Krabat by Various, Ab (2022/2022), Unter der Regie von Manuel Schmitt, Dirigat Peter Kattermann, Musiktheater im Revier, Gelsenkirchen, Deutschland

The mill in Schwarzkollm is a refuge for all the orphans left behind by the Thirty Years' War. The master not only lures new journeymen with the promise of a warm bed and a full stomach. In the black mill they also learn to control a mysterious power. Although the people in the surrounding villages fear the mill, the orphan boy Krabat follows the master's calls and joins the miller boys. He soon realizes that they have to pay for the comforts of magic not only with their hard work but also with their lives. Only an unknown friend and an impossible love can help Krabat. The supposed children's book is unparalleled in terms of its complexity and atmospheric density. In “Krabat” Otfried Preussler not only used a Sorbian legend. As a contemporary witness of the Second World War and National Socialism, he also describes in his novel how people can change in a system of oppression. After the success of the steampunk opera "Little Zaches called Zinnober", the band Coppelius set the Preussler template to music together with the composers' collective Himmelfahrt Scores. With "Krabat" the MiR presents a new form of music theater and an unusual combination of rock and opera.