Casts & Crew
Franziska Kinz
Ferdinand Marian
Maria Landrock
Klaus Detlef Sierck
Karl Schönböck
Else von Möllendorff
Paul Bildt
Gabriele Hoffmann
Erich Ponto
Heinz Salfner
Armin Schweizer
Werner Pledath
Karin Evans
Wolfgang Staudte
Alfred Karen
Otto Stoeckel
Hans Wallner
Ursula Abel
Dorothea Thiess
Walter Flamme
Ursula Rothe
Ruth Büsing
Vera Complojer
Toni Tetzlaff
Friedl Haerlin
Melanie Horeschowsky
Gerti Kammerzell
Vera Mayr
Franz Pollandt
Also Directed by Paul Verhoeven
The delightful Johann Strauss comic opera Die Fledermaus was mercilessly lampooned in this truly bizarre production. For starters, a framing device has been added: After appearing in 300 consecutive appearances of Fledermaus (which translates as The Bat) the lead tenor (Georg Alexander) imagines that he's seeing bats everywhere. Driven a bit over the edge by all this, he falls asleep and has a nightmare about the opera, with a group of non-singers cast in the leading roles. The original libretto about romantic assignations, political imprisonments and mistaken identity is burlesqued to the hilt: at one point, the hero finds out that his prison cell is surrounded by rubber tubes!
In a transport museum, the items on display begin to tell their stories. Most interesting is the history of the Pullman car. In the beginning, it served as transport for a princely family; then became the headquarters car for the military high command; and then, most adventurous of all, it ended up with a circus. Converted to a bar, it finally had its day and was supposed to serve as a placard carrier. Luckily, the museum saved it from this sad fate.