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‘Tulipomania’ Musical Gets World Premiere Tonight in Philadelphia

In a nutshell: Holland, in the mid-1630s, basically lost its collective mind over tulips. The craze might not have been quite as all-encompassing as originally thought; some historians now suggest that much of the surviving contemporary reportage was little more than propaganda, and, since very little real money changed hands, there wasn’t much economic fallout from the bubble, ultimately. Still, sales like 40 bulbs for 100,000 florins were recorded (i.e., more than a million Euros for forty tulip bulbs) and all in all it seems to have been a sprightly time for all involved, especially considering Holland was in the grip of both the Plague and the Thirty Years’ War at the time, so why not go agog over pretty flowers if real life is so punishing? Makes sense to us, and might serve to explain, a little, why we keep getting ourselves caught up in bubbles, even now. Philly’s Arden Theatre Company premieres its new cross-generational musical about the tulip craze tonight on the F. Otto Haas Stage; it runs through July 1. (FULL ARTICLE: Kenneth Jones, Playbill)