Premieres

A small boy on a great journey

A man and a woman desperately want a child, even if it is only as small as a thumb. Their wish comes true, after seven months they have a son who is indeed only the size of a thumb, but very clever and wise. He can sit on the brim of a hat and can steer a cart by whispering in the ear of a horse. He lets his poor father sell him for a lot of gold, knowing full well that his ingenuity will enable him to return home. But before that happens, Tom Thumb disappears into a mouse hole, he chases away thieves, ends up in the stomach of a cow and is even gobbled up by a wolf. However, everything turns out all right in the end.

The fantastic story of the Nutcracker who defeats the Mouse King

On Christmas Eve, Marie finds a special present under the Christmas tree. A nutcracker that comes to life in the night and protects Marie from the evil seven-headed Mouse King. But no one believes the girl's nocturnal experiences, except for the godfather Drosselmeier, who knows the secret of the Nutcracker and how to redeem him.
Hoffmann's famous, more than 200-year-old fantastic tale about nocturnal adventures, living toys, dramatic fights and a journey into the wondrous realm of dolls is told with ballet music by Peter Tchaikovsky.

The story of a headstrong woman in search of the truth

A young boy falls from the roof of an apartment building in Copenhagen. For the authorities it is an accident, but for Smilla Jaspersen, a scientist who was friends with the boy, the tracks in the snow tell a different story. Like him, Smilla comes from Greenland and has a special feeling for snow and ice. In her search for the boy's murderer, Miss Smilla is confronted with questions about her identity and her own role within a world that is foreign to her.
Peter Høeg's bestseller tells the gripping story of a headstrong woman in search of the truth in a world where the economic exploitation of nature has long since followed its own laws without regard for losses.

Performing rights: Drei Masken Verlag GmbH München (www.dreimaskenverlag.de)
The novel FRÄULEIN SMILLAS GESPÜR FÜR SCHNEE by Peter Hoeg, translated by Monika Wesemann, has been published by Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich.

Poetic interaction of puppet theatre, dance and jazz

At the beginning of 1900, a foundling is discovered on an ocean liner. A machinist takes care of the baby boy and gives him the name Nineteen Hundred – Novecento. The boy develops into a virtuoso piano player – the best pianist the ocean has ever known.
Trumpeter Tim Tooney tells the unique story of his friend Novecento in retrospect. He recalls their shared experiences on the ocean liner, a floating city that shuttles back and forth between the shores of Europe and America, hosting the world. The Legend of the Ocean Pianist Novecento is the story of a special friendship; a ship's voyage in the late 1920s, the Golden Age of Jazz.