Latest Posts by kitschy-gillyflowers - Page 9

elisabeth textposts numero four

Elisabeth das Musical Textposts pt. 4

Máté Kamarás & Fritz Schmid (Wien 2005)

Uwe Kröger (Wien 1992)

Serkan Kaya (Wien 2005)

Mark Seibert & Oliver Arno (Essen 2012)

Markus Pol, Pia Douwes, Uwe Kröger (Berlin 2008)

les miserables high school au: not an au where the characters are in high school, but the actual plot of les miserables transferred into a high school setting with a ridiculously low-stakes and high-stakes plot somehow simultaneously.

9th grader jean valjean steals a loaf of bread from the cafeteria because he and his sister forgot to eat breakfast that day and were hungry, but he gets caught by the student hall monitors and put in detention for a week. he tries to sneak out to see his sister four times so it gets extended for the entire semester. (he can't hang out with his sister after school anymore). after the semester ends, everyone thinks he's a delinquent and won't talk to him but local nice guy myriel eats lunch with him, valjean tries to steal his sandwich again but myriel just lets him so valjean is like Friendship??? i'm going to be Nice to people now.

in 10th grade, he becomes the student council president but javert, one of the hall monitors, is suspicious of him and thinks he's covering up something (you are not allowed to be in stuco if you've had detention before). valjean has made friends with the stuco and eats lunch with them now. he meets fantine, whose boyfriend and entire friend group broke up with her so she's eating lunch alone constantly. fantine currently has incredibly bad grades and fails her classes but she makes valjean promise her he'll be friends with cosette, who is her sister/friend (?), when she comes up from middle school. when javert accuses the wrong person of bread theft-induced detention, valjean reveals that it was actually him and is drummed out in shame from the student council.

valjean no longer eats lunch at the student council table so he eats behind the bleachers with cosette throughout 11th grade. they hung around with plant nerd fauchelevent for a while but he graduated, so she is his only friend now. the next year, when valjean is in his senior year (12th) and cosette is in 10th, she starts dating an 11th-grader named marius. valjean is terrified that cosette will stop eating lunch with him and increasingly despairs over this relationship. (also note that literally everything that happens between marius and cosette happens beat by beat, including the handkerchief incident).

marius hangs around one of those 9-person friend groups where everyone seems to be super close and have inside jokes that's impossible to penetrate. this is les amis, if you haven't guessed. enjolras is very angry over the cafeteria's disgusting food and the group is constantly talking of some sort of reform. the thenardiers, who were cosette's former toxic friend group, decides to rob valjean of his lunch money (?); marius overhears this and tells hall monitor javert about it. valjean successfully beats the shit out of patron-minette & the thenardiers and runs away just before javert shows up and puts them all in detention. eponine, one of the thenardier friends, realizes she has a crush on marius.

valjean thinks that cosette is going to completely replace him with marius (les amis eat lunch in the space that's right beside the bleachers, where valjean and cosette eat, that's how she met marius in the first place) so he wants to move lunch spots. cosette cries and marius bangs his head on a tree. enjolras begins the cafeteria walk-out protest (grantaire, joly, and bossuet were eating shitty seafood salad there when it started). valjean is in class when eponine passes him a note saying that marius is skipping class to attend the walk-out, and both of them discreetly leave class separately to go find marius.

javert goes to the walk-out to write down people's names but gets captured instead. they just surround him and won't let him leave. valjean shows up and javert thinks he'll take revenge for kicking him out of student council back in 10th grade, but valjean just makes everyone let javert go. javert realizes that he's been wrong for his entire high school years and immediately hands in his hall monitor resignation form. the principal and faculty show up, the rebellion is instantly crushed and everyone, including eponine who was just looking for marius, instantly gets out-of-school suspension. for some reason, a mysterious person talks to the principal and somehow gets marius out of suspension. he has no idea who this could be.

everything is peaceful now, except for the fact that marius' entire friend group got suspended. for a while it looks like marius, cosette, and valjean will all eat lunch together, but valjean feels guilty and confesses to marius that he once got detention for an entire semester, without telling him the reason. marius thinks valjean must've committed some horrible crime and starts subtly excluding him from lunch. after a while, valjean stops showing up to lunch at all.

the day before valjean's graduation from high school, thenardier approaches marius and reveals that it was valjean who talked the principal out of marius' suspension. he shows him old school newspaper articles of valjean being stuco president (and a really good one, too) and tells him how he used this to his advantage to the principal. marius is shocked and tries to find valjean, but he's nowhere to be seen (he's actually at home chilling because why would you show up to school on the second to last day). on the very day of the graduation & last day of school, marius and cosette finally make up with valjean and they hug one last time before valjean steps out of the high school building once and for all. the end.

