EXBERLINER Issue 168, February 2018

WHAT’S ON — Stage
Natalia Labake
Iheld my nose up at musical
theatre and Cirque du Soleil-type
spectacles for a long time – ironic,
given that my first exposure to theatre
was my parents’ taking me to see
They’re Playing Our Song on Broadway
at age nine. Maybe that was the
problem: I associated musicals and
acrobatic shows with childhood, and
therefore immaturity. The sentiment,
the phony smiles, the choreography
calculated to impress rather than
express: Not for me.
And yet, you can’t deny the merits
of a genre that’s generated some
of the best work from the likes
of George Gershwin and Stephen
Sondheim. In the last few years, after
reluctant outings to shows ranging
from Berlin Varieté (the German term
for Cirque-type acrobatic shows) to
Broadway’s Hamilton, even I often
couldn’t help thinking afterwards:
“Well, every once in a while... these
things can be kinda fun.”
And Germans like this fluff more
than you might think. As persuasively
as some of them may sneer when they
say words like Unterhaltung (“entertainment”),
Germany is actually the
third-largest market for musical theatre
in the world, after the US and the
UK. Hamburg claims to be Germany’s
musical theatre capital, but Berlin
boasts thriving Varieté theaters and
attracts a fair share of musicals on
tour. Just watch out for scams. The
That’s entertainment!
A look at the musicals and spectacles that thrive amidst
Berlin’s “serious” theatre scene. By Daniel Mufson
Tempodrom, for example, is presenting
the so-called “original” production
of Das Phantom der Oper this
month, but it’s not the one by Andrew
Lloyd Weber that premiered in 1986.
This “original” was written about a
decade later by a couple of German
guys, touring – and disappointing –
the country ever since. Even the Consumer
Office of Nordrhein-Westfalen
has warned against the misleading
advertising for this Phantom, along
with a faux Les Mis that’s been making
the rounds as well.
It’s not a bad idea to play it safe
with some old standbys, like Mitte’s
beloved Friedrichstadt-Palast, which
sold over half a million tickets in
2017. THE ONE Grand Show (photo) is
their current offering, with costumes
by Jean Paul Gaultier, acrobatics,
pyrotechnics, black light, pole dancing
and kick lines. What more could you
ask of your mindless entertainment?
You don’t even have to speak German.
That’s also the case with the shows at
the Chamäleon, which lacks the impressive
stage technology of Friedrichstadt-Palast
but offers a more intimate
setting, more humour and less kitsch.
Parade: Fear Love Circus is playing
there now, with acrobatics, breakdancing
and slapstick sketches.
For those who understand at least
a little German and already know the
1990 movie with Demi Moore and
Patrick Swayze, there’s the touring
production of Ghost at Theater des
Westens, a translation of the show
that enjoyed successful runs on Broadway
and the West End. For content
that’s a bit more local, there’s Rainer
Lewandowski’s Doris Day – Day By Day
at Steglitz’s Schlossparktheater, a musical
drama that doesn’t shy away from
the less savoury aspects of the film
star/singer/icon’s life. And for purely
light fare, there’s even a musical dinner
theatre option. La Famiglia, a touring
show that first premiered 13 years
ago, is bringing an updated version
with new songs and scenes to LaLuz, a
Mediterranean restaurant in Wedding.
It tells the story of a Berliner attending
what turns out to be a comically
disastrous wedding in Italy. Nothing
to change your life, but sometimes it’s
nice to go to a theatre where thinking
caps are not required – or in most of
these cases, actively discouraged. n
THE ONE Grand Show Feb 1-4, 6-10 Friedrichstadt-Palast | Parade: Fear
Love Circus Feb 1-4, 6-11, 13-18 Chamäleon | Ghost Feb 1-28 Theater des
Westens | Doris Day – Day by Day Feb 6-12 Schlossparktheater | La Famiglia
Feb. 2, 16, 19:30 LaLuz
Editor’s Choice
DON’T MISS
Oratorio
Inspired by Brechtian
ideas about the
Lehrstück or “teaching
play”, She She
Pop’s premiere aims
to start a discussion
with audiences on
ownership and the
notion of property.
At HAU2 in German,
with simultaneous
English translation on
Feb 11. Feb 9, 10, 12,
19:00; Feb 11, 17:00
Unrestricted Contact
After a successful
run in December,
Ballhaus Naunynstraße
reprises this
dance performance
by heterogeneous
ensemble Grupo
Oito that examines
both the connections
and divisions
resulting from the
dancers’ ethnic and
cultural identities.
Feb 14, 20:00
Human-Machine
Greek theatre artist
Despina Kapetanaki
combines physical
theatre and dance
with music, texts and
poetry to create an
existential dystopia
that viewers can
freely walk through
and explore at Ufer
Studios. Feb 15,
18:00; Feb 16, 19:00
FEBRUARY 2018 35