YMMV / Elisabeth

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Is der Tod a creepy character who has an unhealthy obsession with Elisabeth, slowly destroying her life because she won't return his affections? Or does he know the pain that Elisabeth is going to endure so he tries to get her to die so she wouldn't suffer in a twisted case of I Want My Beloved to Be Happy?
  • The Antwerp production, unlike most other productions, portrays Lucheni as being utterly terrified of Death.
  • Some viewers interpret Death as a metaphor, a hallucination, or a manifestation of Elisabeth's wish to die, instead of an actual character.
  • Is Sophie an Evil Matriarch intent on making Elisabeth's and Rudolf's lives miserable, or a Well-Intentioned Extremist who does what she thinks is best for everyone?
  • Does Death actually care about Rudolf (inasmuch as he's able to care) or does he simply uses the prince as a pawn? ^note This varies between actors - usually, how Rudolf is treated in the aftermath of Mayerling showcases the actors' interpretations.
• Angel/Devil Shipping: Rudolf - the lonely child who grew up into a sad, helpless prince and earnest revolutionary, and Death - the vicious, scheming Grim Reaper with a Blue-and-Orange Morality. Whether Death cares about Rudolf is very much dependent on the actors and production, but Todolf is still one of the most popular ships.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • "Kitsch", in the Takarazuka versions, is no longer about Lucheni selling souvenirs of the royal family at Elisabeth's coronation, and is instead about... Elisabeth collecting photos of beautiful women to convince herself that she's more beautiful? While a group of extras dance around wearing costumes of different countries? The new lyrics are still about Elisabeth's vanity, but the whole thing is odd and out-of-nowhere if you're expecting it to be at least superficially similar to the German version.
  • In the original production, "Nichts, nichts, gar nichts" ends with what has been described as "a chaotic dance sequence". It lasts almost two minutes, has no bearing on the plot, and is never mentioned again.
  • The Japanese productions add a dream sequence where Rudolf is crowned King of Hungary. It appears out of nowhere in the middle of his meeting with the conspirators, quickly becomes Nightmare Fuel, then ends and is completely forgotten about.
• Broken Base:
  • A case of this applying to where a song is placed: "Streit Vater und Sohn" — before or after "Die Schatten werden länger"? It varies depending on the production, but in most versions it's placed after "Die Schatten". Whether it makes more sense there is another matter.
    • Similarly, "Nichts, nichts, gar nichts" — before or after Franz cheats on Elisabeth?
  • The changes made to the show over the years. Some fans like them, some fans accept them but prefer the earlier versions, and some fans hate them and think they've ruined the show.
  • The Hungarian productions' decision to add a subplot about Hungarian politics. Some fans think it's an interesting look at Elisabeth's influence on Hungary, and others think it's unnecessary and slows down the show.
  • How ethereal and otherworldly should Death be? The fandom tends to be sharply divided along the line of pretty Deaths (Uwe Kröger, Máté Kamarás, all of the Zuka actresses) versus roguish masculine Deaths (Mark Seibert, Oliver Arno, etc.)
  • "Kein Kommen ohne Gehn": Some fans like it, some fans like it but only in non-German productions, and some fans hate it for several reasons, including it replacing the earlier song "Schwarzer Prinz".
  • "Hass": Frightening, sobering, necessary reminder of what was to come in history, or a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment that makes the show even more depressing and runs the risk of triggering audience members?
  • The fact that "Ich gehör nur mir" has been translated to English, to the anglophiles it's nice to hear one of the most beautiful songs written in their own language, as well as just a glimmer of a chance that the show could make it to either America or the United Kingdom, or that it is clunky and doesn't work outside of German/Korean/Japanese etc.
    • Likewise to those who like the translation it comes down between the two English version "I Belong to Me," or "I Live This Life for Me," which is the better.
  • The "Death as personification of Elisabeth's suicidal ideation" versus "Death as an entity separate from Elisabeth altogether" discussion have attained this status. There seems to be no canon consensus on this, as each production of the show and each actor have their own takes.
• Creepy Awesome: Death. Stalks our heroine all her life, trying to get her to die? Check. Convinces her son to commit suicide? Check. One of the most popular characters in the show? Check.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Death has many, many fans, despite being a personification of death who stalks Elisabeth all her life and convinces her son to commit suicide.