SCREAMING AND CRYING WITH THE GERMAN VERSION OF "EMPTY CHAIRS AND EMPTY TABLES"

(THE WAY HE SAYS THEIR NAMES, ESPECIALLY GRANTAIRE, ENJOLRAS -oh my gosh my jaw dropped with Enjolras- AND COURFEYRAC)

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Link to the whole performance:

"romantic" "platonic" no whatever those two have going on is way more sinister than all that

EDMOND YOU WILL NOT KILL MY SON

elisabeth textposts three ✌☝

WHo saw this

and decided to make this

if EMPRESS ELISABETH OF AUSTRIA had a PHONE 😂😂😂🤪🤣🤣

Please tell me i'm not as forgettable as your silence is making me feel.

my favorite form of love is being loved without feeling like i was begging for it

der tod & todd

Happy 24-6-01!

Christian Lund would love the boop feature

Proof why "Elisabeth" and "Sweeney Todd" are the same musical.

They both have:

- Tod(d)

- Beauty treatments as an important element of the main character's life

- Prologue, where the ensemble sings about the main character repeating their name for a hundred times

- André Bauer at some point

- Unhealthy affection leading to death

- Lack of vital food product of animal origin

- Murder with a sharp weapon

- Scene in a mental institution

- Great promoter who doesn't care what to sell

- Child abandoned by their parents

- Prostitution

- Main character has traveled a lot

- Despotism of the authorities

- Convicted criminal

- Questionable hair care products

- One of the main characters hasn't seen his wive at least for 15 years

- Popular catering establishment

- Character, who found a job as a waiter

- Trial scene

- Fake Italian

- Somebody burned alive

- Murder of a cat

Sweeney Todd except that mrs. Lovett is buddies with one of the rats in the street and it’s like ratatouille

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?

You know what's really tragic about the character of Rudolf in Elisabeth das Musical? (Besides, y'know... Everything?)

That he's a LOT like Franz Joseph too, at least when he was his age.

They're both under the thumb of one parent, who doesn't allow them to express their own political view. They both feel like intrigue is ruining their lives, and wish they weren't in the restricting position they occupy. And most importantly: they both express a desire to be "soft", instead of the hard and emotionless leader they're drilled to be.

Why then, is there no song, not a single line, where either of them acknowledge that similarity? Elisabeth and Rudolf both sing about how similar they are, why can't Rudolf and FJ?

Because Rudolf doesn't know. How could he know that his own father went through the exact same pressure he is under.. when the pressure was successful in molding him? He never sees that softer side to him.

Franz Joseph might have chosen Elisabeth over his mother in the end, but he internalized her lessons and sees them as truth. He is hard, he is strict, and he doesn't know any other way to be. He doesn't see anything wrong with how he's treating his son. (And in his childhood, how Sophie raised him). He turned out fine, why should Rudolf be different?

So Rudolf had not one, but two parents who should have been able to relate to at least part of his despair. But both failed to be the parent they wished they had. And I don't know if it's better or worse that he never even knew how his father was similar to him, too.

