Overview

• The world premiere at Bochum’s Jahrhunderthalle launches the festival with a music-theatre piece directed by Ivo van Hove in cooperation with Staatsoper Stuttgart.
• The production follows a Black woman leaving her white husband, set to songs by Frank Sinatra and Nina Simone, with Larissa Sirah Herden and Lars Eidinger in the lead roles.
• RP ONLINE’s early review described the opening as lackluster and questioned Eidinger’s vocal performance and presence.
• Critics highlighted Herden’s powerful singing and noted strong audience applause for her.
• The staging weaves nearly 30 songs with a roof‑top band and projected civil-rights footage featuring Martin Luther King, and the festival reports two thirds of 45,000 tickets sold in advance for a run through September 21 in Bochum, Duisburg, Gladbeck and Essen.