- Title: UNITED KINGDOM: "CATS" BECOMES THE LONGEST-RUNNING MUSICAL
- Date: 29th January 1996
- Summary: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (JANUARY 29, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL - SHOW PICTURES NOT FOR LIBRARY USE) 1. SV EXTERIORS OF NEW LONDON THEATRE WHERE 'CATS' IS SHOWING 0.13 2. CU SIGN SAYING 'CATS' IS NOW WORLD'S LONGEST-RUNNING MUSICAL 0.23 3. SV ORIGINAL CAST MEMBER BONNIE LANGFORD ARRIVING 0.49 4. SCU UNIDENTIFIED MAN SAYING HE
- Embargoed: 13th February 1996 12:00
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- Location: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
- City:
- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVA8FBMNM92GQQBJC1XML0JOYTOL
- Story Text: The British show 'Cats' on Monday (January 29) became the English-speaking world's longest-running musical.
With its 6,138th performance, the New London Theatre production exceeds the record set by 'A Chorus Line' on Broadway.
In London alone, Cats has been seen by seven million people.
Worldwide, the feline extravaganza has pulled in an extraordinary one billion pounds (1.6 billion United States dollars).
The musical was composed by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and based on T.S. Eliot's poetry on cats.
Lloyd Webber appointed Trevor Nunn to direct, Gillian Lynne to choreograph and John Napier to design it.
Cats opened at the New London Theatre on May 11, 1981 and has played to full houses there ever since.
The New London Theatre wardrobe department has replaced 3,900 pairs of shoes, sewn on 90 knee pads a night and has produced 6,900 garments.
The musical's big hit, 'Memory', has been played 46,875 times on British radio and television and been recorded more than 100 different times.
There are nine current Cats productions: in New York, Manchester, Milwaukee, Tokyo, Hamburg, Budapest, Adelaide and Bern.
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