Pressemappe ELISABETH_EN - Vereinigte Bühnen Wien

VEREINIGTE BÜHNEN WIEN
present
20 Years of ELISABETH
Premiere: 5 September, 2012
at the RAIMUND THEATER

The Veil Is Lifted
ELISABETH: Anniversary Premiere at the Raimund Theater
ELISABETH, the most successful German-language musical of all time, received its
world premiere at the Theater an der Wien on 3 September 1992. Now, 20 years
later, it returns to Vienna, and the curtain rises on the anniversary premiere on 5
September 2012 at the RAIMUND THEATER.
For this special premiere, the best 39 were chosen from more than 1,200 hopefuls.
The leading roles are played by a combination of unique new talents and established
audience favourites. The enchanting Annemieke van Dam plays the coveted title
role of Elisabeth. At her side as Death is the charismatic Mark Seibert. Kurosch
Abbasi plays Luigi Lucheni. In the role of Archduchess Sophie, Daniela Ziegler,
familiar from cinema and television, appears. Emperor Franz Joseph is played by the
newcomer Franziskus Hartenstein. Archduke Rudolf is portrayed by Anton
Zetterholm. For the roles of Elisabeth’s parents, Duchess Ludovika and Duke Max in
Bayern, two experienced musical performers return to the VBW who are already very
familiar to musical aficionados: Carin Filipčić and Christian Peter Hauser.
ELISABETH – the musical by the hit writers Michael Kunze & Sylvester Levay tells
the dramatic and touching story of the life, activities and suffering of Empress
Elisabeth. A moving musical score, stunning choreography and lavish sets have
captivated audiences the world over since the show’s premiere and allow them to
rediscover the historical world of the Habsburgs time and time again.
Statement by Director Christian Struppeck:
“The 20th anniversary of ELISABETH is a wonderful moment to start as new director
of musicals at the VEREINIGTE BÜHNEN WIEN and to be able to stage the most
successful German-language musical ever as my first premiere. Although the moving
musical about the Austrian Empress succeeds in touching the hearts of millions of
people all over the world, I’m convinced that here in Vienna it possesses a very
special magic. Here, where “Sisi” and her world can be encountered on every corner.
So that’s why we feel particularly proud to be able to present the worldwide hit by the
writing partnership of Michael Kunze & Sylvester Levay where it was performed for
the very first time and, once again, in the legendary and lavish original production. In
the cast we welcome unique new talents as well as established audience favourites
who will breathe stunning life into the historic tale of the tragic empress whose
longing for freedom can ultimately only be stilled by death.”
The CD recording of the premiere is released in mid-October 2012.

ELISABETH – a Success Story
ELISABETH – the musical by the hit writers Michael Kunze & Sylvester Levay tells
the dramatic and touching story of the life, activities and suffering of Empress
Elisabeth. A moving musical score, stunning choreography and lavish sets have
captivated audiences the world over since the show’s premiere and allow them to
rediscover the historical world of the Habsburgs time and time again.
Back in 1992 hardly anyone imagined what an astonishing success was to follow the
very first performance of this Vereinigte Bühnen Wien production.
Michael Kunze: "For 20 years hardly a day has passed without ELISABETH being
performed somewhere in the world. And that’s not entirely devoid of irony. It was
never our intention to create a show for the global musical market. At the time, in the
wake of all those imported musicals from England and New York, Peter Weck and
Harold Prince encouraged me to create something that was entirely our own,
something especially for Vienna. I didn’t even like the term ‘musical’ for what we
came up with. I wanted to tell the story of the unhappy Empress as contemporary,
emotional musical theatre, without considering its suitability for Broadway. The best I
could hope for was that Viennese audiences would like it. I genuinely did not think it
could be a worldwide success.”
Sylvester Levay: "When I turned my back on Hollywood 20 years ago to work on the
musical ELISABETH, I really had no idea what success this show would bring me. It
was also useful that I was able to compose free of all preconceptions and could
concentrate fully on the story and its emotions. As a result, Vienna became part of
my life and my family, too. I cannot tell you how delighted I am at ELISABETH’s
return.”
From 1992 to 1998 ELISABETH was performed in Vienna without a break. In 1996 it
celebrated its first run outside Austria, in Japan. This laid the foundation of the show’s
global success. Productions in nine other countries followed, including Germany, the
Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland and Korea. For
those performances the hit musical was translated into seven languages (German,
Finnish, Dutch, Swedish, Hungarian, Korean, Japanese).
In the interim the show has attracted a total number of visitors that exceeds 8.5
million people in eleven countries who have watched over 6,500 performances in all.
In Vienna alone, the musical about the life of Empress Elisabeth was enjoyed by 1.8
million people in over 1,750 performances. In Japan, total audience figures have
reached over 3.2 million, in Germany over 2 million.

