General question on German Theatre

I think Hunchback of Notre Dame will be in Berlin, and Tanz der Vampire in Hamburg (not sure about the latter). I'd love to see both if I get the chance.

I would second Steffi's comments on the big Stage Entertainment productions which are ludicrously overpriced considering the low standard. It's not just bad translations, it's also the fact that very often they hire foreign performers with a very shaky grasp of German who don't really know what they are singing and who have a bad accent. It's also a major gamble to see the first casts.

BUT that said, there's plenty to see beyond the "big" productions both in Berlin and Hamburg and even those can have its merits. You can catch Disneys "Hunchback of Notre Dame" in Berlin, which will probably never make it to London in this form. In Hamburg you could catch "Hinterm Horizont", a German jukebox musical set in Cold War-Berlin. When it played in Berlin I think they even had English surtitles for some performances for the tourists. It's not too terrible if you want to see something German.

Both cities also have a lively "fringe" scene if you are looking for something cheaper. You could try and catch "Linie 1" at the Grips Theater in Berlin, which has been around since 1986, running in repertory or if you want some straight drama, visit Brecht's own theatre, the Berliner Ensemble, though be aware that drama in Germany usually means the worst kind of Regietheater nonsense. If you are looking for something to just switch your brain off, try the Friedrichstadtpalast which does Las Vegas-style revues.

You can also try "half price ticket booths" in both cities: Berlin has the "Hekticket" (http://www.hekticket.de) at Bahnhof Zoo that sell half price tickets for the same day for a wide choice of shows, though I'm not sure if Stage Entertainment is selling tickets there (i.e. for Hunchback of Notre Dame)

In Hamburg you can get reduced tickets for the big Stage Entertainment shows at their main office in the Speicherstadt on the same day. The offices are next to the Hamburg Dungeon / Miniatur Wunderland, so fairly easy to find. Speaking of, whatever else you do in Hamburg, do visit the Miniatur Wunderland, it's amazing

Thanks for all the tips so far.

You could have a look at opera - in Berlin the Komische Oper is relatively cheap and has multilingual subtitles at each seat including English. The Komische also does musical revivals (eg My Fair Lady at the moment)

Worth looking at the Berlin Welcome Card - www.berlin-welcomecard.de/en/partners - which includes a public transport pass and gets you 25% discount at many theatres and opera houses in Berlin, along with discounts at museums etc. These tourist cards can be a bit of a rip-off but I did this on my last trip to Berlin and the Opera discount made it worthwhile. You can only buy tickets once you have the card although I believe some venues will let you reserve tickets by phone and pay on collection, clearly doesn't help if it's something which will sell out in advance.

If you are going to Berlin, the one thing which is definitely worth doing in advance is booking a Reichstag tour - it's free but you have to book ahead so they can do security checks - www.bundestag.de/en/visittheBundestag/dome/registration/245686. 

Berlin is definitely worth a visit even without any theatre! Loads to see and do.