Elisabeth das Musical Textposts pt. 3

Der Tod: Uwe Kröger, Kronprinz Rudolf: Andreas Bieber (1992)

Kronprinz Rudolf: Dolhai Attila, Der Tod: Szabó P. Szilveszter (2004)

Kronprinz Rudolf: Andreas Bieber (1992)

Kaiserin Elisabeth: Annemieke van Dam, Der Tod: Mark Seibert (2012)

Der Tod: Uwe Kröger, Kronprinz Rudolf: Andreas Bieber (1992)

Elisabeth das Musical Textposts pt. 2

Kaiser Franz Joseph: Viktor Gernot, Kaiserin Elisabeth: Pia Douwes, Der Tod: Uwe Kröger (1992)

Kronprinz Rudolf: Andreas Bieber, Der Tod: Uwe Kröger (1992)

Kaiserin Elisabeth: Pia Douwes, Der Tod: Uwe Kröger (2002)

Kaiser Franz Joseph: Viktor Gernot, Erzherzogin Sophie: Else Ludwig (1992)

Kaiserin Elisabeth: Pia Douwes (1992)

Kronprinz Rudolf: Jonathan Späth, Der Tod: Mark Seibert (2012)

Elisabeth das Musical Textposts pt. 1

Rudolf: Andreas Bieber, Der Tod: Uwe Kröger (1992)

Elisabeth: Pia Douwes, Maximilian: Wolfgang Pampel (1992)

Der Tod: Uwe Kröger, Elisabeth: Pia Douwes (2002)

Elisabeth: Pia Douwes, Der Tod: Uwe Kröger (1992)

Der Tod: Uwe Kröger (1992)

Rudolf: Lukas Perman, Der Tod: Mark Seibert, Elisabeth: Maya Hakvoort (2022)

Kinda personal question but what makes Elisabeth special to you? (Trigger warning) And in your opinion, does it romanticise things like mental illness and suicide? I think that ‘Die Schatten werden länger’ is a pretty apt metaphor for how it feels to have depression and suicidal thoughts (depending on one’s interpretation of what Death is) or to be emotionally abused. I ask about the productions with Furuka Yuta as Rudolf and the recent one with him as Death.

Dear Anon,

‘Elisabeth’ is my ultimate gateway down the rabbit hole of theatre and story-telling. Before ‘Elisabeth’ I was mostly a passive consumer of media, but after, I started to consider mechanisms of story-telling, and saw how different performers can tell different stories using the same script. This taught me how actions (dictated by the script) are just that - actions; and before we can understand a character, we must delve into what the context is of those actions.

Of course, the music is also just phenomenal, and it IS a musical, after all.

TL;DR: But importantly, I love ‘Elisabeth’ because it’s literally written to be a “F*ck you, Hollywood.”

In this post I discussed how ‘Elisabeth das Musical’ managed to save crumbling European cinematic culture. I am very tired of the Hollywood conventions, and ESPECIALLY tired of the glorification of romance. ‘Elisabeth’ subverted both of these stale conventions for me, and I was able to enjoy an alternative to the popular tropes of: “the superhuman lover, the caged bird, lonely at the top” in a new context.

This post will be divided into the following chapters:

1. Elisabeth

1.1. Deconstructing romance

1.2. Wife- and Motherhood

1.3. No pedagogical message in yer face!

2. Rudolf

2.1. Deconstructing romance

2.2. Depression in children

2.3. Crushing expectations and grandness

2.4. Deconstructing masculinity

3. Der Tod

3.1. Villain?

3.2. Predatory lover?

4. Conclusion

Trigger Warning: The text below contains mention of depression and suicide.

Romanticising mental illness?

‘Elisabeth’ is admittedly a bit of a problematic fave to me; it does indeed romanticise mental illness. However! Contrary to mainstream conventions, ‘Elisabeth’s does not show that mental illness can be cured because of THE POWER OF LOVE! It unapologetically showcases the destructiveness of mental illness, and how it is a long and painful struggle without promise of success. And that is exactly what a mental illness can be.

1. Elisabeth

1.1. Deconstructing romance

Elisabeth herself is the clearest example. She was a happy-go-lucky girl who was not destined to become Empress (her sister was), and yet she was chosen as bride by the handsome and young Emperor, Franz I, against his mother’s will. It is the dream many girls are taught to have.

And yet, it was exactly after becoming part of a fairy tale that her life sank into hell. Not just because of Sophie, but also because of her husband. Her husband did not turn out to be ‘a bad guy’ like Hollywood will make you believe is the only reason a relationship will fail. No, Franz was just entirely ignorant towards anything Elisabeth needed. Franz’ failure as lover was not what he ‘did’, but rather, what he ‘did not’. I think it is very important to show how real relationships require compatibility AND hard-work, but that without both, it just won’t work.

