Pointers, pulse, rehearsals

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Rehearsal for Stadtgerücht 2025: With punchy lyrics and musical evergreens on the journey to the Federal Chancellery - Gottlieb Kowatsch, Reinhard Blaschitz, Matthias Wurzer, Janno Wieltschnig, Werner Ortitsch, Andreas Schimpl.

(Bild: Christina Natascha Kogler)

First the work, then the pleasure! Of course, this also applies to the town judges of Clagenfurth. After brainstorming and writing the numbers, the carnival professionals are currently in rehearsal fever. The "Krone" was there.

"Back to position!" - "Half circle!" - "Matthias, the ladder!" - "You should already be there, Gottlieb!" - "Well, don't look like that. You're happy! Rejoice!" Heiner Zaucher gives the city judges instructions for the political opera. Punchy lyrics and well-sung evergreens take you on a journey, not to Jerusalem, but to the Chancellery.

Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse
"Once again from the beginning!" Rehearsals can be very exhausting. But what good is a good text if the punchlines don't come one after the other and the production doesn't run perfectly? And the women judges know this, which is why they rarely see their husbands at the moment, and when they do, they are a little tired.

Because they have to organize props, go to the costume designer for fittings, internalize the texts and organize everything for the big carnival spectacle - from the wardrobe to the hall to the stage set. 

Instructions from director Heiner Zaucher are listened to intently - and from the front!

(Bild: Christina Natascha Kogler)

Full commitment! Adi Rasperger and Werner Ortitsch during rehearsal.

(Bild: Christina Natascha Kogler)

One challenge could be federal politics, where everything changes almost every day at the moment. "I think the quality increases with the power of improvisation. Of course we will adapt political numbers on a daily basis. I trust us to do that," says Burgrave Willi Noll.

All the fans believe that the city judges can do that. After all, many of them are real stage professionals, good satirists and cabaret artists, some are new to the show and can contribute their talents and learn from the "old hands". Like Janno Wieltschnig, who is on stage at the political opera.

City rumor 2025

On January 17, Stadtgerücht 2025 celebrates its premiere in Klagenfurt's Messearena. Eight more performances will follow - but there are only a few tickets left...

• ...at Gruber Reisen on Walther von der Vogelweide-Platz
• ...and at the "Krone" competition - take part until January 19th!

Burgrave Willi Noll: "There have already been politicians who have felt offended by our numbers, but they are bound to secrecy. What's going on at the moment has to be put on stage - satirically, pointedly."

25 acts will be performed in front of the Stadtgerücht this year. "None of them are too long, that would be fatal. Even classics such as the Birgamasta from Rosntol and the city senate are not missing. The cleaning ladies make an appearance - Blaschitz and Winkelbauer. And there's an ice hockey magazine," reveals match director Harald Janesch.

"Self-doubt always plagues me during rehearsals. If you play a good joke a dozen times, then at some point you don't find it funny anymore. Then you start to doubt. But I'd rather doubt beforehand - and feel it at the premiere: it's a success! It's good," says Burggraf Noll, giving an insight into his innermost feelings.

Janesch's pulse is also extremely high at the moment. "It stays that way until after the premiere. It's always like that." 

"Next number! On stage!" shouts director Heiner Zaucher, who has been staging Stadtgerücht for years and works wonders with the comedic men in a short space of time. While he gives stage directions downstairs, a set builder climbs the ladder, a technician plays background images from other acts, costumes are tried on, props are put away, lines are memorized - the normal madness! Blah blah blah!