Germans cash in on Obama’s popularity
June 3rd, 2009 - 10:55 pm ICT by IANS
Berlin, June 3 (DPA) Just ahead of US President Barack Obama’s second visit to Germany in 10 weeks, a German production company announced plans Wednesday to stage an Obama musical.
The announcement followed on the heels of a German toy manufacturer’s decision to market Bo, the Obamas’ pet dog, as a stuffed toy.
The musical, called “Hope - Yes We Can”, is due to premiere in Frankfurt this autumn, German MOVE production company announced Wednesday. Initial rehearsals were already underway, the organisers said.
The plot tells the personal story of Obama’s journey to the White House, interwoven with the experiences of a Chicago housing community.
The audiences are to be given so-called “percussion chairs”, enabling them to participate in the show.
By drumming on the chairs, viewers would be able to reproduce “the euphoric atmosphere which developed in the US during the election campaign”, said MOVE spokesman Michael Spanheimer.
After its Frankfurt premiere, the show is to tour 24 German cities.
Meanwhile, a Bad Koesen toy manufacturer, 50 km southwest of Leipzig, has designed an almost full-scale model of the Portuguese water dog which now inhabits the White House.
The first batch of 500 patented toy hounds was due to hit the shelves in the coming days, a company spokesman said.
The toy manufacturer had wanted to present Obama with the stuffed toy dog during his visit to Germany Friday, but the plan was scuppered by the president’s tight schedule.
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Tags: barack obama, company spokesman, election campaign, german cities, german production, germans, hounds, housing community, june 3, move production, organisers, personal story, portuguese water dog, rehearsals, scale model, spanheimer, stuffed toy, tight schedule, toy dog, toy manufacturer
