Popular Musical Theatre, Cultural Transfer, Modernities: London/Berlin, 1890-1930

Between 1890-1930 a large number of popular musical theatre shows — musical comedies and operettas — were exchanged between London and Berlin. This essay represents the first attempt by scholars to examine this cultural practice. It outlines the implications of cultural transfer and exchange in terms of theatre history generally and the more detailed mechanics of adaptation. Using the figure of adaptation to explore cultural relations between two important metropolitan sites, it also examines the wider historical implication of this vibrant exchange culture, contemporary with a period when Anglo-German relations were generally characterised by marked hostility.