SYNOPSIS
Elisabeth’s life began as a romantic fairytale and ended with a tragic murder. As a
young girl of captivating beauty, she ascends the Austrian throne at the age of 16.
Emperor Franz Joseph chooses her as his bride instead of her sister Helene, who
was the one originally intended for him. He simply cannot resist her joie-de-vivre,
high spirits and youth. But it is not long after the sumptuous wedding that the first
dark clouds appear.
The court in Vienna is highly regimented and governed by strict rules. Sacrifices and
power struggles make the young Elisabeth’s life a misery. Her authoritarian motherin-law,
Archduchess Sophie, watches her like a hawk and insists on adherence to
rigid protocol. Trapped by the conventions of the court and a role she is not suited to,
Elisabeth struggles with all her might for liberty and personal happiness. Her
husband, devoted to duty and at the mercy of his domineering mother, cannot help
her either. She can barely stand to be at court and is driven from one place to the
next by her inner conflict. She restlessly travels across Europe where she cannot be
reached by anyone, not even her son or her husband. She becomes absorbed in her
own world, constantly accompanied by a mysterious force – Death.
After the suicide of her son Rudolf, Elisabeth realises the futility of her own life and
yearns for death herself. She withdraws to Corfu where she writes poems and her
diary. Meanwhile, in Vienna, nationalism and xenophobia are gaining ever more
ground. Emperor Franz Joseph can no longer control these forces and is also
powerless in the face of his rival for the affections of Elisabeth, Death.
The assassination perpetrated by the Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni on the shores of
Lake Geneva finally unites the “lovers”. Elisabeth’s struggles and longings end in a
passionate embrace with Death. One era ends, a new one dawns.

CREATIVE AND LEADING TEAM
The worldwide smash by the hit-writing duo of Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay
(book and music) is being directed by none other than Harry Kupfer, the man who
staged the very first performance. The choreography of the current production is also
in the hands of the show’s original choreographer, Dennis Callahan.
The sets are by original set designer Hans Schavernoch. And, once again, the
famous file has a role to play as an important element of the stage. It weighs
approximately 2.5 tons and is 13.4 metres long. Around 60 motors are used on the
revolving stage, which is 14 metres in diameter, for roughly 120 programmed scene
changes.
Lighting designer Hans Toelstede will make sure everything appears in the right
light. Thomas Reimer provides the video projections. The sound design is by
Thomas Strebel who is using a radar-based sound-location system for the first time
in Austria. This enables the audience to hear the performers from the direction they
are actually singing from.
Yan Tax, well known for his elegant creations, has designed new costumes. Around
50 wigs, approximately 200 pairs of shoes and more than 450 costumes have been
made specially for this anniversary production of the musical. The famous
Winterhalter dress, that weighs in at around eight kilos and is studded with 500
Swarovski gems, was sewn by hand: it takes one seamstress about three weeks to
finish. During the performance, Annemieke van Dam wears a total of 17 different
costumes. VBW music director Koen Schoots conducts the orchestra.

