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[fwibble]

I go off on holiday in a day and a half. So, of course, I'm online, pottering about on the interwebs, and thanks to some encouragement from the Takarazuka community and plenty of nudging (and quite a lot of debating about meaning, symbolism and culture) from bwinter, I've put together an essay about Elisabeth, the musical

Comments

[amelia_petkova]

Such an interesting essay! My exposure to Elisabeth so far has mostly been Vienna productions and a couple songs from the Takarazuka. I was so fascinated to see how different cultures interpret the musical. Some things I hadn't put much thought into (ex. the amount of historical context involved depending on how much the country staging the production was related to it) but when you pointed it out I immediately went, "Yes, that's it!" I think the part that still amazes me most is that a musical about an iconic Austrian/Hungarian figure has been taken to heart in Japan, a country so incredibly different from the others.

At the bookstore in March, we had a display table for Women's History Month. Among the other books was a slim one titled Doomed Queens, a chronological look at how queens across the world met their end starting in the ancient world and continuing through Princess Diana. Elisabeth was included of course, and the author (I believe her name is Anna Wahlberg) made a point of mentioning her continuous fascination with

[fyrie]

Elisabeth was crazy for death - she used to go on about how the spirit of the dead Heinrich Heine kept trying to possess her, but she fought him off. I wonder where Kunze got his symbolism for grabby Heine-like Death... ;D

[valancystar]

Elisabeth's poetry was certainly a major source of inspiration/information for Kunze.

[fyrie]

Yupyup :) Mentioned that in the Vienna bit :) I love the Q&A on his website. He's so patient with people and seems to answer every question.

[valancystar]

I'm busy and my brain is just mush these days, so I've only partly read this essay so far. Really interesting though. The cultural differences certainly are fascinating; it was interesting seeing just how Hungarians emphasized Hungary and equated Elisabeth's struggle for freedom with Hungary's.

[fyrie]

No hurry :) When you have time, it'll be here :) The Hungarians are evil (in the best way) with all their symbolism. It was only when I got to the end of that section the whole tower thing became clear. And the fact that Elisabeth's room is... sort of womb-shaped. I clearly should not have regressed to my Freud-levels of analysis.

(And whee! Seeing Elisabeth! On Saturday! SO EXCITED!!! And apparently, Kiriyan is one of the loveliest FJs who ever Emperored :) To say I'm bouncing with glee may be an understatement!)

[amelia_petkova]

What's the website address? I'd be interested on reading his comments.

[fyrie]

Here - http://storyarchitekt.com/ :) You'll find his Q&A under 'Dialog'.