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[misshudson]

YES I GOT TICKETS TO SEE IT TWO TIMES AND I NEVER DO THAT

GUYS GUYS HAVE YOU NOTICED??!?!?!?!

ELISABETH IS COMING TO THEATRES IN THE NETHERLANDS!!! REAL, ACTUAL ELISABETH COMEBACK TO THE STAGE NOT THE HALF-BAKED VIENNESE CONCERT!!! AND OMG PIA IS PLAYING!!!!!!

[misshudson]

australia going from a ballad in their first year to a rock band playing under a uv light with a car on stage for no apparent reason:

[misshudson]

Idc what yall say Belgium’s song is a bop. It’s for the girls and gays

[misshudson]

Fixed it

[misshudson]

I present these two absolute gems my friend found on twitter.

[misshudson]

The five horsemen of Eurovision

[misshudson]

Kitsch and it's importance in the design of Elisabeth

Why does the staging and approach in the recent German-language productions fail where the original and 1st revival succeeded? It all has to do with a concept I lovingly like to call "self-aware kitschiness" (and which I would like to explore further in my professional work later on).

But first of all: what can be understood under the word kitsch? When we think of kitsch, we immediately see a lot of color, ornamentation, "outdated" styles, mild historical influence and the subtext of a distaste and an avoidance for the object we descripe as "kitsch". It's eclectic, but not in a good way in the subtext. But, when we take on kitsch as a designer, we can find out that it has amazing story telling potential and value if used well.

The original was opulent and outlandish, but it was aware of the irony the settings provide. The set is composed of purposefully used kitschy stylistic elements, be it in the historic or modern direction. On that stage, in the span of over 2 hours, we see unnaturally colorful neon lights meet historic settings and items and costumes of historical styles are covered in lamé and sequins. The show revels in it's outside opulence while showing the mirror on our present day outlook on the subject at hand. After all, when an average person is told to visualize something from the time of Elisabeth's life, they immediately think of the luxury, the shimmering gilding of the Hofburg and Schonbrunn, the Winterhalter portrait and the Romy Schneider movies. All, arguably, very sugar-coated and harmlessly romanticized.

But, as we all know, Elisabeth das musical is in the first place and deep down NOT a romance. Sure, the relationship of Elisabeth with Der Tod could be from some angles and interpretations be viewed as love, but this is first and foremost the story of a woman too complex for her antiquated world fighting her internal struggles and trying to find her place in a society that doesn't understand her.

The central theme of the show's context is personal freedom, but the secondary theme is the aforementioned kitsch, which has hidden away all the difficulties, all the hardships, wrongs and bad decisions in favor of something palatable for the general public in order to sell well. But, by kitsch being such an intergal part in the design, we as an audience can see through the artifice, see just how it works and it's up to us to do nothing and accept it, laugh at it or condemn it.

The show in it's original form wasn't afraid to critique itself and it's characters while nodding along with the viewer. In the end, it is Lucheni who tells this story and in his words, he spares no one, even though there are hints of him purposefully warping the story in his favor. This is the trial to pardon his soul after all. Yet, as soon as we see Lucheni realize there is no reason to not tell the harsh truth, since there is no reason to excuse his crime, the kitsch and opulence disappear in tune of the reprise of the song of the same name. We only see harsh dark sets on rather realistic backdrops, illuminated by starkly white lights. It's cold, but distinctly real. From that point on, it's as if we awake into an entirely new world, which has replaced the world as we knew it so far, much like what the characters on stage might have experienced after Rodolf's death and with the decline of the monarchy. It's only a natural progression the story and it's characters make.

That's why when the show started to lean into "historically more realistic" visuals (starting with the 2001 Essen production, which was the first to use the Yan Tax costume designs and not the ones by Reinhard Heinrich + started using more concrete, less artistically stylized sets), it started to lose it's depth. Don't get me wrong, the Essen production did look good, but it didn't have quite as much contextual punch to it. The visuals were appealing, but they missed that kitschy edge, that made the original staging such a storytelling tour-de-force on a visual level alone. Now, from the outside, the show looked more like a stage adaptation of the Romy Schneider movies. Nice to look at, but not offering as much food for thought as the original.