CAST
Elisabeth Annemieke van Dam
Death Mark Seibert
Luigi Lucheni Kurosch Abbasi
Archduchess Sophie Daniela Ziegler
Emperor Franz Joseph Franziskus Hartenstein
Archduke Rudolf Anton Zetterholm
Duchess Ludovika Carin Filipčić
Duke Max in Bayern Christian Peter Hauser
With:
Jörn Felix Alt, Oliver Arno, Anja Backus, Juliane Katharina Maria Bischoff, Bettina
Bogdany, Sonja Schatz, Riccardo Greco, Dagmar Hellberg, Emma Hunter, Kai
Hüsgen, Karsten Kammeier, Jerôme Knols, Linda Konrad, Alice Macura, Marle
Martens, Katrin Mersch, Stefan Mosonyi, Max Niemeyer, Wolfgang Postlbauer,
Gernot Romic, Barbara Schmid, Jakob Semotan, Rory Six, Caroline Sommer,
Christoph Sommersguter, Niran Straub, Katharina Strohmayer, Marianne Tarnowskij,
Johan Vandamme, Janneke Ivankova, Dean Welterlen
The orchestra is the 28-piece orchestra of the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien
conducted by music director Koen Schoots.

ANNEMIEKE VAN DAM
Elisabeth
The 30-year-old Annemieke van Dam studied musical theatre at the Brabantse
Conservatorium under Edward Hoepelman and Antoinette Kouwenberg. While still a
student she appeared as the Beggar Woman in SWEENEY TODD and Lucinda in
INTO THE WOODS. Following on from that she played Sleeping Beauty in the
musical of that name in the new Efteling Theater in 2003 and 2004. In 2004/2005 she
appeared in her homeland as Susie in the hit musical CRAZY FOR YOU and was
understudy for the lead role of Polly Baker. In Germany she played Fräulein Windisch
and was understudy for the part of Elisabeth in ELISABETH (2005/07). She was an
ensemble member in the production of THE THREE MUSKETEERS in Stuttgart
(2007/2008), where one of her roles was as understudy for Constance. At the Bad
Hersfelder Festspiele in 2008 she played Lisa Carew, the fiancée in JEKYLL &
HYDE. It was in August 2008 that Annemieke van Dam first won over audiences and
the press alike with her starring role as ELISABETH in Zurich. In November 2010 she
accompanied her colleague Uwe Kröger as special guest on the ABSOLUT UWE –
FROM BROADWAY TO HOLLYWOOD tour. From March to May 2011 she appeared
on stage with six other colleagues in a show featuring the Dutch Air Force Orchestra.
She again took on the leading role of Elisabeth for the production of ELISABETH that
toured Germany in 2011/2012.

MARK SEIBERT
Death
Born in Frankfurt, he trained at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute New York and the
Konservatorium Wien University, graduating in 2005 with distinction. During his
student days he appeared in productions such as WEST SIDE STORY at the
Bregenzer Festspiele and played the parts of Pygar in Dave Stewart’s BARBARELLA
and Tybalt in the musical ROMEO & JULIET at Vienna’s Raimund Theater. In 2006
his path took him back to Germany where he appeared as Radames in Elton John’s
AIDA. In the same year he received an award as one of Germany’s best young
performers and won a scholarship at the famous Royal Academy of Music in London.
Mark Seibert played the role of Fiyero in the original German cast of WICKED in
Stuttgart before appearing as the Ranger in Bully Herbig’s musical adaptation of DER
SCHUH DES MANITU. After touring Germany in 2010 as a soloist on the Stage
Entertainment Best of Musical Gala, he appeared as Galileo in the hit Queen musical
WE WILL ROCK YOU in Stuttgart and Berlin. Most recently he played Death in the
touring version of the hit musical ELISABETH. Since 2010 he has also been a
member of the Musical Tenors with whom he regularly performs in concert. Mark
Seibert – who completed a correspondence degree course at the same time as
performing – is especially proud of his solo album Musicalballads unplugged which
has been selling very well since its release in February 2010.

