Before starting extensive renovations of its building on Behrenstraße in mid-June, on June 10 the Komische Oper Berlin threw a lavish party to mark the temporary farewell to its venue.
Anyone who has always wanted to look behind the scenes of an opera house got the opportunity to do so on June 10. On the night after the last performance, the opera house opened its numerous doors so the visitors could take a peek behind the curtain.
After the performance, the audience split up. Some went home cheerfully, while the others stayed partying in the foyer and lounges. There was dancing and champaign on several floors till 1 am, while minors explored the house on a post-show hike.
The Komische Oper has come up with a special highlight for the trustees and 80 members of its children’s choir. A pajama party was thrown for them on the side stage of the house and the children were allowed to stay there overnight.
For the pop music-savvy opera visitors, the Komische Oper had specially hired a DJ who mainly served classics from pop, funk and soul of the 70s and 80s. Although the idea of throwing a dance party at the theater was meant to reflect the opera’s plan to bet on the younger audience in the future, it gathered rather a Berlin-typical mixture of people of different generations who came to remember the dazzling, sparkling and poignant moments of the opera house’s past.
After 75 years, it was really time for the house to be comprehensively renovated, modernized and expanded to fit for the future.
The extensive timing of renovation plan gives a rare opportunity to experience music theater from unusual perspectives in the coming years. As “opera for the city” the company would like to do justice to its social mission in a special way by traveling with you to unique places in the city of Berlin and experiencing opera with its audience. The list of locations can be found here: https://www.komische-oper-berlin.de/planen/spielorte/
