 |
| Picture taken from here. |
"The show opens in the 'nightly world of the dead and the dreamers', where Luigi Lucheni is being interrogated by a Judge as to why he has murdered the Empress Elisabeth. Lucheni claims that he did no more than what Elisabeth herself wanted, since all her life Elisabeth has been in love with Death himself - and vice versa. As his witnesses, Lucheni brings back the dead aristocracy of the bygone era and takes us to the past, where he serves as a sarcastic narrator of the events that lead to the transformation of the sweet and innocent Sisi to the revered and infamous Elisabeth, Empress of Austria and Hungary, and her decline through later years until her assassination." (Source here.)
 |
| Maya Hakvoort as Elisabeth and Mate Kamaras as Der Tod/Death. Picture found here. |
Now, it would seem that I have given away the plot, but if you're a fan of European history, specifically the royal houses, then you might already know of the 'romantically' tragic circumstances of the Empress Elisabeth. I should also note that while this musical is not very well known to people in the United States, and other English-speaking countries, I assume, it has been staged in Germany, Japan, Finland, Sweden, Hungary, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and South Korea. As such, it is the most popular musical to come out of Germany. I'm sure it will be translated eventually, though the symbolism used in the musical might need some toning down before it hits up the American audience, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
 |
| Michael Shawn Lewis as Raoul. You're welcome. Picture found here. |
The only reason I found out about this musical is because I have an odd fascination with Michael Shawn Lewis, I saw him onstage as Raoul in "The Phantom of the Opera" in 2005 and he is the most handsome man I have ever seen in person. Anyway, he played the Kaiser, Elisabeth's husband, Franz Joseph I, on the stage in Essen, Germany in 2001. You can see some of that performance here and here. And as an added bonus, here he is playing Rudolf in another charity performance of some sort; he's kind of too tall for that part, but still, gotta love those leather pants!
 |
| (From L to R) Andre Bauer, Maya Hakvoort, and Mate Kamaras. Picture found here. |
Onto the DVD:
The story was already very compelling, but Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay did a masterful job interpreting the history and bringing it to life on the stage. What I liked most was that the characters weren't stick thin portrayals of the real people. They made mistakes, they weren't aware of things and they were very emotional, which I loved. Elisabeth could've easily been just a poor victim of some horrible mental abuse at the hands of her mother-in-law and, to a lesser extent, her foolish husband. But no, they had it so that you knew that she had some flaws. Mind you, they were minor faults in comparison to what she ended up dealing with.
 |
| An example of the set: a picture frame that the actress steps out of. Picture found here. |
The sets and costumes are absolutely gorgeous! Reinhard Heinrich was in charge of the wonderful costumes and Erich Dorfinger was responsible for the sumptuous set designs. I loved the dream world quality to everything.
Now, I don't know much of the story, I've never read about Empress Elisabeth (which I will remedy as soon as possible), but I have read that the Kaiser did in fact love his wife and that shows. But he was in thrall to his mother to such an extent as to let her hurt Sisi. That seems pretty stupid of him, (Spoiler alert) especially since she keeps leaving because of it and he doesn't seem to change his behavior after that. It's a shame he lost so many of his relatives, helped start World War I, and created the foundation for a future Nazi party. It makes me question whether I'm even supposed to like this character, because I do feel very sorry for him. André Bauer played him very well with this certain amount of detached sentiment.
 |
| Serkan Kaya as Luigi Lucheni. Picture found here. |
The narrator, Luigi Lucheni, played by Serkan Kaya, was amazing! I expected not to like him and he was so funny and I connected with him in a way that I couldn't connect with the royals. Another stand out was Johann Ebert who played the young version of Crown Prince Rudolf and he was so cute and adorable! Also, an awesome performer for such a young thing.
Máté Kamarás was fantastic as Der Tod, or the personification of Death. He has such an unusual voice and an incredible stage presence. Cold but sexy, too.
The music is nothing short of amazing! So many great songs: 'Der Letzte Tanz', 'Ich Gehor Nur Mir', 'Elisabeths Schlafzimmer', 'Nichts, Nichts, Gar Nichts', 'Der Schatten Werden Langer', 'Eine Terrasse Bei Cap Martin', and 'An Deck Der Sinkenden Welt'.
If I had one criticism to this dvd, it would be that every time a scene ended, they would cut away to the audience and every time I felt like it was taking me out of the performance a little bit. And I found that annoying. Don't break the spell damnit!
 |
| This gets 5 out of 5 tragic comedy masks! |
I totally recommend this DVD if you enjoy musicals and don't mind just watching and listening to a foreign language because there weren't any subtitle options. The music is fantastic and a feast for the eyes. I hope that one day this is translated into English so I can understand it a bit more clearly. I would like to get a copy of the performance that happened in Essen, Germany in 2001, so I can see my man, as well as Pia Douwes and Jesper Tyden! But until I can scrounge one up, this one is perfect.
UPDATE: If you wanted to watch the whole show, with English subtitles no less, go here.
