GOP Variety Theater Hannover

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Entrance of the George's Palace

The Georgspalast , abbreviated to GOP, in Hanover is a traditional variety theater that has existed since the beginning of the 20th century . It is centrally located in the city center in a striking, five-story stone building opposite the Hanover Opera House .

Emergence

Interior of the Georgspalast;
Postcard from around 1913 from Edmund Lill's studio , sent as field post during the First World War in 1916

In the years 1912 to 1913, the Georgspalast , which is now a listed building , was built as a commercial and office building as a structural innovation of the time in steel frame construction . by the architects Wilhelm Mackensen and Fritz Torno . The integrated café-restaurant Georgspalast offered concerts by well-known orchestras from the mid-1920s - like other cafés and variety stages. As a modern dance café, it developed into a popular venue for jazz-oriented music. After the seizure of power in 1933, dance events took place in the GOP. Despite the prohibition of “public dance pleasures” during the Second World War , large orchestras continued to perform in the Georgspalast. During the air raids on Hanover on October 9, 1943, the building was only partially destroyed due to the steel frame construction. However, operations had to be stopped.

After the Second World War

Zarah Leander in front of the GOP Hannover

In 1947 the restaurateur Wilhelm Hirte first opened the GOP Varieté-Theater in the same location as the new owner. The first joint event with the newly built gondola bar in the Georgspalast took place on May 27, 1948 . In the 1950s, greats from international show business were regularly on the stage, such as acrobats , magicians , ventriloquists , singers, folk actors and film stars. Among them were the magician Kalanag , Paul Hörbiger , Gert Fröbe , Josephine Baker , Olga Chekhowa , Vico Torriani , Marika Rökk , Heinz Erhardt . Zarah Leander was a guest at the GOP for a month in 1960, with hundreds of onlookers crowding around the entrance.

Decline and revival

With the advent of television , like many other establishments in the early 1960s, visitors stayed away. In 1962 the GOP closed and the building was subsequently used for various other purposes, including restaurants and discos.

In December 1992 the GOP Variety Theater was reopened after a 30-year break under the direction of Hubertus and Hubert Grote. 320 guests can be seated in the theater today. The performances tie in with the original cabaret tradition of the variety theater. A program that changes every two months shows different performances by entertainers from all over the world. In winter, the GOP also organizes a children's Christmas musical and a winter variety show in the orangery of the Herrenhausen Gardens . All shows are aimed at a wide audience and are suitable for young and old. In 2001 the traditional restaurant Gondel was reopened in the house, which now offers 90 guests.

development

Theater hall in the interior of the GOP
Martin Mall with a performance from the winter variety "Lichtgestalten" during the celebration of the award of the city ​​culture prizes 2013 by the Friends of Hanover

In 1996, the Grote family ventured out of Hanover and opened the GOP Varieté Essen . In 2000 a house followed in Bad Oeynhausen . The theater has also been represented in Münster since 2005 and in Munich since 2008 . The sixth house opened in Bremen in autumn 2013 . Another vaudeville was opened in Bonn in September 2016 . The GOP-Entertainment-Group, the largest variety company in Germany, also includes two dance clubs and the GOP showconcept agency, which is responsible for the show development.

literature

  • Claudia Bublitz (editor), Julia Feirer, Milena Bloch (collaborator): Very personal! The anniversary magazine , illustrated brochure for the 20th anniversary with texts by Ulrich Klingenschmitt and Knut Gminder, ed. from GOP Entertainment-Group GmbH & Co. KG, Bad Oeynhausen [o. D., 2012]
  • Hugo Thielen : GOP. Variety Theater Hanover. In: Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein (eds.) U. a .: City Lexicon Hanover . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-89993-662-9 , p. 226.

Web links

Commons : GOP Varieté-Theater Hannover  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerd Weiß: Business and department stores, In: Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany / Architectural monuments in Lower Saxony / City of Hanover, Part 2, Vol. 10.2, p. 22, as well as Annex m Volume 10.1: List of architectural monuments in accordance with § 4 (NDSchG) (except for architectural monuments of the archaeological monument preservation), status: July 1, 1983, City of Hanover, Lower Saxony State Administration Office - Institute for Monument Preservation , p. 5
  2. ↑ Helmut Knocke : Mackensen, Wilhelm, In: Dirk Böttcher , Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein, Hugo Thielen: Hannoversches Biographisches Lexikon . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2002, ISBN 3-87706-706-9 , p. 242; on-line:
  3. ↑ GOP Varieté Theater Bremen

Coordinates: 52 ° 22 ′ 22 "  N , 9 ° 44 ′ 23"  E