1.2. Wife- and motherhood

In conventional media, a woman like Elisabeth’s journey would be to find ‘the love she deserves’, she would still be ‘someone’s romantic interest’, just not Franz’. But in the musical, her arc is preserving and exercising her autonomy, and make the best out of a terrible situation. Women are trapped in patriarchy, and usually there is just no escape. And therefore seeing the strength of a woman who makes the best out of her pain is inspiring, and more relatable.

Usually in media, if the woman is not ‘the wife’, then the way she is strong is her focus on being ‘the mother’. Elisabeth however, was shown to be a terrible mother! She was not callous, she was very loving in fact. But because she had so much going on, she simply did not have extra mental energy to spend on her son. I find it very refreshing that love is simply not enough to make human-relations work, whether it’s romantic or familial relationships. Saying that somebody fails in a relationship ‘because you don’t love x enough’ is shortsighted and backwards.

It is breathtaking for me to see a narrative that solely focused on a woman’s struggles without the romance, and without the shackles of motherhood. No, she was struggling because she could not be a person.

1.3. No pedagogical message in yer face!

I also absolutely love how Elisabeth is not an idol that we are supposed to learn from. It’s not: “women! Look at this woman and [be/don’t be] this woman!!”. No, ‘Elisabeth’ leaves its viewer alone, and does not try to impose onto any ‘how to be a woman’.

We are simply supposed to see her life, and sympathise with her as human. The story never justifies her shortcomings, and never glorifies her as the fairy tale Empress ‘die Junge Kaiserin’ would have you believe.

‘Elisabeth das Musical’ does not treat its audience as people that must be educated; instead it assumes the audience has a mind of its own, and can participate in the story as Elisabeth’s peer.

2. Rudolf

2.1. Deconstructing romance

Rudolf’s arc is likewise one wherein his mental illness is not ‘magically cured by romance’. The historic Rudolf was married and he was VERY unhappy in his marriage. However, his unhappy marriage was not the cause of his depression, nor did it really matter that much in making it worse. Rudolf did have a lover (Mary Vetsera), and they loved each other deeply. However, that was not enough to make his mental illness bearable for him.

This forbidden-love part of Rudolf’s life was so insignificant to his depression, that the writers left it out entirely in ‘Elisabeth das Musical’, and his arc was still perfectly round without it.

2.2. Depression in children

‘Elisabeth’ is an excellent example of how depression is not limited to certain groups of people; anyone can be haunted by it. Rudolf is able bodied, white, wealthy, the crown prince of an Empire, intelligent, etc. etc. And yet he had crippling depression, and it is NOT because he was whiny within privilege.

Just like with his mother, Rudolf is also not an idol we’re supposed to imitate. However, we are supposed to learn from seeing him. We first meet Rudolf as a young child, and because he was not given any help, his depression escalated into suicidal depression later on. Many people either don’t believe that children can be depressed, or simply don’t take it seriously. Rudolf however, shows everyone how depression can in fact destroy the lives of children, not unlike adults. Even better; he is a historic character who actually existed. Good luck denying that!

2.3. Crushing expectations and grandness

As discussed above, Rudolf’s struggle has nothing to do with romance, but crushing expectations. As Furukawa explained in this interview: “When Rudolf finally figured out what he wanted to do, he was faced with his country sinking into crisis. He was stuck in the situation where he did not have the power to say anything, and yet had the status wherein everyone expected him to act for the benefit of the state. If he did not act he would be a neglectful man, unworthy of the title of ‘crown prince’, but if he did act for the benefit of the state, he would be a rebel.”

I think it is very refreshing too that despite all the good qualities Rudolf has (2.2.), he simply could not live up to the crushing expectations. It is very important to see how failure is often not the inability of the person, but that too much was expected of ONE human being to begin with.

2.4. Deconstructing toxic masculinity

Rudolf performs a very refreshing form of masculinity that is a departure from Hollywood’s ‘male hero’ model. His entire character is centered on his vulnerability, but he is NEVER portrayed as the loser. Instead, we see a man admitting his vulnerability and looking his depression in the eyes, and never being ashamed of it. He never blames himself for ‘not being man enough’ to live up to social expectations. Instead of “becoming a proper man!!” Rudolf knows that what he needs is compassion, a person he can talk to (his mother), and a fucking break.

