Prime Time’s Bust

Matthias Hoffmann’s Prime Time Entertainment filed for bankruptcy in a German court Feb. 11, leaving the city of Hamburg to handle the removal the tent used for the show that brought the company down.

The gigantic canvas structure is still standing on the square at Heiligengeistfeld and reports in the local Hamburger Abendblatt say it will cost euro 160,000 to dismantle – and the job needs to be done by the beginning of March.

Each year Heiligengeistfeld hosts the Frühlingsdom, the largest funfair in northern Germany. It has more than 250 fairground rides.

HA says the city will have to stump up the money to move the tent, which was used to stage Prime Time’s production of “India,” because any money Hoffmann’s company had is now in the hands of the official receiver.

It’s not known how many people bought tickets for the Hamburg dates, which were scheduled to run until Feb. 28.

At press time it wasn’t possible to get a response from the Mörfelden-based company, but the “India” Web site is still advertising the Berlin dates scheduled to run March 4 to April 11.

“India” is the second German-produced show to hit trouble this year. Franz Abraham of Art Concerts was forced at the beginning of the month to scrap his Ben Hur Live spectaculars in Gelsenkirchen Veltins Arena and Austria’s Vienna Stadthalle because the production doesn’t have the cash to continue.

He’s trying to get new investors to provide the cash to reschedule the Vienna dates.