FALLING | IN LOVE Review at Berlin’s Friedrichstadt-Palast

12 April 2025

It’s glitzy.

It’s glam.

It’s glorious.

FALLING | IN LOVE is the current darling (closing July 5, 2025.) of Friedrichstadt-Palast’s programming. It tells the tale of "You" in the vibrant Diamond City, who feel they don't belong and falls into a technicolor world of red, green, and blue, complete with singing, circus, and lots of dancing.

The show explores if a young, deaf poet can revive the colors of love, pulling the audience into a captivating exploration of love and beauty.

www.berlin-tickets.com

In other words, FALLING | IN LOVE is a whole lot of fun.

But the most intriguing part of the show is that it’s headlined not by the lead actors/actresses or choreographer or even lighting designer. Instead, the name of Jean Paul Gaultier is plastered boldly across all the billboard signs and posters of the theatrical splendour across Berlin.

Gaultier is a French fashion designer known for his unconventionality (not that I have any personal experience with his fashion). I’ll link his Wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Paul_Gaultier.

The advertising also teased the use of more than 100 million Swarovski crystals in its costume and set designs.

It’s the first time I’ve ever seen any show headlined by its costume designer, so taking my cancelled class in Berlin as an opportunity, I made the last-minute trek to the gorgeous Friedrichstadt-Palast performing arts theatre to see what it was all about.

The theatre is colossal, first of all. It’s best to come at night for the lit-up scenery.

Once inside, I was met with a flowery step-and-repeat for photo-taking. The back of the lobby featured three Swarovski exhibits encased in glass, as well as a bar with an entirely Swarovski-bejeweled sign promoting, “Swarovski,” on the wall.

But the inside of the house is where the actual magic’s at. I was stunned at how unbelievably HUGE the auditorium is. It’s basically stadium size with a semi-theatre-in-the-round type of layout.

There’s really no seat in the house that would give you a bad view because everything is structured to be open and wide. I’d bought a seat near the very edge of the house but super close to the stage for 39.90 EUR, and the view was splendid.

The show began, and narration played, giving pretext to the story. The lighting played along with it, dividing the audience into sections of red, green, and blue accordingly. It was very smart.

Taking into consideration its international audience (though, to be honest, I was the only POC person I saw there), FALLING | IN LOVE is a musical theatre play sung in both English and German.

One song in English, the next in German, and so on and so forth.

The storyline is about a deaf-mute protagonist, "You," who gets pulled into a magical fantasy world divided into Red, Green, and Blue. Each division has their own defining traits, marked by accompanying choreography and lyrics. The leaders of each pack try to persuade the protagonist to join their side, but "You" realizes that in the end, they can only be themself, and the colours come together in a prismatic grand finale.

(And in true Berlin fashion, the show definitely emanates an LGBTQ+ vibe.)

It’s a story tried and true. I personally felt the longer the show went on, the more the plot got lost amidst the array of acrobatics and stunts we were fed, especially in Act II.

Some of them were very entertaining, like the three female flying trapeze artists who literally descended upon us from the heavens (i.e. the stage grid) and performed some death-defying flips and turns (fear not, they were safely harnessed).

Some of them are more questionable and seemed to come out of nowhere, like the extremely long interlude where a very ripped man came out to balance wooden beams on his head. It was impressive, of course — you could see the sweat pouring off him like a waterfall — but I could feel a layer of confusion in the air as to how this program related to the show at all. The flying trapeze, sure; there was already a huge use of wires in the show. But beam balancing with no context? It required some thought.

The most obvious use for it is to create some time, so the performers and technicians can prepare for a big turnaround for the next scene.

There was one scene near the beginning that resounded with people. A projection played out that said something along the lines of, "So many people in this city, and yet we feel more alone than ever." I guess I'm not the only one who feels Berlin is a city of loneliness.

Sparkles, glitter, and a ton of confetti later, the show ended with an ensemble dance number that had us on our feet dancing with them.

At the end of the day, though, I got the distinct feeling that FALLING | IN LOVE is just one big fashion show for Jean Paul Gaultier. The dancers (aka. models) came out decked in alternative corsets, far-out fashion, and even bubble suits in each new scene.

In fact, only female dancers between 172 - 178 cm and male dancers between 185 - 188 cm are allowed to audition at all, according to the theatre’s official audition call (see the casting call here). Suddenly the six-packs and long-legged beauties make sense.

That’s not to say the dancers weren’t amazing. They were all very technically proficient. It just has to be said that a requirement height of 172 cm, for example, inevitably excludes ethnic groups that have historically been shorter, such as East Asians. In the entire cast of around 30, I counted only one East Asian face, and the majority of the cast were pale-skinned.

(They also performed a can-can line toward the end, which also explains why they prefer dancers around the same height.)

When I relayed my thoughts to my roommate, she nodded and said that was what she thought it'd be (that the show is just one big runway).

As opposed to the fashion or plot, I was more interested in the actual design and fitting of the Friedrichstadt-Palast stage.

Holy cow, that stage is something else.

From the beginning, I was struck by the full capacities of Friedrichstadt-Palast’s stage. As the lead actor floated down in a spotlight from a wire, I knew I was in for a good time.

As literal waterfalls cascaded down the steps on each side, my mouth dropped open.

As blocks of the stage rose and dropped and moved back and forth, I held my breath in wonder.

It seems like every panel of the stage floor is a trap door. That stage can provide anything: pyrotechnics, wading pools, acrobat grids — whatever!

It would be such a dream to work there as a technician (provided you know your stuff; otherwise, it would be a nightmare).

I wonder if the current technicians even have their heads wrapped around everything that can happen in their space. You definitely need to be another level of experienced to safely oversee that kind of equipment. I can’t imagine all the information the trainers would have to relay to new employees.

It’s probably also expensive as hell to rent that stage.

I recently had a conversation with colleagues about why Disney Theatrical Group doesn’t bring any of their Broadway shows to Berlin. We figured one reason is that Berlin’s “freaky art scene” isn’t the right audience for Disney’s lore. After hearing my recount of Friedrichstadt-Palast, another reason could be that it’s just too expensive.

Very few shows need the full extent of equipment the Friedrichstadt-Palast offers. I wouldn’t be surprised if FALLING | IN LOVE was created with the Friedrichstadt-Palast already in mind. This is also why it’s so hard to bring the show on tour, since not many other theatres can accommodate the stunts and set design of FALLING | IN LOVE either.

The final say is FALLING | IN LOVE may not be the most deeply resounding story you’ll ever see, but if you’re passing through the city or want a night out of fun — solo or otherwise — this show is definitely a highlight option.