Since Elisabeth opened again in Vienna in October, I've wanted to see it, but it's very difficult to get tickets. I did, however, see it twice in December; on the 8th sitting stage left in one of the boxes, with very restricted view (i.e. I only saw half of the stage and, as it is a deep proscenium stage, not very much of what was happening in the background. The second time, on December 16th, I had a much better overview. We sat (actually stood, otherwise we wouldn't have seen everything) in the 3rd circle, last row.

As the cast list was approximately the same for both performances, I'll throw the reviews together and just comment on differences when necessary; cast list can be found at the end of the review.

Elisabeth was performed both times by Maya Hakvoort and she is, both in terms of interpretation and intonation, the best I've come across. She is thoroughly convincing and exquisitely original. When she sings Ich Gehoer Nur Mir she sends shivers down my spine. Her voice is mellow and pleasant and she manages to hit even the highest notes without sounding shrill. Her presence on stage is very good and her interactions with Death are stunning. The sensuality and longing in their relationship is evident in Maya's every gesture and look, every shying away. She is angry, pained, and hurt without undue pathos and even her portrayal of young Sisi (at age 15) is convincing -- she is sweet and girlish, but not in an overdone way, so that she seems as natural a girl as she does a grown, even an aged woman. I find that especially good -- she can make me see the character on stage, not herself playing a role. That is rare imo.

Death was interpreted by Máté Kamarás, a Hungarian performer both times. While his voice is not as smooth and his delivery of the notes not always as skilfully schooled as Uwe Kroeger's (original Death, 1992), I liked the complete picture better. Uwe was cold, unapproachable and though compelling, he didn't convince me in his passion for Elisabeth.

Máté, on the other hand, is strong, perhaps edgy at times, yet his intonation and the emotion he puts in his voice are absolutely amazing. He seduces with every word, he is involved in the affair with Elisabeth, one can *feel* he desires her. This passionate interpretation worked especially well in the slower passages, where Máté's mellow voice came out best, as well as his ability to vary inflection and loudness very subtly. As he speaks German, he could work with every single word and give it a special meaning, which was just gorgeous. One of my favourite songs, however, isn't his. Der Letzte Tanz lives from the soft, lilting quality Máté is so good at delivering, but the last few lines hurt. Máté tried for a falsetto which didn't quite end up as it was supposed to and was painful to my ears; it would have worked if he were a rock singer screaming about on stage -- it did *not* work for Death in this instance.

What I liked, was how Máté moved during that song though; he is immensely energetic, racing up the ramp, grabbing the ropes on the side and turning around, bouncing himself off before running back down the ramp. One thing I also liked particularly was how Death flung Elisabeth to the ground and she shied away as he knelt in front of and bent over her. It was a not-quite-innocent movement he made towards her along with the line "the last dance belongs only to me" it was wonderful.

'Death and Rudolf (Elisabeth's son, the heir to the throne)':

Mama, Wo Bist Du is definitely *not* one of my favourite songs, even though I like the lyrics. I find the high, shrill voice of the boy(s) performing as child-Rudolf very disturbing. The only good performance imo (due to the boy's mellow voice) is on the Dutch recording of the musical. However, as this song sets the scene for Death's further dealings with Rudolf, it is quite interesting. There is a bed set out (a section of a dilapidated golden coach that is folded onto the stage; it is also where adult-Rudolf meets Death later on) and the boy is lonely and afraid, only 'Todesengel' (1) sitting around in the shadows. The lighting is gloomy, with a blue touch, a tad ghostly. About half-way into the song, Death approaches the boy, offering him friendship. Máté does an excellent job -- he is at once compelling and persuasive, but keeps a subtle distance between himself and the boy, even when he clings to him and he carries him. It gives the scene a tension and a foreboding darkness.

The next time Rudolf and Death meet is during Die Schatten Werden Laenger, which is one of my favourite songs. Death comes on stage with a black silk cloth and puts it across his lap as he sits down on the bed-coach. Lucheni thrusts Rudolf onstage, he stumbles forward and sinks to his knees before Death, holding on to his legs like a scared, little boy. Death is, again, subtly distant. He hardly looks at Rudolf at first, but when his seduction begins, he touches him on the shoulder, drawing him close. There is a sensuality about this, until Death drags Rudolf to the front of the stage for the refrain, when he moves the prince's body with the force of his own, like a doll, controlling Rudolf's movements.

