Susi Nicoletti
Comedian Harmonists tells the story of a famous, German male sextet, five vocals and piano, the "Comedian Harmonists", from the day they meet first in 1927 to the day in 1934, when they become banned by the upcoming Nazis, because three of them are Jewish.
The story tells of a love which after ten years is beginning to grow old, and of the attempt to turn the imminent end into a new beginning. After ten years of eventful relationship, man and woman have finally decided to say yes to each other in an abandoned railway station on the edge of town. It is the first evening in their new home. Everything is temporary, nothing is finished. The furniture has not yet been delivered, the heating is not functioning yet, the telephone is not connected, neither is the television. They are inescapably confronted with their own selves and with each other. And although, at least at the beginning, they fervently strive for love and harmony, the past catches up with them. When he, as always, seeks to withdraw by taking flight, he discovers that his key does not fit. He is at her mercy. Ruthlessly, they call each other to account.
Thomas Mann's witty and intimate story of a irresistible scoundrel.
Young Stanzi who is visiting Vienna helps a young corporal and musician to become famous for his marching song "Die Deutschmeister".
The greengrocer Ferdinand Strubel wants his daughter Marianne to marry the son of the brewery owner Baron von Schnackenberg. Since Strubel is an impossibly cheap bastard, the marriage is to take place on 20 May, which, coincidentally, is the same day the city is having a grand festival for him to celebrate his company's being in business for 100 years. Marianne, however, has fallen in love with Leopold, a gym teacher; and when he reads an article in the newspaper about the upcoming arrival of Haley's Comet on 19 May, he comes up with an idea how he can prevent the wedding from taking place: He tells Strubel that the world is going to come to an end when the comet shows up, so that Strubel will see the errors of his way, cancel the arranged wedding and will become a better person for it. (Sucker!).
