Rondo of Love and Death of Elisabeth the Musical

IMPORTANT!! PLEASE READ!
1. Content warning: This video will contain analysis of theatrical representation of mental illness, suicide and death. If they are your potential triggers and/or make you uncomfortable in any way, please reconsider watching this video.
2. I do not own Elisabeth the Musical, or its Takarazuka Revue adaptations, nor do I own other materials that are shown in this video. I retain no right over them. They were used for the purpose of analysis, commentary and criticism.
Please enjoy this deep-dive into The Rondo of Love and Death, and its effect on Elisabeth the Musical, especially concerning the Takarazuka Revue production. I am aware that its influence has trickled into other productions, i.e., the recent Viennese productions. And while I like the idea of Death being played by any gender, I am disappointed by the fact that the only company casting a woman to play Death is also making Elisabeth into an obnoxious, one-dimensional, ridiculed stereotype. Which completely contradicts what the intent of the original was to be, and frankly, makes it … kitsch.
Analyses of the Takarazuka Revue were taken from and inspired by Mageanu’s Master thesis:
Mageanu, Daniela Florentina. “The Aesthetics of Takarazuka: A Case Study on Erizabēto - Ai to Shi No Rondo.” Master of Arts in Japanese, University of Canterbury, 2015.
ir.canterbury....
Apologies for my German pronunciation!
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
5:08 I. Story Through Music
9:48 II. Elisabeth Does Musical
17:17 III. Wie Du and Schwarzer Prinz
22:50 IV. The Crimes of Rondo
24:15 1. The (missing) Elisabeth Problem
31:47 2. The Death Problem
40:17 3. The Elisabeth x Death Problem
47:56 4. The Composition Problem
51:22 Conclusion (and Expansion)