Berlin Wintergarten theatre
The conservatory was a vaudeville stage south of the Friedrichstrasse station in Berlin-Mitte, which was modeled on the Viennese theater in 1887. The venue, the conservatory of a hotel while serving as the namesake. With initially modest variety shows, the theater became a stage with a worldwide reputation - a development which, however, ended in 1944.
Under the traditional name opened in 1946 at the Berlin Hasenheide a vaudeville theater and 1992 a vaudeville theater in turn elsewhere, on Potsdamer Straße in Berlin -Tiergarten.
- 2.1 September 1992 - January 2009
- 2.2 From 2009
The conservatory and its importance to the discovery of Vaudeville
The Central-Hotel and its winter garden
Around 1880, Berlin was awarded the position of a center between East and West, which led to a strong traffic and swelling stream of visitors due to its geographical location. Through the expansion of the local rail network and the connection to the international railway network, which had to be right through the town center, was built next to the Potsdamer Bahnhof Potsdamer Platz, a new Central Station on Spree transition Friedrichstrasse, the current station Berlin Friedrichstrasse.
Hermann encoder, the owner of the garden premises "City Park " on Friedrichstrasse bought around the new Central Station Lands on, tore off the old building began in 1877 with the establishment of " Central hotel ". In the planning was a hotel, which deals with the major hotels in Paris, London and New York could be measured in the peripheral, shine and comfort. The new hotel foresaw two parts, a hotel area and a palm garden like they were in the Wilhelmine Empire in vogue. The conservatory should not only serve to guests as a recreational facility, but also for concerts and theater performances.
The former winter garden was a long room with 75 meters long and 23 meters wide. The conservatory had a total area of about 1,700 square meters. The room had a vaulted dome of glass and at the highest point of the ceiling measured 18 meters. The conservatory was lighted by a large number of gas lamps, which at night the many shining stars joined through the glass roof inside.
The winter garden as a venue
In the fall of 1881, the conservatory had prevailed because of its luxurious interiors even in the affluent and wealthy Berlin audience that was mostly gone by then in the Philharmonic as a musical- entertaining venue. The success of variety had its roots in these musical programs.
Until 1886, the events consisted mainly of instrumental concerts. It outweighed the known and popular entertainment melodies. It was not until the season 1886, the programs have been expanded and is also active dancers and singers. The search for new dramaturgical principles began against the logical ordering text templates for open stories as they offered the Circus or the Revue, without beginning, without end, arbitrary, but not random. Against the supremacy of the word pictures were placed, developed montages, new venues tested; the everyday and the theatrical game permeated itself.
It can thus speak of a reversal of the relationship between the individual programs. The chapel is now filled the pauses between the dancers and singers, and not vice versa. By combining chapel, singers and dancers, the first vaudeville program was in the conservatory. It there were always new artists, and business people competed to experiment with theatrical forms of artistic performance. The allure of the improbable, the desire to wonder, the longing for thunderous laughter took great influence on the direction of the program. In the autumn of 1886, the Berlin actor Franz Dorn took over ( his real name Grüger ) and the Hungarian Baron Julius the conservatory and after reconstruction work in the summer of 1887, they announced the premiere program " Great concert and performance" on.
The conservatory as a variety
In the autumn of 1887 therefore saw the opening of the conservatory rather than a variety show. And with the premiere event started a not -ending series of variety shows, which should make the conservatory to the most famous number Theater Berlin and the Empire.
By, for a typical vaudeville, frequent program changes were seen forced to come up with ever new sensations even greater. On November 1, 1895 thus was the first public and commercial film screening held in the conservatory, where the brothers Max and Emil Skladanowsky showed their Bioscop under the vaudeville program.
In 1900, the Winter Garden was once again transformed, whereby he received his specific face, which was maintained until the destruction in 1944. The plans for the renovation was provided by the known by the construction of the theater of the West has become client Bernhard Sehring. Among others, the glass dome from the outside was covered with flexible plates and the room got a theatrical interior. Bernhard Sehring fell on the idea to hang artificial stars to the conservatory sky. Many bulbs were attached to the ceiling and thus managed a nice atmosphere.
The Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger reported at the time: "In the winter garden of the new star in the sky was yesterday [ ... ] opened. In the glare of innumerable twinkling stars, > golden lies in sky blue None <, lit up the new old hall, on his re- baptism everything had gathered, which in Berlin is one of those which are to be found wherever the action is. " These starry sky can you today in the new Conservatory admire again vaudeville at the Potsdamer Straße.
1928 took over as director Louis Schuch the house. Under his direction, it was again rebuilt and was with almost 3,000 seats next to the Grosses Schauspielhaus is one of the largest and most modern theater in Europe. During the "wild" Zwanziger they showed eccentric fashion in floor and original talents as the " brash " chanteuse Claire Waldoff and Coupletsänger Otto Reutter. The orchestra was sunk off the wide stage in a ditch. The space on the terrace, where you could dine during the performance also cost six marks in the entrance you could stand for a Mark. Berlin showed itself as an international capital of pleasure and the conservatory was popular meeting points.
After 56 years of playing mode and a final performance on 21 June 1944, the Winter Garden was destroyed by a bomb attack. This was the most spectacular showcase for artistry that Germany has known before, in ruins. With the end of hostilities in 1945 the former venues in Berlin were almost all completely destroyed. The ruins of the conservatory was blown up in 1950.
Attempted new beginning after 1945
Already in December 1945 the Berlin newspapers reported on the opening of a new conservatory in the New World at the hare heath. The initiator was Ludwig Goebel from the conservatory GmbH In September 1946, the venue was, however, films were mainly in the nearly 1,600 -seat hall shown with an upstream stage actor. 1955 closed the cinema theater.
The "third" winter garden
September 1992 - January 2009
Peter Schwenkow, the artist André Heller and Circus Roncalli CEO Bernhard Paul rented the premises of the former " Latin Quarter " at the Potsdamer Straße and let this remodel consuming. The game place called Winter Garden was on 25 September 1992 then, in the presence of Siegfried & Roy, opened with a gala premiere.
In April of the following year, the first major gala was held on the occasion of the awarding of the prize echo records. International stars such as Phil Collins occurred. In the same year, the winter musical theater was awarded the Culture Prize of the Berlin tabloid BZ In 1994, the episode " closed files " of the TV crime series "Tatort" from SFB partly in the conservatory, RTL turned here ( " The Dream Wedding " with Linda de Mol ) In 1998, the foyer and restaurant were rebuilt. The Millennium Show " As Time Goes By " (directed by Bernhard Paul ) 2000 was celebrated with two glamorous galas. The program accompanied each Robin Merrill & The Savoy Dance Orchestra Max Raabe and the Palast Orchester with. In the tenth year of existence, a total of four programs were launched that offered a reunion with the outstanding artists of the last decade. The three visionary founders tried thus to build on the large conservatory tradition in pre-war Berlin. In the early years more than one million visitors came and there were imitators in other cities.
But already in 1995 left André Heller 's house again, and Bernhard Paul retired in 2007. Was sold in 2007 Peter Schwenkow the conservatory to an investor group led by longtime President Georg Strecker and his partner Frank Reinhardt. 2008 Strecker left the house, and Frank Reinhardt led alone running the business. In the summer of 2008, the conservatory went bankrupt; but it was initially still continue to play. January 31, 2009 then dropped the final curtain of the last show " Oriental ".
From 2009
Mid-2009, a new operator took for the winter garden, with its nearly 500 seats: the Arnold Kuthe Entertainment GmbH. Their partners were already since foundation of the conservatory owner of the premises and had decided in the spring of 2009, in a first step to acquire the inventory and the naming rights to the theater ready to play as such and maintain brand conservatory on the market. Later the house was first rented for a 3-month stint of the New Burlesque Show " Black Flamingo " to the German Entertainment AG. This was followed by the preparation of its own for year-round Bespielung. A representative of the company: "More than a genuine opportunity can not and should not be this commitment. A permanent subsidization operating as a beautiful showpiece, let us not afford. " Once you 've put him on his feet, the conservatory will independently have to survive in the fierce competition. "Only if he does this, he is good enough. "
" The Fabulous Variety Show" with vaudeville singer and emcee Meret Becker had its premiere on February 5, 2010. Almost exactly one year after the closing of the theater has since been re- recorded all year round with three self-produced variety shows.