Ein Erfolg

(A Success) by Paul Lindau.

   Premiered 1874. In this sentimental comedy, a journalist named Fritz Marlow has written a play titled Ein Erfolg, which is scheduled for production at the Court Theater. The director of the Court Theater, Herr Fallbein, has promised Fritz that the play will be an enormous success. Fritz's publisher Dr. Klaus, along with his wife Gertrud, agrees with Herr Fallbein, although they secretly are convinced that Klaus's unfinished comedy Aristocracy and Industry would have been a much better choice. They regard Fritz as a dilettante; after all, his book of poetry titled Impending Darkness sold only 11 copies! In the course of the play, Fritz learns that those 11 copies were all bought by a single patron, a young lady named Eva Drossen, and he sets out to meet this obviously insightful person. However, he has a rival in Baron Fabro, who is courting Eva as well. Fabro knows, as Fritz does not, that Eva is a rich heiress. On the night of Ein Erfolg's premiere, Baron Fabro attempts to sabotage the production by stealing the second act of the prompter's copy. Fritz paces back and forth in the lobby, undone by anxiety. Eva encourages him and tells him not to worry; as the curtain comes down on the second act to thunderous applause inside the theater, they realize they are in love. But Baron Fabro is not finished with his schemes; he attempts to slander Fritz through the wife of a government minister and have his play suppressed. It turns out, though, that the minister's wife is a good friend of Eva's mother, both of whom see through the Baron's schemes.