Deutsches Theater: “Desert Flower. The Musical” as a guest performance. – Munich

Her story is not a tale of suffering, says Waris Dirie. Her body was injured, but not much was taken “from herself”: not her courage, not her love, not her strength. The film and book entitled “Desert Flower” have made the life of the Somali model world-famous, followed in 2020 by a musical with a world premiere in St. Gallen. From October 4th to 15th it will be an exclusive guest performance at the Deutsches Theater in Munich.

What can musicals do that films and books cannot? And anyway: How can the story of the woman be told in an entertaining way, who was a victim of genital mutilation as a girl, who fought her way from the African desert to become a supermodel and Bond girl? “Music changes everything,” says Dirie, the musical is more “fun”https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/.”The feelings become clearer, deeper,” agrees Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, the composer of the piece. In order to keep music that is culturally foreign to him as authentic as possible, he has worked intensively with African musicians, such as the renowned Bdlovu Youth Choir.

The piece leads through Dirie’s life stations: through the desert of her childhood, colorful Africa, 80s London to the fashion and glamor business. For leading actress Kerry Jean a journey at the end of which she is always “emotionally exhausted”. Hardly surprising in view of the material, the end of the piece comes as a surprise – Dirie sings about women’s rights in front of the United Nations. The message is clear: if a girl from the desert can change the world, so can you. One difference to the book and film is that in the musical – in the spirit of Dirie – hope clearly comes before suffering. It remains to be seen how the music manages to change that too.