Line #9 GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff/Theatre


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2	* In an OlderThanFeudalism example, Plutarch writes that once the Athenian expedition to Sicily failed, many of the captives were released for teaching the locals what they could remember from their beloved Creator/{{Euripides}}.
3	* Creator/WilliamShakespeare:
4	** Shakespeare was a well-regarded dramatist in England during his time and after, but it was in early 19th-century Germany that his reputation truly took flight, where the intellectuals of German {{Romanticism}} discovered and fell in love with his works. August Wilhelm Schlegel's German-language translations of Shakespeare's corpus are now considered German classics in their own right, much like Alexander Pope's English-language translations of {{Creator/Homer}} or the King James Version of the Literature/TheBible.[[note]] In his notes to ''Heartbreak House'', George Bernard Shaw noted that at the time (i. e. before and during World War One), Germans took their Shakespeare more serious than the British. The relevant section is headlined: "Unser Shakespeare".[[/note]] ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' in particular was adopted by German theatergoers as capturing the national character better than a lot of the country's native plays; the 19th Century poet Ferdinand Freiligrath once proclaimed that "''Hamlet'' is Germany" to satirize the country's uncertainty about its position in modern Europe, a comparison often revived in postwar Germany.
5	** Similarly: by some metrics, Shakespeare is just as popular (if not moreso) in the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates than in his native England. Case in point: the world's largest collection of printed Shakespeare works (the Folger Shakespeare Library) is in Washington, DC, one of the most famous theatrical festivals devoted to his plays ("Shakespeare in the Park") is held in New York, an American-born actor (Sam Wanamaker) was largely responsible for spearheading the effort to reconstruct the Globe Theatre, and two of the most influential Shakespeare scholars in history (Stephen Greenblatt and Harold Bloom) were American professors who taught at Harvard and Yale, respectively. His plays have also been frequently performed on American stages for as long as American theatre has existed, and a pretty considerable number of classic American films and plays (''Theatre/WestSideStory'', ''Film/ForbiddenPlanet'', ''Film/TenThingsIHateAboutYou'', ''Film/MyOwnPrivateIdaho'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King\|1994}}'', just to name a few) have been inspired by Shakespeare plays.
6	** Shakespeare became [[https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/perspective/shakespeare-japan.aspx extremely popular]] in Japan after the complete works were translated there in 1928. It's suggested that the tragedies based on complicated family dynamics and dynastic struggles resonate with Japanese culture. Notably, Creator/AkiraKurosawa based several films based on Shakespeare's tragedies (''Film/ThroneOfBlood'', ''Film/TheBadSleepWell'', ''Film/{{Ran}}''), and stage productions of his plays are perennially popular. That said, a lot of Japanese productions localize the original text to accommodate cultural differences and avoid audience misunderstandings.
7	* Creator/ArthurMiller:
8	** ''Theatre/DeathOfASalesman'', the "greatest American play", is also extremely popular in, of all countries, ''China''. No, not because it's a criticism of capitalism and UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream, but because of its intense focus on father-son relationships.
9	** ''Theatre/TheCrucible'' is also popular in China, especially with the the generation that lived through the Cultural Revolution. Arthur Miller wrote that he had learned to expect to hear that it was being performed in countries where a dangerously authoritarian administration either [[DayOfTheJackboot seemed to be on its way]] or had just been overthrown.
10	* ''Theatre/AManForAllSeasons'' was received in its initial West End run as a good, well-acted but not terribly groundbreaking English history play. When it transferred to Broadway a year later, American critics immediately embraced it as one of the greatest plays of the postwar era. Creator/RobertBolt thought that American viewers viewed his play primarily about a man of conscience standing up for his principles; he noted that many Broadway critics invoked the RedScare and similar works like ''The Crucible'' which wouldn't necessarily have occurred to British audiences, who viewed Sir Thomas More primarily as an historical figure.
11	* ''Theatre/LesMiserables'' is wildly popular in Japan, with a total of six Japanese-language cast recordings and has been running sporadically in Tokyo for over 20 years. Lampshaded in the game ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', where posters of the play 'Loveless' that resemble the iconic Cosette poster are part of the dour backdrops of Midgar. There is even a ''[[http://lesmisgame.com/arm_joe.html doujin fighting game]]'' based on ''Les Miserables''.
12	* Several big spectacle musicals like ''Les Mis'' have had stagings in other countries and have become very popular in some of them.
13	** ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera''. In Hungary and Poland, the versions are not "clones" of the original English version, as in they have all-new set and costume design and other elements while retaining the songs and story. They have become popular enough that the creative teams are given new free rein.
14	** ''Theatre/TheLionKing'' had its tenth anniversary celebration in Johannesburg in 2007, and ran for about a year there.