And then came the era of the productions scaling down on their sets, with the 2nd revival at first seemingly mostly doing the remaining 1st revival sets (since there are promo pictures of them in the new costumes and the old sets), but they phased them out in favor of this harsh backdrop, LCD screens and a turntable. All the remaining set pieces are minimally detailed, cold and unfeeling, which seems to me like a major visual clash with them keeping on using the romaticised historical Yan Tax costumes (except for Der Tod, but I think I already talked enough about that). And at that, it feels empty and flat. Both figuratively and visually.

TLDR: For a production of Elisabeth to work design wise, you need for it to be kitschy in a self-aware way, otherwise it won't work as well.

[misshudson]

so this is my attempt at tracking all the melodies in Elisabeth.. i noticed that i missed a few but I’m too lazy to change it right now

sadly this doesn’t completely show what kind of parallels all of these create because it doesn’t show who sings them. maybe I’ll work on that some time?

[misshudson]

@iamapersonlikeyou-blog I saw your post and I believe this is the Leitmotif chart you're looking for!

I remember seeing a picture on here connecting different songs in Elisabeth together that have correspoding melodies. However, I cannot find it anymore. Does someone have the picture or a overview for themselves? 

[misshudson]

I just watched a RetJ compilation video on yt by the name "roméo et juliette being awesome in 5 different languages for 24 minutes and 40 seconds" and I'm so glad I did, because I think I have found the best phrase to describe hungarian musical theatre

[misshudson]

Rant/Roast/Personal thoughts on the 2022 Schönbrunn concert version of Elisabeth das musical

So, inspired by the insightful video on this topic by fellow content creator @fitzrove , I decided to write down all my impulsive thoughts while watching this production, since Fitz's video will probably be the only bearable way I will watch the concert version.

Disclaimer: any criticism in the following list isn't meant as a direct criticism of the actors, they are just on that stage doing their job. But this is mainly a criticism of the creative team behind the production (i.e. director, choreographer, designers, casting directors...etc.), who are the main driving force and reason behind how a show looks and feels.

Disclaimer no. 2: The following text contains swearing. A LOT OF IT. And a lot of capslock. This production brought forth the worst in me while writing this and I wrote this at 4 am in the morning, so, you have been warned.

• Already hating the picture frame set and we didn't even begin

• The choreography for Prolog is already abysmal

• Why are we going off on the pyros? We didn't even get through the Prolog

• Whatever they have the Todesengel doing on the frame is dumb

• THE CROTCH CAM. Who's idea was it, because that is literally the worst angle they could have chosen

• Abla is so cute, but they did her so dirty with that dress and they didn't even try when doing her wig's hairline

• I miss Max wearing hunting clothes :( because where the hell is he going dressed like that?

• Why did they omit the line about Sisi wanting to join the circus if she weren't a princess? (Is it because of that damned swing?)

• Why did they decide to make a 3 year gap between Wie Du and Schön euch alles zu sehen? Because that makes Sisi 10/11 or younger during Wie Du, which just seems like an unnecessary change

• The amount of skirt hiking I see here is already exceeding my limits and we're not even 15 minutes in

• No costumes for the ensemble? I thought this was supposed to be the SPECTACULAR new version

• THE DREADED SWING. And it's even dumber than I expected

• I could already see Mark creeping in the background, so talk about an anticlimactic reveal

• And the inclusion of KKOG, my beloathed.

• The entire staging of KKOG here makes zero sense

• Mark, please get off that fucking swing. I don't care that you can take a seat on it from behind, just get off

• Also, why is Mark in white? Literally, why? When they kept in the lyric "Ich erkenn dich, schwartzer Prinz"? It makes no sense

• Ok, Lucheni on the swing is cute and understandable

• Andre was a good Franz back in the 1st revival, but at this point, he's too old to play a younger Franz in Act 1. If you're gonna split cast Elisabeth, do a split cast for Franz as well.

