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angelofmusicMusical: Elisabeth
Production: Live
Theatre: Operettszínház, Budapest, Hungary
Date: 05/01/08
So, my first musical of the year, and the one I’ve been eager to see ever since I found it via Vampires on Youtube. Needless to say, I was a teeny bit disappointed about not seeing Máté Kamarás (not as much as some of the sobbing fangirls, though), but I’m glad to say the show was definitely worth seeing.
First, general production things worthy of note:
- The first thing I absolutely adored about this production was how it was less about Elisabeth herself, but about her in relation to the people who forced her to define herself. I loved the fact that the relationship between her and Sophie was emphasised. Perhaps it’s the Hungarian viewpoint that makes the difference, because the Vienna one doesn’t seem to put nearly as much emphasis on that relationship, more focussing on the madness and wild freedom Sisi was aiming for. Each international production has those little differences, though, working for the culture the show is aimed at. All things considered, this was a fairly stable Elisabeth.
- Next in the list of likes is the translation on some of the songs, especially the one I only know as 'Útvesztő minden út'. The biggest difference here was that Death was saying he was so bored and then along she came, something new and exciting, and the waiting game was going to be the challenge – he would wait for her and she would have to wait for him because that’s the way fate works, but both of them at various points almost giving in. I preferred it so much to the lyrical schmoop that the Takarazuka version features. This is definitely a Bloke song – I was bored, then I saw a piece of totty and yeah, I can wait.
- The Hungarian extended scenes. Really, for people who don’t know anything about the politics of the time, this is the best way to do it, especially since the Hungarian issue was such a big part of Sisi’s life. I see now why they used that for Japan’s versions as well, because unless you know quite a bit of Austrian political history, you’d be sitting and scratching your head over why there was such a fuss about it. Plus, it didn’t hurt that chief revolutionary was rather pretty.
- The use of Death’s angels. You can see how impatient Death is, because he sends in his angels to deal with everything that might prompt his girlfriend to ditch mortality sooner. He has to play by the rules, after all, but that doesn’t mean he can’t occasionally give people a nudge to do something stupid (aka Rudolf especially)
- The Franz Josef/Sisi relationship. By the end of Act 1, she’s already blackmailing him because of his devotion to her, but I loved the fact that in Maladie, they emphasised that she had made the choice to stay with him, and that him boinking someone else and leaving her to suffer for it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. She could tolerate being primped and pawed and caged for a time, as long as she got something out of him, but this was too far. And the fact that she’s strong enough to decide to use this to her advantage, I love. I know this is the general idea in the Maladie sequence, but having Death throwing her around and trying to snatch her then, but her fighting free of him too, standing up to him and standing up for herself just makes it so much stronger. Franz Josef has given her that final reason, and Death’s pushiness is the final straw – being pushed around by one man is bad enough, but not twice, not right now. Plus, it makes Ships in the Night heartbreaking, because he’s begged for forgiveness and been so loyal to her even when she smacked him down. Wah! Poor old FJ.
- The sets. Oh, the sets! So much symbolism and then some. I’d seen DVDs, but seeing it live meant I could see the nuances, and I’d never noticed the abstract version of the Austrian royal crest which is used to set the scenes in the palace. Likewise Death’s dark tower, always significantly looming, somwhere he can watch over humanity and their foibles. Plus, the constant moving aspect, with sets between around, in front of and on top of sets. Everything complicated and overlapped and interlaced, so every part of their worlds were involved with each other, and yet the style for each part was so different that you could tell how isolated different people were from one another.
Now, onto other stuff. Cast first, I think.
Száraz Tamás - I don’t mean to diss anyone else in the cast, but really, the minute their Lucheni came on, I was hooked. The man was electric to watch, a complete livewire performance, and he had just enough of the madness and manic glee that I love in my crazy French-born Italian anarchist assassins :) Szaraz Tamas has leaped up the ranks into my top 3, if not my very top Lucheni, alongside Kiriyan and Serkan Kaya. I may have described him as bouncing, but I failed to mention the obsessive madness which he plied on Death. There was pawing, leaning into, practically nuzzling. Even when Death kept glaring at him and smacked him down, he would beam like he’d earned a cookie. This would be Lucheni as played as Death’s biggest Fanboy. Plus, he had a surprisingly good voice for an ex boy-band member, and his hips seemed to have a life of their own. It made it difficult to notice anything/one else when he was on, because he’s one of those performers who just shines when he performs. I will be watching out for him in other shows with great interest.
