The start of the winter season in the Circus Krone building, which traditionally takes place on Christmas Day, is also a premiere for the director couple Jana Mandana Lacey-Krone and Martin Lacey in several respects. First of all there is the show under the motto “Stars in the Manege” with 32 artists from ten nations. Right in the middle are the directors themselves, who are already celebrating their connection as horse princess and lion man on the poster. “We feature top artists like trapeze artists ‘Flying Tabares’ from the USA, winners at the Monte Carlo Festival.
Others, like the Italian animal teacher Bruno Togni with his tigers, will soon be traveling to the festival,” says Lacey. He lets his young colleague go first until January 8th, after which he loosens him with his own predatory performance until the end of the season on January 16th. “I’m sure I’ll have one or two of my lions with me when I greet the audience at Christmas,” says the British predator teacher.
Jumping rope Santas
Before the pandemic, the Mongolian jump rope group Khadgaa performed in Munich’s Krone building, now they can be seen in Würzburg.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
Everything is new at the Würzburg Christmas Circus, which Krone will open for the first time on December 15 at the Talavera fairground. The program does not contain any animals at all – with the exception of the Krone horses, which spin around the ring to the tunes of Mary Poppins. The ten artists of the Mongolian troupe Khadgaa can be seen in Würzburg until January 8th, including jumping rope acrobatics Santa Claus style.
Or the Ukrainian trampoline group “Non Stop”, which circus fans can also follow on December 30 and January 6 on Sat.1 at the new edition of the “Stars in the Manege” gala. “For us, the comeback of this show after a 14-year break is of course also a very special premiere,” says Lacey. What pleases him most is the news that the audience from Munich and Bavaria has remained loyal to the Krone. “I recently found out from our cashier that advance sales are going very well.”
Especially at Christmas time, visiting the circus is a tradition for many families, across generations, the children of the past come today as grandparents with their grandchildren. “And that’s what matters to us: Especially at a time when many people are worried about letting them forget their everyday life for a few hours – with a little thrill and a lot to laugh about.”
learn to levitate
Alexander Krist checks that everything is going right here and that the boy is really floating with a hoop, which he pulls from left to right.
(Photo: Dieter Lukas/Panobilder.de)
The Munich magician Alexander Krist designed the “Christmas Magic Show” especially for families, which “has developed into a real hit at a rapid pace,” says Krist. He is master of two magic theatre – the amphitheater-like Table Magic Theater on the lower Anger and the Kristelli theater tent on the Olympic Park. In the latter, he recently showed “illusions for adults, but I present them in a way that is child-friendly”.
Already at the premiere it became clear that the “Family Illusion Magic Show” is in no way inferior to the big evening events in the “Kristelli” or the more intimate performances “Table Magic Theater”. In each of the one-hour family performances, he brings children onto the stage. “They can also touch the illusions – and they still work,” says Krist and laughs. Not only does he transform himself into a format that he describes as “small, square and good”, but he also makes brave little viewers float on a lounger.
The fact that both the family show and the evening show “The World’s Greatest Magic” on January 7th and 8th in the Kristelli is officially over is not due to the lack of demand. “The lease with the city of Munich will then end. It was clear from the start that it would only last until the apartments across the street that the state of Bavaria was building for its police officers, among other things, were completed,” he says.
Even if the contract may be extended at short notice by a few months – “the architect told me that the building will probably only be finished in five or six months” – his Christmas wish for this year is certain. Krist is looking for new quarters for his 2000 square meter magic tent.
Desperately unhappy
Lively snowmen and noble horses populate the “land of winter wishes” in the Cavalluna Showpalast.
(Photo: Apassionata World)
The boy Robert, however, has forgotten how to wish, whose story in the legendary “Winter Wishland” is told: The Cavalluna show palace in Fröttmaning is transformed into a wonderland full of fairies, magicians and villains, accompanied by elegant Andalusians, proud freedom horses and cuddly ponies. Right in the middle, Robert embarks on an adventurous journey to rediscover his imagination “and to learn how true wishes work,” says Apassionata managing director Johannes Mock O’Hara.
Just as the young Robert had to overcome many an obstacle – for example in the form of the terrible pyromaniac Wenzla, who robs the children of their imagination – the organizer Apassionata World also had to overcome a number of hurdles after the temporary closure of the Showpalast in Munich. But this year “we were very happy to finally be able to play on the site again,” says Mock O’ Hara. The restart took place with a summer open-air family show with horses, “which was very well received, has recouped its costs and will therefore take place again next year,” says Mock O’Hara.
Now the next experiment follows with a winter show from December 26th to January 8th: “Intensity and closeness are very important for children, which is why we have reduced the seating plan for all 22 shows that we are planning until the end of the holidays, instead of the usual 1700 seats we only have 800 to 1000 at most,” says Mock O’Hara.
Roll with snowflakes
Every year again: Tchaikovsky’s ballet fairy tale “Nutcracker”, here the snowflake waltz, danced by the International Festival Ballet.
(Photo: Guido Ohlenbostel/Munich Music)
A little girl, an enchanted nutcracker, a wondrous gift and a fantastic dream – in the run-up to Christmas, the story of the “nutcracker” including the mouse king and sugar fairy, flower waltz, dance of the reed flutes and snowflake waltz is almost omnipresent. It is thanks to the music of Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky, which was first performed on December 18, 1892 in St. Petersburg, that the story became a classic on the world stage.
But it doesn’t matter how well you already know this music. “Better seen once than heard a hundred times” is a Russian proverb. How well Tchaikovsky’s picturesque musical ideas can be combined not only with classical ballet – in this case the dancers and soloists of the International Festival Ballet – but also with artistic elements and with pantomime, young and old spectators can see “The Nutcracker – A Christmas Tale” at the Prinzregententheater from December 21 to January 8, directed by Ivan Luzan.
The classic scenes of the ballet are also recognizable in their staging – but there are also many new things that were invented in the theater, supported by modern multimedia technology, according to the Marionettentheater Tölz. There is “The Nutcracker – Klara’s Journey to Dreamland” to experience on the evening of December 17th.
Another version, in this case as a semi-staged music story, is offered on the afternoon of December 17th in the Gasteig HP8: Andreas Haas as the music-making narrator and the chamber ensemble of the Freies Landestheater Bayern present an adventure from the popular “Classic for Kids series about the young Timmy: excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker”, Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” and Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” lead to Russia.