Princess Tra-La-La is an operetta in three acts by Leo Ascher (music) and Matthew Woodward (book and lyrics). It is based on the the German-language Hoheit Tanzt Walzer (literally Her Highness Dances the Waltz) by Julius Brammer and Alfred Greewald.
The musical is set in 1850 on the banks of the (blue) Danube River. There, Molly falls in love with Niki, a musician, but they have no future for the lack of money. Plunder, her betrothed, lends them money to open an inn, but the jealous and jilted Plunder schemes to bring on the couple's failure. Princess Marie (aka Tra-La-La) visits the inn incognito and also falls in love with Niki. The Princess gets found out, but her patronage turns the inn's fortune. Sadly, forced by court protocol, the Princess’s hand is promised to a nobleman she does not love. She makes the best of the situation by appointing Niki as music teacher to her younger siblings and making him conductor of her court orchestra.
The German-language production premiered on February 12, 1912 at the Raimund Theater in Vienna. With more than 2,500 performances over the next ten years, it still could not establish itself in the contemporary operetta repertoire. The German language version was simultaneously being performed in New York City at the Irving Place Theatre, on Union Square.
The American production was produced by Andreas Dippel, who had taken Broadway (and the country) by storm with his presentation of The Lilac Domino in 1914. Princess Tra-La-La starred Phyllis Parkington in the title role. The character is actually named Marie, but called “Princess Tra-La-La” because of her affinity for singing.
Another performer of note is Emmy Nicklaus, who sung the role in the German-language production at New York’s Irving Place Theatre and was promised the part if she could learn fluent English. She succeeded and was allowed to reprise the role of Molly.
Princess Tra-La-La had its world premiere in Atlantic City, New Jersey on January 25, 1916 at the Apollo Theatre. The reception was warm, even if the Boardwalk was anything but. Although Atlantic City nearly sunk into the sea under the weight of tourists during the summer months, it was not completely abandoned in the winter. The theatres remained open providing indoor activities in a warm environment, away from the bone-chilling bluster of the Boardwalk. Producers sometimes blamed a show’s reception to the winter weather. In 1927, Sam Harris said aloud “Can you imagine an intelligent person person living here during the winter?”
“An advertisement posted about town reads "Princess Tra-La-La, the last word in Viennese opera." Although perfectly willing to believe that all theatrical, advertising is sincerely written, we trust that this statement is absolutely untrue. Because it would be terrible if "Princess Tra-La-La," heralded since its first performance in Atlantic City as a fit sister to "The Merry Widow," should really be the last word in Viennese opera. Judging from the success of the Dippel excursions into light opera, and the excellence of that type of musical production known as Viennese, the news that the very last word had been said and sung would be an international calamity.”
After Atlantic City, the show visited Washington DC, Philadelphia, Newark, Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, Boston, and Buffalo.
Although most of the reviews were good if not enthusiastic, this critic was irked by some faulty fiddling. Otherwise, he liked it.
Another reviewer praised the music, but had no love for the rest:
“Most of the other elementals were much like the goulash that the Princess consumed” ~ PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
Operetta, off-shoots of grand opera, and pre-cursors to musical comedy, were all the rage, especially if royalty were in the title. In addition to Princess Tra-La-La, there was Princess Pat by Victor Herbert, which ran concurrently. There was also Princess Ida (1884), A Madcap Princess (1904), The Dollar Princess (1910), The Balkan Princess (1911), The Slim Princess (1911), Miss Princess (1912), The Yankee Princess (1922), The Princess Flavia (1925), My Princess (1927), and The Circus Princess (1927), just to name a few.
By the end of May 1916, the Princess had sung her last Tra-La-La - at least in English. There was never a Broadway Tra-La-La, probably due to the fact that it was already running in German on Irving Place. Producer Dippel (above) did, however, make it back to Broadway in 1918 with The Love Mill in 1918. Any resemblance to Victor Herbert’s smash hit The Red Mill was purely coincidental - maybe. The Love Mill stopped grinding after just 52 performances.
In Altoona PA, they rejoiced in the return of their local luminary Billy Rhodes, who had played Hans in Princess Tra-La-La. He was on to bigger and better, assuming the title role in Very Good Eddie. Very good, Billy! Coincidentally, Eddie was playing at the Princess Theatre. History says that Eddie was the best example of the Princess musicals. Tra-la-la!
