After more than 50 years on stages around the world, Mummenschanz is going on a farewell tour. The premiere of "Adieu!" will take place on December 3, 2026 at Theater 11 in Zurich.
They have performed on Broadway, on Sesame Street, in The Muppet Show and on every continent. Without a single word, they have made millions of people laugh and marvel. Now the time has come: Mummenschanz, the Swiss mask and puppet theater ensemble, is calling it quits.
The farewell tour "Adieu!" closes an extraordinary chapter in theater history. In December 2026, the curtain will rise for the first time for the farewell program. And then once again at venues throughout Switzerland and beyond. The evening promises what Mummenschanz has been loved for decades: Poetry, humor, amazement, without a word.
Mummenschanz was founded in 1972 by the Swiss Bernie Schürch and Andres Bossard and the Italian Floriana Frassetto, who had previously met at Jacques Lecoq's drama school in Paris. What began as street theater became a global career: from 1977 to 1980, the ensemble performed on Broadway at the Bijou Theatre in New York, made guest appearances on TV shows such as The Johnny Carson Show and toured all continents.
The ensemble survived the early death of co-founder Andres Bossard, who died of AIDS in 1992, and the departure of Bernie Schürch in 2012 after 5,700 performances. And most recently, the coronavirus pandemic. Floriana Frassetto, the last remaining founding member, repeatedly reshaped the ensemble and kept the flame burning.
The anniversary production "50 years" celebrated its premiere in 2021 and has since been performed over 250 times worldwide. In 2026, Mummenschanz was awarded the Grand Prize of the St. Gallen Cultural Foundation.
Rehearsals for the farewell tour began in January 2026. The program is appropriately titled "Adieu!" and will premiere on 3 December 2026 at Theater 11 in Zurich.
For the farewell tour, Floriana Frassetto has put together a program that combines highlights from 55 years of Mummenschanz: "I want to bring our creative universe to the people once again in all its facets and thus set a counterpoint to the noisy world outside the theater". Popular and iconic numbers from the large repertoire will be on show. These include the fragile, air-filled Giants, the legendary Tube Man and many other bizarre shapes and objects that are brought to life by five performers." The program is complemented by some new, surprising images and the typical stubborn characters that have always characterized Mummenschanz.
What comes next: silence. And the memory of one of the most original and successful theater ensembles that Switzerland has ever produced.