• Evil Is Cool: You can't possibly toss a ball into a room filled with Elisabeth fans without hitting someone who loves the show because of Death, whether it be All Girls Want Bad Boys or Love to Hate. He's snazzy in every version. Into Otherworldly and Sexually Ambiguous? There's Uwe Kröger and an entire fleet of Takarazuka actresses. Adore Hell-Bent for Leather? There's Mark Seibert and the rest of the new Deaths in the German/Austrian productions. Somewhere in between? Hello, Máté Kamarás. The show is very often marketed as a love story between Elisabeth and Death, and/or a triangle if you add Franz Joseph.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: As of February 2017, Rudolf/Death is the ship with the most fics on Archive of Our Own, followed by Elisabeth/Death. It's common for fans to start watching the show because of Die Schatten werden länger, the "gay duet".
• Genius Bonus:
  • While it's definitely not necessary to enjoy and understand the show, knowledge of Heinrich Heine's poems helps you understand a lot of der Tod's lines. Also, many lines said by Elisabeth, Franz Joseph and other Historical Domain Characters are based on things they said or wrote in reality.
  • In the Elisabeth in Concert production, "Die Schatten werden länger" starts out with Death holding a whip and miming driving a horse carriage. Josef Bratfisch, one of the last people to see Rudolf alive, drove the fiacre that took the Crown Prince to Mayerling and entertained him through the night, singing his and Mary's favorite songs. Reportedly, the last thing Rudolf ever said was to his valet, Johann Loschek, ordering breakfast and preparing a carriage (presumably with Bratfisch driving). He walked away whistling one of the previous night's melodies.
• Growing the Beard: Compare the national tour album and the 2012 Vienna revival album. It has nearly the same cast, bar Sophie (Betty Vermeulen in the former and Daniela Ziegler in the latter) and Rudolf (Oliver Arno for the former and Anton Zetterholm for the latter). Death (Mark Seibert) and Elisabeth's (Annemieke van Dam) voices both broke on the highest notes of their showstoppers, Der letzte Tanz and Ich gehör nur mir. Nearly everyone sounded high-pitched and/or off-key (the ensemble chorus for "Die Schatten werden länger" grated on the ears), plus the nigh-omnipresent growling and snarling from Seibert. All of this were fixed/toned down for the revival, with the addition of a much bigger and more well-tuned orchestra, making it a great entry point for new fans.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Annemieke van Dam made her Elisabeth debut as Miss Windisch, a madwoman who believes herself to be the Empress. She went on to play the actual Elisabeth, and no other role in this show, in Berlin, Zurich, Vienna, and on tour.
  • Frank Wildhorn wrote a different musical focusing on Rudolf's life and eventual death at Mayerling. Many Elisabeth alums went on to work in this later show. Just the original cast of Rudolf: Affaire Mayerling includes Uwe Kröger (Death), Claus Dam (Maximilian of Bavaria), Carin Filipčić (Duchess Ludovika and Madame Wolf), Kai Peterson (Count Schwarzenberg), Robert D. Marx (Emperor Franz Joseph), Martin Pasching (covered pretty much every male role), and Kathleen Bauer (swing/cover). Drew Sarich also went from being Rudolf in Elisabeth to Affaire Mayerling.
  • Lucheni mentions that Elisabeth saw a terrible vision during Rudolf's birth, of her son leading a revolution with towering barricades, red flags, and people threatening her with fists raised high.
    • Martin Pasching and Anton Zetterholm, both Rudolfs, went on to play Enjolras, the leader of such a revolution, in Les Misérables.
    • Oliver Arno was Death, Rudolf, and Marius. Mark Seibert (principal Death that Arno covered for) auditioned for Valjean in the London production and nearly got the role.
    • Pasching and Uwe Kröger (the original Death, and Inspector Javert), provided the fandom with the Ho Yay-tastic cover of Die Schatten werden länger while in costume as their Les Mis characters. Enjoy.
  • At least two actors ^note Jesper Tydén and Oliver Arno for the German productions. This trend has continued with international productions, with the most recent example being Furukawa Yuta moving from Rudolf in 2016 to Death in 2019 have played both Death and Rudolf. Seeing an actor go from trying to seduce Elisabeth in one production to playing her son in another is either funny or surreal - one Tumblr user quipped, "You either die a Rudolf or live long enough to see yourself become a Death."
