About the work
Pferd frisst Hut (Horse Eats Hat) is a musical comedy by Herbert Grönemeyer (music and lyrics) after Eugène Labiche's vaudeville "An Italian Straw Hat" (1851), in an adaptation by Sabrina Zwach (arrangements: Thomas Meadowcroft). It premiered on 8 February 2025 at the Komische Oper Berlin (at the Schillertheater) directed by Herbert Fritsch — a co-production with Theater Basel. It is Grönemeyer's first stage work of this kind.
Plot
On his wedding day, the horse of the wealthy idler Fadinard eats the straw hat of Madame Beauperthuis. As she wants to hide her affair with it, she pressures Fadinard to procure an identical hat. There follows a turbulent search across the Paris of 1851, in which Fadinard and his entire wedding party stumble from one hair-raising mix-up into the next. Herbert Fritsch turns the comedy of errors into a breakneck slapstick course through a labyrinth of clattering doors.
Cultural significance
With Pferd frisst Hut, the two "Herberts" — Grönemeyer and Fritsch — combine pop, operetta and musical into an exuberant evening of comedy. Grönemeyer's catchy music pointedly illustrates the turbulent stage action and carries Labiche's popular vaudeville tradition into a contemporary music theatre that delighted audiences.