Who is the monster here? In Mary Shelley’s famous horror novel “Frankenstein” this question is actually already answered in the title. Because the supposed monster remains nameless until the end. It is Viktor Frankenstein who, in scientific hubris, allows his creature, this initially innocent, if repulsively ugly creature, to become a murderer.
It was precisely this aspect of the story that author Kevin Schroeder considered important in his musical version “Frankenstein”. The Luisenburg Festival in Wunsiedel will officially begin with the premiere of this commissioned work on Friday, June 16th. In its 133rd year, the open-air theater festival in the Fichtelgebirge whisks you away to “other worlds”.
Another monster that is possibly more human and more graceful in soul than many people if you only look behind the facade: “Beauty and the Beast” is not presented on the Luisenburg stage as a musical, as one would expect, but as a family-friendly spectacle (even for children from the age of four). On the way to another world, even if he resists, is of course “Brandner Kasper”. At the Luisenburg with Eisi Gulp as “Boandlkramer” and in personal union as author, director and leading actor with Wolfgang Maria Bauer.
Eisi Gulp as “Boandlkramer” in “Brandner Kasper”
(Photo: Florian Miedl/Luisenburg Festival)
Another Luisenburg success of the past few years, in which someone leaves their familiar world: In the musical “Sister Act”, singer Deloris dives into a monastery for reasons that really everyone knows and messes up the existence of the nuns there.
Policeman Stanislav Liška, who was deployed in 1948 on the Bohemian-Bavarian border where the Iron Curtain was lowering, also moves between two worlds. In the musical “Kalte Freiheit”, which is based on historical facts, he becomes a reluctant spy, a double agent, a kind of “East James Bond”.
A total of five in-house productions – also a tradition on the Luisenburg stage – are supplemented by guest performances. This year, for example, Verdi’s “Rigoletto” (Landesbühne Sachsen), the operetta “Ball im Savoy” by Alfred Grünwald, Fritz Löhner-Beda and Paul Abraham (Kammeroper Köln) and the Broadway hit “Caveman”.
In the “Luisenburg Spezial” series on July 24 (8:30 p.m.) there is something special for jazz fans: Wolfgang Haffner, world-class drummer and native of Wunsiedler, has invited two famous colleagues and friends to the concert, trombonist Nils Landgren and the great bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff.
Luisenburg FestivalJune 16 to early September, Wunsiedel, information and tickets at www.luisenburg-aktuell.de