Review: Elisabeth in Budapest, May 2009 (long!)

[valancystar]

So, I saw Elisabeth in Budapest six times last month, and wrote a gigantic review, so I thought I'd post it here if it interests someone. It's awfully long, barely fitting into one post. Names are written the Hungarian way, surname first, because I'm too lazy to change around. Crossposted to magyar_musicals.

This is my favourite musical ever and I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. I think the Budapest production is awesome. Sure, there are a few things I'd change. Would love it if they adapted the script a little bit to the changes made after 1996, for example by including Wenn ich tanzen will. Sometimes the stage design is also too big and vague. But generally I like it. Some people complain about the sets, and I used to, but I don't seem to mind them anymore. They're not my favourites, but I think they have interesting symbolism and they create a suitably dreamlike background. There's a lot of ensemble in the background even in the scenes they're not needed in, but I guess I have a pretty good skill of focusing on what's important and letting the background remain background, because that mostly doesn't bother me. I adore the dreamlike quality of the production, and the intense directing. Most of the actors get so much emotion and passion out of the characters. It's exactly why I love Hungarian shows so much, the emotion and the intensity is addictive and they really get the most possible out of the characters and the story.

The production has an interesting take on the story and the characters, different from any other versions. Unsurprisingly, they've emphasized everything Hungarian a lot, extending those scenes which have to do with Hungary. In doing so, they create parallels between Elisabeth's story and the story of Hungary. When Elisabeth needs her freedom, so does Hungary, and they sympathise with each other. When Elisabeth is at her triumph, so is Hungary, but they both still keep on yearning for even more freedom, and that leads to destruction in form of Rudolf's fate. It's both Elisabeth's and Hungary's desire for freedom and their refusal to actually care about him which leads to his destruction - and this also leads to Elisabeth's breakdown and the climax of the story. It's really interesting, and an awesome example of how local history can affect the interpretation of a musical. It makes all the sense that they made it like this in Hungary, because they have a lot of history connected to Elisabeth (and Rudolf) and of course they should use that in such a way that the story has the greatest possible connection with the audience who are seeing it.

The interpretation of Death in the Hungarian production is different from anything else. They have emphasized Death as the dark side and shadow of Elisabeth and Rudolf, the dark side of their mind whispering to them, seeming to understand them when nobody else does but quietly pulling them to self-destruction. They emphasize the supernaturality of Death, he is a fantasy creature, and they also emphasize his dream lover aspect. I personally see Elisabeth dreaming of this kind of a supernatural lover more easily than the Death of many other productions; it fits with what I know of her personality. It also fits with how I like to see the character, though I understand there are many other possible interpretations as well.

In this production, the "Der Hass" scene also becomes really interesting. They do it really intensely and it's more scary than in any other production, especially because the protestors are just normal people. With the placement of "Wenn ich dein Spiegel wär" directly after this scene, it has more of a point: it shows very clearly what world Rudolf is afraid of and tries to fight against, and reminds us that just these forces lead to dark times for Hungary, not only Rudolf's destruction.

There are a few bits I don't like, like Death's weird house/tower thingie, and I'm not sure if I like the way the ending is staged or not. Then again, I feel that way about all versions of the ending and none is my obvious favourite.

Here comes a cast review. I saw everyone at least once, most of them at least twice, some as many as four times (Szilveszter, Zoltán, Attila etc.). I mostly had full first cast or full second cast performances except that Luchenis changed more randomly and Füredi Nikolett played once with second cast, once with first cast.

Elisabeth
Janza Kata: For all that she's famous for this role in Hungary, I really didn't like her that much. The first time I saw her I didn't like her at all, the other two times she was better but still nothing great. I really expected her to be better at it, just because she's done it so long you'd think she had a clue of how. Possibly she's been better earlier but has grown tired and jaded with the role. But it doesn't look like there was much depth in her version to begin with. I'm afraid I really can't understand people who think that she's the best Elisabeth in Hungary, if they've seen any others live (and if they haven't seen others, they've no business in saying who's the greatest). Betti and especially Niki beat her a thousandfold any day, both in how they do the character's emotional journey and in how they present the historical Elisabeth.

A huge problem with Kata is that while she's good at being strong and angry, she can't do anything else and is very one-dimensional. She's pretty much just angry and bitter from beginning to the end, nothing else. She can't do vulnerable and sensitive, and those are also big parts of Elisabeth's character. It's why Elisabeth becomes the way she does, because she's hurt too easily at a young age and wants to protect herself, and because her sensitive, dreamy nature makes her attracted to the beauty and darkness of Death who messes up her emotional state. None of this is seen in Kata.

She also can't play a young girl convincingly, and I'm talking about acting rather than looks (even if looks are also a problem). There are actresses who can play a teenager well even though they're much older, but with Kata it's painfully obvious she's a 30-something woman trying to play a teenager and doing it poorly. She overdoes fooling around and being silly, so that it isn't convincing and it's not Elisabeth-like. In the scene where Franz-Joseph chooses Elisabeth instead of Helene, each Elisabeth does something different where she's playing around and doesn't notice FJ looking at her. Niki and Betti both played with their fans in different ways and it was cute and worked for the character. Kata focused on removing her gloves by taking them into her mouth - lightly biting a finger of a glove so she can pull it off. So she spent forever on that, delaying it on purpose, and when FJ is looking at her, she's sitting there with a glove hanging out of her mouth and looking like a dumb hamster. It was funny, but not in the least bit Elisabeth. That was when I knew I was in no way going to like her in the role, but I still tried afterwards for several scenes and just couldn't do it.

She doesn't show much sensitivity, so for example her being harassed by Sophie or disappointed by FJ isn't too credible. She doesn't seem hurt, only angry, and seems so tough there's no question of her being able to get through. So the result is that her Elisabeth is little else than a stubborn bitch, not very sympathetic. It doesn't seem like a tragedy the way she goes, it's just an annoying hard-headed bitch getting what was coming to her. Elisabeth's story really should be a bit more complex than that. I know there are people who view the character as just a stubborn bitch, but I don't. So if I feel that way about her, too, something's wrong. Elisabeth is certainly responsible for what happened to her, and a lot of the story is how she consciously chose to be living fully for herself and this brought about her tragedy. But there should at least be reasons for why she behaves like that. With other Elisabeths you can tell it's because she felt hurt and decided to protect herself and win over the very real challenges facing her. Kata's Elisabeth is just a bitch and I couldn't like the character when she played her. She lacks the emotional dimensions, growth and depth the character needs.

