Palast Berlin

To quote from the website:

Welcome to the East End, the Broadway of Berlin and the city’s hip nightlife mile. Stretching from Unter den Linden and along Friedrichstraße to Hackescher Markt, this is the district with the highest theatre density in all of Germany. And in the midst of it you will find the world’s biggest theatre stage! Reopened in 1984 and located at Friedrichstraße 107, the show palace lies in the district Berlin-Mitte at a 5-minute walking distance from the rail station Friedrichstraße. The massive structure is the last magnificent building of the German Democratic Republic, erected by the regime while it was already caught up in the process of slow disintegration, and this makes it an exceptional monument to Germany’s overcoming of its former division.

The big shows, children’s shows and guest appearances, as well as the Berlinale, and galas attract nearly 700,000 visitors annually. Therefore, the Palast is by far the No. 1 among the Berlin theatres. The productions of the house are enormous. With more than 160 participants each evening, including 100 artists, it is also the largest ensuite show in the Western world. The main hall seats 1,895 visitors and includes main, side, front and back stages, a water basin and podiums. The main stage covers 2,200 square meters. The Palast is also equipped with state-of-the-art technology to move around and integrate an additional 700 square meters of stage space as well as a 225 ton water basin.

                                                   I am sooo wonderful !

Super duper organiser.  Fantastic wonderful planner!  You will never see the likes of this again!

Well, I know everyone thinks this about me all of the time, but this time, I definitely hit the wow, and super wow high point!

When Emma mentioned to people on one of the walking tours that "We went to Palast Berlin", the guide and Berlin residents, looked at her in amazement and said "Oh yeah, if you want to pay over €100 per ticket". Emma's response "No, Mum paid just over €18 per ticket"  Further stunned looks and disbelief.  "How did you do that?"  My response "Over the Internet" was not at all convincing and I'm sure they thought I had found some decidedly dodgy deal.  

I booked the tickets 7 months ago and decided to take a punt on the new show that opened in October and hoped that the cheapest tickets on the side, wouldn't be too bad.  We really couldn't believe our luck when we saw the Theatre, had a snack (dinner) and then went into the amazing place and our fantastic seats. (It's owned by the City of Berlin).

A huge performance, large venue and we could see everything.  

Lord only knows what the story line was. It was all razzle, dazzle, over the top, show biz, lights, action, people coming down and then others going up, insane costumes, wonderful dancers, special acts.

No cameras were allowed during the performance but when the 100 or so performers were taking their bows at the end, we were allowed to snap away to our heart's content.

So look at some of the crazy stuff:

The two men on left were part of the 4 stongmen, balancing, gymnastists acrobatic team - highlight of the show in our books though everything was outstanding.  Next 2 were singers who didn't get much attention due to all the other activity on stage.

This was lead female dancer

The dude who had to be noticed with some of his dancers.  He wasn't in this getup for all of the show. 

Note not only the dude's head gear but also the height on the shoes.  Somehow he managed to move.

Outside

These people thought the show and the person who found the place and secured the tickets, was wonderful!!

Funny thing

I booked and paid for the tickets 7 months ago on my Visa.  I received a receipt and I had a "pending charge" showing up on my online account.  Then, the "pending charge" disappeared and no actual charge took its place.  I was concerned about this and even contacted the bank who thought I was someone who had no idea about how charges were made to credit cards online. I sent emails to Palast Berlin to ask if my booking was still valid - without reply.  I then found I could have a "live chat" so I did this and got confirmation that the tickets were valid and that they had received my Euros via Visa on the date of the receipt.  I saved a screenshot of the "live chat" and had all this ready when we went to collect the tickets but it wasn't needed.  So, not only did I book the cheapest seats in the house, I (by some strange intervention or accounting error) got them free!   That's why I haven't won Lotto yet; I have all these nice things happening along the way.

I would still like to win Lotto too! I will resume my church / Cathedral visits in Catholic Spain and perhaps this too will come my way!

In any case, we had a super duper fantastic night at the biggest show in town!