KUROSCH ABBASI
Luigi Lucheni
Kurosch Abbasi grew up in Giessen and graduated from the renowned Bayerische
Theaterakademie August Everding in 2011 with his one-man show TRY OUT. Even
before he started his training he appeared in a number of productions at the
Stadttheater Giessen such as Anatevka, Carmen, The Gipsy Princess, The
Threepenny Opera and Nabucco. In 2005 he played Damian Gainsborough in the
premiere of the musical RACHEL (World Youth Day/Filippas Award 2005). This was
followed by stints in Sondheim’s ASSASSINS (John W. Booth), FAME (Joe Vegas),
the cult musical GREASE (Roger, Sonny & Teen Angel) and ONCE UPON A
MATTRESS (Minstrel). As part of his training he appeared as a soloist in TIME
STEP, in the series SUCHERS MUSIKALISCHE LEIDENSCHAFTEN and in the
Leonard Bernstein Gala on the stage of the Prinzregententheater in Munich. He
portrayed Demetrius and Lysander in Purcell’s The Fairy-Queen and was a hit with
audiences as Harry Easter in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene. He had roles as Otto in the
musical CARMEN at the Bad Hersfelder Festspiele and Pepe in WEST SIDE
STORY. He can be heard in the role of Christian on the CD recording of the musical
CYRANO DE BERGERAC in collaboration with Bayerischer Rundfunk. He appeared
as Benjamin Coffin in the rock musical RENT at the Deutsches Theater in Munich
and played the leading role as Melchior Gabor in the German premiere of SPRING
AWAKENING. A scholarship holder at the Deutscher Bühnenverein and the Fanny
Carlita Foundation, Kurosch Abbasi was engaged for the hit musical ELISABETH
immediately after graduation and played the part of Luigi Lucheni on the 2011/2012
German tour.

DANIELA ZIEGLER
Archduchess Sophie
Daniela Ziegler is one of Germany’s most popular and best-known television
actresses. Born in Offenbach, she trained at the Westphalia stage school in Bochum.
The range of acting jobs she has taken on covers every type of work: film/television,
theatre and musicals, concerts, readings, talking books. She has appeared at many
of the foremost German-language theatres, including the Schauspielhaus Zurich, in
Basel, at the Volkstheater in Vienna, the Hamburg Schauspielhaus, the Deutsches
Theater Göttingen and the Staatstheater Hanover. At the Renaissance Theater in
Berlin she played Lily in Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks and was Maria Callas in
Masterclass, a performance she repeated with great success at the Ernst Deutsch
Theater Hamburg. She adapted Joan Didion’s monologue The Year of Magical
Thinking (European premiere), also at the Ernst Deutsch Theater, and appeared
there as Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Christine in Mourning
Becomes Electra by Eugene O’Neill. Most recently she appeared as Aurora in Terms
of Endearment at the Kammerspiele Hamburg. Since 1980, following training as a
musical performer in New York, she has often been seen in major musical
productions. Among her most important roles are the title role in EVITA (director: H.
Prince, original production, GER) in Vienna, Munich and Berlin; Desirée Armfeld in
Smiles of a Summer Night in Braunschweig, Velma in CHICAGO, Jenny in Rise and
Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Phyllis in FOLLIES and Liliane la Fleur in NINE, all at
the Theater des Westens in Berlin; and the title role in Victor/Victoria in Karlsruhe and
Munich. Most recently she sang and acted as the Mother Superior in the German
premiere of SISTER ACT in Hamburg. In the German premiere of the original
production of SUNSET BOULEVARD directed by Trevor Nunn, she played Norma
Desmond at the Rhein-Main-Theater Niedernhausen, a role which brought her the
title of Best Performer awarded by MUSICALS magazine in 1997, and the Image
Award in 1998. She is known to television audiences for numerous leading roles in
episodes of successful German detective series such as Ein Fall für Zwei, Tatort and
Soko Kitzbühel as well as for the roles of Charlotte Marquardt in the ARD eight-part
series Dr. Schwarz und Dr. Martin, Christine Andersen in the ARD series Gegen den
Wind and Beate, Fürstin Thorwald in the ZDF series Der Fürst und das Mädchen. In
addition she has played the lead in film versions of several Pilcher novels, countless
TV films such as Wer Liebe verspricht, Herz aus Schokolade and most recently Alles
Böse zum Hochzeitstag from the successful series Mord in bester Gesellschaft.