I also don't like her voice for the role, it's way too raw, rough and harsh, though she sings better when she has to go higher and can't do those notes with her uglier belting voice. She can't change her voice to suit different ages and emotions, and as a teenager she sounds like a 30-something singing a teenager's songs. She's not even very beautiful anymore, I don't know why because she still looks really good as Titania, but now I had really much trouble seeing her as any kind of a beauty. Elisabeth's costumes somehow don't flatter her.

A few good things. She has good chemistries with Szilveszter's Death - not so much with Zoli's Franz-Joseph, I think. But the good chemistries with Szilveszter didn't help that much when I couldn't connect to the character and didn't feel she was Elisabeth. Chemistry isn't enough if one half of the couple is not the character she should be. There are a few scenes where her ability to be strong, stubborn and intense is good. In the performances where she was okay I liked her in Elisabeth mach auf and in Maladie. It was really cool how she defied the spirit of depression in form of Death. Would just have worked better if she'd had enough sensitivity that the depression would have been a believable threat. She does angry madness pretty well, so her Nichts, nichts is rather cool, as well as the aforementioned Maladie. I like the way she lifts up her fan in the end of Rastlose Jahre/Jagd where Lucheni says how she wins again, as always. Otherwise there was nothing special.

Vágó Bernadett: After two unimpressive performances from Kata, it was a relief to go "Ah, this is how Elisabeth should feel like!" I'd wondered if I'd just changed so that I don't feel for the character anymore, but no. I had no problems feeling for her when Bernadett played her. She put so much emotion into everything she did, she did Elisabeth's youth, dreaminess, longing and sensitivity beautifully, but also grew and changed quite well. Right towards the end she's maybe not as convincing as she could be as an aging woman, but still pretty good. She does Elisabeth's anguish and range of emotions beautifully. She's especially adorable in the early scenes with the young Elisabeth, but she really is good later on, too. Her Ich gehör nur mir was a great emotional experience, but she was also great in later scenes. Her Ich gehör nur mir reprise maybe didn't have quite as much power as it could have had. Generally it's maybe a bit too clear that this Elisabeth isn't going to make it through how she wants, but she's got enough spirit that you at least hope she will anyway. Her Maladie was really interesting, she was very convincingly wanting to die for a while there, and the way she shouts "No, no!" as Death drags her across the floor makes the scene quite striking. Then she summons her angry strength again and is great. Also liked her quiet desperation and fear/allure of madness in Nichts, Nichts. In her final scene she sings her lines in a really beautiful voice full of longing about to be filled.

Bernadett's voice is absolutely lovely, it's so beautiful, clear and musical and carries through the difficult score with ease. She doesn't age up her voice much and doesn't put as much emotion into her voice as Niki does, but she's still good. Every scene was an emotional experience and she changed and developed through the story, and made the musical into the beautiful tragedy it should be. She's maybe not convincing enough as the older Elisabeth, but she's still good. She is extremely beautiful, and while she's a bit on the short side for Elisabeth, she carries herself well enough that it's not too striking - and it's anyway mostly obvious because her Franz-Joseph is so tall that anyone's pretty short next to him.

I didn't think her chemistry with Máté was as good as it could have been, but it was okay, and he worked fairly well as her evil spirit, using her sensitivity and desire to defend herself to spin her to darkness. I think she was a better couple with Szilveszter when I saw them together a year and a half ago, though. I would rather see her Elisabeth desiring and yearning for his kind of Death. It didn't seem like she really loved this Death, it's more like everything in her life sucks but there's this gorgeous supernatural creature paying attention to her, so she likes that. She and Szabó Dávid's Rudolf worked wonderfully together as mother and son, you could so well see in his sensitive Rudolf a mirror to her sensitive but stronger Elisabeth. She and Ádám's Franz-Joseph were very sweet together, you could believe they cared about each other in the beginning and would have wished things had gone better for them. Also his inability to stand up for her when she was young and sensitive was really poignant, because she brought the emotion through very well. On a whole, this role definitely gets out the best of Bernadett (whom I've had problems with in some roles, but now I loved her again). It's written and directed interestingly so you get more facets and emotions out of her than usual, and on the other hand her natural ability for sensitivity, darkness and showing the change of emotions makes the role beautifully poignant. It makes Elisabeth easy to sympathise with so that even when you know she's also got herself to blame for everything, it at least isn't inconceivable why she'd act the way she did.

And now the best:
Füredi Nikolett. Seriously, I don't know how anyone could see her live and not think she's totally amazing as Elisabeth. (I think she's the best Elisabeth ever, but I suppose I should not demand everyone to think this because people have different tastes.) She is Elisabeth, completely. I've read a lot about the historical person and Niki completely embodies the way I see the historical Sisi, every single moment, in every movement, look, gesture and tone of voice. There are so many little things she does which show that she knows Elisabeth very thoroughly, and so with her acting she tells all sorts of things about Elisabeth which are not always told in the musical. And even just as a character in a show, without reference to the historical person, she's amazing. Every moment is so full of powerful emotion, everything she does has a purpose that tells a great deal about her character and puts much more into the scene than there is on the surface, the whole story is a huge journey and every scene is also a journey where she changes and develops. The amount of energy and emotion she transmits on stage is amazing. I had tears in my eyes in every scene, either because I felt sad for her or just because even positive emotions were so moving and real that I had to cry. I lived every moment of her story so intensely that I felt totally exhausted and exhilerated afterwards.

She has great chemistries with everyone. Including Szilveszter, whose exclusive chemistries with Kata so much is made of. No worries there, Niki and Szilveszter worked great together. She and Máté were also powerful together, even though I don't like Máté as Death very much. She had great, poignant relationships with both of her Franz-Josephs, especially Zoli - I cried through most of their scenes together. She plays wonderfully together with both Rudolfs, especially Dávid who does the relationship touchingly. She's intense against Sophie, and she's so cute and sweet with Max, you can tell that they care about each other and you can see how much she longs to live like him. And she has great interactions also with random ensemble women playing her ladies-in-waiting etc. which also show much about the character.

