Biography
April Hailer – Actress, Singer, Teacher, Director
Prelude: Education and Youth
April Hailer, the eldest of five siblings, grew up in a family in which music and singing was very important. Since she can read and write at the age of five, she skips the first grade of elementary school. As a teenager she became an oboist and accompanied her father and her sister in many recitals. They played together the great passions of Johann Sebastian Bach, his cantatas, oratorios and other chamber music of the baroque for over 20 years, till 1997.
After her Bachelor’s degree (major subject: music), she studied drama and staging at the University Mozarteum in Salzburg and began her acting career in 1981 in Heidelberg.
Theatre and Music
In 1983 at the Stuttgart Staatstheater, her role of Lillian Holiday in the musical »Happy End« (Dorothy Lane, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weil), marks the beginning of what will become her specialty: musical theater.
She plays leading roles in many renowned theaters in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France, including: the Staatstheater in Hannover, the Staatstheater in Stuttgart, the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, the National Theater in Mannheim, the Bonn Opera, the Magdeburg Opera, the Freie Volksbühne, the Renaissance Theater and the Friedrichstadt Palast in Berlin, the St. Pauli Theater in Hamburg, the Hamburger Kammerspiele, the Musicaltheater in Bremen, the Musiktheater Linz, the Museumsquartier Wien, the Theater 11 Zürich, Landestheater Linz, the Opéra de Lyon ect.
Some roles and stages
The premiere of her one-woman-musical show »April April – in Concert« at Prinzregententheater in Munich in 2001 was broadcast live on television. She played this show touring all over Germany in front of packed halls for years. She then directed and performed other musical shows, either alone on stage or together with other actors-singers.
In 2004, 2006 and 2007, she was the protagonist of the Christmas Show »Jingle Bells« at Friedrichstadtpalast in Berlin.
For the St Pauli Theater in Hamburg, she was in the original cast and took on the successful role of The Career Woman in a staging that led her to Cologne, Munich, Zurich and Vienna.
At the Magdeburg Opera, from 2011 to 2013, she played the role of Dolly Levi in the musical »Hello, Dolly!«.
In 2012, at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz München, she played the role of the eccentric ballet diva Elizaveta Grunschinskaja in the musical »Grand Hotel«.
In 2013, she was the Lady of the Lake in the musical »Spamalot« at the Festival of Luisenburg and Iduna in the operetta »Feuerwerk« at the Theater of Pforzheim.
In 2014, first at the Zeltpalast Merzig, then at the Musical Theater Bremen, she played Alice Beineke for the german premiere of the musical »The Addams Family« – published on CD. In 2017 the production was invited by Deutsches Theater München.
Other roles: Fräulein Schneider in »Cabaret« (musical by Kander/Ebb), Roz Keith in »9 to 5« (musical by Dolly Parton), Norma Desmond in »Sunset Boulevard«, Mother Dear in »Betty Blue Eyes« ect.
In 2015 an 2019 at the Opéra de Lyon (in co-production with Théatre de la Croix Rousse), she sang La Diseuse in »Roméo et Juliette«, an opera by Boris Blacher (1943) – directed by Jean Lacornerie and the musical director Philippe Forget.
In 2018 as Mother Dear in the musical comedy »Betty Blue Eyes« (DSE) at the Musiktheater/ Landestheater Linz, directed by Christian Brey, she made the audience laugh.
2021–2023: She plays Maria in Sewan Latschinian’s production of the Christmas play »Josef und Maria« by Peter Turrini at the Hamburger Kammerspiele and on a guest performance tour.
As Fürstin Bozena Cuddenstein von Chlumetz, she ensures a happy ending in the operetta »Gräfin Mariza«, in the production by Thomas Enzinger 2022/23 also at the Musiktheater Linz.
TV
In the 90s, through the success of the television show »Wie bitte ?!« on RTL, she was known throughout Germany. The show obtained the »Bayerischer Fernsehpreis«.
Her personality show, the »April Hailer Show«, on ZDF, also an immense success, earned her a nomination for the Rose d’Or at the Montreux Festival.
In front of the camera too, April demonstrates her versatility. She convinces in very different roles and creates characters always believable: whether in TV movies like »Drei Tage im April« by Oliver Storz, or »Zart und Schuldig« with Dieter Pfaff for partner, or with Tobias Moretti in »Gefährliche Nähe – und Du ahnst nichts« and finally in series as different as »Tatort«, »Traumschiff«, the Swabian comedy »Die Kirche bleibt im Dorf«, the dutch comedy »Die Läusemutter« or »Bettys Diagnose«.
Teaching
In addition to her acting and singing activities, April was teaching as guest lecturer performance and musical creation to students and singers at the Salzburg Mozarteum. In 2015, as in 2013, she was a member of the jury for the Bundeswettbewerb Gesang, in the fields of musicals and songs. Currently she is teaching at the August Everding Theater Academy in Munich and at the University of Agder Norway.
In addition, she passes on her knowledge to actors, singers, specialists and executives in seminars, workshops and individual coaching.
Directing
Since 2016, April Hailer also works as a director.
Her debut was the off-Broadway musical »I love you, you’re perfect, now change« in the Silver Hall of the Deutsches Theater in Munich – with eight graduates of the Musical Academy in 40 roles.
In November 2018 her production of the musical »Die Addams Family« premiered successfully at TfN Theater für Niedersachsen in Hildesheim.
In 2019 she directed the the comedy »Bella Donna« by Stefan Vögel, also at the TfN.
In 2020 she directed the »menopause-musical-comedy« »Heiße Zeiten« at the Velvets Theater Wiesbaden.
In 2021 she directed the musical »Working« at the Akademietheater München.
