1998 version of the musical, as “Bustopher Jones” begins to play, Webber says: “Do not be beguiled by other versions – other versions with unfunny interpolations which I begged to be cut out.”
He continues: “This song is about wit not coarse jokes. It’s also about taking the song at the right speed.”
In the scene, Jones can be seen bouncing around the set on a giant seesaw. Webber does not like this either. “He certainly didn’t hang around on a seesaw,” says Webber. “I cannot tell you how absolutely un-Eliot it all was.”
Cats is based on the 1939 poetry collection Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by TS Eliot.
In reference to the changes, Webber adds he “did manage to get the worst of them removed”.
