CAFÉ BERLIN Musical to Receive Invitation-Only Reading Presentation This May

An invitation-only reading presentation of the new musical Café Berlin will be presented in association with Rogue Theater. Café Berlin has music by Joseph J. Simeone (A Bronx Tale), lyrics by Joseph J. Simeone and Ethan Kanfer, and book by Joseph J. Simeone and Annaliese Jakimides. The reading will take place on May 3rd, 2026 with music direction by Dave Klodowski, music supervision by James Olmstead, and stage management by Gregory Covert, with stage direction by Matthew Couvillon (A Chorus Line).

The wall fell. We opened. As the Berlin Wall falls, rules disappear overnight. A French philosophy student arrives to capture the moment, determined to stay outside. Inside an occupied nightclub in East Berlin, a group of queer artists, punks, and outsiders are building something new: a home, a community, a world without permission. What begins as observation turns into participation as she's pulled into a year of total freedom...where anything feels possible, and nothing is guaranteed to last.

Creator Joseph J. Simeone said, "We're living in a time where systems feel unstable again, and Café Berlin forces the question of what we do in that moment, whether we wait for someone else to define it, or step in and shape it ourselves. Inspired by true events from the year of anarchy, we built this piece out of movement, music, image, and text colliding into an irreverent punk fever dream, raw, fast, and volatile, driven by music that stays with you and a story that pulls you all the way through. It throws you into the middle of it and dares you to survive."