Producer
Leopold Hoesch
Director
Dag Freyer
Producer
Vera Bertram
Genre
Culture
Broadcaster
ZDFtheaterkanal / 3sat / ZDFdokukanal
Length
1 x 30'
Editor
Ed van Megen
Year
2007
Theatrescapes
Admiralspalast Berlin

In this episode of "Theatre Landscapes", Esther Schweins presents the turbulent history of Berlin's Admiralspalast.

At the beginning of the last century, the building complex right next to Friedrichstraße station was one of the largest entertainment temples in Europe, with a luxury Russian-Roman thermal bath open day and night on 2,600 square metres, bowling alleys, a café, a cinema theatre and a large hall for ice hockey games and boxing matches.

The Admiralspalast was also considered the only ice palace in the world. In the 1920s it was converted into a revue and operetta theatre and merged with the "Metropoltheater" in the 1930s. After the end of the war, the "Deutsche Staatsoper" moves in until 1955 and the cabaret "Die Distel" opens. Finally, from 1955 until the end of the 1990s, it is called "Metropol-Theater im Admiralspalast". In 2003, five shareholders acquire the building complex, which is now a listed building, and after renovation and modernisation, the new Admiralspalast Theatre reopens in 2006 with the premiere of the "Threepenny Opera" in a production by Klaus Maria Brandauer.

Falk Walter leads us through the many construction sites in the building and explains his plan to gradually reopen the Admiralspalast as a modern multiplex of the arts and pleasures with a club, bathhouse, gallery, café. Director Klaus Maria Brandauer and his leading actor Campino talk about their experiences rehearsing the "Threepenny Opera" in the midst of the construction work. Max Raabe wants to revive the flair of the 1920s in the Admiralspalast with his palace orchestra, and Johannes Heesters describes how he sang operettas at the house in the 1930s. Numerous historical films and photographs bear witness to the eventful and rich history of the Admiralspalast. In addition to revues from the twenties, GDR musicals from the sixties can also be seen.

Theatrescapes: Admiralspalast Berlin

In this episode of "Theatre Landscapes", Esther Schweins presents the turbulent history of Berlin's Admiralspalast.

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