Review: Elisabeth (Hamburg)

A few days ago (25.02.16) I saw Elisabeth in Hamburg and want to share a few impressions with you!

Technical Difficulties

My Mom got us really great seats in the third row from which you had an incredible view. During the prologue, however, just before Death was supposed to enter the stage, the music stopped abruptly and the lights went out. The actors were told to leave the stage and we sat stunned for a moment. I joked that “Death might be trapped in an elevator” because as some of you might now, something like that actually happened in several shows of Tanz der Vampire. After another five minutes in the darkness without any explanation, even my humour dried out since this is a production of Stage Entertainment who are somewhat famous here in Germany for cancelling shows. Luckily enough, we were then informed, that there are a few problems with the little stage that’s usually used hovering on top of the actual stage (the one that represents the murder weapon) and we finally continued after a 15 minute delay- without the broken upper stage. To be honest, everyone in the theatre was too relieved that we’d continued after all too complain about it and the actors did their best to make it work without the space they’re used to.

Costumes

First things first: I loved the new costumes. They were well done, historically appropriate and looked really nice. A little too nice, maybe. You could tell that they we’re all new and shiny which made the contrast towards the costumes I’m used to even harsher. The costumes I associate with Elisabeth are those from the 2004 Vienna DVD. Those are slightly shabby and have little tendrils on them in order to show that all those people you’re watching have been dead for over a century and are only used to retell the story. I liked that symbolism but I’ve got to confess that- aesthetically speaking- I won’t miss the tendrils. (They ruined perfectly fine costumes is what they did). My favourite costuming detail of this production: The wings of the “Death Angels”.

The make-up department was also doing a great job, especially in making Elisabeth appear thinner and thinner the older she got. Her hollow cheeks looked really creepy in some scenes and I was surprised that they not only aged her up but also added that unhealthy look.

The Actors

I can’t deny that I was a little disappointed when I heard that Maté Kamaras was ill and wouldn’t perform. And I also have to say that I wasn’t exactly happy when I was told that Mark Seibert would be his substitute for two weeks. Some people will probably try to shake some common sense into me for saying this but I don’t really like Mark Seibert as an actor, especially not as Death. Just a personal thing and nothing to do with his skills. I was unexpectedly lucky tough: I visited the show on an evening where almost none of the main roles were performed by the actual leading actors. (Which happens every time I go to see a show. I might be cursed or something.)  

Elisabeth – Amelie Dobler

Not much to say about Amelie: She was as amazing as always. I love her as Sarah in Tanz and I loved her as Elisabeth. She did an excellent job, her voice is a dream and her acting was spot on. The only thing one might complain about is that she’s really young and isn’t as convincing as the old Elisabeth as she is as the young one but there are only a handful of actors who actually manage to be perfect in both halves of the story and I think that if she where to take the role again in, say, 10 years or so, she could probably be one of those.

Der Tod / Death – Martin Markert

I had never heard or seen this man before and I’m telling you he’ll be going places. Sardonic smiles, cold masks that slip from time to time and a really cute pout- his face was a joy to watch during the entire performance. He wasn’t as controlled and dare I say boring as some actors yet not as open and emotional as others and I liked the balance a lot.

Luigi Lucheni – Kurosch Abbasi

There will never be any one even nearly as great in this role as Serkan Kaya but Kurosch was as good as anyone else gets, which is, coming from me, a huge compliment. Not only is he incredibly hot (yes that’s a sound way of measuring talent) but he also managed to give a nuanced performance. Lucheni is not an easy role to play because throughout the Musical, Lucheni himself is playing a role. Many actors don’t manage to show that there’s more to him than sarcasm and anger. Kurosch got it right though and it was a delight to watch him. He’s got a great voice as well but it often seemed as though his micro wasn’t working probably? Either that or he should sing a little louder because sometimes, I had problems hearing him. And since I opened this part praising Serkan Kaya, I’ve got to end it saying that no matter how much I love Serkan, Kurosch managed to get all of the Italian lines right. :P

Franz Joseph – Maximilian Mann

This is not a thankful job. Most people don’t care about this character and the way he is written doesn’t help at all. But Maximillian managed to do the one thing I thought impossible: He gave me Franz Joseph feels. Seriously. He managed to have this subtle undertone in his performance that wouldn’t let you forget that he- not unlike Rudolph- is suffering on a psychological level because of the way he was raised.

Erzherzogin Sophie - Maike Katrin Merkel

What a voice! I would kill to hear her as Elisabeth one day because no matter how great she was as Sophie, I think her talent was a little wasted on such a comparably minor role.

Rudolf - Thomas Hohler

My Mom liked him better than me. She was really amazed and asked me who he was and said that I should remember his name because he’s going to do great things in the future. I myself enjoyed him the most during the back half of his performance- during Wenn Ich dein Spiegel wär, and the little interrogation scene that is. Die Schatten werden länger reprise is usually my favourite song but it didn’t really click for me this time. When he was good though he was really good so I won’t nit-pick.

The supporting cast and ensemble were great as well and I could hardly be happier with the overall performance. I had a lovely evening and want to thank everyone involved for the great show! You’re amazing guys, keep it up.

I might feel the sincere need to rewatch “Der Graf von Monte Christo”... (click images for unecessary captions)

Ah yes, The Count of Monte Christo, a story about love, revenge and Carsten Leppert having threesomes...

sadly, they don’t show any villinous threeway action as well I’d be totally up for that i should stop shipping the antagonists of classic french literatur shouldn’t I

Everyones getting exited about the Tony Awards and I’m sitting here in Germany and feel quite a lot like howling in pained envy.

I’ve (finally) seen Les Mis Dallas [thanks for the great evening @ everyone who was at the lifestream] and I’ve got some opinions to share (spoilers, obviously):

What I liked

What I didn’t like

All in all, I’d say that it was one of my favourite takes on the musical. There could be quite a few improvements but I would still love to go and actually see it. The acting was great troughout, the cast was stunning and some of those voices will chill you to the bone. If you have the chance to go, take it!

“Master of the strings”/”Ich halt die Fäden in der Hand” in Polish. This is awesome. I dare you to send me a more bad-ass version of this song.

Could we please take a moment and remember that there is an awesome song called “Javert t’es amoureux” (=Javert, you are in love) that was written and performed by Jean Vallée who was the original musical Javert?