exedore reviews ELISABETH on R0 DVD

[exedore]

Posted: 1/17/06 at 11:02pm

Here's one for the interntaional show fans...

After many postal delays and some (not so free) assistance from the fine workers at Sound of Music, I have finally received my DVD of Elisabeth by Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay. First will be the technical review, followed by comments on the show itself and the peformances on the DVD.

REIGON/LOCATION:
The DVD is Region 0, so anybody can play it as long as your DVD player is capable of converting from PAL to NTSC (any decent player will do this, and any $40 off-brand player from China will as well). The audio is in the original German, and while the original solicitation said otherwise, there are no English subtitles; there is, however, an English synopsis in the disc booklet.

VIDEO:
The video track is in 16:9 Anamorphic widescreen. It's not the greatest quality, though, as the lighting for the show makes Les Miserables look like a sunny day and is therefore MPEG-2 unfriendly. Dark blues feature heavily (and looked a bit odd on my TV, but that may be my player's PAL->NTSC conversion), and there are no megablocks . I haven't checked on the HD unit and the 360, so it is probably my unit. Even so, the picture is clear with lots of quality costuming and lighting details. None of the high action scenes block up, and the giant tech effect at the end of Act Two looks incredible.

My only other video issue (quibble) is that the show logo is superimposed in a couple places (copyright screens, beginning of the curtain call), and they rendered it at a low resolution so it looks incredibly jagged onscreen.

AUDIO:
The audio is where this DVD really shines, and there are two choices here: Dolby Digital 5.1 and, for those with traditional setups (like me), Linear PCM. For those who don't know the difference between PCM and your standard DD 2.0 track, PCM is uncompressed digital audio and pure sexiness to hear. The orchestra is rich and full, and the voices are perfectly balanced with it. I don't have a 5.1 setup, but it seems equally clear on a 2.0 downmix, but not as nice as the PCM track.

PACKAGING:
The disc comes in a clear keepcase. The cover resembles the 2004 CD, and the back has a blurb about the show and its importance on the European scene and some minor tech details.

EXTRAS:
Bwahahahahaahahahahahahhaahha, there's nothing on the disc. No documentary (it would have been nice to have the short one from the 2004 CD special edition), no commentary, no German subtitles, nothing except a mediocre menu.

The insert booklet is pretty nice, though. It's got a cast list, synopsis of the show in English and German, and bios for cast and creative team. If you've seen the show in person and already have the program book, you're not going to see anything new here, but it's nice for people who haven't.

OTHER NOTES:
I would like to take whoever decided to make this disc a DVD-10 (dual sided single layer) and throttle them. Yes, that's right, you have to flip the disc over between acts because they couldn't be bothered to author it properly across a DVD-9 (single sided dual layer). I haven't checked the disc in a ripping program, so I'm not sure if it benefits in any way from the extra space (it may, PCM audio sucks up bitrate...) but at 70 min. max per side, I doubt it helps much.

Also, I saw the damn copyright warning on Side 1, I don't need to see it (and not be able to skip it) again on Side 2. I get the point, really.

THE SHOW:
Elisabeth is a classing amongst European musicals, as it was one of the first big shows to be written in German, and was a grand experiment for the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien (United Stages of Vienna), who had until 1992 only been producing translated imports. They took a chance on Elisabeth, and it paid off. Fourteen years later, VBW are responsible for producing other shows such as Tanz der Vampire.

Is the show worth the legend? It is if you like dark, intellectual musicals without happy endings.

ELISABETH is based on the life of the Empress of the same name, and the turbulent times in which she and those near to her lived and died. Based on the premise that she was assassinated as she was in love with Death (personified), it is clear by the end of the first number that we are not in for a cheerful evening. Love, loss, and tragedy feature prominently here. If you're getting sick of the comedic fluff currently ruling on Broadway, this is the show for you.

Musically, the score is haunting and lush, and Kunze's lyrics are an example of just how beautiful the German language can truly be. It's a shame that Elisabeth will never be seen in English after the Dance of the Vampires fiasco, as it is Kunze's baby and he is incredibly protective of it.

I should probably comment somewhere on the staging. Elisabeth's design is at once abstract, in your face, and extravagent. Odd is a good word, and yet it works due to the fact that we are to take in the show as a warped view of History (through Lucheni's storytelling). Other productions have been more traditional, but the Vienna presentation is special (in a good way).

THE PERFORMANCES:
Maaya Hakvoort has never been my favourite Elisabeth. I saw her three times in person, and was never blown away by her. The DVD shows just how old she looks when playing young (teenaged) Elisabeth, and she lacks subtlety on my favourite song (Nichts, nichts, gar nichts). She's better now than she was on the 1996 CD, though, which is a good thing. Some people adore her, though, so to each their own.

Mate Kameras (Death) lets his accent slip every now and then, but it gives the character a foreign, external feel. His performance is solid, but Maya overpowers him on most of their duets.

Serkan Kaya is incredible as Luigi Lucheni, Elisabeth's assassin and our narrator. Manic, sarcastic, and full of stage presence, he is the shining star of the DVD.

The minor principles are all solid, especially Else Ludwig who has been playing Erzhogin Sophie for as long as anyone can remember, going back to the Essen production if not earlier. The ensemble are also solid, although they spend a great deal of time in the dark.

OVERALL:
An excellent introduction to Kunze's serious work and the fantastic world of European musicals, Elisabeth is an incredible show with a solid recording that will satisfy the casual viewer but not the hardcore fan hoping for something more.

Worth paying full price for, and a point of hope for future DVDs from VBW.