The Mayerling-Walzer was wonderfully done. The first 'Todesengel' (1) held out a pistol, which Rudolf tried to grab, then the ľ waltz step started and the angels (all wore greenish silk dresses, including the guys) kept dodging him, pushing the pistol to and fro on the floor. This was also the most seamlessly fluid piece of choreography in the whole musical (apart from the waltz at the wedding). The angels then stood in a diagonal line from stage right back to stage left, passing the pistol on with Rudolf circling around them. The pistol reached Death, who stood at the end of the line, also attired in a silk dress. This is, I believe, to symbolise Mary Vetsera, the young lover Rudolf committed suicide with. Rudolf flung his arms around Death's neck (just as Elisabeth does at the end of the musical) and was dragged to the front of the stage, where he bent him backwards and helped him put the pistol to his head. Then he kissed him on the lips, just moments before the shot rang out.

I can't remember Uwe Kroeger kissing Rudolf in 1992 and I'm pretty sure I would have remembered. In any case, it was a superb bit of staging as it perfectly fitted with Death's sensuality, his seductiveness, and also put the kiss he "kills" Elisabeth with at the end in the perspective of the grander scheme of things. As the Prologue indicates: "everyone dances with Death". The parallels drawn between Rudolf's and Elisabeth's dealings with Death was particularly good, because it put a subtle emphasis on how similar they were in their personalities; only that Elisabeth withstood Death's seduction longer than her son.

Jesper Tydén is a nice Rudolf, rather quiet, with a good, cultured voice that is splendid to listen to, although I missed intonation, especially in Wenn Ich Dein Spiegel Waer. I found his stage presence to be lacking a bit, he was too not-there, too easily overlooked.

One other song that I enjoy very much (and where the staging is very original imo) is Die Froehliche Apokalypse. Austrian intellectuals sit reading papers and talking in the coffee houses (a tableau of the famed Austrian "coffee house culture"). Their tables are Autodrom i.e. motor-racing circuit (2) carts that they drive themselves. The male 'Todesengel' (1) -- wearing bowler hats -- have joined them and Lucheni serves as waiter. Serkan Kaya was particularly funny in that piece; he kept trying to evade being run over by the carts.

Hass is a song I'm not particularly fond of. It is *very* uncomfortable and a hush falls over the audience. It is a parade of nationalists who, in very clear words, make the Jewish population responsible for all mishaps. The ensemble all wear masks, their distorted faces eerily blending in with jerky marching across the stage in formations. They wave around banners with swastikas and the air becomes very charged with a foreboding darkness. It is a stab into a history that Austria is, like Germany, still very uncomfortable with. Imo the song is out of place though -- it is the only overt political argument in the whole musical. And it is, strictly speaking, *not* needed to convey an atmosphere; it does not lead up to anything either. The discussion Franz Joseph and Rudolf had is neither illuminated nor made more pressing by this piece. It is shocking, yes. It is something a lot of people would rather have forgotten. Fine. But it doesn't fit in the musical.

Lucheni: Serkan Kaya (08/12). His Italian is abominably un-Italian, but his inflection is great and I loved his interpretation, especially the way he did Kitsch. He had a very original intonation and was thoroughly enjoyable in the role. Bjoern Breckheimer (understudy; 16/12). While he had a perfect Italian accent, I thought his voice wasn't as good as Serkan's, nor was his interpretation as exciting. I did, however, like seeing him, as he didn't copy Serkan, but had a unique way of looking at the role.

Erzherzogin Sophie (Lenneke Willemsen): I thought she was far too young for the part, but brilliant in its execution. I remember that I didn't like Else Ludwig too much in 1992, but Lenneke was excellent. She was proud, strong, with an easy, commanding presence on stage and I liked her voice, the clipped, though not harshly abrupt way she spoke. I rather had the feeling she was brief, to the point, and genuine. Tremendously enjoyable to watch. Bellaria is a very short piece, centered on Sophie singing alone on stage, telling her son she was only hard and strong because she had to be. Lenneke doesn't need to make her voice wobbly, she is intense and haunting in the poignancy of her delivery. Exquisite.

Franz Josef: Robert D. Marx (understudy 08/12) brilliant as old man in Boote In Der Nacht, at any other time too soft, too quiet, without a genuinely intriguing stage presence. André Bauer, on the other hand (16/12), has a solid stage presence and a strong voice. His efforts to portray the old emperor were too forced though, they came across as more ridiculing than real.

Herzogin Ludovika/Frau Wolf: Susanna Panzner (08/12). She is, like Lenneke as Sophie, too young for the role of Ludovika imo, but did great. Jacqueline Braun (understudy 16/12) was fantastic, both in terms of voice and interpretation. Her bio pic makes me think she is not much older than Susanna, yet she got Ludovika's "age" across better, in that she did *not* look like Elisabeth's and Helene's sister ;D.

