Ralf Kokemüller

With a degree in business administration, Ralf Kokemüller successfully managed hotels in the Caribbean for several years before joining BB Promotion in 1995. He was appointed Managing Director after just a year and has remained loyal to the live entertainment industry ever since. For many years, Ralf Kokemüller was responsible for scouting and booking, cultivating close and lasting relationships with internationally acclaimed hit shows such as Marcel Marceau, Tanguera, YAMATO – The Drummers of Japan and many others. He produced the TV chef Tim Mälzer’s “Ham’se noch Hack” tour in 2007. That same year, the pioneer of live stage cooking shows was awarded the LEA-Award for Best Show of the Year.

Under Ralf Kokemüller’s leadership, landmark productions such as Thriller! Live, We Will Rock You and STOMP, dance productions such as Ballet Revolución and the world-famous Alvin Ailey American Dancer Theater, and musicals such as theatre tent tour of CATS, the original English-language production of Disney’s The Lion King and Cameron Mackintosh’s Miss Saigon toured in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and beyond.

Among his greatest successes was the restaging of the original production of West Side Story. The rejuvenated Broadway classic celebrated its premiere at the Alte Oper Frankfurt in 2003 and has been delighting audiences and critics the world over ever since. Several world tours took it to Sadler’s Wells in London, the Théâtre du Châtelet Paris, Sydney Opera House, Tokyo Orchard Hall and the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Nominated for Best Revival at the 2009 Laurence Olivier Awards, the production continues to sell out houses wherever it goes: London, Paris, Sydney, Tokyo, Berlin, Beijing, Madrid, Hong Kong, Athens, Monte Carlo, Dubai, Auckland, Tel Aviv, Vienna and many more.

As well as West Side Story, Ralf Kokemüller produced the German-language version of the original production of Bodyguard – The Musical, which premiered at the Musical Dome Cologne in 2015. He had been involved in the original West End production in London as a co-producer for several years before that. Carmen la Cubana, Cuba’s very first musical, was also created under his leadership. Co-produced with the prestigious Théâtre du Châtelet, the stunning production premiered in Paris in 2016.

In 2015, BB Promotion became part of The Ambassador Theatre Group Ltd. (ATG), a world-leading British production company and theatre operator. In 2018, still under the umbrella of ATG, the BB Group merged with Mehr! Entertainment to create Mehr-BB Entertainment, which has since been jointly managed by Maik Klokow and Ralf Kokemüller as CEO and Producer. In 2019, Ralf Kokemüller produced the 1920s revue BERLIN BERLIN, which premiered at the Admiralspalast in Berlin to great acclaim and toured extensively afterwards.

Ralf Kokemüller was CEO and producer of Mehr-BB Entertainment until the end of 2022 and has since devoted himself to his duties as a producer and consultant.