Vereinigte Bühnen Wien

Der letzte Tanz with Annemieke van Dam (Elisabeth) und Franziskus Hartenstein (Emperor Franz Joseph) Copyright: VBW/Brinkhoff/Mögenburg

ELISABETH – the musical by the hit writers Michael Kunze & Sylvester Levay tells the dramatic and touching story of the life, activities and suffering of Empress Elisabeth. A moving musical score, stunning choreography and lavish sets have captivated audiences the world over since the show’s premiere and allow them to rediscover the historical world of the Habsburgs time and time again.

Elisabeth’s life began as a romantic fairytale and ended with a tragic murder. As a young girl of captivating beauty, she ascends the Austrian throne at the age of 16. Emperor Franz Joseph chooses her as his bride instead of her sister Helene, who was the one originally intended for him. He simply cannot resist her joie-de-vivre, high spirits and youth. But it is not long after the sumptuous wedding that the first dark clouds appear.
The court in Vienna is highly regimented and governed by strict rules. Sacrifices and power struggles make the young Elisabeth’s life a misery. Her authoritarian mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie, watches her like a hawk and insists on adherence to rigid protocol. Trapped by the conventions of the court and a role she is not suited to, Elisabeth struggles with all her might for liberty and personal happiness. Her husband, devoted to duty and at the mercy of his domineering mother, cannot help her either. She can barely stand to be at court and is driven from one place to the next by her inner conflict. She restlessly travels across Europe where she cannot be reached by anyone, not even her son or her husband. She becomes absorbed in her own world, constantly accompanied by a mysterious force – Death.

After the suicide of her son Rudolf, Elisabeth realises the futility of her own life and yearns for death herself. She withdraws to Corfu where she writes poems and her diary. Meanwhile, in Vienna, nationalism and xenophobia are gaining ever more ground. Emperor Franz Joseph can no longer control these forces and is also powerless in the face of his rival for the affections of Elisabeth, Death.

The assassination perpetrated by the Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni on the shores of Lake Geneva finally unites the “lovers”. Elisabeth’s struggles and longings end in a passionate embrace with Death. One era ends, a new one dawns.