Recorded history declares that through a combination of knowledge, power, and secrecy, Clusius spurred on the passions of
tulipomania as he transformed the tulip into a much desired and glamorous commodity.
Although he is content to avoid the moral refrain about how markets always crash, many other writers and commentators who have invoked
tulipomania have made it a cautionary tale, usually in an attempt to puncture a market in the grip of a Yukon fever or to question the shibboleth of price equilibrium.
Tulipomania concludes with a few non sequiturs about horticultural history; Dash stubbornly refuses to say anything substantive about finance.
The movie is set during the 17th century "
tulipomania" in Holland when new tulip cultivars were in such demand that a single bulb could command a price of $40,000.
Tulipomania spread to France, where high prices were paid for the best striped tulips, and then to the rest of Europe.
When tulips reached Holland, breeders there continued to experiment,
tulipomania swept the country, and hybrids came to dominate the market.
Tulipomania: The Musical, in a world premiere run at Philadelphia's Arden Theatre Company May 24 July 1, takes a fresh look.
The next piece,
Tulipomania refers to what Allen Greenspan dubbed "irrational exuberance" during the housing boom leading to the burst of the bubble and the calamity of the Great Recession of 2008, not unlike the tulip craze that took place in 17th century Holland.
In Holland, the financial hysteria called
tulipomania reached its peak 100 years later when bulbs changed hands for thousands of pounds each.
You might call her condition "
tulipomania," except such a term already applies to a historical affliction suffered by Dutch gardeners and traders of the 1630s.
It was called
Tulipomania, and people spent huge sums of money on a single bulb.
Events such as the "Popish Plot" hysteria in England or the "
tulipomania" of speculation in worthless Dutch bulbs might fall into this category.