• And this gets only more apparent with Sophie, since the actress playing her looks about the same age as Andre. They literally look more like a husband and wife than mother and son

• Sophie's dress isn't bad per se, it is just very bland

• The male ensemble got some truly hideous coats for Jedem gibt er das seine

• Why are we skipping over the historical goodies of this scene? Literally, those were the whole point there

• PROLONGED HAND SHOT

• The costume department seems to have bulk bought that chunky gold trim and just said fuck it and put in on everyone's coat

• Abla stealing the conductor's wand and trying to conduct is so cute

• Her dress? Not so much. Very bland

• Literally, why are they cutting so much of the book? And especially Lucheni's lines in the middle of So wie man plant und denkt?

• The age difference is even worse now, that Abla and Andre are standing side by side (not looking forward to Nichts ist schwer)

• I miss Lucheni messing with Helene and Sophie :(

• I didn't think I'd like David Jakobs as Lucheni, but he and Abla are the only saving graces on that stage thus far

• Imagine what David could do with good staging and direction a la 1st revival and a complete book

• I even dare say that he could pull off being a Der Tod in the vein of Martin Markert, because he does have that chaotic "came here to fuck around" energy

• Yep, Andre and Abla look more like father and daughter together than a freshly engaged couple

• Okay, Lucheni holding the box with the necklace while giving the most dead pan face straight into the camera is honestly funny

• That necklace doesn't look the least bit heavy. It's literally just felt with some rhinestones

• They literally couldn't even give Abla's wig some forehead curls to mask that god-awful hairline? And they couldn't even curl it properly?

• Was the budget so tight that they couldn't even give the ensemble ladies ONE DECENT COSTUME?

• And they couldn't even iron or at least steam the wrinkles out of that wedding dress? And yes, I don't like it in all it's polyester glory

• The decision to have Mark's legs framed in the shot between Abla and Andre is a CHOICE

• Also, it doesn't look like Mark will change into the black costume anytime soon. Or at all for that matter. So much for the angels being in black

• Talk about "spectacular concert production". Yeah, spectacular that over half the costumes that should be here aren't even present and the set is amateurish at best

• And did Mark literally only stand there to do that evil laugh and then leave? Couldn't he have done that somewhere else?

• Oh, god, did I already mention that the choreography is bad. I can literally do better in my room at 3 am and I am an utter klutz

• I can't even make an argument for the exaggerated whisper motions being camp, because that clearly wasn't what they were going for

• Those colored gloves on the ensemble ladies are so fugly

• Also, the choice to have Elisabeth present while the entire nobility talks shit about her is a MASSIVE CHOICE

• Did Mark have in his contract that he must appear for a certain amount of time on stage? Because why is he standing there in the background?

• MARK, STOP CLIMBING UP THERE

• Okay, him telepathically controlling Elisabeth like a puppet could be an interesting idea anywhere but in a post 2012 production, where in their last scene together he told her "instead of ruling over you, I will be loved". Just makes Der Tod look like an ass

• WHY ISN'T THE ENSEMBLE FROZEN? WHY ISN'T ANYONE FROZEN FOR THAT MATTER?

• Manhandling your love interest is not the way to go unless you're Maté!Tod, who is essentally a giant cat in a human body. It's understandable then, because it does go along with the characterization there, but not HERE

• That was literally the unsexiest hip thrust ever

• Did Abla and Andre literally just flee the scene so that Mark could have his lead man big number finale moment for himself?

• I don't know how I didn't mention this already but MARK, TUCK YOUR GODDAMN SHIRT IN

• Did they literally cut the entirety of Die Gaffer?

• But when I think about it, it's probably better not hearing about the onsetting wedding night in this casting situation

• But they are doing David dirty by cutting so many of his lines

• And they literally cut the entire first verse of Eine Keiserin muss glänzen. Like, what's the rush, besties? You don't have a train to catch

• That change over between Abla and Maya was interesting, but I still am very much against the split track and plus the place they did it makes zero sense

• Did they hire the shittiest wig makers in Vienna for this? Because Maya also didn't get a wig with a decent hairline

• And they couldn't make the puffed sleeves on the nightgowns any less awkwardly short, could they?

