In autumn 2025, the legendary musical Cats will return to Zurich - from September 10 to 21 at Theater 11 in Oerlikon. Four decades after its premiere, the play has lost none of its magic.
Zurich has hosted Cats several times over the decades. Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical first came to the city on the Limmat in 1991 as the first major international musical production, and most recently in 2019 and 2023.
Cats is based on T. S. Eliot's collection of poems "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" and premiered in London in 1981. Andrew Lloyd Webber composed the music, Trevor Nunn developed the show concept and John Napier designed the stage and costumes. The production was groundbreaking for the genre: the through-composed structure, the lack of spoken dialog and the interplay of poetry and physical performance set new standards for musical theater.
As a result, the musical became a huge success - even though the plot is more than simple: it is about a night-time cat gathering in a London scrapyard, where Old Deuteronomy chooses a cat for reincarnation.
The various cat personalities introduce themselves: Munkustrap as protector, the rebellious Rum Tum Tugger, magic cat Mr. Mistoffelees, the industrious Jennyanydots and the pair of thieves Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer. The criminal Macavity repeatedly disrupts the festival, but is defeated. The highlight is the outcast Grizabella with her heart-rending "Memory" song. Surprisingly, the cat, who has lived long enough, is chosen to be reborn.
Central original members of the crew continue to work on the original English production, which has now been sent on tour again - an indication of the longevity and self-similarity of this piece. At the same time, adjustments are being made: Choreography, lighting design and costumes have been revised several times, but remain true to the basic concept.
The stage aesthetics - a large-scale junkyard on a scale of 3:1 - and the musical idiosyncrasies clearly anchor Cats in the era of so-called megamusicals. Despite occasional criticism, such as the simplistic narrative structure or the homage to pure physical performance, the play is considered a milestone in musical production and marketing.
The sheer endurance of Cats is legendary. In London's West End musical district, the musical ran for 21 years without interruption - from 1981 to 2002 - and achieved an incredible 8,949 performances. On Broadway, it lasted 18 years - with 7,485 performances. But the real curiosity lies in Japan: Cats has been running there practically non-stop since 1983 - over 10,000 performances for more than 10 million viewers. These figures made Cats the longest-running musical in the world for years, until "The Phantom of the Opera" overtook the Broadway record in 2006.
More than 73 million people worldwide have seen Cats - the equivalent of the entire population of Germany. This figure becomes even more impressive when you look at the individual productions: Hamburg leads with 6.2 million visitors over 15 years. The Vienna production attracted 2.3 million visitors to the theater in just seven years.
A particularly curious record: a Hamburg teacher named Wolfgang Biskop saw Cats 440 times between 1986 and 2001 - statistically speaking, every two weeks over 15 years.
"Memory" is not only the best-known song from Cats, but possibly the most successful musical song ever. The numbers are astounding: over 150 artists have recorded the song. From Barbra Streisand to Barry Manilow to Johnny Mathis - from Liberace to a techno version by Natalie Grant: no musical song has been interpreted more diversely.