The Blue Paradise: History and Key Facts

The Blue Paradise is a musical in a prologue and two acts, with music by Edmund Eysler, Sigmund Romberg and Leo Edwards, lyrics primarily by Herbert Reynolds, and a book by Edgar Smith, based on the operetta Ein Tag im Paradies (A Day in Paradise, 1913) by Eysler with original text by Leo Stein and Bela Jenbach. The story is set in a Viennese cafe, where a man realizes that he cannot recapture his long lost love.

The musical premiered on Broadway in 1915 and enjoyed a successful run. It introduced the song “Auf Wiedersehn”, Romberg's first song hit, originally sung by 18-year-old Vivienne Segal in her professional debut. As in his other early works, Romberg's contributions to this musical are strongly nostalgic, with an emphasis on the waltz as a symbol of the past. The show also includes newer American dance music and embraces the movement towards stage realism.

Source and attribution

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