The Cat in the Hat script, with Chris Meledandri as producer, and Audrey Geisel as the executive producer. However, the project never came to fruition. On January 24, 2018, it was announced that Warner Animation Group was in development of a different animated "Cat in the Hat" film as part of a creative partnership with Seuss Enterprises. In 2009, the Royal National Theatre created a stage version of the book, adapted and directed by Katie Mitchell. "Seussical", a musical adaptation that incorporates aspects of many Dr. Seuss works, features the Cat in the Hat as narrator. The musical received weak reviews when it opened, in
The Cat in the Hat about it. This is someone who delighted in the chaos of life, who delighted in the seeming insanity of the world around him." Ruth MacDonald asserts that the Cat's primary goal in the book is to create fun for the children. The Cat calls it "fun that is funny", which MacDonald distinguishes from the ordinary, serious fun that parents subject their children to. In an article titled "Was the Cat in the Hat Black?", Philip Nel draws connections between the Cat and stereotyped depictions of African-Americans, including minstrel shows, Geisel's own minstrel-inspired cartoons from early in his career, and the