Musicals, operettas and Heiteres Musiktheater in East Germany 1949–89

Abstract

This article examines the development of operetta and musicals in East and West Germany from 1949 until the reunification in 1989–90. It focuses on the special ideological requirements of popular musical entertainment in the socialist east, discusses how works by Offenbach and Strauss were adapted, considers how works from the Soviet Union were imported and examines how new works were created to fulfil the ideal of ‘socialist realism’. The arrival of Broadway musicals in East Germany in the 1960s were typically made to fit into the system of state subsidized theatre.