"Behind the scenes in Karlsruhe" Top 5 Page for this destination Karlsruhe Travelogue by Nemorino


Karlsruhe Travel Guide: 992 reviews and 4,014 photos

One of the best backstage theater tours I've ever taken was the one at the Baden State Theater in Karlsruhe at their Open House on July 4, 2004.

At Karlsruhe they started a new tour group every ten minutes or so, and said right at the start that they would follow the yellow arrows posted throughout the building, so anyone who wanted to stay longer at a particular place could just stay there and join the next group that came through.

The tour guides were people from all departments, including a stage inspector, a guy from the lighting department and a veteran of the spoken drama section -- all people who knew their way around the building and the organization extremely well.

The first stop was the stage in the large hall, where they were starting to put up the set for that evening’s performance. But they took the time to give us a ride on the revolving stage and show us the control board used by the stage manager (Inspizent) to make sure everything happened at the right time.

We also got a demonstration of how sound effects are created by computer, from the head of the sound department.

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Here off to the side of the stage is part of the set of Boito's Mefistofele, including one of the big white bookcases. They'll be rolled out onto the stage later.

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And we saw the various workshops where the sets and costumes are made, and the large room where the backdrops are painted.

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They seem to have every conceivable kind of workshop, including carpentry, metalwork and a shoemaker's.

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They have two rehearsal stages.

On rehearsal stage number 1 the theater youth group was practicing, using all the great improvisation-in-drama techniques that I thought went out of style decades ago.

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In rehearsal stage #2 nothing was going on, but this is what it looks like, with a piano to accompany the singers and a table for the stage director.

For more backstage views from other German opera houses, have a look at my travelogues Behind the scenes in Leipzig and Frankfurt Theater Festival 2004.

  • Page Updated May 12, 2005
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Comments (74)

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  • Redang's Profile Photo
    Redang May 28, 2012 at 6:31 AM Report Abuse

    Hi Don, how far is that hotel from the main attractions?

  • Regina1965's Profile Photo
    Regina1965 Mar 13, 2012 at 6:32 PM Report Abuse

    Quite a few familiar faces here :) I must visit a VT annual meeting soon.
    Frankfurt Kitchen, eh, I share your sentiment on them...

  • hopang's Profile Photo
    hopang Aug 19, 2011 at 1:47 PM Report Abuse

    Fascinating travel pages of the city. CallBikes rental system certainly sounds interesting. Impressive cycling infrastructure with red cycling lanes at intersections certainly looks great to us. Also great photos from VT meetings. ~ho & pang

  • MD2nd's Profile Photo
    MD2nd Jul 14, 2011 at 12:35 PM Report Abuse

    Great & detailed transportation tips to get/around Karlsruhe! Thanks for visiting my Angermuende page.

  • xaver's Profile Photo
    xaver Oct 23, 2010 at 4:49 AM Report Abuse

    nice, the bstate art gallery seems to have some interetsing paintings.

  • gkitzmil's Profile Photo
    gkitzmil Jun 27, 2010 at 7:00 AM Report Abuse

    fabulous page!!

  • June.b's Profile Photo
    June.b Jun 27, 2010 at 6:43 AM Report Abuse

    2-Thumbsup 4 ur Karlsruhe page, and thx 4 visiting my Ams page. Dont wanna sound condescending but if I have z chance to accidentally bump in any VTer - u top the list, and u know why? No, that's not a question, it's a statement - u know why.

  • balhannah's Profile Photo
    balhannah Feb 2, 2010 at 2:53 AM Report Abuse

    A very interesting page. Loved reading about the "Tulip girls" and I thought the 'call bikes' were a great idea!

  • HORSCHECK's Profile Photo
    HORSCHECK Jan 1, 2010 at 4:12 AM Report Abuse

    Great updates from our latest Glühwein Meeting here. Well done. Karlsruhe really seems to be a very popular place for all sorts of VT meetings.

  • globetrott's Profile Photo
    globetrott Dec 31, 2009 at 9:47 AM Report Abuse

    an interesting page and great updates again from the Glühwein-meeting , thanks for sharing, Don !

Nemorino

“A bicycle is . . . the freedom you thought you were getting when you bought a car.”

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