A reviewer recently wrote, Hans Well and his wellbappn are now as good as they are Biermösl Blosn at their best. There is no need to be surprised, since Hans Well wrote almost all of the lyrics for the legendary trio of brothers and since then has lost none of his keen eye and critical spirit. And his children Tabea, Sarah and Jonas have more than caught up musically to the rest of the family clan over the ten years that they have been on the road as Wellbappn. Four CDs, some of which have won awards, bear witness to this; for the audio book “Rotes Bayern – Es lebe der Freistaat”, for example, there was the German Audio Book Prize, and Hans Well himself received the Bavarian Constitutional Order.
So it’s all the sadder that the family tie is over in this form for the time being: “My son is now working in Berlin, Tabea is going abroad soon. Unfortunately, the constellation will not continue, at least for a while,” explains Hans Well. But he wants to continue with his eldest daughter Sarah, because she really wants it too. It remains to be seen what exactly that will look like and whether someone will join them.
First of all, after a decade, there is a worthy farewell for these Wellbappn, who even belong a bit to Dieter Hildebrandt’s legacy, as Hans Well explains: “When I separated from my brothers in 2012, I thought about quitting. At that time, Dieter Hildebrandt assailed me, not to do that.” On Ash Wednesday, traditionally a day of great struggle for politicians and cabaret artists in Bavaria, the four now play in the Silbersaal of the German theater.
“Rail replacement traffic” is the title of the evening, where the best songs and things up to the most recent, critically acclaimed program “Didl-Dudl” will be performed again. Including a eponymous musical memorial for the “unknown S-Bahn driver”. After all, the problems of Munich’s local transport, including the fuss about the second main route, are a godsend, especially for an enthusiastic S-Bahn driver like Hans Well. But certainly not the only one or the most important.
Hans Well & Wellbappn, Ash Wednesday, Feb. 22, 8 p.m., Silbersaal in the Deutsches Theater, Schwanthalerstr. 13, www.deutsches-theater.de