Central-Theater

The Central Theatre stood on Waisenhausstraße in Dresden’s Seevorstadt, between Prager Straße and Trompeterstraße. It replaced the rococo-classicist Palais Boxberg and opened in November 1898. Designed by architects William Lossow and Hermann Viehweger for court jeweller Heinrich Mau, the building followed Heino Otto’s neobarock plans. With about two thousand seats it ranked among Dresden’s largest theatres. The house also contained a café, wine restaurant, billiard room, games hall and a thousand-seat beer restaurant. Its basement formed a three-sided shopping arcade. The theatre became Dresden’s leading operetta venue. Early premieres included Emmerich Kálmán’s The Csárdás Princess and Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow. Stars such as Fritzi Massary and Claire Waldoff appeared on its stage. In 1940 Ernst Marischka’s Franzi with music by Peter Kreuder had its first night here. During the war the company cooperated with Berlin theatres, bringing productions like Hochzeitsnacht im Paradies with Johannes Heesters. After the 1945 bombing the stage machinery was salvaged by hand and reused in rebuilding the Leuben operetta house. Today a commemorative plaque near the former entrance on Prager Straße recalls the theatre’s luxurious foyers and its founder Heinrich Mau. The building’s neobarock façade rose four storeys high, symmetrically arranged with rich plasterwork of garlands, cartouches, shells and figures. A central gable carried a female bust beneath a domed crown, while the main floor windows alternated basket and round arches. The symmetrical composition and lavish decoration once made it a Dresden landmark.