Nightlife

Theater

 Hamburg is blessed with more than 40 theaters, but for most of these, a good knowledge of German is necessary. An exception, the English Theatre of Hamburg, Lerchenfeld 14 (tel. 040/2277089; www.englishtheatre.de; U-Bahn: Mundsburg), is the only English-speaking theater in the northern part of Germany. Tickets are 13€ to 32€. Performances are Tuesday to Saturday at 7:30pm; a matinee is presented on Tuesday and Friday at 11am.

If you understand German, try the Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Kirchenallee 39 (tel. 040/248713; www.schauspielhaus.de; U-Bahn: Hauptbahnhof). It's one of the outstanding theaters in the German-speaking world, performing both classics and modern plays.

Other theaters are the cutting-edge Thaliatheater, Alstertor (tel. 040/328140; www.thalia-theater.de; U-Bahn: Jungfernstieg), and the Kammerspiele, Hartungstrasse 9-11 (tel. 040/44123660; www.hamburger-kammerspiele.de; U-Bahn: Hallerstrasse). Both stage a wide range of plays as well as musical shows. A new production usually opens every month. Tickets at these theaters range from 10€ to 45€. Small ensemble performances such as Evening with Marlene Dietrich are the specialty of the Schmidt Theater, Spielbudenplatz 24 (tel. 040/3177880; www.tivoli.de; S-Bahn: Reeperbahn). Its companion, Schmidts Tivoli, Spielbudenplatz 27-28 (same phone), hosts musicals and other popular performances. Tickets are 9€ to 55€. All of these are closed on Monday.

Two of Hamburg's busiest theaters are the Neue Flora Theater, Stresemannstrasse 159A (tel. 01805/4444; U-Bahn: Altona), and the Operettenhaus, Spielbudenplatz 1 (same phone; S-Bahn: Reeperbahn), which have enjoyed an unprecedented success with German-language versions of U.S. and British musicals. The cost of seeing shows is 32€ to 126€, depending on your seat and the night you attend.

Ticket-Buying Tips

Tickets to sporting events, including soccer matches, are best acquired through the Hamburger Sportbund (Hamburg Sports Association), Schäferkampsallee 1, 20357 Hamburg (tel. 040/419080; www.hamburger-sportbund.de). Another option, for cultural (not necessarily sporting) events, is to contact Hamburg's Tourismus Centrale (Tourist Information Office), in the "Wandelhalle" of the city's main railway station (tel. 040/30051300).

Monument to the Fab Four

John Lennon once said, "I was born in Liverpool, but I grew up in Hamburg." As all Beatles fans know, the group really got their start in Hamburg in the early 1960s. Radio Station Ondie 95 has dedicated a monument to the Beatles, which stands at the corner of the St. Pauli district in the Reeperbahn where the Beatles sang "Love Me Do" in 1962. In the middle of what is now known as "Beatles Square" on the Reeperbahn, the monument consists of a black circle, symbolizing a record, and life-size statues of the Beatles in glass. The radio station raised $625,000 among Beatles fans to pay for the monument.

Gay Clubs

Hamburg, like Berlin, is one of the major gay havens of Europe, with a particularly dense concentration of gay boutiques and cafes along the Lange Reihe in St. Pauli. A little journal, Dorn Rosa, distributed at most gay and lesbian bars, lists (in German) the clubs, restaurants, bars, and events that cater to a gay, lesbian, and bisexual clientele.