#additional take that isnt really unpopular since vbw agrees: lukas perman rudolf is my poor little meow meow kitty cat and he can play

[fitzrove]

Elisabeth hot takes

- Young Sisi/old Sisi split casting is a bad idea, going forward they just need to cast people who have the range to play both roles like they've done before. The Schönbrunn concert split was legit just done because people/the press were sexist and ageist about Pia Douwes earlier and it sucks. (No hate to Abla Alaoui tho, she was great in the 2022 show and I hope she'll get to play the entire role someday)

- Mark Seibert's Tod isn't straight,,,,, masculine queer men exist irl, yall just need to stop basing your interpretation of him on the 2022 concert/the 2013 boot with him and Anton Z because that Schatten is giving us nothing fjkgkfödlfösö. It's fine to prefer other Tods for how they look/act but that doesn't mean the buff one is heterosexual. The directors have done him so dirty in recent years

- I've seen some people go "ooh what if they split up der Tod so that he was played by an actress for the Rudolf scenes" which,,,,,, why?? I'm all for woman tod but the idea of ONLY having her for Rudolf scenes to add more heterosexuality into the show is weird. I say have a woman Tod for literally everything else but for Schatten and Mayerling it's inexplicably Mark Seibert to make Rudolf extra gay<3 why not sinking world as well, FJ gets to be gay too

- The woobification of Elisabeth musical Rudolf is so important because a lot of Rudolf/Mayerling adaptations seem to focus on how violent and dangerous he is (because of mental illness). A musical can never capture the entire nuance of an actual person anyway, so I think it's fair that at least one of the many adaptations portrays him in a completely sympathetic light - important for mental health representation. Doesn't mean the fandom is completely unaware of his historical crimes (murder, arson and graverobbing gkfdfodlså).

- Society has progressed past the need to comment "Tod X is much better" on vids/pics/posts focused on Tod Y, or even saying "Tod Y sucks" on vids/pics/posts celebrating Tod X, it's annoying and exhausting. Plus, the euromusical world is so small that on Youtube especially the actors might actually see it (Máté Kamarás has). I'm going to go to the guilty person's house if it happens to him again

- Rudolf shouldn't take the melody in the Schatten chorus in productions, there's a reason he sings the harmony in the original (he's being manipulated/Tod is stoking his obsessions and anxieties). Ofc it's more fun for the actor to sing the melody but they can do that in concerts XD EXCEPT Lander van Nuffelen can sing whatever he wants<333

- tod x rudolf is a good ship BECAUSE it's problematic 🥰

- Just because I ship Tod and Rudolf doesn't mean I want actual productions to do that. (Shipping is different than having "seduction" as a thematic element. Not that we're in much danger of that though lmao, the onstage romanticisation literally only happens with Tod and Sisi.) Humanizing der Tod too much (unless it's in a "he was an undomesticated panther but he's turning into a real boy<33" máté kamarás type character arc way or in a "he used to be cold and detached but is learning to have friends and feelings!!!" kaplyn way) takes away from the themes of the show, which to me (in productions) is much more important than ships. It's very rare to have a show be so deeply deconstructive (of historical figures, of "love story" conventions) and that needs to be treasured!!

- For this reason it's absolutely crucial that the show ends with Tod laying Elisabeth on the floor (and that he drops Rudolf after Mayerling)