From Vienna to New York: migration, space and in-betweenness inIm weißen Rößl

What is it about?

The article interprets the play Im weißen Rößl as a space for Jewish and non-Jewish interaction. Im weißen Rößl has been performed as a Volkssänger piece, as an operetta, and as a musical comedy. In each version, the tradition or topos of Sommerfrische (the summer vacation on the countryside) has played a central role. I focus on two versions that were staged in New York in the 1940s and claim that cultures and identities were negotiated in its cultural translations. These multi-faceted negotiations were reflected in conceptions and perceptions of ‘place’ and ‘space’. Special attention is given to the sphere of the ‘in-between’ in the context of migration.

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Why is it important?

In the analysis of the two 1940's plays it becomes apparent, how dislocations (political, economic, geographic, social, etc.), which are negotiated due to the migration process, were addressed in popular plays.