Leona Lewis has confirmed she will be taking over from Nicole Scherzinger in the Cats revival on Broadway.
The star announced the exciting news that she would be playing the iconic character Grizabella on Twitter, writing: "Can't even believe this. I'm thrilled & honored to announce I'll be playing the part of Grizabella in @CatsBroadway!"
The Run singer also posted three photos of the iconic Cats poster across her Instagram, captioning one photo: "Time to move to New York!"
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Leona revealed she was "thrilled" to be starring in Cats
The 31-year-old is replacing Nicole after the star reportedly dropped out of the show to become a judge for the X Factor. At the time, Andrew Lloyd Webber revealed he was "furious" at the former Pussycat Dolls band member for leaving the production, telling The Economist Radio: "A week before we were going to go into rehearsal with Cats on Broadway, which luckily I'm not producing, she calls me and says she's decided she wants to do X Factor, having agreed everything."
"I mean, she's crazy. But the American producers just took a view, 'Well, fine, we'll get somebody else', because she's actually not very well known in America amazingly. She's much better known here."
Nicole will be stepping down from the role
However, Nicole denied claims that she had made a commitment to the Broadway show, telling RadioTimes.com: "I had every intention of doing Cats on Broadway but the contract was never finalised. I am incredibly blessed to be given so many amazing opportunities, including Cats, but unfortunately we weren’t able to make it work this time around.
"I adore and respect Andrew, I'm so grateful for our friendship and can't wait for the opportunity to create more magic together."
The composer praised the choice to cast Leona in the part instead, tweeting: "Very excited to welcome @leonalewis to the @CatsMusical family in @CatsBroadway. #TeamALW."