Is the West End going west

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Q. Why the big fuss of the closure of the musical Cats �

A.� In its run of twenty years, Cats has earned the distinction of being the longest running musical in British theatre history�- at one time the posters around London advertised it as running 'now�- and for ever', although it has finally come to the end of the road. Its massive popularity has seen it travel all over the world, taking ticket receipts of �1.4 billion. In spite of the plentiful publicity over its closure, Cats is a long way from being the longest running musical in the world.�That honour belongs to The Fantasticks, which closed its Broadway run after 17,162 performances in a jaw-dropping forty-two years, dwarfing Cats' own Broadway stay of 7,485 shows.

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Q.� What is the show about

A.� The show is based on a series of poems written by TS Elliot, entitled Old Possum's Book Of Practical Cats, and the poems provide the majority of the lyrics in the production. The stage story follows the tale of Grizabella one cat who has left her tribe to explore the wide world, and returns to the night of their big meeting.

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Q.� It all sounds a bit whimsical!

A.� It does, and when the original idea was discussed, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber couldn't find anyone to touch it financially.�Everyone told him the idea of a musical about cats would never work. Lloyd Webber took out a personal indemnity of �75,000 to underwrite the costs, and further backing was obtained from impresario Cameron Mackintosh asking theatregoers to invest �750 each, against future potential profits. It was a wise investment,�anyone who invested the full amount has realised a profit of �42,500.

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The point is, after over twenty years in London's West End, and tours around the world, everyone realises that the idea was brilliant, but that's the benefit of hindsight.�As Lloyd Webber and producer Trevor Nunn freely admit, the entire idea nearly didn't make the stage at all.

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Q.� What happened

A.� Having decided to write and produce a musical stage show, all Lloyd Webber, producer Nunn and dance choreographer Gillian Lynne had come up with was a series of songs based on the poems, with no link between them. Matters were at crisis point when TS Elliot's widow Valerie presented them with a sheet of paper with just eight typed lines on it. It was Elliot's introduction to 'Grizabella�- The Glamour Cat' and they finally had a main character to link the material. Elliot had left Grizabella out of the published poems, in case her yearning nature upset children. With the direction of the show given, they needed the one famous song, the 'eleven o'clock song' as it is known in theatrical circles, the one the audience hum on the way home. Lloyd Webber produced the music, and Nunn himself wrote the lyrics to what was to become Memory, one of the most famous musical numbers ever written. With additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe, the show was completed, rehearsed, and opened on 11 May 1981. The rest is literally history.

Q.� Was this a major shift in theatrical production

A.� It was�- this was the first time that anyone from the UK had written such a massively successful show. Cats revitalised a moribund West End, and did the same for Broadway. Previously, anything running for more than twelve months was considered a worthy success, five years was a distant dream, and the idea that one show would run continuously for over twenty years was simply unthinkable. The success of Cats paved the way for a series of 'blockbuster' musicals which followed, some written by Lloyd Webber who at one time had five of his musicals running in the West End.

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Q.� Does the end of Cats mean the end of popular musicals

A.� No, even though the pundits are lining up to wail that musical theatre is dead, or dying, in much the same way as they said Cats was doomed to be a failure, and probably with the same degree of accuracy!

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The events of September 11 have not helped tourist-funded shows like Cats, but the fact is that Macintosh and Lloyd Webber had discussed shutting the London production for over a year, it has been steadily losing money, as had Starlight Express which also closed after a hugely successful West End run. The likely reasons are a shift in audience tastes, and these are a natural occurrence in any art form, and it's these shifts that keep art vibrant and topical. It may be that the 'blockbuster' musical has had its day; certainly there seems no sign of a future Andrew Lloyd Webber on the horizon.

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Q.� Do people think it's a sign of failure that Cats is ending

A.� If so, it would be hard to agree, given the facts. Following its London opening, Cats went to Broadway in October 1982, running there until October 2000. The proposal is for Cats in London to close on its twenty-first birthday, which will be 11 May this year, with receipts in excess of �130 million in London alone. Andrew Lloyd Webber's fame and fortune are assured, and he will continue to produce other shows, and may well have plans for future musicals. Meanwhile, Cats continues to tour the world, and a return to the West End has not been ruled out for the future.

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Andy Hughes