“Ku’damm 56”

This is the title of the musical that Franziska got to see that evening at “Alte Oper” Frankfurt. “Ku’damm” is the short version of Kurfürstendamm (Elector’s dam), an important street and section for trade and gastronomy in the suburb of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in the German capitol of Berlin. This street and section, erected in the 1540s, was more-or-less the center of West-Berlin, while the city of Berlin was split between 1945 and 1990.

The historic and current center of Berlin lay in the eastern parts of the city, which were redeveloped only after 1990. Berlin is well worth a visit if you come to Germany and should be your preference over Frankfurt. Make no mistake, while I very much like some parts of Frankfurt, there are many aspects about Frankfurt that I loathe. If you visit Germany for the first time, I recommend to pick Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich over Frankfurt. If you want to have a (small) chance to run into Franziska, you’d have to come the Frankfurt, though.

The musical by Peter Plate, Annette Hess and Ulf Leo Sommer had its debut in November 2021 in Berlin and plays in West-Berlin in the 1950’s, thus in the early years after WW-II. It addresses a multitude of topics of that time period – a few to many for my liking – such as post-war living, emancipation, gender roles, violence against women, homosexuality, remilitarisation of German, and the role of the German weapons industry. 

As previously reported, after a late lunch/early dinner at one of the Italian restaurants in downtown Frankfurt, Franzi went home to freshen up and to dress up for the occasion of visiting aforementioned musical at “Alte Oper.”

Portraits of the evening

The lobby of “Alte Oper” Frankfurt.

Some more-or-less artsy decoration

The outfit if the evening, a calf-length glittery golden dress, which you might have seen before.

Announcements of musicals to come up soon at “Alte Oper”

Intermission. A very familiar sight to my regular readers: a glass of white wine, a small bottle of sparkling water, and a little card saying that this drink and this table are reserved for Franziska. I love rituals. The little golden shoulder bag, by the way, I borrowed from my wife.