Also in the original musical, Bombalurina takes part in multiple musical numbers and is inseparable from her BFF Demeter, who is nowhere to be seen in the film. In fact, she despises him, and her musical number about Macavity is more of a warning, rather than a tribute to his greatness. On stage, Bombalurina is as sultry and confident as Swift portrays her, but - spoiler alert - she's not aligned with Macavity (Idris Elba) at all. Not only does Swift's character have more limited screen time in the film (her musical number is fabulous, but it's her only scene), but her outlook on life is a little different. So while not true to the musical, her expansion was necessary to turn the stage show into a motion picture.
In fact, Victoria's arc is the closest the film comes to a proper storyline. In the film, however, Victoria has her own backstory and a full-on journey as she bonds with the Jellicle cats and forms an emotional connection to Grizabella. But in the original musical, Victoria is basically akin to a background ensemble dancer, though she does have a show-stopping ballet solo. Viewers see the world of Cats through the eyes of Victoria, a new feline in town. Not to mention the biggest change of all, the star of the show, Victoria (newcomer Francesca Hayward). However, other characters, like Taylor Swift's Bombalurina and Judi Dench's Old Deuteronomy, have been tweaked for the big screen. In keeping with fans' expectations, the plot and most characters, like Jennifer Hudson's Grizabella, James Corden's Bustopher Jones, and Ian McKellan's Gus the Theatre Cat remain the same. After all, the musical has existed for almost 40 years, and therefore has a solid fanbase that might be disappointed to see their beloved musical take on a whole different tone. There aren't too many differences between the show and the Cats movie.
But it's the differences between Cats the movie and the original musical that will have many fans leaving the theater a bit perplexed. That's partly due to the nature of the musical itself ( Cats definitely raises a lot of questions). After seeing the movie, audiences familiar with Andrew Lloyd Webber's iconic musical and those experiencing the surreal nature of this feline world for the first time will both leave the theater a little confused. The film adaptation of Cats is finally here, for better or worse, and there's many questions to be answered.