Theatre of the West

Berlin’s renowned stage for musicals can be found on bustling Kantstraße just a few steps from the Zoologischer Garten station. Opened in 1896, this magnificent Wilhelminian building boasts a long and rich stage tradition matched by few other theatres in Germany. Since 2003, the Theatre of the West has been hosting a mix of German-language versions of international smash-hit musicals from We will rock you to Mamma Mia as well as such home-grown classics as the Udo Jürgens’ musical Ich war noch niemals in New York or a musical version of the popular movie Schuh des Manitu.

Highlights from April:

"Romeo & Juliet - Love is Everything" and "The Nurse" 

The audience favourite is back! 

"Romeo & Juliet - Love is Everything" ("Romeo & Julia - Liebe ist alles") is back at Berlin's most beautiful theatre from 17 April until 21 December this year. Look forward to Shakespear's world-famous love drama  in the wonderful modern musical version by composers Peter Plate and Ulf Leo Sommer. The ever-moving themes of love, passion, enmity and death are brought to the stage with romance, drama and great artistry. Incidentally, the play has already been nominated seven times for the German Musical Theatre Award, which will be presented in October 2025.

Tickets

Heart, humour and undiscovered secrets of Romeo and Juliet!

"The Nurse" ("Die Amme") takes to the stage of the Theater des Westens from 10 April and provides probably the funniest show in town. The musical reveals what Shakespeare concealed in his time: laugh heartily at Steffi Irmen, who tells the true story of Romeo and Juliet from a completely different perspective with her unique voice, and enjoy the rousing musical performance by the successful composers Peter Plate and Ulf Leo Sommer.

Tickets

ELISABETH - The Musical

From 04.03. - 06.04.2025 at the Theater des Westens you can look forward to powerful music, opulent costumes and rousing choreography and experience the captivating story of Empress Elisabeth of Austria in this thrilling performance.

Tickets & dates

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120 years of stage history

The theatre first opened its doors in 1896 with a production of The Thousand and One Nights. By the 1920s, the focus was largely on opera and operetta. Under the Nazi regime, the theatre was renamed the Volksoper. When it was badly damaged in the air raids during the last years of the war, performances were moved to other venues. In the post-war years, the building was provisionally repaired and with the Städtische Oper Berlin’s traditional venue still unusable, the opera ensemble moved in. In 1961, the ensemble took up residence in the new and impressive Deutsche Oper in Bismarckstraße, and the theatre revitalised its tradition of focusing on musicals. It celebrated its 65th anniversary with the première of My Fair Lady in a German-language version – a massive hit which enjoyed an unbroken run of two years. In 1985, the theatre landed a similarly sensational success with the German-language première of the musical La Cage Aux Folles.

Take a look behind the scenes with us in our Berlin Unboxed podcast

In this episode of Berlin Unboxed, we take you on a journey back to the 1920s. Listen to the gossip of the theatre scene in those days - and find out who Trude Hesterberg had perform on her Wilder stage. Stage technician and archivist Thimo Butzmann opens (almost) all the doors for us with his big bunch of keys. He has been working here at the theatre for 30 years - and is also known internally as the Phantom.

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