“I DID IT MY WAY” WITH LARISSA SIRAH HERDEN AND LARS EIDINGER TO OPEN RUHRTRIENNALE 2025

The Ruhrtriennale 2025 opens on August 21 with the world premiere of I Did It My Way – a bold new music theater production set to the music of Nina Simone and Frank Sinatra. Starring Lars Eidinger and Larissa Sirah Herden, and featuring choreography by Serge Aimé Coulibaly, the production continues Ivo Van Hove’s exploration of a new form of music theater that fuses acting, dance, and music into compelling narrative experiences — with music as its emotional and structural core.

Interdisciplinary music theatre about life after love.

Inspired by the music of Nina Simone and Frank Sinatra, I Did It My Way tells the story of a breakup between two opposites: a man who clings to the idea of love as something unchanging and a woman who embraces transformation, no matter the cost. She, a Black woman, finds her purpose in the civil rights movement, her voice rising in passion and protest. He, a white man, remains in Watertown, unable to move on. Rooted in the familiar, he retreats into nostalgia, searching for meaning in the past instead of the future. Her growth exhilarates her. He is left behind in a life that no longer fits. Their feelings unfold solely through music – duets and solos that weave together love and longing, harmony and discord, liberation and loss. I Did It My Way is inspired by the legacy of two legendary American musicians: Frank Sinatra and Nina Simone. The rising intersdisciplinary artist Larissa Sirah Herden (Lary) – her latest film project was awarded with a Grimme-Preis – and Lars Eidinger, one of the most famous faces of the German theatre and film landscape, embody the conflicted couple, accompanied by four dancers and a swinging big band.
Produced by Ruhrtriennale. Co-produced by Staatsoper Stuttgart and in partnership with Faso Danse Theatre.