Her voice is amazing. It's beautiful and melodious, and since I last saw her she's got it better under control so that she no longer switches to a too operatic register at any point. It's the kind of voice I would imagine for Elisabeth the character - I don't much like the rough strong belting voice those actresses often have, something like Niki's lyrical but strong soprano is much more fitting. She and Bernadett have the best voices for Elisabeth that I've heard anywhere. Bernadett's voice is maybe even more beautiful, but Niki acts with her voice like nobody else. She can put so much emotion into it, and she can change the colour, volume and style of her voice to fit the character's age and emotion. She can do such a cute young girl voice in the early scenes, be so dreamy and lyrical when she's in love with Franz-Joseph, be soft-spoken and sensitive in her youth and then grow amazingly in power and confidence, her voice ringing triumphantly through the theatre. She can do a great angry, strong voice when she's arguing with either of her men. And she can put so much pain into her singing. Her Totenklage is particularly poignant - her voice there is so quiet and full of desperate pain. She sounds like she's totally broken and has been crying so much she can scarcely get a voice out, yet she sings beautifully at the same time.

She is wondrously beautiful and it's certainly believable that her beauty enchants everyone as much as they say. She's really just as beautiful as the historical Elisabeth, and in a rather similar way. She's got some of that dreamy, beautiful fairy queen or fairy tale princess quality you see in pictures and photos of Elisabeth, and yet she's got a huge force of personality radiating from her so that there's no chance you'll mistake her for just a pretty shell.

Here comes a rather detailed scene-by-scene review of her. In the very first scene, Wie Du, you can see Elisabeth's dreamy playfulness and adorable energy, but also her tendency towards sadness and longing. During Útvesztö minden út, she portrays the falling in love with Death very beautifully, a dreamy girl who sees a beautiful fantastical creature who somehow responds to her secret dark longings. In Bad Ischl she's totally cute, she portrays both the playfulness and nervous insecurity of Elisabeth. You see her getting worried that she won't know how to behave, try to do her best, lean in to Nene to signal things to her with facial expressions, etc. I love her "playing" when FJ chooses her at Bad Ischl and she doesn't notice it because she's too occupied: she balances her fan on her hand and then (most of the time) drops it when he sees her. It's cute and suits her. She looks around guiltily in a totally cute way. She's kind of nervous as soon as she notices that other people aren't happy about the match, but she's utterly sweet with Franz-Joseph in their duet. She did something I hadn't seen anyone else do: when she explains to him that they'll be together and things will be good, she hugs him from the back and it's really sweet. You can see them actually caring about each other at that point and wanting things to go well, even if it gets painfully obvious soon that it won't work. She already begins to get doubts during the song, when he gives her the chain. And something that was really interesting was that during the wedding, she didn't look happy when she danced, she looked nervous and scared, which is actually how it was. She was staring adoringly at Franz-Joseph but at the same time afraid and sensing that there would be huge difficulties.

In Der Letzte Tanz she's delicious about how attracted she is to Death at the same time as she's afraid of the world he wants to bring her into. In Eine Kaiserin Muss Glänzen, she's confused, hurt and upset by Sophie's demands and the way she can't do anything right in Sophie's eyes, and she gets angry and despairing at him. In Ich gehör nur mir she grows wonderfully from the despairing girl to the confident woman. The placing of this song is a bit difficult, because after that follows the scene where everyone still walks all over her for the first few years of the marriage. But you can see Niki's Elisabeth trying to struggle against that, FJ needing to physically hold her back when she demands her children, only she's still reluctant to put her plan into action yet because she cares about him. But when she sees that it doesn't work, she starts to go "fine, then I will use whatever I've got". She's totally amazing in "Elisabeth mach auf", the way she defies first Franz-Joseph and then Death, flirting intensely with Death at the same time as she rejects him. She's all awesome, almost frightening power, beauty and triumph in the end of the first act.

Her "Nichts, nichts, gar nichts" is impressive, I love how she skirts on the edge of madness there. Unlike many people, I love this scene and I love it when somebody can do it well. Her Maladie is great. First she is about to give in to depression but then when she realises it's Death trying to get her, she summons her awesome mad strength again, and she rejects him fiercely even as she flirts with him. Her and Szilveszter in this scene was the most powerful thing I've seen, because both of them are so much in love with the other at the same time as they're too proud to give in / show how much the other affects them. She gets so close to him when telling him to go away, shouting it at his face almost as though she's about to kiss him, but then doesn't - or like she teases him into trying to kiss her when she knows he's not going to take her against her will.

Her Wie Du reprise is amazing - she's really almost like in a trance, her mind moving among the shadows rather than on the earth, and her thinking she's doing something amazingly beautiful and true, even though she's just wasting her life away in unfulfilled fancies. When Rudolf comes praying for help, her mind is still in other spheres. She's not at all there, she doesn't notice, she scarcely hears what he says, and that's why she ignores him. It makes her Totenklage more poignant that anyone else's, because she so clearly might have cared about him but she just chose not to listen (rather than listening and then turning away). There really was an invisible wall between them, you could feel it. In Totenklage she's completely crushed and regretful, and even her voice is weak with sadness, she sounds like she's been crying all night and not sleeping and just can't bear with this anymore. She's totally amazing in the end of that scene where she begs Death to come and take him, and when he comes she's sighing with desire/desperation and trying to kiss him and touch him and make him take her away, but he rejects her. In Boote in der Nacht she's so sadly resigned to the fact that she and FJ can't be happy, but at the same time she still cares about him, only she recognises that in this case it's not enough. I feel so sad for both of them. And I feel that she has here already given up life and her mind is dwelling in the realms of Death, only waiting for her body to stop living, too. Her Der Schleier Fällt is a perfect ending to the perfect character development, so graciously relieved and sad at the same time, happy to be finally united with the object of her longing though it can never be completely happy. She takes her time to look around and take in that she's finally moved on to the other side. She accepts Death's embrace not as only a broken woman won over but as someone who wanted this, and just had to suffer and give up much to get it. It's a sweet mixture of tragedy and triumph.

In short: Niki is Elisabeth, she's perfection in the role. See her if you can. She's pure awesomeness. I adore her in general, but this is her best role and she does more with it than anybody else.

Death
Szabó P. Szilveszter
Here is another case where I actually can't understand anyone who's seen him live and doesn't like him in this role. I mean seeing him live; DVDs aren't as powerful as live experiences, and he's improved a lot since the 2004 DVD that's commonly in circulation. But when you see him on stage, his presence, his mezmerizing power and the depth and intensity with which he does the role is extremely impressive. I don't know how a human being could not acknowledge that, even if his version isn't their favourite interpretation of Death.

