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 going to have the exciting experience of learning that they "can" read after all." Polly Goodwin of the "Chicago Sunday Tribune" predicted that "The Cat in the Hat" would cause seven- and eight-year-olds to "look with distinct distaste on the drab adventures of standard primer characters". Both Helen E. Walker of "Library Journal" and Emily Maxwell of "The New Yorker" felt that the book would appeal to older children as well as to its target audience of first- and second-graders. The reviewer for "The Bookmark" concurred, writing, "Recommended enthusiastically as a picture book as well as a reader". In contrast,