Tim Fischer invites you to the "Tiger Festival"

Tim Fischer is currently surfing a wave of success. In addition to his appearance as a compere in the musical "Cabaret" in the Hansa Theater and as Zarah Leander in his new music theater evening "I am the Leander - Zarah auf Probe" the singer and actor also presented his performance at the Hamburg premiere on Sunday in the St. Pauli Theater very successful evening "Tigerfest" - with around two dozen chansons by Georg Kreisler (1922 - 2011). The title of the murderous chanson "Das Tigerfest", in which the host survived only the tigers, but none of the many invited guests, gave the title not only to the evening, but also to Fischer's new CD.

Those who go to the theater get added value live. Because the evening with three congenial musicians begins with Kreisler's "Opera Boogie", known to be the only opera in which everything is logical. Oliver Potratz, who mainly plays the double bass and electric bass and conducts the evening musically, raises the baton. The singer will be accompanied by Hauke ​​Renken on vibraphone and drums and jazz pianist Sebastian Weiss. The four gentlemen wear tails, Fischer also wear top hats. Only Tim Fischer's shrill orange fingernails point to the second part of the evening.

But first of all, in the year of Georg Kreisler's 100th birthday and two days before the eleventh anniversary of his death, the audience can witness a great series of revivals: "Opera Boogie" is followed by the classic "The State Official". This is followed in the St. Pauli Theater, enchanted not only by the singer's glittering pomade, with "If all that did" the anthem of Kreisler anarchy. This is followed by the no less philosophical "A house on the green stream" with the unforgettable rhyme "And a little rabbit child/ snores as loud as a baby in a nappy". Kreisler could not have wished for a better interpreter of his chansons, and Kreisler knew that, since he worked with Tim Fischer from time to time in his last years.

Now even Fischer is not a Kreisler, who let the music trickle much more casually after the lyrics on the grand piano, who could turn syllables into melodic parts in a jiffy, but it is sensational how close he comes to the composer and singer in his own way. The word cascades of the pessimistic optimist plunge into the sea of ​​life, carrying certainties and everything swirling or bubbling up. Daydreams and fantasies take the audience into alien worlds of thought. And satire, black humor and a dose of bitterness make you laugh. “Do you think marriage is fun?” asks the master student with the master in “The Marriage”, thereby proving the cabaret talent that made Kreisler famous. "The Love Letter" from the album "Unheilbar Gesund", in which Kreisler reveals his deepest, most inexpressible feelings to his wife in tonal painting. At the end of the first part there is the consistently humorous "My wife wants to leave me".

The second, somewhat weaker part of the evening is completed by Fischer as a woman with an orange wig (matching the fingernails, there you go) in a red vinyl dress with a lengthways slit - the guys in the band wear matching red sweaters, shoes and socks along with red suspenders. That's a gorgeous picture. And Fischer pulls through the second part in a frighteningly professional way, in which the titles of the new CD can also be heard, after the beautiful "Erich", which was made famous by Kreisler's third wife, Topsy Küppers.

In addition to the title song, which sounds here as the last encore, the Tigerfest also includes "The truth about you", the song about the imaginary pianist "Sebastian", who may not seem as imaginary as usual on this evening. Butterfly”, jealousy comes to life in “What are you talking about with the other woman?” and “Say, Mrs. Zimmermann”. One of the highlights of the second part is without question "Kunststück", another is Fischer's excursion into the front rows of seats, where he lasciviously approached a spectator. All in all, it was a fantastic evening that brought about a tenth of Georg Kreisler's 221 chansons to life on stage. In the hope of about nine more Kreisler evenings to come, the audience went elated into the cold winter night. The evening will be played again on November 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the St. Pauli Theater.