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On Tour With Rock of Ages 2024 (Episode 5 – Munich, 28th May to 1st June 2024)

Florian Buechting Trip Reports No Comments

Munich is always a special place to me. As parts of my family roots are from there, I always feel a bit more home in the Southern German city than in other spots. I had five shows in Munich, Tuesday to Saturday, on the 2024 Rock of Ages tour. Here is the fifth episode of my special trip report.

 

Episode 5 – Munich

The Deutsches Theater (“German Theater”) in Munich is one of the most traditional stage of the Bavarian capital. It is located close to the main station, so that it can be very easily reached from all over Munich and surroundings. The beautiful theater has a capacity of 1,540. I also have to praise the staff and people there, the atmosphere in the theater is really relaxed.

 

The Trip To Munich

The Tuesday noon trip was not overwhelmingly spectacular. I had a couple of hours of work in the office, before I took the straight high speed train from Cologne to Munich. A couple of rail works lead to a delay of one hour – but I had sufficient time to check in at my hotel (which I thought to have reviewed before, but that’s wrong…) and head to the Tuesday evening show – a very special one for me.

 

Day 1 Show – 28th May 2024, 19:30

This one was a very special one to me. Not only that it was back to Deutsches Theater where the German tour began in 2023, it was also my hundredth Rock of Ages show overall. I was definitely more nervous than usual. But the guys on and off stage did an amazing job – I am so thankful for that. They almost used the top cast for this evening, which was officially the preview show in Munich. Only my dear Lisa Becker had to bow out, which was a bit of sad, but Stephanie Löblich stepped in and did a great job as Kellnerin Nt. 1 / Waitress No. 1.

Finally, I really, really loved the show and could not imagine having a better night than this for the anniversary one. Thus, I am a bit shy to point out individuals. However, as I shared my story about High Enough the same day in my Songs of my Life, I have to name some finally. Julia Taschler (Sherrie Christian) and Felix Freund (Drew Bowley) did an amazing version of this song. I loved to close my eyes and simply listen to them. What a great advantage when you anyway know what they are doing on stage. Another outstanding artist was Timothy Roller, who is simply an outstanding Lonny Barnett. But overall, that was a memorable night and it was so good to have some chats and hugs at after the show at the stage door. Thanks a lot to everybody!

I typically don’t give you the cast list in here – but also for myself, here is the cast of my 100th show. Thanks to all the people who accompanied me on that route. From this show on, I will only say that I visited more than 100 shows (until I change it to more than 150 or more than 200, if that is happening…):

Character Actor
Drew Bowley Felix Freund
Lonny Barnett Timothy Roller
Sherrie Christian Julia Taschler
Dennis Dupree Frank Winkels
Stacee Jaxx / Father (Vater) Antonio Calanna
Justice Charlier / Mother (Mutter) Amanda Whitford
Hertz Kleinmann Benjamin Hauschild
Franz Kleinmann Martijn Noort
Regina Kotz / Candy Linda Holmgren
Major (Bürgermeister) / Ja’Keith Julian Schier
Joey Primo Valerio Croce
Waitress No. 1 / Kellnerin Nr. 1 Stephanie Löblich
Constance Sack Kim Unger
Angel Destiny Mria Pambori
Angel Saphira Erika Del Re

Day 2 Show – 29th May 2024, 19:30

I did not do too much during the day apart from working (for my professional work) from the hotel. The nearby supermarket fed me for lunch and the workday finally became rather long, so that I afterwards more or less headed straight to the theater.

There were a few changes to the cast compared to the previous day. It was the very first time that I saw Inga Krischke as Regina. She joined the cast rather late and actually did a really nice job. Lisa Becker was back as Kellnerin 1 / Waitress No. 1 and Maria Pambori had a day off, so that Lilian Nikolic took over the Destiny duties. There were some minor struggles on stage, which I felt being rather amusing. Unfortunately, sitting for one act with a cramped upper leg in the middle of the front row was not my best experience, but I overall really enjoyed the show again. The audience was great as well – much better than for example the Austrian ones in Vienna (the geographic distance seems to be shorter than the cultural one, in contrast to what people typically think… A nice evening, after which I went back to the hotel rather quickly – I was just really tired.

 

 

Day 3 Show – 30th May 2024, 19:30

I just had time for some walking through parks – unfortunately, the days in Munich were significantly less exciting than I expected them to be. Finally, the only exciting facts about my Thursday (which was a public holiday in parts of Germany, including Munich) was a nice Vietnamese dinner – and the show itself.

I felt rather weak that day and somehow even struggled with getting to the theater. However, once the musical kicked off and felt somehow fine. The family sitting next to me had two small children, one of them even could just see parts of the play due to the high stage. I wondered how much of the show he really in fact got. There were a couple of cast switches. Dennis Dupree was played by Julian Schier that night, so that Paul Fruh took over the Bürgermeister (Major), Ja’keith and DJ role. Especially in the last two one, the ensemble member was absolutely hilarious, I loved it. I just cannot praise the perfection of the main actors enough. The small struggles on stage have not been recognized by the audience, definitely.

