MATA HARI
Music: Marc Schubring
Book & Lyrics: Kevin Schroeder
Based on an idea by Kevin Schroeder & Marc Schubring
A myth in her lifetime.
A legend in death.
At 19, Margaretha Geertruida “Griet” Zelle left her Dutch hometown to conquer the world. She tried life as an officer’s wife and mother on Java — but she wanted more. What followed was a transformation into one of the most talked-about women of her time: a scandalous rebel, a stage diva, a male fantasy — and ultimately, a double agent. Mata Hari.
To this day, fact and fiction are hopelessly entangled around her name. This musical brings the myth into the present: as a classic book musical and modern pop event in one. It follows a woman far ahead of her time — obsessed with attention, performance, and reinvention. But what is truth? What is a lie?
The musical premiered at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich.
“Kevin Schroeder’s libretto explores how Mata Hari deliberately constructed her own myth, crafting a fictional persona out of half-truths and manipulation. (…) Together, Marc Schubring and Kevin Schroeder embark on a compelling musical and theatrical exploration of how Griet became Mata Hari, transporting the myth into the here and now. (…) A work that breaks open the conventional forms of the genre — a musical of extraordinary richness whose originality revitalizes the art form.”
— Résonances Lyriques
Fakebitch.
— MATA HARI (Fakebitch)
It’s all just for show — all front, no soul.
Hey bitch, what’s the going rate these days?
Full package, yeah? Arse and filler thrown in?
Fakebitch.
All that “happy” and “nice”?
Happy, my arse. Give it a rest.
Hey bitch — it’s pure theatre,
Your climate posts and hashtag karma.
Oh please.
Hollow as hell.
All for you. All for show.
MATA HARI
Was it all worth it? I don’t know.
To live a life like that —
So full of desire,
And full of mistakes,
Too big to be true.
I wanted to become everything,
To really live it all.
I was ready to die for it —
And I did.
— MATA HARI (Finale)
Just one small step.
One step —
But I want to take it.
There’s nothing left to hold me,
Not one reason
To look back.
Everything inside me
Wants to go there —
Wants to finally live.
Finally live who I am.
— GRIET (Finale)
