Theater des Westens
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| Address |
10–12 Charlottenburg, Berlin Germany |
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| Owner |
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| Type | Opera house |
| Capacity | 1712 |
| Production | Dance of the Vampires |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1 October 1896 |
| Reopened | 1896 |
| Rebuilt | 1945 |
| Architect | |
| Website | |
| stage-entertainment/theater-des-westens | |
The Theater des Westens (Theatre of the West) is one of the most famous theatres for musicals and operettas in Berlin, Germany, located at 10–12 in Charlottenburg. It was founded in 1895 for plays. The present house was opened in 1896 and dedicated to opera and operetta. Enrico Caruso made his debut in Berlin here, and the Ballets Russes appeared with Anna Pavlova. In the 1930s it was run as the Volkstheater Berlin. After World War II it served as the temporary opera house of Berlin, the Städtische Oper (Municipal Opera). In 1961 it became the first theatre in Germany to show musicals. Since then it has become the "German equivalent of Broadway extravaganzas", putting on plays and musical comedies.
The theatre was founded in 1895. The construction of the present building began in 1896, designed by Bernhard Sehring. It was opened on 1 October 1896 with a fairy tale, Holger Drachmann's Tausendundeine Nacht. From 1898 the house was used for opera, from 1908 for operetta.Enrico Caruso's first appearance in Berlin was in 1905 in Theater des Westens. In 1910, Diaghilev's Ballets Russes performed Le Carnaval on Schumann's music in a choreography by Mikhail Fokine.Anna Pavlova appeared with the Ballets Russes in 1914.
From 1922, the house was again used as an opera house, called "Große Volksoper" (Great People's Opera), under the direction of conductor Leo Blech. Short lived, the opera closed in 1924. The theatre then showed a mixed program, under frequently changing management. The dancer Mary Wigman and her company were a great success in 1926. Hans Lüppschütz took over, presenting traditional works including Die Fledermaus and Alt Heidelberg along with new productions. He engaged prominent actors, such as Fritzi Massary in Eine Frau von Format (1927), Max Adalbert in Das Ekel (1928) and Josephine Baker in Bitte Einsteigen (1928).
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