Die Carmen von St. Pauli

In the organizer's words:

Following the great success of their production of Brecht's classic "Die Dreigroschenoper", the directing duo Peter Jordan and Leonhard Koppelmann are venturing into another classic: the story of "Carmen".

With the original music by Bizet and based on motifs from the 1928 silent film of the same name by Erich Waschneck and Bobby E. Lüthge, the story of the famous girl from the cigarette factory is relocated to the milieu of the port of Hamburg.

Carmen is now called Jenny Hummel and, like the original, is a girl who is difficult to deal with. In St. Pauli, she dances in a dimly lit harbor bar and turns men's heads in order to take money out of their pockets. She also supports a notorious gang of smugglers, the "Hamburger Hafenratten", on their nightly raids in the port of Hamburg. During one of these raids, she is caught by a decent sailor who is beguiled by her beauty and chutzpah and lets her go, risking his job in the process.

When they meet again the next day, it is the beginning of a disastrous affair. He not only loses his bride, who works for the Salvation Army, but also his job with the city's most influential shipowner, who is also increasingly involved in shady dealings himself.

In this new setting, which also incorporates contemporary historical references such as the rise of the Nazis, the story, carried by Bizet's dreamlike music, loses none of its wild mixture of depiction of milieu, drama and fateful tragedy and becomes - much like "Cabaret" - a full-blown portrait of morals at the end of the 1920s. And Peter Jordan and Leonhard Koppelmann have not yet decided whether the title character really has to die in the end.

Carmen von St. Pauli is performed by an ensemble of eight actors/actresses, all of whom are qualified singers, and a dance ensemble which - as in the "Threepenny Opera" - also takes on all the small roles.

At the forefront: Anneke Schwabe, the "Polly" from the "Threepenny Opera" and "Sally" from "Cabaret" as the man-confusing woman between James Bond actor Götz Otto as shipowner "Rasmussen" and Holger Dexne as the well-behaved sailor "Brand". Nadja Petri, the "Jenny" from the "Threepenny Opera" as the addicted shipowner's wife, Stephan Schad as the nightclub owner and Victoria Fleer as Maria, the Salvation Army boss fighting for her husband.

Bizet's music will be adapted and arranged by Matthias Stötzel and Uwe Granitza, the tried and tested team who have already given the "Threepenny Opera" a completely new sound.

With projections by Meike Fehre and film recordings of the old silent movie, the evening will have a similarly fast-paced tempo as the "Threepenny Opera" and the flair of the time will be visible and tangible.

With: Holger Dexne, Patrick Heyn, Glenn Goltz, Götz Otto, Stephan Schad, Victoria Fleer, Nadja Petri, Anneke Schwabe and others.

Price information:

St. Pauli Theater ticket hotline: (040) 4711 0 666, st-pauli-theater.de and at all known advance booking offices