Honecker and the Queen - new musical by Prinzen singer

Prinzen singer Tobias Künzel (60) has returned to his love of musicals and written a new play together with his British co-author Mark Underwood. "Death On The Throne - The Loosical" will first celebrate its premiere in London at the end of March, before being performed as the German version "Tod auf dem Thron - Das Klosical" in Halle in June. It is Künzel's sixth musical.

The musician explained that his fascination for the genre was awakened early on. "I sang in the St. Thomas Boys' Choir as a child and was familiar with the works of the Passion story, for example Johann Sebastian Bach's St. John and St. Matthew Passions. But suddenly "Jesus Christ Superstar" appeared on the scene, a rock opera that dealt with the same theme but using rock music. That fascinated me so much that I knew I wanted to write something like it."

Queen Elisabeth and Erich Honecker in one play

In "Death on the Throne", Künzel and Underwood bring together a quirky mix of well-known figures from recent history. Queen Elizabeth and Margaret Thatcher are included, as are Elvis and Erich Honecker. The play is performed by two actors, four puppeteers and a live band.

As it was initially written in English, it had to be translated into German. "I did the German translation together with Michal Kuhn, a very talented young comedian, and we realized that most of the English puns and double entendres don't work in German and had to find and invent new ones," said Künzel. For the German version, he now promises to bring English humor to a German stage in his native language.