CATS of BERLIN. The Musical

Scrap press on, magic off: In June 2023, the music theater combo glanz&krawall will open on the site of the former Bärenquell brewery (today: Revier Southeast) in Niederschöneweide and show a musical open-air spectacle on four evenings about animals, garbage and things ripe for scrap relationships in patriarchy.

CATS of BERLIN is an anti-musical that breaks with the conventions of commercial musicals as well as those of classical music theatre.

When glanz&krawall watched Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit Cats on VHS for the first time, they thought: That can't have been all that dancing cats on stage have to tell!

The world premiere of the junkyard musical CATS of BERLIN is therefore a tribute to all the big and small animals that defy the neoliberal obsession with order by never allowing themselves to be fully controlled. When they break through fences, poop on freshly polished cars, or turn neatly trimmed lawns into a lunar landscape, they create little oases of anarchy and resistance. A blessing for everyone who has had enough of perfectionism and a meritocracy.

Who is worth something in our society and who or what do we sort out as "scrap"? What is wrongly marginalized and sorted out and what scrap is kept even though everyone knows that it urgently needs to be disposed of?

Together with the actresses and performers Monika Freinberger, Valerie Oberhof and Kara Schröder, glanz&krawall are writing a new cat musical about these questions. Singer-songwriter Kat Papachristou (Tango with Lions) and composer John R. Carlson contribute the music for this large-scale shredding of society's imperative of order, cleanliness, discipline. 

The musical numbers are arranged and performed live by the Berlin band SCHROTTI STAR ORCHESTER: On a discarded home organ, an armada of children's instruments, electric guitar, bass and mini-drums, they make their way through a wild mix of genres - from musical to indie -Pop to metal.

In the south-east district, glanz&krawall plunge into musical adventures under the open sky, conjure up the full moon and the beauty of scrap metal, play instruments rescued from the rubbish and rock the backyards until they drown out the party boats on the Spree and the neighbors call the cops.

Admission 7 p.m

Start 8 p.m

2 hours without a break

TICKETS

Presale 18 € / reduced 12 €

Box office 20 € / reduced 15 €

Pre sales: https://loveyourartist.com/en/profiles/glanz-and-krawall-5RQHDC/events

BY & WITH Madeleine Behrendt, Dennis Depta, Monika Freinberger, Manuela Langkowski, Valerie Oberhof, Kat Papachristou, Kara Schröder, Marielle Sterra

DIRECTOR: Marielle Sterra

DRAMATURGY Dennis Depta

COMPOSITION Kat Papachristou & John R. Carlson

ARRANGEMENT & LIVE MUSIC SCHROTTI STAR ORCHESTRA (Dennis Depta, Kat Papachristou, Marielle Sterra)

STAGE DESIGN Vanessa Vadineanu

COSTUME IMAGE Sophie Schliemann

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Madeleine Behrendt

EQUIPMENT ASSISTANT Helene Scheithe

LIGHT DESIGN & TECHNICAL MANAGEMENT Josef Maass

SOUND Benjamin Graf

PRODUCTION Anka Belz / Ehrliche arbeit – Freie Kulturbüro

PRESS RELATIONS Barbara Gstaltmayr

PHOTOS Peter van Heesen

VIDEO Pascal Chiout & Matt Wolny

EDITING Matt Wolny

GRAPHIC Leo Lamprecht

CATS OF BERLIN is a production by glanz&krawall in cooperation with the district Southeast and the Kleistforum Frankfurt (Oder). Funded by the Berlin Senate Chancellery for Culture and Europe. The research was funded by the Performing Arts Fund with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as part of NEUSTART KULTUR.

We would like to thank Lucas Fauna in Berlin-Wilmersdorf for supporting the photo shoot.

District Southeast Berlin, Schnellerstraße 137, 12439 Berlin