The world premiere of the musical Elisabeth took place in Vienna on September 3 1992. From the great acclaim with which the musical was received it became clear that the life of the Empress of Austria still appeals to the imagination. Although Elisabeth's life (1837-1898) as an Empress has a fairy-tale-like beginning it takes a gloomy turn. In this production Luigi Lucheni the man who finally takes her life tells her story. Death plays a major role throughout Elisabeth's life. In the musical an equally mysterious and attractive man portrays the phenomenon of death seducing her to the realm of death time after time. Elisabeth's life resembles a fairy tale when shemarries the Emperor Franz Joseph at the age of sixteen. Her mother-in-law Archduchess Sophie does not make it easy on Elisabeth. But it is life itself that puts the Empress to the test. First her youngest daughter dies. Then not long after her son Rudolf is born her happiness is clouded when her mother-in-law decides she must take pity on him. After her husband's unfaithfulness and Sophie's death Elisabeth is so disillusioned that she chooses a travelling existence without realizing her husband and her son Rudolf miss her. Rudolf's loneliness is one of the reasons he commits suicide. The accumulation of disappointments in Elisabeth's life almost drives her into the arms of Death. In the end however it is Lucheni who kills her.
