The musical is baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Wolverine wasn't kidding about this when he busted into the "all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza" portion of his gig hosting the Oscars. And his musical medley buddies Beyonce and Zac Efron weren't the only ones to believe him, either. Chicago director Rob Marshall has corralled himself quite an impressive list of stars for his upcoming movie adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical Nine. (For our theater-impaired readers, the Tony is the Oscar of the stage.) Let's break down the cast:

Penelope Cruz

The Role: The mistress.

How Will She Do?: Cruz is a freshly-minted Oscar winner and one of the most beautiful women in the world. As long as her pipes are in good shape, I suspect her work in Nine will only help propel her even higher into superstardom.

Marion Cotillard

The Role: The scorned wife.

How Will She Do?: After taking a year off, the 2008 Best Actress winner seemed likely to go down in the history books as a one-hit Oscar wonder. A leading role in an all-star musical seems like a good way to prove she's got staying power.

Daniel Day-Lewis

The Role: The two-time Oscar winner, last seen doing very frightening things with bowling pins in There Will Be Blood, stars as Guido Contini, a Fellini-esque Italian film director who finds his creativity blocked due to his troubles with the many women in his life.

How Will He Do?: No one can deny that DD-L is a master of his craft. But the success of his performance (and pretty much the entire movie) rests on the question my dad asked me when I told him what I was writing about this week: "Can that guy sing?"

Nicole Kidman

The Role: The muse.

How Will She Do?: Many people thought that reteaming with her Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann for Australia would help Kidman rise back to the top of Hollywood's A-list. That plan didn't work, but maybe showing off her lovely singing voice again will do the trick.

Judi Dench

The Role: The agent.

How Will She Do?: For years now, Dame Judi has been at the stage in her career where the quality of her supporting performances doesn't even matter. She's just there as an Oscar good luck charm.

Fergie

The Role: The Duchess of pop appears in flashbacks as Saraghina, the local lady of the night who relieved young Guido of his virginity.

How Will She Do?: If Fergie really wants an acting career, it certainly appears she did a better job of choosing a debut film than say, Jessica Simpson.

Kate Hudson

The Role: The prying journalist.

How Will She Do?: I recently chronicled Hudson's baffling career choices here. This looks like as good a chance at redemption for her as any.

Sophia Loren

The Role: The mother.

How Will She Do?: Who doesn't enjoy the return of a screen legend? I'm pretty sure they're engraving her 2010 Lifetime Achievement Oscar as we speak.

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