FRANZISKUS HARTENSTEIN
Emperor Franz Joseph
Franziskus Hartenstein’s artistic training from 2008-2012 at the Joop van den Ende
Academy in Hamburg culminated in his becoming a state-approved musical
performer. In addition to this, he also took part in several vocal workshops with Pia
Douwes and Willemijn Verkaik and one workshop with Ethan Freeman. In 2009,
Hartenstein was an ensemble member at the gala that opened the 4th trade union
congress of the IG BCE union for mining, pharmaceuticals and energy in the
Kongresszentrum in Hanover, and was a soloist at the prize-giving gala to honour
Hamburg’s “trainee of the year” in that city’s chamber of trade. In 2010 he appeared
as the lawyer Blind in the piece Fledermaus 54 that is loosely based on Johann
Strauss’s work. He also gained further musical experience in the musical REPLAY –
ALLES IST MÖGLICH at the Theater Kehrwieder in Hamburg. Most recently he
played the role of the rooster in the Town Musicians of Bremen at the Ernst Deutsch
Theater.

ANTON ZETTERHOLM
Rudolf
Anton Zetterholm started his training at the Växjö Katedralskola music school and
continued it from 2005-2008 at the Ballet Academy in Gothenburg (Sweden). During
his training he was already performing at the Teater Thalia in Sweden. His
breakthrough in Germany came with the role of Tarzan in Disney’s musical of the
same name, which he secured after winning the talent show Ich Tarzan, du Jane on
the German TV channel Sat1. Other important roles he has played to date include
Alfred in DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES, Fiyero in WICKED and Sir Hiss in ROBIN
HOOD. In addition, he also has numerous television appearances to his name, for
instance as a soloist on Sweden’s SVT show Allsång på Skansen.

CARIN FILIPČIĆ
Duchess Ludovika / Frau Wolf
Born in Vienna, she trained as a singer under Prof. Jack Poppell and as a musical
performer in Vienna and Prague. Besides years of study of the ethnic music of the
Romani under the supervision of Ida Kelarova and roles in independent productions,
she played Rizzo in GREASE and appeared in the ensemble of the Duisburg
production of LES MISERABLES. At the Theater an der Wien she was part of the
original cast for the world premiere of MOZART!, playing Baroness von Waldstätten
and Cecilia Weber among others, and appeared at the Musicalfestival Bruck as Mary
Magdalene in JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, the wicked step-sister Olga in
CINDERELLA and the lead in DIE GESCHICHTE VOM DICKEN SCHWEIN DAS
DÜNN WERDEN WOLLTE. At the Vienna Kammeroper she played the double role of
Agnes/Linda in the COLE PORTER STORY and another double role as
Sarah/Martha in Stephen Sondheim’s COMPANY. At the Musicalsommer Amstetten
she portrayed Madeleine True in Werner Sobotka’s production of THE WILD PARTY
(German-language premiere) and also appeared there as Miss Sherman in FAME,
reprising this role later on at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt. She appeared in the Simpl
Revue in Vienna in SIMPL GOES MUSIC and as a guest at the Graz Opera in the
2004/05 season where she again played Mary Magdalene in JESUS CHRIST
SUPERSTAR. In 2005/06 she interpreted the role of the Nurse in the German
premiere of ROMEO & JULIET at Vienna’s Raimund Theater, where she also
reprised her role of the Baroness von Waldstätten in the concert version of
MOZART!. In REBECCA she created the role of the brash Mrs van Hopper in 2006,
and performed as a soloist in Musical Forever – 20 Jahre Vereinigte Bühnen Wien at
Vienna's Museumsquartier in December 2007. In 2008 she played the part of Fantine
in LES MISERABLES at the Graz Opera House and the diva Norma in the pastiche
FORBIDDEN RONACHER in Vienna’s Museumsquartier. She lent her talents to the
role of Countess Marie Larisch in the German-language premiere of RUDOLF -
AFFAIRE MAYERLING at the Raimund Theater. After that she appeared in Peter
Hofbauer’s country musical comedy GO WEST at the Metropol in Vienna and as
Georgie in Kim Duddy’s production of THE FULL MONTY in Amstetten and the
Deutsches Theater in Munich. At Christmas 2010 she had a guest appearance in A
Musical Christmas at the Ronacher, Vienna, and in Dinner for One – Essen für Drei
with Herbert Steinböck at the Vindobona. In the autumn of 2011 she appeared in
Hamburg and Vienna as Rose in Wenn Rosenblätter fallen. So far she has received
invitations to perform as Lola in Georg Kreisler’s HEUTE ABEND: LOLA BLAU from
the Tiroler Festspiele, the Musiksommer Korneuburg and the Volkstheater/Rote Bar.
Besides her work as a voice coach, Carin Filipčić is also in heavy demand as a
concert singer, for instance as a guest in Thomas Borchert’s If I Sing and Musical
Moment with Andreas Bieber und Jan Ammann. In the summer of 2012 she
appeared in the role of Aldonza in Man of La Mancha at the Graz Opera for the first
time.