For me, it's not only that he's mezmerizing and charismatic, but he's also almost exactly how I best like to see this role portrayed. Especially now that he's put a lot more passion into it, he's like a fountain of barely held back passion and emotion that might burst out any minute, and makes you utterly fascinated about when it will happen and what will follow. He's very supernatural and feels like an otherworldly creature who thinks differently than humans but is suddenly in love with a mortal woman and doesn't know what to do about it. Like a friend of mine says, he's an Erlkönig, a beautiful fairy king who loves a mortal. His Death doesn't really seem evil, though he's dark. It's more that his view of the world is completely different from humans and no human being can fall in love with him and still live a human life. For example, whereas Máté!Death clearly wants to destroy Rudolf, Szilveszter's Death doesn't necessarily see it like that. Or perhaps, he knows Rudolf will be destroyed, but he's sorry about it nevertheless, and it's not something he tries to do for the sake of being cruel. For his Death it's more just the way things have to go, and he probably thinks Rudolf is better off dead than in the world which doesn't understand him. In the end of Mayerling, when Rudolf is dead, Death lays him down very gently and still looks towards him for a long time before leaving: he seems to be sorry that things went badly for Rudolf in life, even as things had to go the way they did.

Szilveszter's Death has intensely personal relationships to the humans he pursues. He's totally in love with Elisabeth, and he's in love with her for who she is, not just because she happened to come along. This works particularly well with Niki's Elisabeth, who actually is special. I wasn't so sure what he saw in Kata's Elisabeth, but with Niki's Elisabeth is was clear they're both formidable creatures with mental/spiritual power that matches the other and mirrors the other in a way. Szilveszter's Death is very much a mirror to Elisabeth, he's her dark side and shadow, he's everything which attracts her but shouldn't, everything that other people can't understand about her. He's also the same with Rudolf. Szilveszter's Death adores Elisabeth and it hurts him seriously that she rejects him, and he tries to understand how she works and influence her. He's not so much an active destroyer directly commanding people into destruction. He's the dark force whispering into their brain, not maliciously but because it's the way he understands the world, and making them want to destroy themselves. He's the attraction of depression, darkness, madness and death. With Rudolf, too, he's not just manipulating and commanding Rudolf and spinning an evil net around him like Máté's Death is. Rather, he knows every thought and feeling and hidden desire in Rudolf's soul and seeps into his mind and makes him want to do dangerous things and to die. I guess it's why he and Attila's Rudolf go so particularly well together, because Attila is a very active Rudolf who actively destroys himself, and on the other hand wouldn't respond well to direct commanding and manipulation. Death seems to care about Rudolf genuinely, even as he's destroying him.

But just because he cares doesn't means he's nice. He's still Death and has a world view that is not good for humans. Szilveszter's Death is intensely dark and dangerous, moreso because he's so attractive and sympathetic. He whispers into people's brain and makes them turn their thoughts dark while they think they want it themselves. In comparison, Máté's Death is actively dangerous and manipulative, but I think Szilveszter's Death is actually darker and scarier because he digs so deep into your psyche and makes you think you want the dark stuff yourself and makes you see it as beautiful. He makes both Elisabeth and Rudolf fall in love with him and turn to the dark side of their personality, and even as he destroys them you (and they) still think he's wonderful. With Máté's Death I just thought "what a manipulative asshole", Szilveszter's Death I still love when I know how dark and dangerous he is.

I don't really have much to say about his interactions with Kata's Elisabeth. Their chemistries were good but her interpretation didn't work for me, so the chemistry didn't do much for me. His interactions with Elisabeth in general are really interesting, though, so watching him with Niki was great because I loved her Elisabeth. He's always really much in love with Elisabeth, but holds himself back, and at the same time her Elisabeth is very much attracted to him, so it becomes really awesome. In the early scenes you can see her really wanting to be with him, and so their little moments of interaction are really hot and lovely because of the mutual barely controlled attraction and love. But when Niki's Elisabeth starts to defy him, it's also awesome because she still is flirting with him. When she tells him to go away in the end of Elisabeth mach auf, she walks right to him and shouts her denial to his face, so close that she's almost kissing him, clearly tempting him with "I could kiss you... But I won't!" (Or as someone else put it, "You could kiss me... But you won't!") He suffers nicely from that. Their Maladie was the most amazing ever. I've never seen that much intensity and passion packed on stage in a short moment, their mutual conflict and desire and frustration was stunning. In the end they act very beautifully in Der Schleier fällt, both happy to finally have the person they longed for. It was the ultimate Elisabeth/Death moment for me, finally having the best Elisabeth and the best Death accept their love together. The kiss was rather short, but it's not like Szilveszter was eating up Kata's face in the previous performances either. His Death is not a very intense make-out person most of the time, even if on some videos I've seen he's gotten rather into it. The shortness of the kiss with Niki still worked; it didn't look like "Eww, I have to kiss this person" but "All right, you're mine, but now let's go inside". It was more like a first kiss where they were still testing how it really was to be together with this person, but they felt tender and loving. I think their interpretations go great together, it's easy to see his kind of Death being attracted to her kind of Elisabeth and vice versa; I think they go better together than any other combination I've seen.

Szilveszter's Death and Zoli's Franz-Joseph were amazingly intense in the Nightmare scene. It was really cool. For other character interactions, see the Rudolf part of the review.

Szilveszter's voice keeps on getting better. The last time I saw him, it was already a lot better than it's on older, commonly available material. Now it's again much better. It's gotten really melodious and beautiful, a lot fuller than it used to be. He's really lovely when he's singing/speaking softly and seductively, but he can also do the loud and the intense really good, and his voice doesn't get drowned by Elisabeth's and Rudolf's anymore.

And he looks beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. The Hungarian Death costume and make-up is rather special and wouldn't look good on everyone, but he looks really gorgeous in it. He's an amazingly beautiful otherworldly creature, a fairy king and anything else you could imagine. The make-up really intensifies all his facial expressions, and because he's good at making small facial expressions that tell loads about the character, this is great.

My only criticism about Szilveszter's Death is that while he's gotten a lot more passionate than he used to be, I'd still love to see the role performed with a bit more sexuality. He's so genderless that his interactions with anyone aren't really sexual, even though there's a lot of erotic undercurrent. I don't know if I that makes sense. It's like there's erotic power but it's so spiritual it will never result in actual erotic action, though there'll be loads of subtler chemistry with both Elisabeth and Rudolf - and this is good, too, but sometimes I'd like to see a bit more sexiness. Elisabeth would probably be happier with such a lover anyway, though, since she didn't like sex much. I can see him and Niki's Elisabeth sitting on a treetop watching the stars, talking about poetry and gazing at each other for all of eternity, kissing every now and then and being happy that way. But I have funny ideas about what'll happen after Rudolf's death.

