With cheers, loud applause, and even a few tears, the audience celebrated the premiere of the new Berlin musical “Wir sind am Leben” at the Theater des Westens, near the Ku’damm. Throughout the evening, the premiere of the new work by the successful team Peter Plate and Ulf Leo Sommer drew steady applause and, at times, even had people singing along from the seats.
Among the premiere guests were the Governing Mayor Kai Wegner with his partner, Education Senator Katharina Günther-Wünsch (CDU), former incumbent Klaus Wowereit (SPD), figure skating star Katarina Witt, former Culture State Minister Claudia Roth (Greens), director Detlev Buck and singer Max Raabe. Many attendees dressed in 1990s fashion, with glitter and glamour on display.
A Time Travel into the Wild Era After the Fall of the Wall
“Wir sind am Leben – Das Berlin Musical” is a journey back to the alternative Berlin of the 1990s, in the years after the fall of the wall, with all its chaotic but also thrilling times. It deals with parties, love and heartbreak in the gay and lesbian scene, the career opportunities of a young singer, grief and death in the AIDS era, self-discovery and survival humor, situational comedy, and, of course, music performed by a live band on the mezzanine — from soft to rock, from kitsch to electro.
It is the fifth collaboration between the writers Plate and Sommer, following successes like “Ku’damm 56,” “Romeo & Julia – Love Is Everything” or “Die Amme.” “Wir sind am Leben” is also a personal memory of past times, music, stories, and feelings, according to the authors.
Chaotic and Lovable Shared Flat
The story tells of a kind of living arrangement in an occupied ruin house in Berlin-Friedrichshain and, at the same time, the life of the gay scene in the newly formed Berlin. An artist who performs as Marlene Dietrich is HIV-positive; his friend comes from Cuba, was a dancer in the GDR, and is seeking an engagement. A lesbian couple has a child and drifts apart; and the singer Nina is suddenly visited by her brother Mario from the East German province of Wittenberg. Mario experiences his own coming out and must cope with the temptations of the big city.
Finally the mother of the sibling pair, a hairdresser with a blond perm and a leopard-print jacket, bursts into the shared flat and stirs up even more upheaval — and even more enthusiastic applause from the audience. She styled the entire East German celebrity set and harbors a dark secret.
Direct Link | Impressions from the Premiere
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“The Sluts Are Tired”
The humor in many quips stands out with irony in a refreshing departure from some older musicals. Politics play a role, with references to “colonialism” or “ideals” in a scene; a rocking song bears the title “The Sluts Are Tired.” The protagonists also wear T-shirts or carry posters against the far right and Nazis. An esotericist brings laughs with her “gifts.”
Their relationship conversations are conducted over the telephone; no one gazes at a cell phone in the 1990s. Sex, drugs, lousy music managers, and a police raid are not missing from the story. Yet there are no tourists or complaints about pricey rents and the housing shortage. “Wir sind am Leben” also appears ten years later around the turn of the millennium, when all the friends meet again — at a funeral, which nonetheless has its joyful moments.