CHRISTIAN PETER HAUSER
Duke Max in Bayern
Christian Peter Hauser studied Executive Master of Arts Administration at Zurich
University from 2008-2011. He wrote his master’s thesis on “Oper in Wien – (k)ein
Platz für Jugendliche?” (Opera in Vienna – (not) a place for the young?). He also
studied in Liverpool at the Institute for the Performing Arts and at the Konservatorium
Wien University (classical solo singing).
He has been hired by major theatres such as the Theater an der Wien, the Raimund
Theater, Volksoper, Ronacher, Theater Akzent and Ateliertheater – all in Vienna – as
well as by the Graz Opera House, the Vereinigte Bühnen Bozen, the
Sommerfestspiele Amstetten, the Sommerfestspiele Bruck an der Leitha and the
Freilichtspiele Seelbach.
Christian Peter Hauser has also directed numerous stage plays including Minna von
Barnhelm (G. E. Lessing), Intrigue and Love (F. Schiller), Crash (S. Moore Williams),
Miss Julie (A. Strindberg), Ghosts (H. Ibsen), Franz und Karl (R. Protiwensky), The
Same Old Story (F. Rame, D. Fo), The Caucasian Chalk Circle (B. Brecht), The Kiss
Of The Spiderwoman (M. Puig) and many more.
In 2004, Christian Peter Hauser founded the Altmühlsee Festspiele which he has led
as director ever since with great success. This year he will be directing the
Shakespeare classic The Tempest at this festival.
Besides this, he has also written various stage works such as Soll einem Sommertag
ich dich vergleichen?, (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”, a play based on
Shakespeare’s sonnets) and the children’s plays Der Zauberspiegel – Chiara rettet
die Fantasie, Das Geheimnis vom Mönchswald, Auf und davon, Koma.de, Der
Frog’n’Roll König and Struwwelpeter & Friends.
Christian Peter Hauser has already appeared in ELISABETH, too, playing the
Professor in the premiere at the Theater an der Wien in 1992. Other VBW premieres
then followed, with MOZART! (Count Arco) and WAKE UP! (Max/Prof.
Freudensprung). Since then he has performed in numerous productions such as
JEKYLL AND HYDE (Sir Danvers), WEST SIDE STORY (Bernardo), THE LITTLE
SHOP OF HORRORS (Dentist), EVERYMAN (Cousin), BAREFOOT IN THE PARK
(Paul), Death and the Maiden (Escobar), Much Ado About Nothing (Dogberry), Das
andalusische Mirakel (Heppelmann), Love-Jogging (Brian), Taxi, Taxi (Run For Your
Wife) (Stanley), Wer heiratet schon freiwillig? (Bernhard), My Wife Whatsername
(Rosemary) and played Cyrano in Cyrano de Bergerac.

CREATIVE AND LEADING TEAM
Michael Kunze Book
Sylvester Levay Music
Harry Kupfer Director
Koen Schoots Director of Music
Dennis Callahan Choreography
Hans Schavernoch Set Designer
Yan Tax Costume Designer
Hans Toelstede Lighting Designer
Thomas Strebel Sound Designer
Thomas Reimer Video Designer

