About the work
Hinterm Horizont is a jukebox musical built on the songs of Udo Lindenberg, with a book by Thomas Brussig, premiered in 2011 at the Theater am Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. Inspired by Lindenberg's own biography and a love story in divided Germany, it became one of the most successful German musicals.
Plot
In 1980s Berlin, the West German rock star Udo falls in love, during a performance in East Germany, with the East German "girl from East Berlin," Jessy. Their love must hold its own against the Wall, Stasi surveillance, and political division. Over years, separated by borders and systems, the two fight for their relationship—until the fall of the Wall in 1989 changes everything. The story interweaves private longing with the larger narrative of Germany's division and reunification.
Cultural significance
Hinterm Horizont uses Udo Lindenberg's hits—including Mädchen aus Ostberlin, Sonderzug nach Pankow, and Cello—as an emotional sounding board for German-German history. The musical ran successfully for years in Berlin and later in Hamburg and struck a chord in the collective memory of division and reunification. It is regarded as a prime example of the German jukebox musical with a contemporary-historical backdrop.