Josie McCoy (Ashleigh Murray) is finally back in this week’s new episode of Riverdale! But per (purr?) the title of the hour, this is a different kind of cat. Titled “Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Four: A Different Kind of Cat,” unlike the high school-based Josie of early seasons who wanted to be a famous singer, or how we last saw her touring with the Pussycats (and kicking off what seemed to be a potential spin-off), this one already is a famous singer. And in Decider’s exclusive look at a musical number from the episode, thankfully we get to see Murray show off her phenomenal singing skills one more time before the series finale later this month.

In the scene, Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes) introduces Josie McCoy on the stage of the Babylonium — the movie theater Veronica owns that doubles as this season’s go-to place for musical performances. With Fangs Fogarty (Drew Ray Tanner) accompanying her, Josie proceeds to wow the crowd with the titular musical number from her new movie Going Uptown.

…And as usual, Josie — and Murray — brings the house down, but there’s a lot more going on here in this scene. Specifically, “Going Uptown” isn’t a real song; but “Moving Uptown” is a real song. That number played during a key moment in the Broadway musical The Wild Party, by Michael John LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe. Not to be confused with the Off-Broadway show The Wild Party, which opened the same year and is also based on John Moncure March’s 1928 narrative poem, but we digress.

The point is that this number was performed on Broadway by the iconic Eartha Kitt, returning to the stage for the first time in two decades. In the show, she played Dolores, an aging actress trying to win her way back to Broadway by enchanting some producers by performing an intimate version of “Moving Uptown” for them. On Riverdale, Josie is trying to win over producers and critics with “Going Uptown” (which changes the lyrics to make them more appropriate to Josie’s situation) so she can transition from being an internationally renowned chanteuse to a movie star.

There’s another layer here, though, beyond the parallel plots: Eartha Kitt most famously played Catwoman in the 1960s Batman TV series. You can probably see where this is going, but having Josie, of the Pussycats fame, paying tribute to Eartha Kitt, another groundbreaking Black female icon known for playing a cat-themed character, gives this musical number a lot more layers than just “hey, neat, Murray really can sing!”

…and there’s actually even more that this climactic performance ties into throughout the episode, but you’ll just have to watch it tonight (Wednesday, August 2) at 9/8c on The CW to find out what — and how — it brings together multiple threads. Check out the clip above, and synopsis for the episode below. Plus, as a bonus, here’s Eartha Kitt performing “Moving Uptown” on The Rosie O’Donnell Show on May 25, 2000:

“Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Four: A Different Kind of Cat”

Season 7, Episode 17 – Airdate: 08/2/2023, 9:00pm

TAKING THE TOWN BY STORM — Betty (Lili Reinhart) enlists help from Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) and Toni (Vanessa Morgan) after deciding she’s going to publish her own book.  Veronica (Camila Mendes), Kevin (Casey Cott) and Clay (guest star Karl Walcott) host Hollywood movie star Josie McCoy (guest star Ashleigh Murray), who is in town to screen her latest film.  Finally, Archie’s (KJ Apa) attempt to take his poetry to the next level doesn’t go as planned.  Kevin Rodney Sullivan directed the episode written by Ariana Jackson & Evan Kyle(#717).