Germany: Cultural - ‘Linie 1’

What does it say when a theater production is still running 25 years after its Premier? I think it says the piece has struck a chord with the audience. It must be offering something you can't get at home on your TV or even in the cinema. Something unique.

In Berlin we were fortunate to be able to experience such a performance. We saw a play called ‘Linie 1’.  It is a musical, set in the 1980s, which plays out over the course of the subway journey from one end of ‘Linie 1’ to the other.

It is the story of a star struck young girl who comes to Berlin to follow a rocker who hads paid her some attention and created some hopes, before moving on. She arrives in Berlin to look for him, and the first encounter she has with the city is in the infamous Bahnhof Zoo. Back in the day, Bahnhof Zoo was kind of the end of the line and

Conductors, Not what you think...

populated by the kind of people you might expect to meet at the ‘end of the line’. From there she rides the U-Bahn across Berlin and then back, along the way meeting a cross-section of the city’s inhabitants.

Why has ‘Linie 1’ been so successful? It is Germany's most frequently performed musical with only one exception. That would be  Bertold Brecht’s classic ‘Three Penny Opera’.  I think it is because it captures so well, those inhabitants. As you watch, you recognize characters

The Subway & Me

that you know. In 1986 you saw them every day. In 2011 most of them are gone from everywhere but the memory. There is something of nostalgia in the piece, but also a satisfaction in knowing that many of the ‘types’ and ‘behaviors’ captured in ‘Linie 1’ are now part of the past.


I am sure its success can also be attributed to the very catchy score and can't be hurt by low ticket prices ($22 a seat) made possible by a local government subsidy. ‘Linie 1’ has become an institution - well worth a visit.