King of the children's musical Christian Berg is dead

Created: 2022-01-18Updated: 2022-01-18, 13:00

Christian Berg, theater maker and author, died in Cuxhaven on January 17, 2022 at the age of 55, as Bergs agent announced.

© Axel Heimken/dpa/archive image

Christian Berg wrote musicals such as "Oh how beautiful is Panama", "Jim Button" and "The Phantom of Grandpa", worked together with Konstantin Wecker and founded a musical company.

His goal: happy, courageous and strong children.

Now he died unexpectedly.

Hamburg/Cuxhaven - He wanted to enchant children with his stories and make them laugh. And that's exactly what he did successfully for many years. Whether as a circus clown, storyteller, writer or musical author - Christian Berg inspired and entertained countless children and adults with his work. Now the native of North Rhine-Westphalia has died surprisingly at the age of 55. After musicals like "Oh how beautiful is Panama", "Jim Button" and "The Jungle Book", Berg was celebrated as the king of children's musicals.

"We mourn the loss of our dad, husband, friend and colleague. A fighter and a dreamer who took deep pride in enchanting his audience. We are grateful for his love, which he carried into our lives, the theaters and the hearts of the small and large audience," the family said. Berg was married and had one son. His death came as a surprise. Despite health problems, his early end was not foreseeable, it said. The family and agent did not want to provide any further information about Berg's illness. Berg lived with his family in Cuxhaven.

Christian Berg started his career as a circus clown at the age of 17. As a two-year-old, after a trip to the circus, he knew that he wanted to be a clown, he told the German Press Agency in Hamburg in 2018. After studying acting, he finally founded a touring theater for children. He liked to describe himself as a fairy tale maker and storyteller or - as self-deprecatingly as lovingly - as a "kid's fuzzy".

Altogether he created - partly together with singer-songwriter Konstantin Wecker - more than 30 musicals for young audiences.

Among them a version of "Jim Button" with an alarm clock, which, according to the agent, attracted more than 350,000 visitors.

Berg was also successful as an author of books, most recently with “Rumpelröschen and the 13th Fairy”.

According to their own statements, more than eight million viewers have experienced Berg's family productions.

Hamburg's Senator for Culture Carsten Brodsa (SPD) paid tribute to the musical maker on Twitter: "With passion, wit and great seriousness, Christian Berg opened up the world of the stage to children in particular and thus gave them a voice.

His premature death leaves a painful void.

He will be missed!”

His work was characterized by a lot of imagination, attention to detail and strong stories about courage, self-confidence and tolerance. Berg enjoyed a high status in the scene. However, he did not become rich with his works. In 2013 he even had to file for bankruptcy and sell the rights to his pieces. It was always only the others who made the big money, little was left for himself, he told the dpa in 2018. "I relied on the wrong people, always wanted to make art."

Berg made art to the end.

"The Snow Queen", "Oliver Twist", "From the Fisherman and his Wife", "Around the World in 80 Days", "The Canterville Ghost" - Berg was bubbling over with ideas, and in some cases even got involved as an actor the stage.

For even more good entertainment for children and young people, he founded his own musical company together with Paul Glaser in 2017 and was immediately successful with the play "The Phantom of Grandpa" at the St. Pauli Theater.

In winter 2021, "The Emperor's New Clothes" based on a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen ran at the Ohnsorg Theater.

more on the subject

Kirill Serebrennikow at rehearsals in Hamburg

Upper Swabian monastery shows baroque crib art

Warner Chappell Music buys rights to David Bowie's work

In addition, in a few days (January 28) Berg's next production - "Das Hamburger Junglebuch" - will come to the stage of the First Stage Theater Hamburg as planned.

It was Berg's wish that the play be performed, his agent said on Tuesday.

“He hoped that for his sake there would be a lot of viewers;

to honor him.

He said that would make him very happy.” dpa