--- title: Charles Manson Musical Opens in Germany description: The musical traces the cult leader's failed musical endeavors and murders canonical: https://time.com/3458149/charles-manson-musical/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-03T01:52:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:34:01.169Z article:section: World og:title: Charles Manson Musical Opens in Germany og:description: The musical traces the cult leader's failed musical endeavors and murders og:url: https://time.com/3458149/charles-manson-musical/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a47458f92c4ac91/6986a6d0e8524bdfd5605124/charles-manson-play.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Actors Maja Schoene, Alicia Aumueller, Joerg Pohl, Sebastian Rudolph, Tilo Werner, Miriam Struebel, Franziska Hartmann and Tabita Johannes perform during a press rehearsal of 'Charles Manson: Summer of Hate - The Musical' at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Charles Manson Musical Opens in Germany twitter:description: The musical traces the cult leader's failed musical endeavors and murders twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a47458f92c4ac91/6986a6d0e8524bdfd5605124/charles-manson-play.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Charles Manson Musical Opens in Germany  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Oct 3, 2014 1:52 AM CUT  Actors Maja Schoene, Alicia Aumueller, Joerg Pohl, Sebastian Rudolph, Tilo Werner, Miriam Struebel, Franziska Hartmann and Tabita Johannes perform during a press rehearsal of 'Charles Manson: Summer of Hate - The Musical' at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg on Sept. 24, 2014. Actors Maja Schoene, Alicia Aumueller, Joerg Pohl, Sebastian Rudolph, Tilo Werner, Miriam Struebel, Franziska Hartmann and Tabita Johannes perform during a press rehearsal of 'Charles Manson: Summer of Hate - The Musical' at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg on Sept. 24, 2014.Christian Charisius—EPA  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Oct 3, 2014 1:52 AM CUT The former cult leader who is currently serving a life sentence in a California prison is getting the musical treatment in Hamburg, Germany. The play follows Manson’s failed musical endeavors and the crimes and killing spree of the Manson “family,” as his followers were known. “Charles Manson: Summer of Hate – The Musical” opened Friday, [according to](http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-charles-manson-musical-hamburg-germany-20141001-story.html "undefined") the Los Angeles _Times_. In 1971, the Manson family was found guilty of killing actress Sharon Tate and four other people at her home in 1969 before murdering a married couple, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, the next day. Manson’s apocalyptic race-war worldview, which he shared with his followers, was heavily influenced by the Beatles song “Helter Skelter.” \[[_LA Times_](http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-charles-manson-musical-hamburg-germany-20141001-story.html "undefined")\] _Read next:_ [_The Face of a Killer: See Charles Manson’s Twisted Evolution_](http://time.com/3590841/charles-manson-swastika-face-photos/?xid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3458149/charles-manson-musical/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3458149/charles-manson-musical/"},"headline":"Charles Manson Musical Opens in Germany","datePublished":"2014-10-03T01:52:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:34:01.169Z","description":"The musical traces the cult leader's failed musical endeavors and murders","url":"https://time.com/3458149/charles-manson-musical/","keywords":["Germany"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a47458f92c4ac91/6986a6d0e8524bdfd5605124/charles-manson-play.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a47458f92c4ac91/6986a6d0e8524bdfd5605124/charles-manson-play.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Actors Maja Schoene, Alicia Aumueller, Joerg Pohl, Sebastian Rudolph, Tilo Werner, Miriam Struebel, Franziska Hartmann and Tabita Johannes perform during a press rehearsal of 'Charles Manson: Summer of Hate - The Musical' at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg","caption":"Actors Maja Schoene, Alicia Aumueller, Joerg Pohl, Sebastian Rudolph, Tilo Werner, Miriam Struebel, Franziska Hartmann and Tabita Johannes perform during a press rehearsal of 'Charles Manson: Summer of Hate - The Musical' at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg","creditText":"Christian Charisius—EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3458149/charles-manson-musical/","name":"Charles Manson Musical Opens in Germany"}}]}] ```