Uwe Kröger
„Uwe Kröger is the biggest male star of musicals in Germany“,
wrote the New York magazine “In Theatre”.
Grown up in Hamm / Westphalia, Germany, Uwe Kröger studied voice, dramatic arts and dance at the Conservatory of Arts in Berlin. Shortly after his studies he was engaged as the first and so far the only German performer to play “Rusty” in the Musical production on rollerblades “Starlight Express” in Bochum, followed by the Viennese and later the Dutch productions of “Les Misérables”. In Amsterdam he was not only invited to join the original cast of this Musical, but he was also engaged as Assistant Resident Director. Leading parts in “Jesus Christ Superstar”, “The Rocky Horror Show” and “Starmania” followed and he was also part of the cast in the jubilee performance of Bernsteins’ “Mass” presented by Marcel Prawy.
His great breakthrough-performance was in 1992 in the role of “Death” in the world premiere of “Elisabeth” at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, Austria.
Two years later Uwe Kröger conquered Germany in the German-language premiere of “Miss Saigon” in Stuttgart. In 1995 Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber engaged him as the male lead “Joe Gillis” in the German-language premiere of “Sunset Boulevard” in Niedernhausen. At the end of 1997, Uwe Kröger was honoured by being offered the role of “The Biest” in the successful Disney musical “The Beauty and The Biest” in Stuttgart where he celebrated another triumph. Followed the creation of the role of the “Conférencier” in “Cabaret” in Vienna before he went back to Stuttgart where he was celebrated again as “Chris” in “Miss Saigon”.
Beside his various Musical engagements, Uwe Kröger is frequently invited as guest star in numerous TV shows and galas. His first solo CD “Boulevard der Sehnsucht” (lyrics/music: Kunze/Levay) was successfully present in the Austrian charts. In his Musical CD “Favourites” you can hear him in a duet with the German interpreter Nicole and the Belgian star Helmut Lotti.
The readers of the German magazine “Musicals” voted thirteen times for Uwe Kröger as “German-language Musical Performer Nr.1”.
At the Wiener Opernball 1997, the Austrian stage magazine “Bühne” awarded him “best young actor 1996”, in 2000 he was honoured as the “best Musical performer 2000” with the audience award of the magazine “Bühne”. In 1997, he was winner of the I.M.A.G.E - award of the Friends of Musical in Germany and he was honoured as best Musical performer for his interpretation of the role of “Joe Gillis” in “Sunset Boulevard”. The Golden Artist Magazine elected him as “artist of the year 1998” in the category Musical performers.
The famous New York Broadway reviewer Ken Mandelbaum wrote: “Ever since he created the role of Death in Elisabeth, Uwe Kröger has been the biggest male star of musicals in Germany”.
Until May 2000, Uwe Kröger was very much appreciated in the Musical “Mozart!” at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna. In June 2000 he performed the role of the “Pharaoh” in the Musical “Joseph” at the Raimund Theater in Vienna. In October 2000 he had his London debut in the role of “Napoleon” at the Shaftesbury Theatre in the European premiere of the new Musical “Napoleon”. The reviews were phenomenal! Between March 2001 and June 2003, he played again the role of the “Death” in the German premiere of the Musical “Elisabeth” at the Colosseum Theater in Essen. In August 2001, Uwe Kröger had his first performance in an operetta: he played the main role “Felix” in Ralph Benatzky’s vivacious comedy “Bezauberndes Fräulein” (The Enchanting Young Lady) at the Etablissement Ronacher in Vienna during the festival Klangbogen Wien. Because of its enormous success this production was taken up again in the summer of 2002. In April 2002, Bertelsmann published a Special Sampler “Musical Moments”, followed by “Best of in Love with Musical”, the “Musical Moments 2” in January 2003. Uwe Kröger dedicated his Single CD “You Saved my Life” to the Charity Organisation “Licht ins Dunkel” and to the flood victims in Austria. The following CD “From Broadway to Hollywood” was a big success.
In summer 2003, Uwe Kröger was successful in Amstetten/Austria in the German-language premiere of the Off-Broadway production “Wild Party” as “Burrs”. This production was taken over from December 2004 to February 2005 by the renowned Stadttheater Klagenfurt under the direction of Dietmar Pflegerl.
From September 2003 till December 2004, Uwe Kröger took the role of the police governor “Javert” in “Les Misérables” at the Theater des Westens in Berlin. In January 2004, he was very successful on tour in Germany with “Musical Moments”. During this tour, the magazine “Da Capo” awarded him as “Best Musical Performer 2003” for his performance in “Elisabeth”.