• But Maya and Abla both slayed the vocals

• WHY DID THEY CUT STATIONEN EINE EHE??????!!!!

• If someone were to see this show for the first time here, they must be so fucking confused

• And if they want to excuse that by "oh, we're making it more understandable for a mass audience" BULLSHIT, YOU'RE NOT! You're making it LESS understandable by cutting all the context

• Also, the atillas look hideous. What did they make them out of???? Felt????

• Death now provides coffins for your dead kids! Also, for that coffin to have a 3 year old kid inside, it's kind of small

• That dress Maya got for this scene is so bad and just makes her look frumpy

• Yes, because nothing impresses your lady love like you doing a super manly power stance over her freshly deceased kid's coffin

• Homeboy, you didn't "float in a dance". You first telepathically controlled her movements, then were walking around all broody before you started manhandling her in the roughest way possible

• And yes, nothing calms down your beloved so much like wrapping her up in a coffin cover

• Maya looks so confused and yeah, girl, same

• Didn't they literally have anyone else but Andre available to carry the coffin away? What about the Todesengel? Is their only job climbing onto that frame and slowly spreading a wing each?

• Also, where is Mark walking to?

• DAVID IS BACK <3

• If they dare cut a big chunk of Fröhliche Apokalypse, I will scream

• Did they literally tell the male emsemble to bring their own beige trenchcoat to the job? Because it sure does look like they did

• They cut the second verse of Fröhliche Apokalypse...at this point, I don't even have the energy to complain about that

• At least they kept Lucheni's café apron, but it is kind of out of place since they have no set change to make it look like a café

• The amount of side-eye little Rudolf gives is honestly so funny

• Maya looks rightfully outraged at this production, but at least for once, she gets a costume that isn't outright bad (at least that robe looks decent, because that silky orange-y thing peeking out from under it doesn't

• Okay, that almost kiss was too close for this only being Act 1

• I would have liked it better if maybe Mark just remained sitting absolutely stunned for a moment longer than him immediately standing up after Maya pulls away

• I would have liked more smashing the Milchkannen onto the stage but I'm happy to see David back

• Why are they pouring the milk into mugs if it's meant to be for a goddamned bath? Filling an entire bathtub mug by mug seems kind of counterproductive

• OF COURSE THEY CUT A VERSE OUT OF THE SONG

• The cardboard cover for the frame is such a bad solution here. It literally could have been solved by different blocking and lighting but they did the laziest thing they could

• I feel like too much of the volume of the skirt of the Star dress migrated onto the sleeves. And what happened to making the Star dress looking soft and ethereal? Ever since 2012, the European versions just keep on getting stiffer

• At least the wig looks alright. It isn't the best, but it is, an improvement from that previous one

• They had multiple instances, where I feel a side entrance for Mark would benefit his presence. But this is the only time I feel like the top center entrance would be good, but they manage to screw it up once again and have him come on stage from god knows where only for him having to awkwardly time when to take the stairs to get the high ground while trying not to bump into Maya

• WE'RE ONLY AT THE END OF ACT 1???!!!

• Lucheni strutting through the audience with a hand held mic is honestly a mood, although I don't like the plastic toy crown they gave him

• Also, no Kitsch bedazzled jacket? :(

• And him not actually getting prop souvenirs, but the pictures being shown on the LCD screens seems like a massive cop out

• In short: they are doing David dirty with this staging

• The ensemble with their flags are just so unenthusiastic

• Okay, the carriage is a nice idea and Maya finally got a decent dress!

• But why is she already here? We're literally in the middle of Kitsch. Don't tell me they cut Éljen

• David is slaying, ngl and I would have liked to see more shots of him during Kitch rather than literally everyone else around

• Like, this is his big number, let him have his moment!

