Articles and Essays
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Transatlantic Translations and Transactions: Lars Schmidt and the Implementation of Postwar American Theatre in Europe In 1957, the Swedish weekly magazine Vecko-Journalen ran an extended feature on the publisher and theatre producer Lars Schmidt (1917–2009), who was well on his way to establishing himself as one of Europe’s most influential cultural personalities. In it, the author poetically summarized Schmidt’s achievements in the dissemination of Broadway on his side of the Atlantic: “Lars Schmidt has provided us with The Teahouse...
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Schmidt’s Gothenburg Teaterbåten and Swedish Revue Sweden’s revue tradition dates back to 1845; it began as a year-end review in music and sketches. As the style evolved, political and social satire grew in prominence. Revues, while typically having a theme, do not have a through line.
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International Playwrights' Theater International Playwrights' Theatre (IPT) brought Lars Schmidt together with Broadway producers Roger L. Stevens and Robert Whitehead, American-born London-based producer Toby Rowland, and London's Arts Theatre director Campbell Williams as a producing company. Its intent: to provide young director Peter Hall a position from which to express his artistic direction. In 1956 each of the producers had worked with Tennessee Williams in staging his...
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Tennessee Williams Schmidt acquired The Glass Menagerie, his first Tennessee Williams play, in late 1945. The European premiere in Stockholm followed in February 1946. A mere 24 hours after the Stockholm opening, Gothenburg mounted its own production. Due in great part to Schmidt's enthusiasm for Williams' works, his plays were widely produced in Sweden; most of those written between 1946 and 1962 had their European premieres...
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My Fair Lady Schmidt's development as a producer of American musicals culminated in the eight-year run of My Fair Lady (MFL) across European stages. Between 1959-1967 Schmidt produced twenty-two productions of MFL in nine countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Holland, Italy, Norway, Sweden). In 1960-1963 alone MFL played in twelve cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Brussels, Antwerp, West Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Milan, Rome, and Vienna).
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Bringing Rodgers and Hammerstein to Scandinavia Schmidt obtained the Nordic rights to Rodgers and Hammerstein's (R&H) Oklahoma!, Carousel, and Allegro on his 1948 New York play-buying spree. He played a large role in bringing these musicals to the stage transforming himself from licensor to producer in the process. Schmidt arranged for translations (which became the property of the American authors), coordinated delivery of musical scores and parts to the theaters,...
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Schmidt and Playwrights Schmidt worked closely with playwrights throughout his career by developing comfortable relationships with them through gifts, invitations to his home, and supportive, enthusiastic readings of their work. He brought both new and established playwrights from around the world to Nordic stages. Among those he courted were Irish master Sean O’Casey, English tyro Christopher Fry and the experienced Peter Ustinov, and French comic master Marcel...
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