About the work
Ku’damm 56 – Das Musical is a musical by Annette Hess (book) and the composer-lyricist duo Peter Plate and Ulf Leo Sommer. It is based on Hess’s successful 2016 ZDF television trilogy and was premiered on 28 November 2021 at the Theater des Westens in Berlin. Against the backdrop of West Berlin during the economic-miracle years, it tells of young women rebelling against the narrowness of the 1950s — with catchy pop songs by Plate and Sommer, the writers behind Rosenstolz.
Plot
Berlin, 1956: the resolute Caterina Schöllack runs the Galant dance school and is above all intent on marrying off her three daughters Monika, Helga and Eva respectably. But the youngest, Monika, refuses to fit the narrow image of womanhood of the postwar era. Between social constraint, first love and the rising rock ’n’ roll rebellion she fights for self-determination — and clashes with the conventions of her family and her time. The awakening becomes a story of emancipation, repression and the courage to be different.
Cultural significance
With over 300,000 visitors in 15 months, Ku’damm 56 became one of the most successful new German musicals of its time and launched a whole series of Plate/Sommer productions at the Theater des Westens. It showed that German-language material — far from Broadway licences — can find a large musical audience, and brought the celebrated ZDF series effectively to the stage.