MICHAEL KUNZE
Book and Lyrics
Michael Kunze is an internationally successful writer and dramatist, television
scriptwriter, lyricist and librettist. In recent years his works ELISABETH, DANCE OF
THE VAMPIRES, MOZART!, REBECCA and MARIE ANTOINETTE introduced a
new, European form of music theatre: the drama musical. He is responsible for the
German versions of international hit musicals such as EVITA, CATS, THE
PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, A CHORUS LINE, THE LITTLE SHOP OF
HORRORS, INTO THE WOODS, THE KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN, ASPECTS
OF LOVE, SUNSET BOULEVARD, DISNEY’S THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE
DAME, DISNEY’S THE LION KING, MAMMA MIA!, ELTON JOHN’S AIDA and
WICKED. Michael Kunze was born on 9 November 1943 in Prague and grew up in
Munich. Following a PhD in law he began working as a lyricist and record producer
towards the end of the 60s. Such was his success that he soon became one of the
most internationally sought-after songwriters and producers. Stars such as Peter
Maffay, Nana Mouskouri, Udo Jürgens, Peter Alexander and Münchener Freiheit owe
their biggest hits to him. But he not only wrote countless German-language smashes,
but numerous international hits too, and produced pop artists such as Silver
Convention, Herbie Mann, Julio Iglesias, Gilbert Bécaud and Sister Sledge. Together
with Sylvester Levay he was the first German ever to win a Grammy Award: that was
for his production “Fly, Robin, Fly” which went to number one in the US singles chart.
Many more awards and 79 gold and platinum discs underline the success of this
stage in his career. In a poll conducted by the German TV station ZDF his name
appeared more than any other in the list of Germany’s 100 favourite songs which
makes him the most successful German-language songwriter of the 20th century. In
2005, 30 years after winning a Grammy, he was awarded the Echo, the highest
honour bestowed by Germany’s music industry. ELISABETH (music: Sylvester
Levay) made Michael Kunze the most successful German-language writer for the
stage. To date, nearly nine million people have seen this work, which has since been
translated into many languages, about one proud woman’s struggle for the right to
her own personality. His subsequent works DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES (music: Jim
Steinman), MOZART!, REBECCA and MARIE ANTOINETTE (music: Sylvester
Levay) quickly became international hits too and are found on the programme of
theatres in many of the world’s capital cities. Two of his works have made it to
Broadway. In January 2010 his pop oratorio THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (music:
Dieter Falk) was premiered by 2,255 performers in the sold-out Westfalenhalle in
Dortmund in front of an audience of tens of thousands. Numerous future
performances in Germany and a stage version for Switzerland called MOSES are
currently being prepared. Apart from several books, scripts for major TV shows and
texts for political cabaret, Michael Kunze has also written an opera which the
American composer Gershon Kingsley has set to music (RAOUL, 2008,
Germany/Hungary). Michael Kunze and his wife Roswitha divide their time between
homes in Hamburg and New York. He is a member of the German Dramatiker Union
and the American Dramatists Guild, Inc.

SYLVESTER LEVAY
Music, Orchestration and Choral Arrangements
Sylvester Levay was born in Subotica, then Yugoslavia, now Serbia, to Hungarian
parents. It was there that he attended school and studied music. He was only 15
when he won his first composing competition. From 1962 he toured all round Europe
with various orchestras before moving to Munich in 1972. There he worked first as a
pianist, arranger, composer and conductor for Munich studios. He wrote music for
Udo Jürgens, Katja Epstein, Penny McLean, Gitte Haenning and many others. It was
during this period that he first met Michael Kunze. The pair produced international
hits such as “Fly, Robin, Fly” and “Get Up And Boogie” (Silver Convention) and “Lady
Bump” (Penny McLean) as well as various records. Levay won America’s highest
musical award, the Grammy, for “Fly, Robin, Fly”. Between 1977 and 1980 he
composed and produced music for Elton John, Donna Summer, Herbie Mann and
Sister Sledge. He conducts and orchestrates all his works himself and plays a variety
of instruments including piano, saxophone, clarinet, flute and organ. He spent the
following 20 years as a resident of Hollywood, concentrating on writing film music. He
worked with Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, George Lucas, Sylvester Stallone,
Whoopi Goldberg, Peter O’Toole and Steven Spielberg. During this period he created
the scores for the movies COBRA (with Sylvester Stallone), HOT SHOTS (with
Charlie Sheen), BURGLAR (with Whoopi Goldberg), TOUCH AND GO (with Michael
Keaton), CREATOR (with Peter O’Toole) and FLASHDANCE (with Jennifer Beals).
At the same time he also composed for over 100 US feature films and TV movies. He
was elected a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences
(NARAS) and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) and lectured on
cinematic composition at the US universities UCLA and USC. He also gave guest
lectures at Vienna University. In addition, he wrote for German television productions
such as the Goldener Löwe, the Deutscher Fernsehpreis and Bambi. In the 90s,
Sylvester Levay began to devote himself to a new genre with his partner Michael
Kunze: the musical. Hexen, Hexen was performed on an open-air stage of Heilbronn
theatre and was a great success. In 1992 his second musical production received its
world premiere at the Theater an der Wien under the direction of Harry Kupfer:
ELISABETH. In 1999, MOZART! followed. Levay continued his successful musical
collaboration with Michael Kunze with the drama musical REBECCA, which
premiered in 2006 at the Raimund Theater in Vienna. MARIE ANTOINETTE, whose
world premiere was in Japan in November 2007 and whose German-language
premiere followed in Bremen in 2009, was performed in 2012 on the open-air stage
Freilichtbühne Tecklenburg, while the musical MOZART! premiered in Seoul/South
Korea in 2010 and has now been staged in seven countries, REBECCA in nine.
ELISABETH premiered in Seoul/South Korea in February 2012 and is currently being
staged in several versions in Japan.