Death is almost always without exception ‘punishment’ in stories. However, with Rudolf there were clearly external factors that have nothing to do with his supposed inaptness. The perpetrator was active in the sense that LITERAL Death manipulating him into committing suicide. Rudolf was a victim instead of someone punished for a “sin of not being man enough”.

3. Der Tod

3.1. Villain?

I am very tired of the good vs evil dichotomous story telling of Hollywood. Another thing I love about this musical is how it is entirely ambiguous who the villain is. It’s easy to point at Der Tod, but is he really the villain?

The script of this ingenious musical is written so freely that depending on the performers/director, the villain is either ambiguous, or non-existent, WITHOUT the story being vague. Depending on the actor of Der Tod, he is either an actual entity who governs over life and death, or the product of one’s imagination.

3.2. Predatory lover?

Der Tod’s existence and his pursuit of Elisabeth’s ‘love’ is the main factor that plays in saying “‘Elisabeth’ romanticises mental illness”. But depending on how the performers of Elisabeth and Der Tod interpret these roles, the story either becomes:

a toxic romance that is self-aware of its toxicity,

or like how Furukawa Yuta and Manaki Reika in 2019 managed, into a heroic tale of preserverence and a battle of wits.

Most importantly, in (most) non-Takarazuka versions, after Elisabeth dies, she is not there anymore to ‘reciprocate’ Der Tod’s feelings. She is just gone. Only in the Takarazuka version (I believe) does she enter the Underworld and actively becomes Der Tod’s lover.

So outside Takarazuka’s version, Der Tod is never rewarded with ‘a lover’; he simply gets his prey as a predator. Whether this ‘predator’ is a lover however, is again up to interpretation. But otherwise, death getting a mortal is just a very natural phenomenon, not victory as Furukawa puts it.

4. Conclusion

In conclusion, yes, ‘Elisabeth das Musical’ does have many elements that may qualify it as ‘a romanticisation of mental illness’, but ultimately I think it is not just that simple.

We must consider what the message is that the musical sends, and it is NOT: “because Elisabeth/Rudolf are mentally ill, they embark on an epic journey.” If anything, the musical makes very clear that the mental illnesses of Elisabeth and her son are the main culprit that MAKES them miserable, and that Der Tod is the personification thereof, hence his predatory nature. In ‘Elisabeth’, mental illness ‘preys’ on its victims.

The romanticisation mostly (though not solely) comes from the consumers, because we are conditioned to read stories like ‘Elisabeth’ as a romance.

We see a man (???) claiming to love a woman, and he chases her and won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. He goes through extreme means to impress her, and the story even comes with a ‘love rival’ (Franz).

We see a woman ‘yearning’ for something, and that something can only be given by Der Tod, and finally she does find peace when she is with him.

But, we must pay attention to what Elisabeth says when she is dead. It is not: “I’ve been looking for true love, and now I found it,” or “I wanted freedom, and you’ve been kindly offering it to me, but I was too foolish to accept earlier.” No, the very last thing she sings is:

“I have cried, laughed, been disheartened and I have prayed. There had been days where I tasted defeat in my senseless battle.Regardless, I have entrusted my life to myself alone!”

“Winning Elisabeth’s love” is the term Der Tod set without Elisabeth having any say in it. The term she set for herself is staying true to herself and not giving up; which she NEVER did. As such, THAT ⇈ was Elisabeth claiming victory of always having stayed true to herself, and it has NOTHING to do with Der Tod. She does not need Der Tod, she simply needed freedom.

i was reeeaally waiting to post this so i could bundle it with more elisabeth sketches, but i haven’t drawn for a few days sooo… OH WELLL

I don’t actually know how to draw Garroth’s hair :,)

What I had left here I just held it tight So someone with your eyes Might come in time

WOW beautiful. The outfit is everythingggg!

hi minecrft roleplay fans here is my design for the one and only

ANGST ANGST ANGST

CW: Blood and some scary words

What If: Garroth didn’t pass out when Zenix shot him

i made a few versions

Aphtober Day 31: Free Day!