Szabó Szilveszter - While he’s not one of my favourite Deaths, clearly someone had put something into his coffee, because he was rather… feisty. The shows I’ve seen with him were all right, but nothing spectacular. Since then, though, his voice has improved immeasurably, and I think the crack that Szaraz was on was catching, because this was one malicious, wicked, potentially poisonous Death. (although, he's still one of the most awkward stage-kissers I have ever see, but I suppose if you think this is technically Death's first romantic kiss, he's allowed to be clumsy and nose-smush)
Vágó Bernadett - Now, thanks to a vindictive Death, Sisi got to be even stronger by comparison. I adored Bernadett completely. As young Sisi, she was sweet and hopeful and charming, then you can see the development into neglected, lonely and frustrated wife, She’s not quite as on the edge of crazy as I like my Sisi’s, but as mentioned earlier, the Hungarians seem to prefer to play with the freedom-seeking aspect and the rivalry with the Imperial house, much like their own situation. She has an absolutely gorgeous voice as well as being a great presence and beautiful.
Balint Ádám - The git made me cry. This Franz Josef had all the dignity and propriety that FJ was meant to have, but by the time it got to Ships in the Night, he had pulled my heart out and proceeded to smash it to bits with a mallet. Especially knowing that FJ loved Sisi beyond all reason, even 20 years after she died. His old FJ, staggering and almost falling without Sisi to help him, voice breaking, reaching out to her… wah! So yep. Ships in the Night made me cry for the first time.
Szabó Dávid - And at last, a genuinely male Rudolf with balls on! (And I don’t mean the one Death plays with) Up until now, the only boy-played Rudolf I had vaguely liked was Jesper Tyden’s, but now I have a male Rudolf who I can say is a good one. He’s outwardly strong, but you can see the edge of fragility there, the Achilles Heel of his character, where he desperately seeks to do what he knows is right and get the validation he deserves, and then it all comes crashing down.
And for other people, I can’t recall who the Sophie was, but she was absolutey fantastic. The dynamic between her, Elisabeth and Franz Josef was great, and for the first time, I didn’t mind Bellaria, because she played it so beautifully: weakening, dying and abandoned by the person she has done everything for, while he runs to the woman who has done nothing but hurt him. It was heartbreaking.
On the whole, the whole performance was fantastically strong. While the Hungarians do incline towards symbolic sets rather than huge set pieces, they don’t skimp on performers. Their casts are almost 100% perfect, with energy, charisma and genuine watchability. I can admit there were no points that I was ever bored during this show, and that’s a rare thing. Normally, a show will have a weakness or two (or in the case of my last UK show, dozens), but this one was as close to perfect as I think I could have expected to see.
Production: Live
Theatre: Operettszínház, Budapest, Hungary
Date: 05/01/08
So, my first musical of the year, and the one I’ve been eager to see ever since I found it via Vampires on Youtube. Needless to say, I was a teeny bit disappointed about not seeing Máté Kamarás (not as much as some of the sobbing fangirls, though), but I’m glad to say the show was definitely worth seeing.
First, general production things worthy of note:
- The first thing I absolutely adored about this production was how it was less about Elisabeth herself, but about her in relation to the people who forced her to define herself. I loved the fact that the relationship between her and Sophie was emphasised. Perhaps it’s the Hungarian viewpoint that makes the difference, because the Vienna one doesn’t seem to put nearly as much emphasis on that relationship, more focussing on the madness and wild freedom Sisi was aiming for. Each international production has those little differences, though, working for the culture the show is aimed at. All things considered, this was a fairly stable Elisabeth.
- Next in the list of likes is the translation on some of the songs, especially the one I only know as 'Útvesztő minden út'. The biggest difference here was that Death was saying he was so bored and then along she came, something new and exciting, and the waiting game was going to be the challenge – he would wait for her and she would have to wait for him because that’s the way fate works, but both of them at various points almost giving in. I preferred it so much to the lyrical schmoop that the Takarazuka version features. This is definitely a Bloke song – I was bored, then I saw a piece of totty and yeah, I can wait.
- The Hungarian extended scenes. Really, for people who don’t know anything about the politics of the time, this is the best way to do it, especially since the Hungarian issue was such a big part of Sisi’s life. I see now why they used that for Japan’s versions as well, because unless you know quite a bit of Austrian political history, you’d be sitting and scratching your head over why there was such a fuss about it. Plus, it didn’t hurt that chief revolutionary was rather pretty.
