I'm a musical girl. Give me a song and dance number, and I'm quite content. As a result of this, though, I miss out on a lot of good Broadway drama. A quick search through the archives will show you that I was more than willing to make Debbie Allen's production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof a notable exception. I caught a preview (more like a formal dress rehearsal) of the show Sunday night, and I didn't long for a song or a dance break. Not even once.

Tennessee Williams' play was not written with an all-black cast in mind, but someone who hadn't known that going in probably wouldn't guess it. The play covers one night in the life of a rich Southern family, the members of whom are in conflict over the sorts of things rich people are often in conflict over — power, sex, money, and mendacity, to name three. The action centers around Big Daddy's (James Earl Jones) 65th birthday and the entire play takes place in the bedroom of Brick (Terrence Howard) an alcoholic ex-football player with a broken ankle who won't have sex with his wife Maggie (Anika Noni Rose), who desperately wants to have sex with her husband. The two of them do an amazing job capturing the sexual tension, resentment, and hatred that poisons their relationship and keeps it alive at the same time.

Phylicia Rashad provides tragicomic relief as the shrill, underappreciated Big Momma, and Giancarlo Esposito and Lisa Arrindell Anderson round out the cast as Gooper, the eldest son in the family, and Mae, his insufferable, extra-fertile wife, both of whom are trying desperately to secure their spot in Big Daddy's will.

Last night's show was the first before a large audience, and there were a few glitches — Terrence Howard broke his crutch and James Earl Jones flubbed a few lines — but what are a few lines when you're dealing with three hours worth of lengthy monologues? Oh, there' that. The length. It's pretty long, with two intermissions, but while it definitely felt three-hours long, the story never lagged or became boring. It's a credit to the performers that the entire audience remained fully engaged the whole time. All I heard on my way out of the theater afterward was how blown away everyone was by the show. For Debbie Allen on the night of her play's unofficial debut, you couldn't ask for much more than that.

Cat is showing at the Brockhurst Theater in NYC for a limited time.