Kasperl, the cheeky hand puppet in the pointed cap, has been outwitting robbers and crocodiles on Bavarian puppet stages for generations, and Munich's marionette theater carries a string-puppet tradition dating to 1858. Add storybook classics, fairy tales, family opera and a winter circus, mostly performed in German. Here's what we checked, from a Kasperl gatehouse above the Isar to family opera at Gärtnerplatz.
A small puppet theater that has played for over 40 years in an old gatehouse, set in a little park above the Isar weir in Oberföhring. Kasperl and Seppl are the regulars, and the program changes every week.
Stories for the youngest stay close to home and everyday life, while plays for slightly older kids add fairy-tale and adventure plots. A small theater café opens before each show.
A children's theater where professional actors stage fairy tales and classic children's books: Grimm, Hauff and Andersen alongside Astrid Lindgren, Otfried Preußler, Janosch and Michael Ende. Sets and costumes are elaborate, and the repertoire runs to at least 16 plays. Plays are performed in German.
The hall sits in a listed 1916 former cinema with Jugendstil interiors, and the raised stage gives a clear view from almost every seat.
The Münchner Marionettentheater carries on a string-puppet tradition dating to 1858, in a small theater by architect Theodor Fischer that opened near Sendlinger Tor in 1900. Afternoon shows are the kids' program: fairy tales, children's classics and Christmas plays told with marionettes. Evening shows, including opera, are for teens and adults. All 14 rows have a clear view of the stage.
Schauburg is the city's public theater for young audiences, based on Elisabethplatz. Its ensemble stages plays and dance pieces for every stage of childhood, from a show for crawling babies to dramas for teens.
Shows are in German, some marked as plain language (Einfache Sprache). The LABs are pay-what-you-can workshops where kids and teens make theater themselves.
The Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz stages opera, operetta, musicals and ballet. Its family performances are shows kids can follow, such as Hänsel und Gretel, The Magic Flute and the ballet Aschenbrödel (Cinderella).
The Junges Gärtnerplatztheater team runs workshops where kids get to know a show's characters and plot through singing and play, plus morning concerts such as The Carnival of the Animals with Loriot's narration.
The Krone-Bau is the permanent home of Circus Krone, which tours Germany in summer and comes back here for its winter season. Shows fill the ring under a 3,000-seat roof, mixing classic circus (acrobats, clowns, animal acts) with modern routines.
A life-size statue of the clown Charlie Rivel stands at the entrance. Outside circus season, the building hosts concerts and other productions.
A marionette play about Tabaluga, the little green dragon. A snowstorm from Arktos, the ice king, buries him and wipes his memory, and a ladybug helps him piece his past back together: bees, a dolphin, pigs, and a forbidden red button that sets off a volcano. To save both worlds, dragon and ice king team up with a giant snow cannon. Performed in German with recorded voices and songs.
A stage version of Sven Nordqvist's Pettersson and Findus Christmas story, played in German by a full cast in hen, cat and fox costumes. Findus crashes his sled into Pettersson while hunting for a tree, and the old man's sprained foot is only the start: a lost wish list, a homemade tree that looks like a wilted cactus, and Snorre the fox stealing the best laying hen.
Kasperl is Bavaria's classic hand-puppet hero, and Stephan Mikat of the Chiemsee Kasperltheater plays him in broad Bavarian dialect. Kids shout warnings, answer back and help Kasperl out of trouble, while soap bubbles and foam drift over the front rows. Each story is gentle and violence-free, with a happy ending. Kids with little German still follow the slapstick, though most of the jokes are spoken.
A stage version of Otfried Preußler's classic about a young witch who wants to do good, though her spells still go wrong and it rains clothespins or white mice. With her hungry raven Abraxas she helps the chestnut seller and rescues Korbinian the ox, while the witch Rumpumpel spies on her before the big test on the Blocksberg. Performed in German by a professional cast in full costume.
A kids' version of Mozart's The Magic Flute, told through Papageno, the cheerful bird catcher. Prince Tamino sends him to find Princess Pamina, and a small flute helps him past every danger on the way. Singers share the stage with puppets from münchner puzzletheater while the chamber orchestra concierto münchen plays the music live. A good first opera, with the famous tunes and a story kids can follow.
Paper theater is a tabletop stage where painted cardboard figures move in front of layered paper scenery.
Six troupes from across Germany bring their shows to the Kleines Theater im Pförtnerhaus, home of a Kasperl puppet stage, under this year's motto "Ende gut, alles gut". The program leans grown-up, with operetta and literature next to fairy tales, so it suits curious older kids more than toddlers.
