Die Weiße Rose (The White Rose) – Musical by Alex Melcher & Vera Bolten

»The White Rose – A Musical about Rethinking, Responsibility and Courage« is dedicated to the young people around Hans and Sophie Scholl, Alexander Schmorell, Christoph Probst, Willi Graf and Professor Kurt Huber – the courageous voices of resistance in Nazi Germany. Their story is not fictionalised or romanticised in this production, but deliberately remains close to the historical facts and documents.

Vera Bolten, author and director of the musical, describes her approach as follows: »I wanted to give space to all members of the White Rose – their motivations, their struggles, their strength. Letters, diary entries, original quotes and handed-down statements form the core of our narrative.« A central stylistic device of the production is its structure, which is based on real excerpts from interrogations that run through the play like a premonition. At the same time, the musical follows a chronological narrative – from the initial involvement in the Hitler Youth to the courageous decision to resist, the production of leaflets and finally the arrest and conviction. Most of the lyrics are taken from original letters, quotations, diary entries or traditional statements.

The music was composed by Alex Melcher, who also realised the dramaturgical implementation together with Vera Bolten.