    • Given that Rudolf is a "we're thinking of promoting you" role, his Takarazuka Revue actresses tend to play Death in the shinjin kouen ^note special performances for the younger members of the troupes to have practice playing lead roles and to introduce them to the fanbase performances. As of 2019, Asumi Rio (2005 shinko young Rudolf, 2009 adult Rudolf, 2014 Death) is the only person to have played both roles as a principal cast member.
    • On that theme: Mark Seibert and Anton Zetterholm played Willemijn Verkaik's love interest in Wicked, the former in the Stuttgart premiere and the latter in Willemijn's dernière in Oberhausen. Mark and Anton ended up kissing in this show, as Elisabeth's lover and son. ^note Willemijn was also Elisabeth, though not in any of Mark or Anton's productions.
  • In Romeo et Juliette: De La Haine a l'Amour , Mark Seibert's character gets killed by Lukas Perman's character. In this one, it's the other way.
  • One of Shirota Yu (Toho Death)'s previous roles was Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru Chiba/Prince Endymion, of Sera Myu, whose status as bait for Brainwashed and Crazy has gone memetic. His Death is one of the most obvious about the More than Mind Control - just watch the hand gestures, the way he seems to be telekinetically manipulating Rudolf's body, how Rudolf's expressions rapidly flit between terrified and calm/resolute in both Die Schatten and Mayerling... Guess the shoe is on the other foot this time.
  • The last angel to hand Death the gun for Mayerling in the 2012 revival's trailer is played by Emma Hunter, who was Mark Seibert (Death)'s girlfriend at the time. The gun is promptly applied to Lukas Perman (Rudolf)'s temple - Mark and Lukas are best friends who graduated from musical school together.
  • Takarazuka Revue has performed a musical about Rudolf, Ephemeral Love. Many actresses have played roles in both shows. It's not unheard of for an actress to play both Marie Vetsera (Rudolf's mistress) in Ephemeral Love and Elisabeth (Rudolf's mother) in Elisabeth.
  • Pia Douwes and Uwe Kröger playing Morticia and Gomez in the Dutch and German versions of The Addams Family. Morticia sings "You have to be in love with Death" in the opening number, and has the song "Just Around the Corner" which is basically Der letzte Tanz but sung by someone eagerly awaiting Death.
  • The sheer variety of interpretations and number of actors/actresses who have played Death makes this Game of Thrones line side-splitting for some fans.
  Arya: I know Death. He's got many faces. I look forward to seeing this one.
• Ho Yay:
  • Der Tod's duet with Rudolf, "Die Schatten werden länger" ("The Shadows Grow Longer"), is basically made of this. Considering that many versions, including the original, include multiple near kisses initiated by der Tod and interrupted by Rudolf, this is more akin to intentional Homoerotic Subtext than Ho Yay.
  • Many actors seem well aware of this and some even seem to add more homoeroticism to the interactions. Oliver Arno, for example, has been in at least three different productions with three different actors as Rudolf, and always seems to make the scene as homoerotic as he feels he can get away with. The various Rudolfs always go along with this, reacting in such a way that certainly makes it seem as though Rudolf is getting at least a little turned on.
    • If the Rudolf (example: Lukas Perman, with Mark Seibert as der Tod, which can be seen in the new tour trailer on YouTube) bends over a little too much when der Tod is controlling him in Die Schatten, the results look awfully sexual.
    • In the Toho production, Death emerges from within Rudolf's coffin for "Totenklage". One has to wonder what he was doing in there with the Prince.
  • Also, quite often there's something going on between Lucheni and der Tod. Especially in the Takarazuka versions, and in this Hungarian version, where Lucheni strokes and then kisses der Tod's hand.
• Iron Woobie:
  • Franz Josef gets this big time. After what happened to him in real life during and after his time with Sisi, could you really blame him?
  • Rudolf too. Poor guy exists only to be tormented by his grandmother, and then ignored completely by his mother. Who then turns him away the one time he asks for her help. The only person he felt he could confide in and trust more or less planted the idea of suicide in his head.
  • How about the titular character herself? Sisi puts herself into the role of Empress and wanders the world but the tragedies of her life wear her down.
• Love to Hate: A section of the fandom is interested in der Tod because of his Blue-and-Orange Morality and status as a Manipulative Bastard, finding themselves disliking him as a character but thoroughly enjoying his stage-time, especially during Ship Tease and Ho Yay moments.
