Forever Young: At this retirement home, residents choose hard rock over soothing songs

They may be barely able to move, but the residents in Forever Young do not want soothing melodies or sentimental songs chosen for their age. When the music starts, they launch into hard rock, and it transforms them physically as well as emotionally.

Kerempuh Theatre in Zagreb will premiere the production on September 19, 2026, opening its new season. Krešimir Dolenčić directs, with musical direction by Ante Gela. A preview performance is scheduled for September 18, followed by performances on September 20, 22 and 27.

Forever Young is a popular song drama performed in theatres across Europe. Its Swiss-Swedish author and director, Erik Gedeon, created it as a framework built around little dialogue and many evergreen songs. It is not a conventional drama with an extended plot, but a blend of theatre, concert, cabaret and comedy.

The characters appear as versions of themselves in 2065, living in a home for older people. Staff try to help them through a form of music therapy, using calming melodies, sentimental evergreens and songs thought suitable for their age. The residents reject that approach. Through witty exchanges, conflicts that have lasted for decades and powerful singing and acting, they begin living fully again.

The production also takes a sharp look at society’s treatment of older people, or more precisely, at the absence of such a relationship. In a world consumed by youth and success, the play argues, there is increasingly no place for them.

Forever Young became a major hit at Maribor Drama, where it ran more than 100 times and won several awards. Among them were two prizes at Kerempuh’s Fadil Hadžić Days of Satire in 2016. The Zagreb cast includes Anita Matić Delić, Ines Bojanić, Mia Anočić, Josip Brakus, Luka Petrušić, Domagoj Ivanković, Lav Novosel and Tomislav Dunđer.