On the other hand, he's wonderful in those moments when the sensuality and passion does get out. Like when he's thrilled to lay aside Elisabeth for a while when the first meet, all those times when he wants to kiss her, and that time in Maladie when he's sitting by her bedside, touching her and in complete ecstacy about getting to touch her. They're small moments, but they say an awful lot about how special Elisabeth is to him and how much he's going out of his usual way because of her, and it makes their interactions really attractive.

Kamaras Máté
I'm afraid fangirls will bite my head off for this, but I wasn't hugely impressed. I won't say he was bad, he wasn't, but he's not my kind of Death and I have to say I had hoped for more. After everyone was always about how stunningly charismatic and mindblowing he is on stage, I expected something, but I didn't feel either charismaticness or mindblowingness. I could very well use his scenes for paying attention to everyone else (which is fine as he played against my favourite Elisabeths and Dávid's amazing Rudolf). I guess I'm somehow immune to him? Most of the other people I saw the show with seemed really impressed, so I guess it's personal taste and if you feel differently than I do, you can take all this with a grain of salt. But I still had thought he'd be better.

On the Vienna DVD, I like Máté's energy, intensity and emotion but there are other things that rub me the wrong way. I'd hoped that the Hungarian direction would tame down some things so that he'd actually work for me: have a bit more depth and spiritual dimension, and not be quite so roughly sexual in a way that I happen to find really repulsive (I haven't got a problem with sexuality as such, but I do with his brand of sexuality). But it felt more like he was just trying to perform his Vienna Death in the Hungarian direction and got stuck between the two versions so that neither of them worked. He was doing the Hungarian Death things without any reason, because his character's not someone who'd do those things, and at the same the direction constricted him from doing those things well which he does in Vienna, because the Hungarian Death isn't so physical and direct. I somehow don't get a full sense of character out of this Death, like he doesn't become a fully fledged personality in my head and I can't figure out any of his reasons for acting the way he does. I get bits and pieces of the character but I don't feel them going together and having a coherent sense and meaning. I have a coherent sense of his Vienna DVD Death, so it's not just because he's not my favourite interpretation.

He's definitely good-looking, I'll give him that, but I don't think it's enough. Something about his attitude and the shallowness of his acting is such a turn-off for me that no amount of good looks help much. I felt he did all of the role mainly on rockstar arrogance and this "I'm so fucking great and you all want me" attitude, and it really began to bother me soon. I like it that in the Hungarian version that Death actually seems emotionally meaningful and interesting, but his Death didn't so much. All about him seemed faked and insincere, and he didn't really seem to care much about anything except his own amazing persona that had the depth of a piece of paper. His relationship to Elisabeth was shallow. It wasn't like there was anything about her specifically that he loved, it's just that "I want someone, let's say her, now I will have her" and then his pride was hurt when she refused, nothing else. It's not as compelling as Szilveszter's Death who adores Elisabeth and is very, very focused on her because of who she is, and that's why he can appeal to the darker side of her nature. Máté's cruel and detached Death is not how the Hungarian direction works, though it wouldn't be out of place in another version. But it's weird to have all those bits where Death supposed to angst and be emotional when his Death obviously doesn't care.

However, it was still interesting. He didn't charm me, but his interpretation (when I could get a coherent interpretation out of it) gave a really interesting angle to the story. He does a destructive, evil Death in Budapest. He doesn't care about either Elisabeth or Rudolf, he's this evil spirit destroying them both and plunging them into darkness, and he enjoys it. It's interesting and it works in its way. But I'd like Death to be more genuinely tempting, as a person and not just because he looks good. Not everyone has to be Szilveszter, you can very well do a nasty, manipulative Death, but I think you could do it a lot more powerfully than this.

Anyway, he feels very dangerous and scary, which was cool. I really like one thing he does in the Hungarian conspiracy scene - not "like" as in wanting anyone else to do it, but as in that it fits his kind of Death and is totally evil and awesome in its way. After Rudolf signs the paper for the Hungarians and leaves, the rebels are singing about how they'll throw him out after a couple of years, and if he fails they'll just step over him - Máté's Death is actually mouthing those words and doing these orchestra-conducting movements with his hands, so that it's him feeding those words and deeds into them. So he's very actively set on destroying Rudolf as well as the whole Habsburg house. It works with his character and makes the story very dark and creepy. Szilveszter's Death didn't do it, it's Máté's own invention and it works with the way he plays Death. He's generally awesomely creepy and manipulative with Rudolf, which gives a whole different angle to the story than Szilveszter's subtle seductive force, but is also interesting.

I'd wish for more connection between Death and Elisabeth and Rudolf, and I'm just not appealed by his kind of shallow arrogant rockstar Death enough that I'd see why they'd want him so. Fortunately the Elisabeths and the Rudolf he was playing against were so bent on darkness and self-destruction that it worked anyway.

Máté's voice irritates me. He sang prettily when I saw him as Herbert in January, but as Death he does this grating, nasal rock-star whiny singing that I can't stand. So every time Death opened his mouth I didn't enjoy hearing it. I liked him better when I was just watching him and didn't have to hear him sing. This is a problem because Death has a lot of the most awesome songs. I guess if you like that kind of singing it works fine, but it's really unpleasant to my ears.

I expected his chemistries with people to be better than they were. Maybe it's because he hasn't worked with them much? He worked fine with Niki's Elisabeth, their chemistries were good and she's wonderful at doing the attraction to Death thing. She's also a strong enough character that it's possible to imagine even him being personally fascinated and not just "I want a girl, I'll have that one, grr why doesn't she take me?" With him and Bernadett I felt less, even though they've played the parts together fairly much. They were okay, though. They made the story believable enough with how the interpretations went together, but there wasn't much deep connection. He just wanted some girl and she just wanted a way out of her own painful life. I don't think either of them cared much who the other was, where as with him and Niki they did at least a bit. He and Niki make a pretty awesome Elisabeth/Death pairing because she's really active and strong, and so is he, and on the other hand they contrast each other by her being very deep and complex and him being just bent on destruction and manipulation.

