Tourist Attraction in Hamburg:
St. Pauli-Theater
The Sant Pauli-Theater is a historic theater in Hamburg, Germany, built in 1840/1841 (1898 facade) and located on Spielbudenplatz, the square next to the Reeperbahn Red Light Street in the St. Pauli district. Annotated among the protected monuments, it is not only the oldest city theater still existing or still in business, but also one of Germany's oldest theaters of all time. The theater hosts both theatrical drama classics, as well as cabaret and musical performances. In the St. Pauli Theater, artists such as Matthias Deutschmann, Peter Franke, Eva Mattes, Willy Millowitsch, Gunther Philipp, Freddy Quinn, Mathias Richling, Georg Schramm, Horst Schroth, Elke Sommer, Stefanie Stappenbeck, Ulrich Tukur, Henry Vahl, Ulrich Waller The theater has a total surface area of 116 square meters and measures 13.5 meters in width and 10.50 meters in height. It has a total of 595 seats, of which 340 are in the front row. The theater was inaugurated on May 30 or May 24, 1841 under the name "Urania-Theater". At that time, it had about 1,000 seats. Only three years after the opening, serious financial problems forced theater owners to open a joint venture, which also led to the change of the theater name in "Aktien-Theater" (May 23, 1844). During the nineteenth century, it changed its name for two more times: in 1863, when it was bought by Carl J.B. Wagner, who made sensitive changes, renaming the "Varieté-Theater" building and in 1884, when - after being bought by Ernst Drucker (who directed the theater until 1918) - became the "Ernst Drucker Theater". In 1898, the actual facade was also realized. After the death of Drucker, which took place in 1921, the theater was acquired by Siegfried Simon. The theater retained the name of "Ernst Drucker Theater" for about sixty years, or until 1941, the centenary of the theater, when the Nazis decided to change their name to "St. Pauli-Theater" because of Jewish origins by Ernst Drucker. In 1970, the theater was purchased by the Collien family. Always in the seventies, the first musical was performed in the theater, Die Junge von St. Pauli, featuring actor and singer Freddy Quinn. Until the 1980s, German-speaking acting was prevalent. At that time, Director Michael Collien saw the need to undertake a "non-formalization" and internationalization of the theater with the introduction of English shows as well. Later, the theater also hosted comedy, cabaret, international dance and music shows, particularly under the direction of Thomas Collien. The St. Pauli-Theater hosted among other things the German "prime" performances of Le Quatuor, Gumboots and Lady Salsa.