Terence Howard and James Earl Jones in an All-Black ‘Cat’

Cat Gets the Cream: A Vulture Industry mea culpa: After we joked that P. Diddy would get the lead in the new all-African-American Broadway production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, the producers have steered mercifully clear of hip-hop stars. Terence Howard and Anika Noni Rose score the choice roles of Brick and Maggie the Cat alongside James Earl Jones and Phylicia Rashad as Big Daddy and Big Mama. [Variety]

If You Have a Problem, Maybe You Can Hire John Singleton: Latino Review has a hot tip that John Singleton will direct an A-Team movie that will focus on contemporary issues and politics, which makes us picture a way awesomer Lions for Lambs with B.A. Baracus and Face haranguing college kids about their apathy. [Latino Review]

Don’t Panic!: Panic! At the Disco tell Billboard that their sophomore album, due March 25, will De-emphasize! The Use of Music Software while Focusing! On Straightforward Musicianship. [Billboard]

Mosley Hits a Triple: Walter Mosley signs a deal with Riverhead to publish three new books: a literary novel and the first two entrants in a new detective series featuring a sleuth conceived as a sharp contrast to beloved Mosley hero Easy Rawlins. Killjoy Mosley probably won’t name him “Uneasy,� no matter how happy that would make us. [NYT]

Bi-Coastal Kate: Kate Burton finds a surefire cure for the holiday blues – workaholism! Just before joining the cast of Broadway’s Spring Awakening on December 21, Burton will sneak in five performances of Shaw’s Major Barbara on the other side of the country at Los Angeles Theatre Works, alongside Roger Rees. [Playbill]