00:00Overcoming gravity with daring acrobatics.
00:07Dancing in water on the world's largest stage.
00:12There are 60 dancers in the monumental new show
00:16at the Friedrichstadt Palast, Blinded by Delight.
00:20How is a mega show like this produced?
00:24What know-how and technology do you need?
00:27We've been granted an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour.
00:34Getting to see what the audience doesn't
00:37with one of the most important people involved in the enterprise.
00:42My name is Thomas Herder.
00:45I'm the technical director at the Friedrichstadt Palast.
00:48And today I will show you what's required technically
00:50to put Europe's most impressive variety show on stage.
00:53The building is a labyrinth.
00:55It has its own carpentry workshop, a hat-making atelier and set construction units.
01:01And…
01:02We're in the metal shop, where our colleagues carry out repairs
01:05and build prototypes for the show.
01:10We continue to the backstage area, invisible to the audience,
01:13deep in the bowels of the theatre.
01:16It's the largest theatre stage in the world.
01:19More than 2800 square metres that we use as stage space.
01:23Water is always part of the show.
01:26Water effects, dancing in water.
01:28That's why we built a water basin that holds more than 6,000 litres of water.
01:33Preheated, of course, completely illuminated and moving forward with the dancers.
01:37Water and fire play a central role in the new show at the Friedrichstadt Palast, blinded by delight.
01:50It's a dreamy spectacle for dark times, says the general director.
01:54He's proud of his ensemble.
01:57We come from almost 40 nations, so everything is represented here.
02:04All ethnicities, all religions, all ways of loving.
02:08And the guests, half a million a year, about 80-85% from German-speaking countries,
02:13the rest from all over the world.
02:15We've spent 15 million euros on the new production, a million more than on the last one.
02:23The question of feasibility weighs heavily on his shoulders.
02:26Not only does he have to keep an eye on costs, he also has to outsmart physics.
02:32The most difficult and rewarding challenge is to have this 360-degree view
02:36in order to develop an intuitive sense of how I can translate art into technology.
02:41How can I move 10,000 liters of water across the stage in a completely smooth manner so that no waves are created?
02:52But now we're heading up to lofty heights, under the roof.
02:56Everything that moves onto the stage from above is controlled here, using highly complex rope systems.
03:02Below us is emptiness.
03:05We're on the roller floor, a little less than 28 meters above the main stage.
03:12All the machinery for the main stage, where kinetic movement takes place, is here.
03:17Large LED walls descend, and single-point hoists for decorative elements, for performers, for lighting, etc.
03:24For each show, everything here is rearranged and the setting changed.
03:29It's a mammoth undertaking and an immense responsibility, because one mistake can be fatal.
03:36As a rule, you shouldn't stand under loads unless the load-bearing capacity is ten times the safety requirement.
03:41A rope like this carries a good four to six tons.
03:44Alongside sophisticated technology and stage design, the costume department plays a crucial role at the Friedrichstadtpalast.
03:58The theatre often hires internationally renowned designers.
04:02This time, it's Jeremy Scott from the United States.
04:05And of course, it's all about the Ballet Corps, a 60-strong international team.
04:11Our theatre really stands for glamour.
04:19The review from the 1920s has now been brought into the 21st century.
04:24The theatre looks back on 106 years of history.
04:31We continue through the building in central Berlin, following Thomas Herder underground.
04:36From here, dancers and performers go upstairs.
04:42We're under the front of the stage.
04:44The auditorium is in this direction and the main stage over here.
04:48Each new show requires new technology.
04:51It all takes two years of planning and an extremely short, intense reconstruction phase involving more than a hundred people.
04:58When we talk about installing a new show, I'm talking about four and a half days to move almost 60 tons of steel and wood out and back in again.
05:07It's a tight schedule and very stressful to get it done in three weeks.
05:11The premiere date has been set and there's no changing that.
05:14Shortly before the premiere, the tension is at its peak.
05:19But how do you keep a juggernaut like the Palast rolling? Is there a formula?
05:29The greatest recipe for success is forget about past recipes.
05:34That's why the recipe we have here is to constantly rethink, try new things, do new things.
05:40This involves risk because it hasn't been tried, but the opposite is more dangerous.
05:48What looks easy on stage requires a lot of hard work.
05:52Our last stop is what's called the jump level.
05:55From here, performers fly across the stage on rails.
06:00That's the launch platform on the left above the four stage.
06:04That's where we bring acrobats and dancers into the show.
06:07For Blinded by Delight, we've got a two-rig flying system above the four stage with a span of more than 40 meters.
06:13It's unusual to have something on this scale.
06:19A lot of hard work goes into letting people forget and dream for two hours before heading back out into the Berlin night.
06:30To the bridge, we deal with the two owners to take, the одна Joining being with a national character.
06:34Longest moment...
06:38The youthful fighting for their parents who don't so quickly though their parents came true,
06:53and the other women are too old.
06:55Their parents went far from there.
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