'Cats' scratches out last perf in West End
Play's anniversary also its swan song
Tuesday's announcement of the show's closure in four months' time came within a week of the final performance of "Starlight Express." The Lloyd Webber show-on-roller skates was second only to "Cats" in the annals of long-running London musicals.
In New York, where "Cats" bested "A Chorus Line" to become Broadway's longest-running show ever, the feline musical closed in September 2000.By the time "Cats" closes, it will have grossed some $200 million in London alone. While more than 8 million people have seen director Trevor Nunn's West End production, the musical's global march has generated grosses in excess of $2 billion and an audience of more than 50 million.
The T.S. Eliot adaptation inaugurated an era in musical theater dominated by the British, with comparable musical megahits "Les Miz" and "The Phantom of the Opera" still running.
And while rumors have been rife that those shows, too, were nearing the finish line in London, Mackintosh told Daily Variety their West End futures were secure. "I cannot under any circumstances see either ("Les Miz" or "Phantom") coming off" during 2002, said the producer, adding they would play "into 2003 and hopefully longer."
At the same time, more recent Lloyd Webber ventures have foundered. While a revamped "Sunset Boulevard" continues to tour Britain to critical acclaim, "The Beautiful Thing" closed on the West End at a loss last September. On Broadway, the composer's lighthearted "By Jeeves" -- co-written with Alan Ayckbourn -- never made it into the new year.
