Evenitto's guide · NRW, Leipzig, Dresden

Christmas fairy tales and holiday shows

December is high season in German theatre. Many city theatres stage a Weihnachtsmärchen, a Christmas fairy tale for children, ballet companies dance The Nutcracker, and musical houses, variety theatres and circus stages bring holiday and winter shows. The popular dates sell out early.

What's on in Advent

Christmas
Weihnachtsmärchen
The Weihnachtsmärchen is a fixture of German theatre: a fairy-tale play for children and their families that many city theatres run from mid-November until just before Christmas, often in the morning and the afternoon. The recommended age is on every show.
Christmas
The Nutcracker
Tchaikovsky's ballet with snowflakes, a growing tree and the Sugar Plum Fairy is on the programme of ballet companies in Advent. A ballet evening is an easy way into theatre, for children from primary-school age as much as for adults.
Christmas
Christmas musicals and winter shows
Christmas musicals, revues and circus shows play in the musical houses and variety theatres in Advent. Roncalli's Apollo Varieté in Düsseldorf, for example, stages a winter show over the turn of the year.
Christmas
New Year's Eve at the theatre
Many theatres put on New Year's Eve performances (Silvester), often an operetta such as Die Fledermaus, a comedy or a gala night, usually with a glass of Sekt at the interval.