Temple of the night: Berlin's Friedrichstadt-Palast

A touch of Las Vegas in Berlin: the stage of the city's Friedrichstadt-Palast. Movable segments allow for a flexible design at the world's largest theater stage. Its show staircase, coined the Magic Stairs, includes 50 steps, each adjustable by height. Depending on the production, up to 100 dancers strut their stuff on stage.

For decades, the former market hall was a circus and a cabaret. In 1919, the famous German theater producer Max Reinhardt re-opened the venue as "Grosses Schauspielhaus" (Big Theater). He used the huge building to stage classical productions in epic fashion. For its opening, Reinhardt staged Aeschylus' "Oresteia."

In 1919, the main stage was already cutting edge. Along with an 18-meter revolving stage and several adjustable forestage elements, the most up-to-date lighting and effects technologies were in use. Erik Charell's musical "Im weissen Rössl" and Erwin Piscator's political revue "Trotz alledem" were celebrated as big successes. After the Nazis assumed power, the theater was closed.

Under Max Reinhardt, the theater presented the most successful revues of the Golden Twenties. But the Nazis appropriated it in 1943, changing the name to "Theater des Volkes" (Theater of the People) and using it to stage propagandistic operettas. Shortly after the war, dance revues were put on stage again in the bomb-damaged building.

In 1947, the Soviet commandant's office took possession of the palace. Berlin's municipal authorities also assumed control of the theater, dubbing it Friedrichstadt-Palast (Friedrichstadt Palace). From then on, it was used for major political events like the founding of the GDR's youth organization. Later, popular TV shows were produced there.

During the GDR era, the Friedrichstadt-Palast was famous for its chorus line. With 32 professional female dancers, it boasted the longest lineup of female legs in the world. This picture shows a slightly shortened version of the chorus line from the early 1980s.

In 1980, the theater in central Berlin - with its 120 years of history - was closed for safety reasons. In 1984, East German leaders built a huge new palace just 200 meters away on the Friedrichstrasse avenue. It would be the last grandiose building created by the crumbling communist state. Pictured: Wolfgang E. Struck, long the theater's artistic director, gets the key to the new venue.

The new palace no longer just shines on the inside. The Friedrichstadt-Palast's front building has an art nouveau facade reminiscent of the early days in this glorious theater's history. The main building, made of concrete, takes up an entire city block. Shows such as current production "The Wyld" unfold there in Las Vegas-style extravagance.

The Friedrichstadt-Palast ensemble comprises 60 male and female dancers from 28 nations. The theater is known for its diversity, as well as its support of the LGBT community. In 2012, the promoters of Berlin's Christopher Street Day gay pride parade awarded the theater's management a special commendation for civil courage.

"The Wyld," the venue's latest production, tells the story of the creatures of the night in Germany's buzzing capital and features a love story oriented between heaven and earth. Berlin's arguably most famous local gets in on the act: Ancient Egyptian sovereign Nefertiti, whose world-renowned bust is part of the permanent collection at the city's New Museum.

German producer Roland Welke and French fashion designer Manfred Thierry Mugler are responsible for the new show. The management describes it as simultaneously "modern and archaic, droll and futuristic." It's the most expensive production in the history of the Friedrichstadt-Palast.