- The use of Death’s angels. You can see how impatient Death is, because he sends in his angels to deal with everything that might prompt his girlfriend to ditch mortality sooner. He has to play by the rules, after all, but that doesn’t mean he can’t occasionally give people a nudge to do something stupid (aka Rudolf especially)
- The Franz Josef/Sisi relationship. By the end of Act 1, she’s already blackmailing him because of his devotion to her, but I loved the fact that in Maladie, they emphasised that she had made the choice to stay with him, and that him boinking someone else and leaving her to suffer for it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. She could tolerate being primped and pawed and caged for a time, as long as she got something out of him, but this was too far. And the fact that she’s strong enough to decide to use this to her advantage, I love. I know this is the general idea in the Maladie sequence, but having Death throwing her around and trying to snatch her then, but her fighting free of him too, standing up to him and standing up for herself just makes it so much stronger. Franz Josef has given her that final reason, and Death’s pushiness is the final straw – being pushed around by one man is bad enough, but not twice, not right now. Plus, it makes Ships in the Night heartbreaking, because he’s begged for forgiveness and been so loyal to her even when she smacked him down. Wah! Poor old FJ.
- The sets. Oh, the sets! So much symbolism and then some. I’d seen DVDs, but seeing it live meant I could see the nuances, and I’d never noticed the abstract version of the Austrian royal crest which is used to set the scenes in the palace. Likewise Death’s dark tower, always significantly looming, somwhere he can watch over humanity and their foibles. Plus, the constant moving aspect, with sets between around, in front of and on top of sets. Everything complicated and overlapped and interlaced, so every part of their worlds were involved with each other, and yet the style for each part was so different that you could tell how isolated different people were from one another.
Now, onto other stuff. Cast first, I think.
Száraz Tamás - I don’t mean to diss anyone else in the cast, but really, the minute their Lucheni came on, I was hooked. The man was electric to watch, a complete livewire performance, and he had just enough of the madness and manic glee that I love in my crazy French-born Italian anarchist assassins :) Szaraz Tamas has leaped up the ranks into my top 3, if not my very top Lucheni, alongside Kiriyan and Serkan Kaya. I may have described him as bouncing, but I failed to mention the obsessive madness which he plied on Death. There was pawing, leaning into, practically nuzzling. Even when Death kept glaring at him and smacked him down, he would beam like he’d earned a cookie. This would be Lucheni as played as Death’s biggest Fanboy. Plus, he had a surprisingly good voice for an ex boy-band member, and his hips seemed to have a life of their own. It made it difficult to notice anything/one else when he was on, because he’s one of those performers who just shines when he performs. I will be watching out for him in other shows with great interest.
Szabó Szilveszter - While he’s not one of my favourite Deaths, clearly someone had put something into his coffee, because he was rather… feisty. The shows I’ve seen with him were all right, but nothing spectacular. Since then, though, his voice has improved immeasurably, and I think the crack that Szaraz was on was catching, because this was one malicious, wicked, potentially poisonous Death. (although, he's still one of the most awkward stage-kissers I have ever see, but I suppose if you think this is technically Death's first romantic kiss, he's allowed to be clumsy and nose-smush)
Vágó Bernadett - Now, thanks to a vindictive Death, Sisi got to be even stronger by comparison. I adored Bernadett completely. As young Sisi, she was sweet and hopeful and charming, then you can see the development into neglected, lonely and frustrated wife, She’s not quite as on the edge of crazy as I like my Sisi’s, but as mentioned earlier, the Hungarians seem to prefer to play with the freedom-seeking aspect and the rivalry with the Imperial house, much like their own situation. She has an absolutely gorgeous voice as well as being a great presence and beautiful.
Balint Ádám - The git made me cry. This Franz Josef had all the dignity and propriety that FJ was meant to have, but by the time it got to Ships in the Night, he had pulled my heart out and proceeded to smash it to bits with a mallet. Especially knowing that FJ loved Sisi beyond all reason, even 20 years after she died. His old FJ, staggering and almost falling without Sisi to help him, voice breaking, reaching out to her… wah! So yep. Ships in the Night made me cry for the first time.
Szabó Dávid - And at last, a genuinely male Rudolf with balls on! (And I don’t mean the one Death plays with) Up until now, the only boy-played Rudolf I had vaguely liked was Jesper Tyden’s, but now I have a male Rudolf who I can say is a good one. He’s outwardly strong, but you can see the edge of fragility there, the Achilles Heel of his character, where he desperately seeks to do what he knows is right and get the validation he deserves, and then it all comes crashing down.
And for other people, I can’t recall who the Sophie was, but she was absolutey fantastic. The dynamic between her, Elisabeth and Franz Josef was great, and for the first time, I didn’t mind Bellaria, because she played it so beautifully: weakening, dying and abandoned by the person she has done everything for, while he runs to the woman who has done nothing but hurt him. It was heartbreaking.
On the whole, the whole performance was fantastically strong. While the Hungarians do incline towards symbolic sets rather than huge set pieces, they don’t skimp on performers. Their casts are almost 100% perfect, with energy, charisma and genuine watchability. I can admit there were no points that I was ever bored during this show, and that’s a rare thing. Normally, a show will have a weakness or two (or in the case of my last UK show, dozens), but this one was as close to perfect as I think I could have expected to see.