I couldn't help noticing Lukas Permanschlager, who appeared in Starmania (the Austrian version of the likes of the likes of Fame Academy) and dedicated ľ of his biography to the fact that he had. I hadn't had a favourable opinion of him as a person during that TV thing, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised by his performance as a Hungarian nobleman and others. His voice is nice enough, if a bit soft, and his antics and mimics are not overdone and funny. I can't imagine him as Rudolf though, the role he understudies.

Now, to the 'Todesengel', whom I happen to adore. Most of them had, at one point, been in CATS (surprise ;D), though I am convinced they don't need trained dancers for the choreography. However, I love watching them -- each one wears either a gold, red, or silver wing (they take them off only in certain scenes e.g. when they sit around Rudolf's bed), I think all on the left side. They wave the wings about and they also use them for tableaux, for example when Death turns up at Elisabeth's wedding in the great ball room. The angels rise from beneath the stage, framing Death with their wings. Beautiful. Btw: all angels as well as Death are blonde, with shoulder-length hair.

Ákos Tihanyi and Giuliano Mercoli (last seen as Pouncival in CATS Stuttgart) are two of the male angels; they are also particularly easy to recognise for me. Giuliano is the angel who puts the wedding veil on Elisabeth's head (he first waves it about dramatically in the air).

The wedding is a scene in which I particularly like the staging. First, we have Elisabeth and Franz Josef singing about their love (in an unfortunately kitschy red gondola thing that is supposed to be one of the boxes on the Riesenrad in Vienna). At the end of the song, they fall to the ground in the middle of the stage, as if asleep. The ramp comes into view, with two angels holding out and letting fall gauzy white mantels. These cover Franz Josef and Elisabeth like shrouds and are later put onto their shoulders by two other angels (the third then puts the veil on Elisabeth's head) and the three carry the train as bride and groom take hands to walk towards the priest.

I'm not at all happy with the choreography, in that I think there is precious little of what you might call "dance" (apart from waltzing of course). The movements are rash, harsh, and abrupt. I have read somewhere that this is due to the fact that everyone is supposed to be a marionette (of Death, I presume, or, as my friend has indicated, of the monarchy). Well, this explanation is certainly good, but it isn't actually something I'd come up with on my own (and I have lots of imagination ;D), and as such I believe it doesn't work properly.

(1) Angel(s) of Death
(2) I doubt that this is the correct translation for 'Autodrom' though this is the only one my dictionary gives. What is meant are little carts, akin to those at motor-racing courses, which are driven across a surface and are connected to the ceiling above them to get their supply of electricity. They have a padding of tires along their outer edge, because the whole fun of Autodrom is that you keep bumping into other drivers. Buckling in is therefore a *very* good idea ;D.

Cast List (Dec 8/Dec 16)

Elisabeth (Empress of Austria) … Maya Hakvoort
Luigi Lucheni (Italian anarchist, Elisabeth's murderer) … Serkan Kaya/Bjoern Breckheimer
Death (Elisabeth's lover) ... Máté Kamarás
Emperor Franz Joseph (Elisabeth's husband) … Robert D. Marx/André Bauer
Erzherzogin Sophie (Franz Joseph's mother, Elisabeth's mother-in-law) ... Lenneke Willemsen
Erzherzog Rudolf (Elisabeth's son) ... Jesper Tydén
Rudolf as a boy (4 different boys, I think we saw Max Montocchio and Samuel Velissaris)
Herzog Max of Bavaria (Elisabeth's father) … Dennis Kozeluh
Herzogin Ludovika (Elisabeth's mother) ... Susanna Panzner/Jaqueline Braun

'Todesengel' (1): Melanie Gemeiner, Kevin Hudson, Claudia Kraxner, Giuliano Mercoli, Rita Sereinig, Ákos Tihanyi
Swings: Kathleen Bauer, Silke Braas, Rob Fowler, Karsten Kammeier, Liane Katie Maynard, Roman Straka, Suzan Zeichner

Ensemble (I omit their roles, mainly because the names won't mean anything to people not familiar with Austrian history):
Sigrid Brandstetter, Jacqueline Braun, Katharina Dorian, Lisette Groot, Nadine Hammer, Kerstin Ibald, Ruth Kraus, Susanna Panzner, Tina Schoeltzke Bjoern Breckheimer, Ferdinand Delosch, Noud Hell, Robert D. Marx, Lukas Permanschlager, Jochem Feste Roozemond, Steven Seale, Henrik Sehnert