• Of course they cut Éljen

• And Mark still hasn't changed costumes, so I guess he's doing the entire show in the white version

• What are the ensemble ladies doing there during Wenn ich tanzen will? They are literally just there to block Maya from twirling in her dress

• Okay, Maya stealing one of their Hungarian flags is nice

• And we have a return of Der Tod telepathically controlling Elisabeth's movements and it's even worse than in Act 1

• I'm sorry, but where is all the spice this song is supposed to have? Maya and Mark literally have so little chemistry as Elisabeth and Der Tod due to this horrid staging

• Why is the lighting so severely purple and blue?

• I miss them flying at one another for that final chorus and pushing one another to the other end of the stage

• The camera operator must really like Mark's legs, because they make a comeback!

• They gave little Rudolf the blandest blocking

• But Der Tod taking Rudolf onto his shoulders is kind of cute

• Wait, I liked that blocking for once! Where are you going, Mark?

• Little Rudolf could literally not give less shits about Der Tod here

• Why did we cut the interlude and Lucheni's introduction to the insane asylum?

• Maya's dress has some nicely pleated cuffs, but that duochrome fabric looks so wrinkly. And her hat literally doesn't match her dress at all

• Okay, what is this weird newly added dance sequence and music interlude? Did they literally cut all the above mentioned songs for this??? It doesn't even sound like it belongs in this show

• That was the lengthiest and most confusing and unnecessary sequence ever

• Why did they light this scene in BRIGHT ULTRAMARINE when the only person on stage is Maya and she's wearing a RED/ORANGE/BROWN DRESS? It just washes her out

• And I forgot to mention that they couldn't have picked a more dull and unflattering brown shade for both Abla's and Maya's wig

• Why did they keep the mad woman there in the middle of the frame for the entirety of Nichts nichts gar nichts?

• DAVID IS BACK <3

• At least Sophie got a costume change and I like it much better than her Act 1 dress

• The return of those ugly out of period men's ensemble jackets :(

• They cut the middle of Wir oder sie. WHY ARE THEY CUTTING ALL THE HISTORICAL REFERENCES??????!!!!

• That was the most awkward transition in between songs ever done

• The female ensemble finally got some form of costume!

• And Frau Wolf is SLAYING

• Why did they cut the first verse of Nur kein genieren? And at this point I am convinced that someone has a last train home to catch and cutting down on the ensemble numbers was the only way for them to make it

• But, I like that we do get chemistry between Lucheni and Frau Wolf and that they got to split the lines in that one verse they kept in

• That fall down the stairs looked like it did take a while to practice

• And with it comes a costume I utterly hate: that goddamn lilac robe with the black lace chevrons Elisabeth wears for Maladie

• They literally couldn't have made that cape Mark wears here any less awkward in the amount of gaping it has in the front?

• Which is made even more awkward by him being in white

• If everyone remembers that gif set of Mark not catching the necklace at the end of Maladie during the 2nd revival: I think that is the reason why they kept him at ground level here

• And he does catch it, but that was literally so devoid of climax

• Sophie gets a nice bonnet/cape combo for Bellaria!

• Background framed power stance, but this time, they at least added some flavor with some contra lights

• At back to cutting more of the book for Rastlose Jahre!

• We finally got to Shatten!

• And Rudolf is a little too tidily dressed for my liking

• Oh, here comes the fishing rod/cat toy!!!

• Why are they sitting not looking at one another?

• Also, why are they literally 5 feet apart? As far as I remember, COVID wasn't that rampant in summer of 2022

• Matching one leg up on a stair poses

• The homophobia of not having the slightest bit of physical interaction between Der Tod and Rudolf

• But either way, I love Lukas as Rudolf. Still great 19 years later

• NO DON'T YOU DARE PICK UP THAT FISHING ROD/WHIP/CAT TOY

• Screaming at each other across the stage just like a couple of guys being dudes

• BEHOLD, CAT BOY RUDOLF. When the fandom said that Rudolf is our poor little meow-meow, we didn't mean this!

• You can tell from both Lukas and Mark's faces, that they also think this is ridiculous

• Why did they cut out so many of the feel good historical bits, but not Hass????? That is literally the only song I would prefer they skip here??????

• Lukas is so good in Spiegel (thanks for the feels!! Finally some good content from this performance!!!)

