Es liegt in der Luft
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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There's something in the air called objectivity. --"Es liegt in der Luft" (1928), translation from Art and Politics in the Weimar Period: The New Sobriety, 1917-1933 (1978) by John Willett |
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Es liegt in der Luft (Ein Spiel im Warenhaus, usually translated in English as "There's something in the air") is a revue written by Marcellus Schiffer and composed by Mischa Spoliansky. It premiered on May 15, 1928 in the Komödie am Kurfürstendamm in Berlin, directed by Robert Forster-Larrinaga.
The action takes place in a department store, metaphor for the labyrinth of life, in which there seems to be almost everything from the toy department to the lost and found to the exchange counter.
Reception
The piece was a new form of sharply humorous musical theatre that combined elements of cabaret and of revue. Their first major production, "Es liegt in der Luft" ("It's in the air") was an instant hit with German audiences. It can be seen as Germany's first musical, although the term was not used in Germany at this time, and the work was generally perceived as a revue. It was a stage breakthrough in other ways, too. Margo Lion starred alongside her younger friend, not yet famous, Marlene Dietrich. One of the highlights was the duet which the two sang together "Wenn die beste Freundin mit der besten Freundin". From now on Schiffer was much in demand as a writer of musical cuplés in Weimar Germany.
