German Theater Munich

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German Theater Munich
German Theater Munich
location
Address: Schwanthalerstraße 13, 80336 Munich
City: Munich
Coordinates: 48 ° 8 '13 "  N , 11 ° 33' 45"  E Coordinates: 48 ° 8 '13 "  N , 11 ° 33' 45"  E
Architecture and history
Opened: September 26, 1896
Spectator: Max. 1,540 seats
Internet presence:
Website: www.deutsches-theater.de/
The neon sign of the German Theater at night
Entrance to the Deutsches Theater, July 2014
Theater hall of the German Theater in Munich, around 1910

The German Theater in Munich at Schwanthalerstraße 13 was opened on September 26, 1896. With musicals , dance , shows , operettas and concerts by international companies and artists, the program encompasses a wide range of performing entertainment arts. In addition, the theater in the transformed Carnival every year in Munich's largest ballroom and provides the framework for numerous corporate and costume balls. With around 1,500 seats and around 300 performances per year, the Deutsches Theater is the largest theater in Munich after the opera and the largest and probably most famous guest theater with a full stage in Germany. Since 1982 the city's own "Deutsches Theater München Betriebsgesellschaft mit LIMITED LIABILITY" has been responsible for gaming operations.

history

Built in 1896, Alexander Blum, Joseph Rank and Karl Stöhr the style of neo-baroque held Theater , which initially was called "fairy palace". In addition to a theater hall with 1679 seats, the building complex also contained the smaller event hall “Silver Hall”, restaurants, a café, numerous shops and 30 apartments.

The theater was originally used primarily for variety shows , but also for folk comedies, popular plays, sporting events and carnival balls. Compared to the Deutsches Theater in Berlin , founded in 1883 , which was used as an ensemble theater, the Munich house was purely a guest theater from the start. Since the opening until today, the traditional ball season with festive galas and costume balls takes place from January until Ash Wednesday.

In February 1919, the 1st Congress of the Bavarian Workers 'and Soldiers' Councils met in the Deutsches Theater .

In the 1920s the theater became the most splendid location in the royal seat for glittering revues. Under Hans Gruß , who ran the theater from 1918, the Tiller Girls , Karl Valentin u. a. on, a guest performance by Josephine Baker was banned in 1929. After the Nazis came to power in 1935, Greetings had to give way to Paul Wolz . In 1939 the theater was designed by Paul Baumgarten the Elder. Ä. remodeled. On March 9, 1943, the theater was destroyed by bombs. Only the neo-baroque silver hall was spared and is the only room in the original building that has been preserved to this day.

In 1951 the German Theater in Munich was reopened in a building that was only partially rebuilt between 1949 and 1951 by Ludwig and Willy Reiber . Since the 1960s , the repertoire , which is characterized by variety, has been expanded to include classical drama , ballet , operetta and musicals.

With the West Side Story , the musical conquered the stage of the German theater in 1961 and celebrated sensational triumphs. The genre “musical” was largely unknown to the Germans, who were cut off from the international development of musical theater by the Second World War . With such shows, the Deutsches Theater opened a window to New York Broadway and the world for the first time . Guest performances by foreign ensembles became more and more frequent. In addition, events such as Olf Fischer's Komödienstadel found their home at the Deutsches Theater: the great folk actors such as Beppo Brem , Erni Singerl and Maxl Graf regularly made guest appearances in Schwanthalerstraße.

As of 1965, Kurt Plapperer took over the management of the German theater as a leaseholder from the owner of the theater building, the city's own "Deutsches Theater Grund- und Hausbesitz-Gesellschaft mit limited Liability". Up until this point in time, the Deutsches Theater was the last family business of this size in the German cultural landscape. The lease ended in 1977, after a necessary renovation, in the course of which Reinhard Riemerschmid redesigned the theater in the style of Pop Art until 1982, the City of Munich finally also took over the game operations and appointed Kurt Plapperer's managing director of the "Deutsches Theater München Betriebsgesellschaft mit LIMITED Liability" Adopted son Heiko Plapperer-Lüthgarth . After his departure in 2005, Andrea Friedrichs took over the management for a short time ; in 2007 she was replaced by Carmen Bayer and Werner Steer as dual heads of the theater.

Rehabilitation of the theater

Provisional installation in 2013 in Fröttmaning during the renovation work.

From 2008 to 2014 renovation work was carried out at the Deutsches Theater, which was originally supposed to be completed in autumn 2011. At the end of 2011 it was expected that the renovation work would be delayed until at least April, if not October 2013. The cost of the renovation was borne by the state capital Munich after the search for a private investor was unsuccessful. The originally estimated renovation costs of 79.6 million euros increased to 97 million euros due to the multiple delays and structural problems. The taxpayers' association criticizes the renovation of the theater as a grave of millions.

By the time it was completed, gaming operations were relocated to the Fröttmaning district on the Allianz Arena area in a mobile theater tent and an adjoining restaurant.

Reopening of the theater in Schwanthalerstraße

On January 17, 2014 the Deutsches Theater was opened with a big ceremony by the managing directors together with the then Lord Mayor Christian Ude , the Supervisory Board and its chairman at the time, Mayor Hep Monatzeder as well as the then cultural advisor Dr. Hans-Georg Küppers reopened. The Munich Philharmonic presented under the baton of Asher Fisch, among other excerpts from "West Side Story", comedian Helmut Schleich enthusiastic with his eulogy as Franz Josef Strauss numerous guests from business, politics and culture. On the following days, the opening party and the “Open House” attracted more than 10,000 visitors to Schwanthalerstraße.

After the first ball season in the new house, the Deutsches Theater presented a top-class program in the opening year with the classic musical West Side Story and the world-famous dance company " Alvin Ailey ". The highlights were the Munich premiere of We Will Rock You and the German premiere of the South African folk opera Mandela . Around 300,000 spectators ultimately made 2014 one of the most successful years in the history of theater.

In July 2014 Munich's second mayor Josef Schmid became chairman of the supervisory board of the Deutsches Theater, now his successor Manuel Pretzl holds the office.

With musicals such as Elisabeth and I have never been to New York , the Deutsches Theater was able to build on the success of the opening year in 2015. In 2016 the theater celebrated its 120th birthday with show highlights such as the Broadway hit Chicago and the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar . And for the first time in the anniversary year, the theater brought the cult musical Dance of the Vampires to Bavaria.

See also

Web links

Commons : Deutsches Theater München  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Deutsches Theater, Munich. In: Historical Lexicon of Bavaria. ( online , accessed January 19, 2017)
  2. ↑ Georg Köglmeier: Congress of the Bavarian Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Councils, 1919. In: Historisches Lexikon Bayerns. ( online , accessed January 29, 2017)
  3. ↑ Renovation of the German Theater - Be devoured, millions! , October 18, 2011, sueddeutsche.de
  4. ^ Renovation of the German Theater - The U-turn: Minimum renovation , October 18, 2011, sueddeutsche.de
  5. ↑ Opening in the new design ( Memento from January 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) January 16, 2014, Bayerischer Rundfunk
  6. ↑ Deutsches Theater in Munich before reopening! January 16, 2014, accessed on December 21, 2019 (German).