Veronika Nickl, Mickey Neher, Jörg Siebenhaar: Kreislers Kalte Füße

Georg Kreisler (1922–2011) was a brilliant composer of art songs and lyricist, an exiled Jewish Austrian, an American citizen, a man who despised Vienna, and a four-time husband. His turbulent life story and his original songs tell us about the events of the 20th century and are, at the same time, alarmingly relevant today.

After the Anschluss of Austria in 1938, the 15-year-old, highly musical Georg Kreisler fled Vienna with his parents to escape the horrors of the Nazis, settling in Hollywood, where he made his first attempts to earn a living as a musician in the film industry. As a German-speaking GI, he was sent to Europe in 1945 to interrogate leading Nazi war criminals. Back in the U.S., starting in 1946, he makes a living performing chansons on the New York nightclub scene and finally returns to Europe in 1955, where he and his “naughty songs” are gradually discovered by a German-speaking audience and celebrated as an insider’s tip.

Kreisler’s songs are humorous, tender, and desperate—often wicked, occasionally absurd, and sometimes anarchic. “Kreisler’s Cold Feet” is a biographical and musical journey through the life and work of this magnificent composer and brilliant wordsmith—featuring extraordinary arrangements and interesting instrumentation—plus a dash of Hannah Arendt.

“Ich weiß nicht, was soll ich bedeuten” is the title of one of his books. Veronika Nickl, Mickey Neher, and Jörg Siebenhaar believe that Georg Kreisler can mean a great deal to us right now.

Developed at the Schauspielhaus Bochum by and starring Veronika Nickl, Mickey Neher, and Jörg Siebenhaar