Stage clear for musicals in Hamburg

The "Footloose" musical is being staged after lockdown halted the premiere in 2020 and is a fitting start to the 2021 season. "We are very proud to celebrate the first musical premiere with Footloose after 16 months of lockdown," said Thomas Gehle, Director of First Stage Theater and Head of Stage School Hamburg. "The play exudes a great love of life, coupled with passion and optimism about the ability to change things. We could hardly have made a better choice for our reboot." The opening night audience cheered and applauded enthusiastically even though only one-third of the 280 seats were occupied to comply with the restrictions necessitated by the pandemic.

Under the 2G rule, First Stage and other theatres may yet reach full capacity. The so-called 2G option provides for a "tripling of the number of people limits", if visitors are vaccinated or have recovered. However, theatre tickets are often sold months in advance leaving little room for amendments. Gehle also wants to stick with the current rule for the time being. "We need relaxations urgently to survive economically in the medium term. But they have to be practicable for all concerned," he stressed, and expects the next premiere of "The Great Christmas Show" on November 8, 2021 to be only one-third full.

It's curtain-up for a new production of the Broadway musical "Wicked" on Sunday (September 5, 2021) at Stage Theater Neue Flora. The fantasy tells the story of two rival witches, Elphaba and Glinda, and their fantastic journey through the Magic Kingdom of Oz. "The Lion King" will roar again at the Stage Theater im Hafen from October 2, 2021 while the Tina Turner musical will return to the Operettenhaus in St. Pauli on October 10, 2021. The Disney musical "Ice Queen" premieres at the Theater an der Elbe on November 10, 2021 in the hope of good takings.  "The Ice Queen is one of the world's most successful animated films, but was surpassed by its sequel, Ice Queen 2. Around 6.5 million moviegoers saw box offices in German cinemas earn over EUR 53 million.

The hit Harry Potter movie series is also impressive. The last movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, is the most successful with global box office takings of more than USD 1.34 billion. The More! Theatre is now stirring up enthusiasm and is showing all eight films on weekends in September in the run-up to its premiere of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" on December 5, 2021. "There is a magical support programme where you can experience plenty more besides the films to round off the Harry Potter experience," said Sarah Gorski, Press Officer. Visitors can take part in a Harry Potter quiz and win fan packages. "Some of the actors in 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' will also be there. People wearing a Harry Potter costume have a chance to win tickets for the previews of the musical in early December," Gorski added.

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