graefineszterhazy

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Elisabeth Szeged 2009

Every year there is an open-air theatre festival in Szeged, Hungary. Elisabeth has been there three times - in 1996, 2009 and 2023.

The 2009 version is probably the least known of them, also there's no video. Recently I found the cast, all the actors are from the Budapesti Operettszínház production.

Elisabeth - Kata Janza / Nikolett Füredi

Der Tod - Szilveszter P. Szabó / Zsolt Homonnay

Luigi Lucheni - Tamás Földes / Tamás Száraz

Franz Joseph - Zoltán Bereczki / Ádám Bálint

Sophie - Piroska Molnár / Veronika Nádasi

Rudolf - Attila Dolhai

Ludovika/Frau Wolf - Anikó Felföldi

Max - Péter Marik

Little Rudolf - Márk Mohácsi

Gräfin Eszterházy - Ildikó Sz. Nagy

Graf Grünne - Lajos Csuha

Gräfin Sztáray - Bea Nagy

Rauscher - Csaba Jantyik

Helene - Zsuzsa Ullmann

Ildikó Sz. Nagy (Gräfin Eszterházy), Nikolett Füredi (Elisabeth), Piroska Molnár (Sophie)

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Elisabeth Essen 2002

One of the most famous recorded versions of Elisabeth the musical is the proshot from 13th January 2002. It was recorded in occasion of Pia Douwes' derniere. The cast was very good but most of the watchers don't know the actors' names because the cast wasn't attached to the video at any point.

That means I needed to play detective. And I think I was successful! Here's the cast I discovered:

Elisabeth - Pia Douwes

Der Tod - Uwe Kröger

Lucheni - Carsten Lepper

Franz Joseph - André Bauer

Sophie - Juliana Albrecht

Rudolf - Jesper Tydén

Ludovika - Sabine Maria Reiß

Max - Claus Dam

Gräfin Eszterházy - Nathalie Kleeberger

Juliana Albrecht (Erstbesetzung Gräfin Eszterházy) played Sophie here and Gräfin Eszterházy was played by swing Nathalie Kleeberger.

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Gräfin Eszterházy (Elisabeth)

As you can have guessed by my username, Gräfin Eszterházy is one my favourite musical characters. The character isn't historically accurate, because she is Elisabeth's main lady in waiting almost the whole musical, but real Sisi had more of them during her life.

Sophie Eszterházy-Liechtenstein was Sisi's lady in waiting in 1854-1862. She was Sisi's first lady in waiting and the Empress didn't choose her herself. It is said that they didn't have a good relationship, because Gräfin Sophie was much older than Empress Sisi.

In the musical Sophie Eszterházy agrees with Archduchess Sophie, but also helps young Elisabeth. Her character is very interesting, but so underrated.

I tried to find all the actresses that played Gräfin Eszterházy, but since she isn't always considered as main character (which she should), there aren't records about all the actresses. I didn't find all the alternates and swings yet, so here you have only the Erstbesetzung for most of the productions.

German

Vienna 1992 - Isabella Fritdum

Vienna 2003 - Kerstin Ibald

Vienna 2012 - Caroline Sommer

Thun 2006 - Roberta Valentini

Essen 2001 - Juliana Albrecht

Stuttgart 2005 - Maike Switzer

Berlin 2008 - Esther Hehl

German tour 2008 - Esther Hehl

German tour 2011 - Ann Christin Elverum

German tour 2015 - Angelina Arnold

Concert 2019 -

Concert 2022 - Steffi Irmen

Dutch

Scheveningen 1999 - Marleen van der Loo

Antwerp 2009 - Anneke van Hooff

Concert 2017 - Madeleine Sie

Concert 2018 -

Hungarian

Szeged 1996 - Ildikó Sz. Nagy

Miskolc 2000 - Erika Eperjesi

Budapest 2002 - Ildikó Sz. Nagy

Budapest 2007 - Ildikó Sz. Nagy

Baja 2014 - Ildikó Sz. Nagy

Győr 2019 - Ildikó Wolf

Kecskemét 2021 - Gabriella Schupp

Photo: Ildikó Sz. Nagy as Gräfin Eszterházy and Kata Janza as Elisabeth, Baja 2014 (source: Kata Janza's Facebook)