15	* ''Theatre/{{Fiddler on the Roof}}'' is also extremely popular in Japan, probably because its main theme--exploring the trade-off between tradition and modernity--is a major cultural issue there.
16	-->'''Joseph Stein, producer of the American version:''' I was very nervous about how it would be received in a completely foreign environment. I got there during the rehearsal period, and the Japanese producer asked me, "Do they understand this show in America?" And I said, "Yes, of course, we wrote it for America. Why do you ask?" And he said, "Because it’s so Japanese."
17	* The productions of Creator/CirqueDuSoleil are much-loved in its home country of Canada, and they have traveled well worldwide (due in part to being on the [[Main/SlidingScaleOfVisualsVersusDialogue visual side]]). That said, Japan deserves special mention. Dating back to their arrival with the country-specific tour ''Fascination'' in 1992 (an arena-based compilation of acts for Cirque's previous shows ''Le Cirque Reinvente'' and ''Nouvelle Experience''), their first outside of North America to succeed, it's proven extremely popular there. In 2008, it became only the second country outside of the U.S. to get a permanent Cirque show, ''[=ZED=]'', at the Tokyo Disneyland resort (it closed at the end of 2011, but that was due to a tourism slowdown post-earthquake/tsunami). This affection has even reached anime via the [[Anime/KaleidoStar Kaleido Stage]].
18	* ''Theatre/StarlightExpress'' is a more obscure entry in Creator/AndrewLloydWebber's body of work, yet it's been running continuously in Germany since 1988. They specially built a theatre just for ''Starlight Express'' in Bochum, including race tracks on three levels on stage as well as two looping through the audience. It would be really weird to stage anything else there.
19	* In-universe example: a play written by the protagonist of the Israeli sitcom ''Life Ain't All'' and stolen from him (he didn’t care for it much) became very successful in Hungary.
20	* ''Theatre/DinnerForOne'' is a British {{vaudeville}}, which is obscure at best in the United Kingdom, where it has not been shown on TV even once, but a CultClassic in many European countries, starting with Germany where it has been aired by just about every PBS station each New Year's Eve since 1972.
21	** It is a huge New Year's tradition in Sweden as well.
22	* ''Our American Cousin'' has Lord Dundreary, who is both this ''and'' an EnsembleDarkhorse. His popularity in America was due to him being an exaggerated British stereotype in a play that was mocking Americans.
23	* ''La muette de Portici'' has somewhat of a following in its native France, as it was the TropeNamer of Grand Opera, but is hardly well-known there outside of opera enthusiasts. In Belgium, it is one of the most recognizable operas ever, as it is taught in history classes as being one of the reasons why Belgians wanted to become independent.
24	* ''Theatre/{{Elisabeth}}'' is beloved in Japan, to the point that Creator/TakarazukaRevue stages one performance (with different troupes) every year, each of which gets their own DVD. The popularity can be attributed to Zuka emphasizing the romantic angle between Death and Elisabeth, the signature sparkly aesthetic and LighterAndSofter direction, and the array of beautiful actresses (Death is typically the main attraction with his androgynous beauty, the IJustWantToBeLoved trope being added to his motivation, and his interactions with Crown Prince Rudolf.) Toho also does mixed-genders performances that are TruerToTheText [[note]]including ''Hass'', which is basically early antisemitism in song form[[/note]].
25	* ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'', despite its very American focus, has become quite popular worldwide (largely in part due to its cast recording, which is almost treated as a concept album in its own right). The United Kingdom was the first other country to have their own production, which was then promptly nominated for a record-breaking thirteen Olivier Awards (it won seven -- ironically, while most were parallels to the Tonys the show won, the Best Supporting Actor award went not to the actor who played Jefferson, but to the one who played King George III!). It's also become quite popular in Latin America, due to the show's embrace of immigrants' roles in shaping America and Creator/LinManuelMiranda's proudly flaunting his Latino heritage. This was helped by Lin returning to the role of Alexander Hamilton after three years for a limited run in Puerto Rico.
26	* Similarly, although ''Theatre/SixTheMusical'' is about a very British subject (the six wives of UsefulNotes/HenryVIII), it developed a giant fanbase in the USA who appreciated its contemporary pop leanings and focus on female empowerment. A highly-anticipated Broadway run was planned to open March 12, 2020, the very night the COVID-19 pandemic closed Broadway theatres for eighteen months. When the show finally opened in Fall 2021, the show was immensely popular, with a live cast album recorded on opening night.
27	* ''Theatre/IAmMyOwnWife'': InUniverse and with the trope maker. Charlotte, a trans icon in Germany, appears on a cheesy daytime celebrity chat show. At the end, the chat show host says "We'll be back after a short break, with American singing sensation David Hasselhoff."

Context GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff / Theatre