About the work
Die Dollarprinzessin (The Dollar Princess) is an operetta in three acts by Leo Fall, to a libretto by Alfred Maria Willner and Fritz Grünbaum based on the comedy Die Dollarprinzessinnen by Gatti and Trotha. It premiered on 2 November 1907 at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna with Mizzi Günther as Alice, becoming one of Fall's greatest stage successes.
Plot
The American self-made millionaire John Couder wants to marry his daughter Alice into European aristocracy and raises her accordingly. Alice falls for her secretary, Fredy Wehrburg, who in fact comes from a wealthy family himself and refuses to court her while she insists on her financial superiority. Fredy leaves New York and builds his own fortune in Canada; when Couder and a changed Alice visit him a year later, the two are reconciled.
Cultural significance
Following its Vienna success, the operetta quickly conquered Berlin, London and New York, and remains one of Fall's most widely performed works internationally; in South America it has stayed in the repertoire to this day. The New York Times noted at the time that Fall's music rose above mere entertainment.