#21

Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Berlin! Did you know that our capital has four opera houses? That makes Milan suddenly climb down the scal(e). This is what we want to talk about today. And about one or two really nice tips for all friends of high class musical theatre.

Today we start with the kids´ favourite. Atze Musiktheater in Berlin´s district of Wedding is Germany´s largest musical theatre especially for children, that also takes its lovely productions on tour. More than 100.000 visitors a year love plays like „Beethoven - Ein Leben“ (eng.: Beethoven - a life), „No Planet B“ or „Das NEINhorn“ (eng.: the no-unicorn) (copyright picture: Jörg Metzner).

Off we go to the largest of the four opera houses. The Deutsche Oper (eng.: German Opera) in the district of Charlottenburg was opened in 1912 and mainly destroyed in World War II. This is why from 1945 the productions were relocated to the Theater des Westens, which we have already recommended to you this spring. It was 1961 the new building on street Bismarckstraße was opened and started hosting well-known directors as Furtwängler, Karajan and Karl Böhm. You might also have heard about the scandal that accompanied the revival of the production of Mozart´s “Idomeneo“ in 2006. Because of the image of beheaded prophets in the last scene, the Criminal Investigation Department temporarily considered the evening to be endangered by possible terror attacks. Luckily, in the end nothing horrible happened, that was not planned on stage.

The Komische Oper loves giving Berlin´s people something to talk about with its modern productions of musical theatre. At the beginning of his time as artistic director in 2012 Barrie Kosky ended the tradition of Komische Oper to generally sing in German - a decision highly esteemed by many singers, who love hearing Tschaikowski in Russian or Verdi in Italian every once in a while. However, when a show is not sung in the language of your choice and you still want to know about the contents, don´t worry: there are displays at the back of nearly every seat in the audience providing translations in German, English, French or Turkish. This is how we would interprete the theatre´s motto: “One for all“ - fabulous. (Copyright pictures: Gunnar Geller)

Staatsoper unter den Linden is Berlin´s oldest opera house. In 1743 it was opened for Frederick the Great and his royal court - the general renovation from 2010 until 2017 might have made sense… ok, we have to admit, it was not the first one since its opening. Some significant premières have taken place here: all of Paul Dessau´s operas, „Wozzeck“ by Alban Berg as well as Carl Maria von Webers „Der Freischütz“ quite exactly 200 years and two months ago. Even nowadays the opera´s schedule is decorated by popular names: soloists as Anna Netrebko and Victoria Randem, artists and conductors as Ólafur Elíasson, Philipp Stölzl, Kornél Mundruczó, Simon Rattle, Simone Young or Emmanuelle Haïm. (Copyright picture: Staatsoper Unter den Linden / Marcus Ebener)

After its renovation until 2006, the historic building of Admiralspalast at Friedrichstraße station was reopened. Back in 1911 it was already a multifunctional space for all kinds of entertainment, e.g. ice skating, several swimming pools, a cinema and a revue theatre. During the German separation it was the GDR´s operetta and musical theatre. You can still enjoy some of these shows today, whereas a new part of the repertoire are the shows of comedians, musicians and bands. Sorry, we didn´t catch that? You could not be at the opening night of “BERLIN, BERLIN“ two years ago? No problem. (Copyright picture: Admiralspalast)

We are slowly moving back towards Orania.Berlin now and reach our neighbours´ district of Neukölln. The Neuköllner Oper has been considered as musical theatre for current themes since its opening in 1977, depicted in big opera productions as well as intimate little chamber plays. And all of this always keeping an eye on the neighbourhood, the city, the continent, even the world. A wonderful instituion “for a wide audience beyond fashionable niches“ (website), that even fosters young talents with a musical theatre group for kids and one for teenagers. Currently a very special programme item is on their schedule: the revival of Giovanni. A Passion, staged open air in the Prinzessinnengärten (eng.: princess gardens) of the cemetery St. Jacobi on Hermannstraße (copyright picture: Matthias Heyde). 

Our passion is surely known very well to you: playing host to you, as our guest for the night, audience for a beautiful concert in the evening or as foodie at BreakfastClub. Let´s drink to that! Or, as Verdi puts it in his opera version of “Otello“: „Beva con me“!