• Mind Game Ship: Both Death/Elisabeth and Death/Rudolf. However, the Mind Games and More than Mind Control aspect really comes to the fore with the latter ship. Death always bodily manipulates Rudolf during their seduction duet, with the level of physical contact and mind control subtext differing between actors/productions.
• Narm:
  • The gunshot sound during Takarazuka Mayerling sounds like a toy or laser gun.
  • Also from the Takarazuka versions, at the end of "Der letzte Tanz" the lights go off as Death leaves, followed by a terrible crash. No explanation is ever given for what caused the crash, which accidentally gives the impression Death walked into something in the dark.
• Narm Charm:
  • In many versions of "Wir oder sie", Sophie and her minions wear weird horse costumes, apparently to emphasize the Chess Motifs. It should detract from the seriousness of the scene, but somehow it doesn't.
  • The puppet-like way the extras dance in many songs, most notably "Prolog" and "Alle Fragen sind gesellt", should be silly, but done well it becomes very unnerving.
  • Lukas Perman's ragdoll impression (even more exaggerated than the choreography calls for) in this version of "Die Schatten" with Máté Kamarás. If it doesn't look silly, it's extremely unnerving because it's highly reminiscent of a man-sized marionette, or a corpse.
  • Furukawa Yuta's hyena-like laugh as Death.
  • The entirety of the blocking and choreography for "Die Schatten werden länger (Reprise)" in concert. Death has a longuing whip that he cracks a few times ^note presumably as Bratfisch, the carriage driver who took Rudolf and Mary Vetsera to Mayerling, and was the last person to see the Crown Prince alive, then uses as a cat toy or fishing rod. Rudolf grabs the whip and has a tug-of-war with Death at the end of the song. It's narmy, sure, but it's full of symbolism.
• Obscure Popularity: The show's been performed in Germany, Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Russia, South Korea, Japan and China, and has multiple English fan translations. But in spite of its popularity, most English speakers have never heard of it.
• Portmanteau Couple Name: Todsisi, Todolf, and Todcheni have been spotted around the fandom for the ships of Death and, respectively, Elisabeth, Rudolf, and Lucheni.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Some fans have this reaction to the various changes made to the show over the years. The main complaints are adding or removing songs, changing the sets and costumes, and rearranging the order of scenes.
• Tough Act to Follow: It's the most successful German-language musical ever made, so this is inevitable for Kunze and Levay's later collaborations. Their next musical, Mozart!, wasn't nearly as successful. They had slightly better luck with their third, Rebecca, which is more popular than Mozart! but not nearly as popular as Elisabeth. Their fourth, Marie Antoinette (Musical), was a flop in Germany but had a much better reception in Japan. Their fifth, Lady Bess, has only been performed in Japan and there's no word of it ever coming to Europe.
• WTH, Costuming Department?:
  • The Hungarian versions have Death wearing sparkly make-up. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; depending on the actor, it may emphasise Death's inhuman nature. Unfortunately, there's no denying that some actors look utterly ridiculous in it.
  • Not to be outdone, this Berlin production inexplicably has Death sporting a bizarre hairstyle. It makes it hard to take him seriously.
  • In the 2013 Korean production, Death spends half his scenes providing a male example of Navel-Deep Neckline for no apparent reason (other than Fanservice, given that principal Death was Kim Junsu).
  • "Ich will dir nur sagen" has Elisabeth wear a replica of the historical Elisabeth's star dress. Some productions use a very good replica, and some... don't.
  • The less said about Death's onetime white cowboy outfit, the better.
  • The Toho productions give Death a shirt that's almost completely open at the front, and give the Todesengels outfits that bare their midriffs.
  • Touka Yurino (2018 Takarazuka Sophie)'s incredibly exaggerated eyebrows.
  • The Lithuanian production has Death wearing black leather pants with a highly exaggerated high waist, a black leather duster and nothing else. And half his face is covered in gold paint and what looks like sequins or fake glass squares.
• Woolseyism: The Hungarian production gives considerable attention to the impact Elisabeth had on Hungary herself compared to the Viennese versions. The Japanese productions adopted this interpretation too, probably because it gives the actor (or actress) playing adult Rudolf much more to do.

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