• And even though I dislike Rudolfs being dressed in Austrian style uniforms, Lukas has an especially nicely tailored one

• Lukas going to the ground to beg Maya????? My heart can't take the feels????

• MARK, STOP CREEPING IN THE BACKGROUND

• Oh, dear, the dreaded no-homo version of Mayerling

• And why did they choose to keep Maya on stage? During this scene? Why?

• Okay, the choreo is dumb again

• WHY DON'T WE GET THE TODOLF KISS ANYMORE VBW?????!!!!!

• AND WHY DID MARK NEVER GET TO WEAR THE MAYERLING DRESSES????

• Maya cradling Lukas's jacket during Totenklage is touching tho

To summarize: I wouldn't pay the insane prices for a ticket to this production for the amount of bad scenic solutions, lack of costumes and some truly abysmal directing choices.

[misshudson]

the thing that sticks out for me with the original production is the usage of blue. in terms of color psychology, blue calls to mind feelings of calmness or serenity. also described as peaceful, tranquil, secure, and orderly. it is often seen as a sign of stability and reliability. the continual usage of such a drowning and dreamy color adds to the motif of both danger and trust between elisabeth and death. they both want the other, and there’s some level of separation within that. elisabeth cuts herself off! especially during the wedding scene of how stark the white of her wedding dress is, and instead of blending with the white of her new husband’s attire (probably a foreshadowing as to how she loses her identity coming into this family and court), when she dances with death while that pretty theme plays, she is an individual with another individual. she and death are themselves and yet also entwined.

[misshudson]

wenn ich tanzen will- the anger and frustration and fascination and amazement. especially when sisi says “i’ve just learned to love my life” and he’s straight up like “and you’ll soon learn to hate it,” and it HAPPENS. like he’s not just death or vocalization of intrusive thoughts, but also he feels what she feels. there’s a small part of elisabeth in the entire show that almost resigns itself that she will never be happy. and he completely understands it.  

[misshudson]

okay guys but in die schatten when they rise up together at “just admit you love me more than the man at your side” and through that physical movement shows the mirroring of that fact being completely true but ALSO with mate’s emphasis of the word “auch” meaning “though” or “although” at the start of the sentence “though you seemingly give him more”, as well as his movement towards elisabeth on that word, she doesn’t move, once again confirming that they both know it’s true, that she is “pulling him (her husband) into the night”, and there’s nothing to stop it. even “the world is dying with you”- death is always with her and it’s such a good showcase of elisabeth’s continual self-hatred and desire for freedom. but at what cost?  

[misshudson]

most annoying breed of author is actually someone who doesn’t respect a genre and sets out to subvert it.

[misshudson]

there’s a lot of really fascinating discussion revolving around elisabeth and what certain songs mean, the motivations behind certain character decisions, how active is death truly in the story…

but i think there needs to be MUCH more consideration for ‘lucheni as an unreliable narrator.’  bcs that flavors the musical SOOO much more.  it’s easy to get caught up in the story and to take everything lucheni’s saying as truth (and you do have to, at least a little. you need to buy into the story he’s telling at least a little bit in order for there to be any sort of emotional stakes) but also he is 100% a biased individual.  he’s narrating the story of a woman he assassinated.  he’s extraordinarily harsh towards her for most of the musical; unafraid to point out her hypocrisy later on and mocking and unsympathetic towards her in her weaker moments. 

and that makes the moments where she IS treated sympathetically by the narrative (by him!!! by lucheni bcs lucheni is spinning our narrative here) all the more fascinating!!!  this is why lucheni is forced to relive this story ‘night after night for a hundred years.’  In Kitsch he condemns the public and media for commodifying Elisabeth’s story, for simplifying this complex woman down into a marketable fairytale, but he did the exact same thing, just at the other end of the extreme!  He simplified her down into all of the negative parts of her character.  He turned her into a symbol of the sinking, rotten Hapsburg Empire.  He pins all of its issues onto her, and then he killed her for it.

And then he’s forced to tell her story over and over and over again, and he’s forced to confront that she was neither of these things.  She was just a woman, a woman who made many regrettable choices yes, but still just a woman who was clawing for freedom. 