He and Szabó Dávid playing Rudolf had no chemistry at all, though they made it work interestingly anyway. I'll get into this in the Rudolf part of the review, see there. I'm doing the Rudolf review next, because so much of Death's character also is explained there, but I can't explain it without describing the Rudolfs first.

Rudolf: Dolhai Attila/Szabó Dávid. (I'm comparing so much that I might as well do both at the same time, instead of splitting it up.)

Both Rudolfs are really good and really interesting. I already knew Szabó Dávid is my most adored best Rudolf in the world, but Dolhai Attila surprised me by how much I loved his Rudolf now. Not that I didn't always love Attila's Rudolf, but I was a bit worried that he would be tired of the character because he had been rather uninspired and un-Rudolfish when I saw him in Wildhorn's Rudolf musical. But that's probably just because the character is poorly written in that show, because now he sure was intense and dramatic. And he was a Rudolf all right, if a rather different Rudolf than Dávid. They both do really interesting portrayals that work in the story and make sense as an interpretation of the historical Rudolf, though from very different angles.

Attila's Rudolf is unusually tough and active. But I like Rudolfs with a backbone who direct their own fate instead of just being everyone else's victim. Sometimes Attila's portrayals of these depressed characters can be too strong so that the depression and the suicide aren't entirely plausible. This happened to me with his Wildhorn-Rudolf and some extent his Romeo [not the last time I saw him, though]. Now, too, Dávid did the depression and vulnerability more poignantly. But Attila was really good, too, and he angsted well. His Rudolf is above all crazy, not so much broken and depressed. His Rudolf wasn't necessarily broken down but rather on the brink of a very, very dark mental state, or really on the other side already. He was going down a spiral of frustrated, angry madness: he was a man who had intense mental power but it had all been frustrated and twisted into dark thoughts, and that very mental power which could have taken him to any great heights was instead taking him to his own destruction. Which is also a historically accurate interpretation, I think, and it's a really interesting take on the character that I like a lot. It's a very different angle than what Dávid takes on the character, but it works, even if a bit more vulnerability would make it even better.

He'd flail this intense energy here and there, frustrated in every direction, he'd go trying to solve one problem after another, always with this crazy belief that this'd help. He'd grab on this crazy Hungarian conspiracy plot introduced by Death in the hope that it would take him out of his dead end and not really caring if it didn't as long as it lead into something. When his mother wouldn't provide any way out either, the dark madness descended upon him completely and he gave into Death because of the intense attraction he felt to Death and because everything in his mind was driving him there. It was fascinating.

Every time his chemistries with Szilveszter were absolutely amazing. Their Die Schatten is one of the hottest scenes in existence, it's incredibly powerful, dark and unbelievably sexy. The choreography of the song here suits their characters very well - it's less grabby than e.g. Vienna but with a chemistry like Szilveszter and Attila's, it still allows lots of eroticism in the relationship just because it's more subtle. It's utterly fascinating how Szilveszter's Death there can subtly dominate Rudolf and influence his mind. Atti's relative powerfulness as Rudolf makes it all the more attractive. Szilveszter's Death is all about being the person's dark side and whispering dark thoughts into his mind until they take him over, and this works great with Atti's Rudolf, who is very active and determined to do something, so Death gets him to actively destroy himself. He'd be too strong and proud to be easily influenced by a Death who's just openly manipulative, which is why I think he and Máté would be a horrible couple.

There are lots of fascinating moments throughout Attila and Szilveszter's interactions here, the way they touch or almost touch, the intensity every time they look at each other, the almost-kiss when Death lifts him up from the ground and how much Rudolf wants it, the way Szilveszter approaches Rudolf when he's standing by the bed and Rudolf's body language is totally open and inviting for some time before steps back, both attracted by Death and terrified of the attraction. Already this chemistry makes the story really powerful, because it embodies this attraction of the dark and the dangerous which is really fascinating in this story and in Rudolf.

Attila looks too strong and healthy for Rudolf, but it's not his fault. I like the way he stands and moves, though, he's got this pride and determination and a closed-off quality like he's trying to keep up a strong, capable front even though everything is crumbling. I also like it that he's very hot, even if that isn't exactly a character point (though Rudolf should be attractive enough that you care about Death being all subtly seductive about him). His voice is interesting and I can't decide if it's right for the part or not. It's a bit strong for a Rudolf, easily drowning both Death and the ensemble (though fortunately Szilveszter's voice has gotten a lot stronger than it was) but on the other hand it's very powerful in conveying the angst and the madness because of its power. He's got this really dark tone to his voice which is not a typical Rudolf. It suits the darkness of the story, but in some places it would be musically and emotionally better to have a clearer voice like Dávid's. For example in the conspiracy scene Dávid's voice is a lot more distinguishable from the group of conspirators, and he generally conveys the brokenness a little better because of his voice type.

Szabó Dávid is very different from Attila, and he's amazing in a different way. He might remain my favourite Rudolf ever, but it's hard to say because these two are very different and dig up different aspects of the character. Dávid as Rudolf is a lot more fragile and obviously vulnerable than Attila, and he does this angst and suicidal depression a bit more convincingly. He puts more dimensions and depth into it than anyone. He's really believably messed up and near his end, though at the same time he's not just a weakling. I hate too weak Rudolfs, but Dávid's Rudolf definitely has spine and character, it's just that he's very vulnerable and his spirit has been broken, and so all the energy he could have is gone out or focused on dark thoughts and suffering. He's a character I feel intensely sorry for, but at the same time he's not just a victim, the suffering is a part of him rather than just something put into him by others. He's truly Elisabeth's son in that, and a fascinating character.

He has lots of interesting details to the character. The way in the beginning of Die Schatten he sort of tries to summon Death with his white ball and then is shocked when it works. His unsure confusion in the conspiracy scene, where he very clearly knows this can't work but goes for it anyway (Attila's Rudolf has some half-baked belief against his better knowledge that it might work, and he's all into this plan though it's madness). His Wenn ich dein Spiegel wär is absolutely heartbreaking. He's totally near the end of everything and broken. Also it's really interesting the way he talks about the divorce idea, which has been strengthened in the Hungarian translation of the song. I don't like it that it's been given such a big role, because otherwise the Hungarian Rudolf is so strongly focused on politics and depression. It seems really random that he's suddenly all about getting a divorce when his marital problems have scarcely been mentioned before. Attila sings those lines a bit too much like the divorce thing is suddenly his real problem he's passionate about. Though it makes sense with his Rudolf who tries to madly solve one problem after another, but it makes the divorce thing a bit too important all of a sudden. Dávid instead just throws it around as yet another thing that's wrong, the thing that he's right now thinking would solve his problems but that (you can tell it) won't really make it any better either - his problems are much deeper and that's just yet another thing. He's just saying anything that might get his mother's attention, but what he really wants is that she'll help him with the general mess his life is, not any particular problem. I like it better that way, then it focuses on Rudolf's general messed up emotional state where everything is wrong and there's no solution to anything.