In May 2004, Uwe Kröger presented his programs “Uwe Kröger in Concert” and the next day “Uwe Kröger and Friends” in his home town Hamm / Westphalia and also in Vienna. In June 2004, he had his very successful Japan debut when he was there on concert tour with Ichiro Maki. Thousands of enthusiastic fans celebrated the blond star. There is also a DVD showing this concert in the series of “Diva 2004”.
The highlight of the year 2004 was certainly the German synchronisation of the Hollywood movie “Phantom of the Opera” under the direction of Joel Schumacher, where Uwe Kröger synchronised the original voice of Gerald Butler in the leading part of the Phantom.
In February 2005, Uwe Kröger continued with the successful production of “Musical Moments 2”. Under the title “Emotions”, he presented together with Anna Montanaro, Jesper Tydén, Marika Lichter and Special Guest Anna Maria Kaufmann the greatest Musical Songs and World Hits on tour through Germany.
In April 2005, the gala premiere of another Stage Holding Production took place in Berlin. Uwe Kröger played the role of “Cardinal Richelieu” in the German-language premiere of the Musical “3 musketeers” at the Theater des Westens in Berlin.
In July 2005, more concerts “Uwe Kröger and Friends” with Leah Delos Santos, Marika Lichter and Karim Khawatmi took place in Ingolstadt and Regensburg and Uwe Kröger performed the Cardinal Richelieu until January 2006 in Berlin.
A very special challenge was the ordered production “Mitsuko”, performed in Vienna in the Museumsquartier. Frank Wildhorn wrote the music for a touching love story, the Japanese Musical star Ichiro Maki sang the title role and Uwe Kröger was the Earl Coudenhove-Calergi.
Between February and April 2006, Uwe Kröger presented and moderated the second production of Stage Entertainment Gala “Best of Musical 2006” on tour around Germany, but also at the Stadthalle in Vienna. During this time he performed also “Mozart! in Concert” at the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien.
From May to July 2006, he finally performed the role in which he was already successful in the movie synchronisation: “The Phantom of the Opera” became another milestone in Uwe Kröger’s career at the Colosseum Theater in Essen.
The next world premiere followed: Sylvester Levay and Michael Kunze created the Musical “Rebecca”, based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier and another great role for Uwe Kröger was born. As “Maxim de Winter” with Wietske van Tongeren as his partner in the role of “I”, he was finally back on stage of the Raimundtheater in Vienna. The reviews were overwhelming and “Rebecca” became the most successful musical of the Vereinigte Bühnen ever as far as it concerns ticket sales! The CD with the highlights was a fast seller and the complete recording was published in November 2007.
In December 2006, Universal Records published the Sampler “UWE! The Best of 20 years” at the occasion of his 20 years on stage. Also this CD was successful in the Charts.
During the summer holidays of the Raimundtheater in Vienna, Uwe Kröger performed as a guest in the Austrian premiere of the Frank Wildhorn Musical “Dracula” in Graz where he played the role of Dracula’s antagonist Van Helsing. For this new version the composer wrote a solo and a duet for Uwe Kröger.
From September till December 2007, “Rebecca” was taken up again and Uwe Kröger was elected for the 12th time by the readers of the magazine “Musicals” as “Best Performer “.
In December 2007, Uwe Kröger was also on stage in the concert series “Musical Forever” at the Museumsquartier Wien.
In January 2008, Uwe Kröger was “Special Guest” at the “Gala night of the Musical” and touring with 12 concerts around Germany.
In January and February 2008, the Castings for the TV show “Musicalstar 2008” with Thomas Gottschalk as a moderator took place and Uwe Kröger was part of the jury together with Katja Epstein and Alexander Goebel.
Between April and August 2008, he returned to his starring role of the “Death” in “Elisabeth”, under the direction of the original director Harry Kupfer and with the original actor Pia Douwes in the title role and he conquered the hearts of the Berlin audience at the Theater des Westens. From September to December 2008, he took up again his part in “Rebecca” in Vienna.
From February 2009 till February 2010, Uwe Kröger played the role of “Eduard Earl Taaffe” at the Viennese premiere of “Rudolf”, the new Musical of Frank Wildhorn at the Raimundtheater Vienna.
In 1999, Uwe Kröger had his debut as anchorman at the ORF live show “Grand Prix des Schlagers”, followed by numerous moderations as e.g. for the “Gala against violence” in Vienna side by side with Arabella Kiesbauer and Claudia Stöckl and for “Jazzanova” 2008/2009 in Kitzbühel with guest stars like Stevie Wonder and Carlos Santana.
On December 4, 2009, on his birthday, Uwe Kröger started his own show “Absolut Uwe” with Pia Douwes as guest star at the Stadthalle in Vienna.
In summer 2010, the big tour of “Absolut Uwe” starts in Austria (with guest star Pia Douwes) and in Germany (with guest star Annemieke van Dam) until the end of November.
