Soloist
Dagmar Hellberg
After her stage training in Munich, the Bavarian Chamber Actress and winner of the »Austrian Musical Theatre Prize« advanced to become one of the most important German-language musical actresses in leading roles in a long series of famous musicals, in addition to theatre roles from Brecht to Shakespeare, above all at the Berlin Theater des Westens and the Theater an der Wien as well as the largest German-language musical stages.
Impresario Helmut Baumann discovered her for the musical genre and engaged her for the Berlin Theater des Westens, where she played Sarah Brown in »Guys and Dolls« alongside Steve Barton as Sky Masterson in the gala production for the reopening of the renovated theatre in 1983/1984. Nancy in »Oliver!« and Sarah in »Company« followed at the same house.
In Vienna, she began her career at the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien as the first cast member of Fantine in Trevor Nunn’s original production of »Les Misérables« at the Raimundtheater, then as a nightclub singer in the world premiere of Eric Woolfson’s »Freudiana« directed by Peter Weck and as Nelly in »Jekyll & Hyde« at the Theater an der Wien. She was also Mother Superior in »Sister Act« at the Ronacher and Archduchess Sophie in »Elisabeth« at the Raimundtheater.
In the course of her musical career she has played Eva Peron (»Evita«), Magenta (»The Rocky Horror Show«), Mary Magdalene (»Jesus Christ Superstar«), Miss Sherman (»Fame«), Captain Ahab (»Moby Dick«), Mrs. Johnston (»Blood Brothers«), Dora Bailey (»Singin’ in the Rain«), Madame Thénardier (»Les Misérables«), Evangeline Harcourt (»Anything Goes«), Hannah (»Flashdance«), Netty Fowler (»Carousel«), Dolly Levy (»Hello, Dolly!«), Mrs. Pearce (»My Fair Lady«), The Old Lady (»Candide«), in »Hair«, Mother Superior (»Nunsense«), Domina (»A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum«), Mrs. Lovett (»Sweeney Todd«), Golde (»Fiddler on the Roof«) and Fräulein Schneider (»Cabaret«) as well as Aldonza (»Man of La Mancha«) with Karl Merkatz in the title role, which also earned her an ORF recording as a performer. She has appeared in almost 50 major musicals in the most important leading roles.
In acting, parallel to her career in music theatre, she has appeared on stage as Titania (»A Midsummer Night’s Dream«), Mrs Peachum (»Die Dreigroschenoper«), Mrs Muskat (»Liliom«), Stauffacherin (»Wilhelm Tell«), Arkadina (»Die Möwe«) and Hannah Pit (»Angels in America« Parts 1 and 2). In the dramatisation of the Kafka story »Amerika« at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt, which was awarded the Austrian theatre prize »Nestroy« for the best provincial production in 2011, she played the cook and sang rock songs composed especially for the occasion by the group Naked Lunch. For television, she filmed numerous TV series such as »Der Alte«, »Lukas & Sohn«, »Hotel Paradies«, »Donauprinzessin« and »Hessische Geschichten«.
At the Gärtnerplatztheater, where she has been an ensemble member since 2016, Dagmar Hellberg has appeared as Evangeline Harcourt, The Old Lady, Mother Superior, Mrs. Peachum, among others. Peachum, in various roles in »Singin’ in the Rain« and »Hair«, as Frau Hollunder (»Liliom«), Claudia Kunkel (»Drei Männer im Schnee«), Wilhelmine Kuhbrot (»Der Vetter aus Dingsda«), Rita Marshall (»Tootsie«) and in the title role in »Rockin’ Rosie«.