Dávid is good at showing himself to really be Elisabeth's mirror. Whether I saw him with Betti or Niki, he wonderfully mirrored the personality of his mother, only more broken and with the strength gone. Especially with Niki, it was amazing and they communicated so much of their relationship in such a little time. You could feel how alike they were and how much they would have cared of each other if they only could have actually met, but Elisabeth kept the distance and didn't even notice her son's situation, her mind in other worlds. One of the most heartbreaking moments was when in the end of the song, when Elisabeth had already refused Rudolf's plea and turned her back to him, Dávid went to Niki's Elisabeth, stared at her in helplessness and heartbreak, and reached out his hand to touch her hair, and she still wouldn't react, wouldn't face him. And that's when he finally broke, when he understood he couldn't reach her and she wouldn't even let him love her or show in any way she would love him. I have to say Attila wasn't as good at really mirroring his mother, though you did get the sense of both having independent spirit that hated chains and being emotionally tortured and angry because of it. Actually, it could be Atti's learned to mirror Kata's Elisabeth who has no depth and that's why his mirroring has less depth. But he and Niki work fine together because they both shared that strong, active spirit that plunges itself into its own destruction.

Dávid's Mayerling is interesting. Both Rudolfs have basically the same choreography, but Dávid does something quite special with it. While Attila is just generally caressing the gun lovingly to his face and contemplating it, Dávid is very much performing oral sex to the gun. I'm not exaggerating, he is. I'm not sure what on earth you could possibly otherwise interpret it as. It's wonderfully twisted and hot, and it fits into this atmosphere of dark sexuality surrounding Rudolf's death, whether we're talking about the Rudolf/Death relationship in the musical or the historical Rudolf's death. Once he's stopped making love to the gun, he does a really intense, dark Mayerling that leaves me totally shocked. Attila doesn't make love to the gun, but he's pretty intense mad in Mayerling. Not so much broken as just mad, actively choosing Death as the final solution instead of being too broken and desperate to go on. They're both really powerful in this scene.

A good thing about Attila is that he's about the real Rudolf's age. While I adore Dávid to bits, he is a bit young for the part and his angst is very boyish. Atti is better at doing this frustration of a man in his 30s who looks at life and finds it empty and depressing. That sort of thing probably just comes with age - even if I assume that Attila's life is a great deal more satisfying than Rudolf's, anyone by that age has sometimes encountered the feeling of "and that's it? Is this all it's going to be?" even if for most of us it's not as strong as it was for Rudolf. The angst of a 23-year-old is also angst, but it's different.

I didn't think Dávid had very good chemistries with Máté. It surprised me, I expected they'd be like a fountain of slashy chemistry, but they're not. It was rather funny, because both of them were really intense, slashy and sexual, but not with each other. It's a bit hard to explain, but it's like they were performing past each other. It disapponted me the first time I saw them because I'd just seen Szilveszter and Attila with their mindblowing chemistry, and then there was a total lack of actual attraction between these two. But the second time I knew to expect it and then it worked fine (and I mostly focused on Dávid anyway, who's awesome). Their interpretations go together so well anyway that it made the story work despite the absolute lack of chemistry. Dávid's Rudolf is all fragility and so willing to be manipulated into dying that it works great with Máté-Death's commanding, manipulating attitude. The scenes are so intense and their interpretations so sexual that it creates a decent illusion of chemistry despite the fact that they have none. I was impressed because Dávid usually has chemistry with everyone and I totally expected/hoped those two to be sizzling together. Máté gets all creepily close to Rudolf and totally manipulates him, and Dávid's Rudolf totally wants Death, but they're not really doing it with each other. Máté's Death doesn't do that almost-kiss thing at all when he lifts Rudolf up from the ground, like Szilveszter does. It surprised me, but maybe it fits the way he's playing the character - Rudolf wants him already so why bother seducing him, he can just focus on manipulating him into dangerous plots. He doesn't want Rudolf in any way, he just wants to break his brain and use him.

That's also a valid way to do the characters' relationship, but it's not as interesting as having some degree of actual chemistry. I'm not saying Death needs to be in love with Rudolf, but I'd like a bit more connection between them and real seduction of Rudolf, something where you'd see Rudolf has a reason to believe Death cares for him (however mistaken he may be). But it was interesting to watch how they made the non-chemistry work anyway. It works for one thing because the scenes are just so intense, for another because Dávid is so good, and for a third because their character interpretations go well together. Máté!Death is good at dominating and Dávid's Rudolf is just waiting for someone to dominate him and break him, so it all works out wonderfully. The fact that Máté!Death doesn't actually care about him one bit makes Rudolf's story very dark and striking.

I remember Dávid had totally amazing chemistry with Szilveszter when I saw them together, and now all the time when watching him I go the feeling that his Rudolf really wanted a Szilveszter kind of Death (but was ready to be used by anyone who came on the way and was determined, hence Máté Death worked). On the other hand, I absolutely can't imagine Máté and Attila would work together, so it makes sense Dávid gets cast with Máté even if he'd work better with Szilveszter. I have no idea if Máté and Attila would have chemistry, but I know their interpretations wouldn't go together. Máté's attitude is to dominate and command people, and if you did that without any real personal contact and seduction to Attila's Rudolf, he'd just go "Up yours, I'm not doing anything". It just wouldn't be believable for him to be controlled by such a Death. With lack of seduction I mean that Máté's Death doesn't really try to seduce Rudolf or anyone as a person, to dig into the depth of their soul and figure out how to make them attracted, instead he just pulls out his "I'm so hot and you'd better want me" act.