Lucheni thinks himself above everyone else in the story, but by being forced to tell it again and again he is forced to examine the people, look at their flaws and their dreams and desires and reconcile with the fact that they were people too.

[misshudson]

Incoherent scrap of Elisabeth thought for the evening: I've seen a decent amount of discussion about who/what der Tod is - is he an actual entity who happens to fixate on Elisabeth and spends the rest of her life following her around? Is he a manifestation of Elisabeth's - and later Rudolf's - depression, the voice of their self-loathing and suicidal thoughts which has been given a physical form for the play? Is he Lucheni's creation, born of his need to shift the guilt from his own soul - after all, if der Tod is the one pulling all the strings, then Lucheni is just another puppet, just following orders?

I think it depends on the production/actor, and in my favourite German-language Tods, I think at least two - possibly three - of the interpretations are covered.

Uwe Kröger is the first one. His Tod is a real being. He's otherworldly and mystical. He's able to interact with the human world (obviously) but rarely does unless it's time for someone to die. He's not a nice guy, but he's not actively malevolent; kissing people to death just happens to be the reason he exists, so that's what he does. Something about Elisabeth catches his attention and he becomes obsessed. His methods of pursuit are the only ones he knows, and he's not even necessarily aware of the damage done. I love how Uwe does the act one Schatten; it's this eerie sense of "hmm, it turns out that killing her daughter doesn't make her fall for me. Fascinating creatures, humans." The way he walks and moves onstage, and his appearance in general (particularly the pallor and white-blond hair of the original Vienna version) give an impression of something inhuman and apart.

Máté Kamarás might be another take on option 1. This excellent post sums up the argument for this better than I could do. Like Uwe's, his Tod is real; he just happens to be less ethereal and more volatile. He's not used to feeling like this about anyone, and when his attempts to woo Elisabeth fail, he lashes out. A lot. His face during der Schleier fällt has this mix of joy and amazement, like he can't quite believe it's finally happening. At first, anyway. Then after the kiss, he suddenly realizes - for the first time - that because he's death, having Elisabeth means losing Elisabeth.

There might be a case for Máté's Tod being Lucheni's invention, but it's a bit weaker. I'm basing this more on a sort of matching chaotic, frantic energy between his Tod and Serkan Kaya's Lucheni in the 2005 proshot that might speak to der Tod being a product of Lucheni's psyche. There's also that one moment during Prolog when Lucheni says that Elisabeth loved Heinrich Heine, and der Tod gives him this (honestly slightly comical) death glare (pun intended). It's this sort of warning, "look, buddy, you may have conjured me as a focus for your guilt, but by doing that you give me power in the story as the master puppeteer. Knock it off with the Heine."

Finally, Mark Seibert's Tod is depression and suicidal ideation made flesh. His Tod is, quite frankly, an absolute bastard. With both Elisabeth and Rudolf, he goes from sweet-talking to very rough and violent. He coaxes them to self-destructive behaviours, then scorns them when they self-destruct. He toys with them by letting them think life might be getting better, then moves in to strike. He's around to put a damper on things when Elisabeth thinks she's at her highest (wenn ich tanzen will), and to push her past rock-bottom when she's at her lowest (Totenklage). He can drop Rudolf like a rag doll once he's dead because he never cared for him; he was just manipulating him. Depending on the production, he can leave Elisabeth onstage once she's dead for the same reason. To both Elisabeth and Rudolf, he comes across almost like an abusive, stalking-prone partner. From my own experience, that's a pretty fair description of depression, except that the abusive bastard is your own brain. For what it's worth, it's also a pretty fair description of an eating disorder, which the real Elisabeth definitely had, although it doesn't get more than a passing mention in the show. This might actually be part of the reason I like Mark's Tod - the idea that my own depression can be separated from myself.

In the musical in general, there are moments and lyrics that could be evidence for each of the interpretations of der Tod (along with others). Personally, I go back and forth on which I think is most strongly supported, and I think part of the reason for that is that different productions and different Tods lean more strongly towards one or another.