The Passion: Alexander Klaws plays Jesus Christ in an RTL production

Created: 04/12/2022, 17:47

By: Rudolf Ogiermann

Alexander Klaws embodies Jesus in "The Passion".

© RTL / Benno Kraehahn

With the former “DSDS” winner Alexander Klaws in the leading role, RTL will broadcast “The Passion” on April 13.

The music event will be broadcast live from Essen.

The Passion, the story of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, is at the center of Christian tradition, alongside the story of his birth.

RTL, hitherto not well known for programs with religious content, focuses on the last days of the man in whom his disciples saw the Messiah, the Son of God, in a spectacle with a star cast.

live from Essen on April 13 from 8:15

p.m pop songs”.

"At a time when the rifts between people and ideologies are widening, they want to focus on the original messages of the passion, such as love, tolerance, community and hope".

according to the broadcaster.

The history

The Passion, of which all four evangelists tell, begins on Palm Sunday with the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, which is still celebrated by the people.

A few days later, in the Christian liturgy on Maundy Thursday, Jesus celebrates communion with his disciples and pronounces the blessing over the bread and wine.

That same night, Judas betrays him to the Jewish authorities and arrests him.

Jesus is taken to Pontius Pilate, the Roman emperor's governor.

He wants to release him, but the crowd demands that the "King of the Jews" be crucified.

Pilate had Jesus flogged and handed him over to the mob to be crucified on the morning of Good Friday.

Jesus dies after a few hours, mourned by his mother Mary, and is buried in a freshly made tomb.

The sequence

Entertainer

(71) acts as a kind of conférencier and leads through the events, which essentially take place in front of around 5,000 spectators on the main stage on Essen's Burgplatz, directly in front of the cathedral, but also at other locations in the city.

The singers and actors – many of them with reference to other productions of the private broadcaster – also interpret the events musically, supported by a band and a choir.

In addition, according to RTL, there is "live switching" to a procession in which a large cross is carried through the streets of Essen to the main stage.

According to the broadcaster, the crucifixion itself is not reenacted, only described.

Unlike other performances of the Passion, the resurrection and the first encounter of the women and the disciples with Jesus Christ are also told on the same evening.

The main actors

Alexander Klaws

(38), winner of the first season of “Deutschland sucht den Superstar” in 2003, plays

.

The graduate of singing and acting studies has already taken on leading roles in musicals such as "Tarzan", "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Saturday Night Fever".

Laith Al-Deen

(50), successful pop singer ("Pictures of You") and music producer, can be seen as

.

Actor

will play

The 56-year-old trained motor vehicle mechanic has been doing well as an actor for years, a large audience knows him from the RTL action series "Alarm for Cobra 11".

Ella Endlich

embodies the role of

, the mother of Jesus .

The 37-year-old graduate of the Bavarian Theater Academy August Everding has starred in many musical and theater productions.

Actor

(49, "The Last Bull") gives the

.

Den

a criminal whose

According to the Gospels, Pilate offers the crowd release in order to get them to agree to Jesus' release, played by

(66).

The actor ("Das Boot") has come into conflict with the law several times himself.

The Supporting Actors

The other disciples are played by actor and author

(34) and his wife, actress and singer

(36), singer

(39), moderator ("Always Sundays") and singer

(46) and his wife, singer

(29), actress

(36, "GZSZ"), singer

(39), singer and "jungle king"

, presenter

(44, "Riverboat") and "Prince Charming"

(31).

In addition, other celebrities have guest appearances, including

,

,

,

,

,

and

.

The broadcast

RTL will broadcast "The Passion" live on April 13 from 8:15 p.m., the spectacle should last until 10:30 p.m.

The evening will be recorded and then shown free of charge on RTL plus for seven days, after that only for paying customers.

Incidentally, the model for the format is the Dutch production “The Passion”, which has been performed in various cities in the neighboring country for twelve years.

It is considered the most successful serial live event on local television.