The audience was welcomed by Consul General Dr. Hans-Jürgen Heimsoeth while the ensemble was introduced by Rüdiger Lentz, Bureau Chief and Senior Diplomatic Correspondent of Deutsche Welle Radio and Television in Washington, D.C., who organized the US-tour of the group.

In a mixture of theatre, cabaret and absurd humour, the brilliant trio of German artists Sonja Kling, Ecco Meineke und Thomas Wenke, supported by the technician Beate Dichtl, inspired the audience in the packed Auditorium of the German House. Invited by the German Consulate General in New York, they performed their latest show “verlängert” (“extended”), taking their viewers on a entertaining and humorous, yet critical journey through 50 years of postwar Germany. A boring history lesson in brief? Not at all! It goes without saying that the story was told with the biting humor the Münchener Lach- und Schießgesellschaft is famous for.

“verlängert” tells the story of investment banker Dietmar Deutschland working for Deutsche Bank (Wenke) and his Chinese business partner Ms. Hedge Fong (Kling) trying to drive one the last tenants, the sailor Blau (Meineke) out of a building occupying the site of a planned shopping mall. Blau decides to pose as shrink Dr. Bruck who lives in the same building. The banker, born on May 9, 1945, the day WWII ended, suffers from various little ailments. Hypnotizing Deutschland, “Dr. Bruck” (Blau) leads the patient back into his past where he, symbolically for postwar Germany, has to come to grips with five decades of postwar history, stretching from life in the German Democratic Republic to the return of Nazis to the hippie era. The show, intelligent, ironic, politically incorrect, is characterized by spontanous songs, slapstick, a fast change of scenes and roles, locations and times.

For Münchener Lach- und Schießgesellschaft, German history has always been a rich source for the numerous programs they performed throughout the years. The ensemble started its career in the fifties on a very small stage in Munich’s Ursulastraße. Hardly anyone gave them a chance to survive. In fact, not only did they survive, they became hugely popular being regular guests on German TV. The shows were so successful, that hotels and restaurants begged the public television station not to air any of their performances at 8 pm on New Year’s Eve – as people would not come eating before 10.30 pm because they wanted to watch TV instead. In 1972 the ensemble split up but reunited four years later, continuing the old tradition of political cabaret. In New York, the ensemble proved its unchanged ability to combine the old traditions with more modern elements. Thus, “verlängert” was not only a journey through Germany’s history but also to the roots of Münchener Lach- und Schießgesellschaft itself.

For more information on the ensemble:
http://www.lachundschiess.de/