Introduction

Throughout his career, Weill remained fascinated with the idea of “America,” whether as a foreign country or as a flawed but promising homeland. Using Weill’s engagement with the idea of America and American culture, we can see continuities in Weill’s apparently disjunct career. The fact that Weill valued collaboration on both sides of the Atlantic presents another continuity, but also a problem for scholarly paradigms that, following thinkers like Theodor Adorno, privilege artistic autonomy. This book looks beyond notions of influence and autonomy, and instead employs the idea of cultural transfer to better understand Weill’s transnational and multifaceted career. By looking at Weill in the contexts of the culture and politics of the 1930s and 1940s, it becomes clear that Weill never abandoned his hopes that theatre could provoke and transform audiences.