Kasperl, the cheeky hand puppet in the pointed cap, has been outwitting robbers and crocodiles on Bavarian puppet stages for generations, and Munich's marionette theater carries a string-puppet tradition dating to 1858. Add storybook classics, fairy tales, family opera and a winter circus, mostly performed in German. Here's what we checked, from a Kasperl gatehouse above the Isar to family opera at Gärtnerplatz.
A small puppet theater that has played for over 40 years in an old gatehouse, set in a little park above the Isar weir in Oberföhring. Kasperl and Seppl are the regulars, and the program changes every week.
Stories for the youngest stay close to home and everyday life, while plays for slightly older kids add fairy-tale and adventure plots. A small theater café opens before each show.
A children's theater where professional actors stage fairy tales and classic children's books: Grimm, Hauff and Andersen alongside Astrid Lindgren, Otfried Preußler, Janosch and Michael Ende. Sets and costumes are elaborate, and the repertoire runs to at least 16 plays. Plays are performed in German.
The hall sits in a listed 1916 former cinema with Jugendstil interiors, and the raised stage gives a clear view from almost every seat.
The Münchner Marionettentheater carries on a string-puppet tradition dating to 1858, in a small theater by architect Theodor Fischer that opened near Sendlinger Tor in 1900. Afternoon shows are the kids' program: fairy tales, children's classics and Christmas plays told with marionettes. Evening shows, including opera, are for teens and adults. All 14 rows have a clear view of the stage.
Schauburg is the city's public theater for young audiences, based on Elisabethplatz. Its ensemble stages plays and dance pieces for every stage of childhood, from a show for crawling babies to dramas for teens.
Shows are in German, some marked as plain language (Einfache Sprache). The LABs are pay-what-you-can workshops where kids and teens make theater themselves.
The Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz stages opera, operetta, musicals and ballet. Its family performances are shows kids can follow, such as Hänsel und Gretel, The Magic Flute and the ballet Aschenbrödel (Cinderella).
The Junges Gärtnerplatztheater team runs workshops where kids get to know a show's characters and plot through singing and play, plus morning concerts such as The Carnival of the Animals with Loriot's narration.
The Krone-Bau is the permanent home of Circus Krone, which tours Germany in summer and comes back here for its winter season. Shows fill the ring under a 3,000-seat roof, mixing classic circus (acrobats, clowns, animal acts) with modern routines.
A life-size statue of the clown Charlie Rivel stands at the entrance. Outside circus season, the building hosts concerts and other productions.
A marionette play about Tabaluga, the little green dragon. A snowstorm from Arktos, the ice king, buries him and wipes his memory, and a ladybug helps him piece his past back together: bees, a dolphin, pigs, and a forbidden red button that sets off a volcano. To save both worlds, dragon and ice king team up with a giant snow cannon. Performed in German with recorded voices and songs.
A stage version of Sven Nordqvist's Pettersson and Findus Christmas story, played in German by a full cast in hen, cat and fox costumes. Findus crashes his sled into Pettersson while hunting for a tree, and the old man's sprained foot is only the start: a lost wish list, a homemade tree that looks like a wilted cactus, and Snorre the fox stealing the best laying hen.
Kasperl is Bavaria's classic hand-puppet hero, and Stephan Mikat of the Chiemsee Kasperltheater plays him in broad Bavarian dialect. Kids shout warnings, answer back and help Kasperl out of trouble, while soap bubbles and foam drift over the front rows. Each story is gentle and violence-free, with a happy ending. Kids with little German still follow the slapstick, though most of the jokes are spoken.
A stage version of Otfried Preußler's classic about a young witch who wants to do good, though her spells still go wrong and it rains clothespins or white mice. With her hungry raven Abraxas she helps the chestnut seller and rescues Korbinian the ox, while the witch Rumpumpel spies on her before the big test on the Blocksberg. Performed in German by a professional cast in full costume.
A kids' version of Mozart's The Magic Flute, told through Papageno, the cheerful bird catcher. Prince Tamino sends him to find Princess Pamina, and a small flute helps him past every danger on the way. Singers share the stage with puppets from münchner puzzletheater while the chamber orchestra concierto münchen plays the music live. A good first opera, with the famous tunes and a story kids can follow.
Paper theater is a tabletop stage where painted cardboard figures move in front of layered paper scenery.
Six troupes from across Germany bring their shows to the Kleines Theater im Pförtnerhaus, home of a Kasperl puppet stage, under this year's motto "Ende gut, alles gut". The program leans grown-up, with operetta and literature next to fairy tales, so it suits curious older kids more than toddlers.