But Szilveszter's Death totally goes deep into Rudolf's psyche, into his fears and desires and anguishes, and taps into those, feeds them and puts dark thoughts into his brain and goes through great trouble to truly attract him, and that's exactly what works for Attila's Rudolf. Then he can be made to believe he really wants it himself, even if it's Death whispering into his brain, and he will put all that twisted mental energy into destroying himself. Those two were perhaps the best combination of any two actors I saw playing any characters together in these performances. Each time their "Schatten" was absolutely mindblowing, and Rudolf's progression when seduced by such a Death was entirely believable.

So in conclusion about the Rudolfs: both are amazing and have really interesting takes on the character. Both are worth seeing. They also work well paired up with their respective Deaths, even if one pair has chemistry and the other hasn't.

Luigi Lucheni
Száraz Támas. Last time I was impressed by Száráz's energy as Lucheni, but this time it didn't impress me as much, and I started getting annoyed by the nasal quality of his voice. He'd have a really good, clear, powerful voice but he keeps doing this annoyingly nasal thing that I don't like listening to for long. His interpretation is also rather flat. He's fun for some time but after a while it gets boring because he's just very straightforwardly playing the same thing all the time. He's just playing a court jester and not an especially interesting one, he's mostly got the same tones of voice and the same things going on all the time. I did like his energy in Milch and Kitsch, though. He was mostly cast against Szilveszter's Death, and the characters were totally different, one bouncy, shallow and always sarcastic, the other deep and full of Mystery and Anguish. So watching them together was pretty funny, especially in the beginning of Death's love song where Lucheni goes "It's love!" and Death glares at him like "shut up already" and I'm thinking "geez, it must be annoying when you're trying to live through a deep and emotional moment of your life and someone's providing a mocking narrative all the time".

Földes Tamás. I liked Földes better overall. He was totally crazy. Really, really insane, and totally into telling his story. He was having so much fun with the role, and he was really intense and compelling. He doesn't look like I'd imagine Lucheni to look, but I don't care. He was totally awesome. I was sorry I got Földes only twice, because I liked him a lot better than Száraz. He put a lot more into every scene, whereas Száraz was pretty much the same all the time and when you've seen him once, you've seen everything, whereas with Földes it's always fun to watch how he does every little thing. His voice is pretty awesome and he gets to put a lot more energy into it here than he can in some of his more boring roles. He feels a lot more natural and real than Száraz. Száraz feels like he's just putting on a show all the time, knowing he has an audience and wanting to show them how awesome he (thinks he) is, whereas Földes is all about getting to tell this awesome interesting story he has, and is totally into that.

Franz-Joseph:
Bereczki Zoltán
He's my perfect Franz-Joseph. There's nobody else I know who can do the character so convincingly, sympathetically and with so much emotion and depth as him. I always feel sorry for the historical Franz-Joseph - even if I don't agree with everything he did, the poor guy just had way too much tough stuff for one life, especially when he anyway tried his best and just wasn't equipped to deal with the kind of wife and son he got. But I rarely feel anything for FJ in the musical, he tends to come across as annoying, spineless or both. Zoli is the one exception who makes me feel as sorry for the musical's FJ as the real one.

There's so much development in him. In the beginning he's a young man still unsure of how to rule his empire, always turning to his mother for advice, and gradually hardening himself to what she expects of him. He always feels uncomfortable underneath, but he can't shirk from what he considers his duty, and so he also can't deal with Elisabeth when the problems start. He genuinely cares for her, but first is too obsessed with his duties and the way his mother has taught him to deal with everything to see what he should do. Finally at the end of the first act he understands he has to change if he is to keep her - and I feel so sorry for him when I know it's not going to work out. In the second act you see the poor guy struggling with everything, and still trying to be good and do his duty. Even when he's upset with his mother for her scheming he still cares about her. It's so sad that everything he does to win Elisabeth's affection back is useless - she no longer remains with him. I was also really touched by the brief moment at the end of the conspiracy scene, where he finds out about Rudolf's betrayal. He is so sad and dejected, and then when Rudolf comes to him and tries to explain, FJ just looks at him and says with a resigned, sad, even bitter voice: "I can't escape either." I felt much for him in that little line, realising that he too would have liked freedom but unlike Elisabeth and Rudolf, didn't sacrifice anything for it because he believed more in duty. I felt the conflict between them very poignantly.

He's so sad when Rudolf is dead and Elisabeth still won't accept his closeness, I felt so sorry for him. And then in Boote in der Nacht. When I saw him with Kata's Elisabeth, I only felt sorry for him - really, most of the Elisabeth/FJ story was spent in feeling sad for FJ, since I couldn't connect with her Elisabeth at all. When it was him and Niki, I spent all of Boote in der Nacht crying for them both. Zoli's acting in the Nightmare scene is also awesome. He and Szilveszter are so intense together, and he's so desperate about losing Elisabeth. This guy should get more serious roles. As awesome as he is in all his usual bouncy entertainer roles, he can really do a lot with serious stuff. The only critique is that while a lot of the time he made much effort to move Franz-Joseph-like, every now and then he got excited and the Mercutio inside him got out and he moved way too spiritedly.

Bálint Ádám. He wasn't as good as Zoli, but he was fine, too. He doesn't make FJ into a total jerk or totally spineless, which is nice. He seems to really care about Sisi, and he tries to have some amount of emotional growth in the story, too. So he's better than most FJs. He's just still not up to Zoli's level. He moves a bit more FJ-like, though. On a whole, I get the feeling that Ádám's very convincing in creating the outside behaviour of Franz-Joseph, but Zoli also shows what is going on inside him, and really brings the audience in contact with his emotions and changes, too. Ádám leaves me more of an outsider to the character. He's still fairly good, though. His singing was okay. There were times when his voice was too weak, but mostly he did fine. He looks very good as young FJ. He had nice chemistries with both of his Elisabeths, especially Niki.

Sophie: Molnár Piroska / Nádasi Veronika

Really short because this post keeps on being too long no matter what. Both are good, but Nádasi Veronika is more properly tough and intimidating, and her voice is stronger. Molnár Piroska has a vocal range of about five notes, which makes the character less convincing.

The rest: Both of the actors playing Max were good. Náray Erika is adorable as Ludovika and Frau Wolf, I don't care much for the other one. The ensemble was excellent. Elisabeth has probably the best ensemble scenes in any musical, they've got loads of energy and usually an actual purpose for being there. The Operettszínház ensemble made the most out of these scenes. They acted super-intensely and sang gorgeously. Earlier this season I sometimes had problems with the Operettszínház ensemble, but I think it's because they had lots of new young people who weren't yet used to playing. Now they've had practice and have become much better.