The Merry Widow de Franz Lehar, opérette européenne (Allemagne), est l’un des plus grands succès des années 1900 à Londres et à Broadway où elle est la cinquième plus longue série du théâtre musical de la décennie. Sa production à Broadway est la plus influente de son époque et a profondément modifié l'évolution du théâtre musical américain.
During 1906, as Die Lustige Witwe won ovations in most of Austria's provincial theatres, it also began to travel across central Europe:
•Hamburg - Neues Operetten-Theater, 3/3/1906
•Berlin - Berliner Theater, 5/1/1906
•Budapest - (A vig Ozvegy) Magyar Szinhaz, 11/27/1906
German speaking countries used the original text, and the Hungarian translation (A vig ozvegy) kept the original plot and song order. But despite its popularity, Lehar's Lustige Witwe was doomed to suffer revisions as it swept the world. English and French translators added new songs, changed character names, and even tweaked some plot points. Translations were popping up everywhere. On a Saturday in 1907, Buenos Aires had no less than five productions, each in a different language, giving two performances a piece.