Munich more and more won my heart in regards of Rock of Ages shows. Again, the audience was great and had a great party. The standing ovations worked out much better than in other venues. I am really curious how the last shows in Zurich will be alike. Overall, a really nice evening – the only thing I missed is the good, old British tradition of having ice cream in the intermission. German theaters just don’t seem to have that kind of thing.

 

Day 4 Show – 31st May 2024, 19:30

I had a couple of cool trips planned on my list – but finally did not manage to do any of them before the show. First of all, I felt really exhausted – and secondly, the weather, especially in the late morning hours did not really suggest outdoor activities. Finally, I just ended up having up a stroll through city center. Munich already feels well-prepared for the UEFA Euro 2024 (European Soccer championships). While the streets and Viktualienmarkt did not feel that crowded, all my favorite restaurants were packed. Thus, nutrition ended up in another supermarket-driven meal.

There were some changes in the cast. Justice Charlier and the role of the Mother was taken by Lisa Becker, which I was really flattered about. This moved <Lilian Nikolic into the role of Kellnerin 1 / Waitress No.1 and Stephanie Löblich played Constance Sack. Liam Tiesteel took over the Bürgermeister / Major (and others) role. You did feel that the trip was not only exhausting for me, but also for the cast, who were still about to face two double-show days on the upcoming weekend.

I loved Lisa Becker in her cover role. it is just very interesting to see how different actors add different flavors to the role. In this show, Justice felt a bit more friendly, but also more funky. Surprisingly, the audience was a bit more quiet than in the day before, even though the final applause was a blast. The left wing of the front row was almost empty even though the theater felt rather sold-out – something which happened in some Cologne shows as well. The tour is slowly coming to an end – and as I “just” had one show on Saturday, I had to start saying good-bye to beloved people.

 

Day 5 Show – 1st June 2024, 15:00

The weather did not turn out to be better. As I was absolutely unhappy with my Flyctory.com work so far, I decided to stay in the hotel before the show and work on some website stuff. The show started at 15:00, which gave the actors a relatively short gap between the two shows.

The tour is slowly coming to an end and, of course, you also need to leverage on your resources and give your main characters a break. Thus, a couple of covers a. I rend swings had the chance to play is major roles. Lisa Becker had another Justice show and did a really nice job. However, Stephanie Löblich blew my mind and played a great Sherrie in this show. Especially her first act was amazing. The role of Lonny was played by Benjamin Hauschild. He is adding a different flavor to the role, which is definitely nice.

That also illustrates two of the key improvements of the 2024 tour compared to the 2023 one. First of all, the directors and creative leads allow more flexibility. The actors don’t have to strictly play the script all the time, which leads to an easier, more entertaining, atmosphere. Secondly, despite there are struggles in the number of cast members, the covers and swings are able to step in and able to deliver an extremely high quality. In my point of view, you did have some weak spots in these situations the year before. Another person you have to praise in this show is Kim Unger, who played Regina and Constance in parallel. Due to the cast shifts, Julian Schier played Hertz Kleinmann and Paul Fruh the roles of the Bügermeister / Major and Ja’keith

I really liked this show, also because there were some new features and ideas brought in by the covers and swings. Nonetheless, that was also my last 2024 Rock of Ages show in Germany. The ones ahead are the ones the following week in Zurich and a couple of shows in the United Kingdom later in the year. Time to mentally prepare to farewell these lovely people soon.

 

Going Home

In order to avoid another night in Munich, my plans did not include the evening show. As I said in the daily sections already, the days before were extremely raining in Southern Germany, so that there were a couple of disruptions en route. Floodings near Nuremberg, trees on track thereafter and issues with a signal tower near Frankfurt. At the time I planned to be at home, I was still some 200km away from it. You can’t change the weather – overall, I was thankful to make it to Cologne at all, even though a some 90 minute delay made me arrive at the central station around 2:00 in the morning.

Need to get back to Munich soon – too many things outside the theater did not work out well for me. But now, I am looking forward to Zurich.

 

All pictures have been taken with my amateur equipment in the finale of the show.

 

Rock of Ages Opening Night in Munich 2023

I was gifted to be photographer at the 2023 opening night and premiere party. If you want to have a look, here are the two posts I did about the show in April 2023:

Rock of Ages (German Tour Opening Night in Munich, 5th April 2023)

Rock of Ages Opening Night – Red Carpet Impressions

 

 

On Tour with Rock of Ages 2024 – My Trip Report

Here are the six episodes I am planning to release:

 

 

Munich Travel Postings

Here are all Flyctory.com Travel postings related to Munich:

 

Rock of Ages (Musical)

Here are all postings related to the musical Rock of Ages:

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