This week Albert Evans joins me once again as we go “In Search of Lost Broadway.” Specifically, the 1934 smash-hit musical The Great Waltz, conceived, directed, and lighted by Hassard. Short, with a book by Moss Hart, choreography by Albertina Rasch, based on the Viennese operetta and London hit, Waltzes From Vienna with English lyrics by Desmond Carter, and featuring the music of both Johann Strausses, I and II.

If you missed the first episode in this series, you may want to catch up with that before listening to this one.

Today, because 2025 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Johann Strauss II, I begin by taking a brief survey of his surprisingly substantial legacy on Broadway, including 26 Broadway productions featuring his music between 1882 and 1990.

Then Albert and I begin to explore the long legacy of The Great Waltz, which includes multiple film and stage productions spanning from the 1930s to the 1970s, with a special focus in this episode on the fourth incarnation of this musical: the 1938 MGM film operetta, also titled The Great Waltz.

But is it indeed a movie version of the Broadway show? That's the big question we try to solve.