HARRY KUPFER
Director
The long-serving opera director and principal director at the Komische Oper Berlin
studied theatre in Leipzig. Following his debut with Dvořák’s RUSALKA in 1958, he
took charge of the opera ensemble at the theatre in Stralsund and became stage
manager in Karl-Marx-Stadt (which has since reverted to the name of Chemnitz). In
1966 he became opera director at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, and in
1972 opera director and principal director at the Dresden State Opera. Then in 1981
he was appointed principal director at the Komische Oper Berlin. His productions
include Wagner’s MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG, the premieres of Aribert
Reimann’s LEAR (in the GDR) and Handel’s GIUSTINO, the premiere of Siegfried
Matthus’s JUDITH, BORIS GODUNOV (with the original instrumentation), Gluck’s
ORFEO ED EURIDICE, CARMEN – EINE VERSION, Offenbach’s THE TALES OF
HOFFMANN, GIULIO CESARE IN EGITTO by Handel and DIE FLEDERMAUS by
Johann Strauss as well as the Mozart cycle that ranges from IDOMENEO to THE
MAGIC FLUTE and follows an overall concept. His most recent productions at the
Komische Oper were LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR (1996), FIDELIO (1997), Henze’s
KÖNIG HIRSCH (1998) and ORPHEUS IN THE UNDERWORLD. Harry Kupfer is a
member of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin, the Freie Akademie der Künste in
Hamburg and the Sächsische Akademie der Künste in Dresden and holds a
professorship at the Berlin College of Music. He is responsible for a total of 220
productions in Graz, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Cardiff, London, Vienna, Salzburg,
San Francisco, Moscow, Zurich, Frankfurt, Cologne, Mannheim, Stuttgart, Munich,
Hamburg, Sydney and Berlin as well as for the FLYING DUTCHMAN (1978) and the
RING OF THE NIBELUNGEN (1988) at the Bayreuth Festival. The Wagner Cycle at
the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden in 1997 finished with the entire RING. In
Vienna he has directed seven productions in all, at the State Opera and the
Volksoper: LA BOHÈME and GIUSTINO, DIE SCHWARZE MASKE, ELEKTRA (both
co-productions with the Salzburg Festival), DIE SOLDATEN, EUGEN ONEGIN and
BORIS GODUNOV. ARIADNE AUF NAXOS and the premieres of ELISABETH and
MOZART! originated at the Theater an der Wien.

DENNIS CALLAHAN
Choreography
The choreographer and director’s assistant on various shows for the famous New
York Radio City Music Hall hails from Missouri. He first came to Vienna in 1988 to
teach at the dance and singing studio at the Theater an der Wien and took on the
choreography and joint directorship of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES at the Volksoper
there. He had previously been Dance Captain on the Broadway production of the
show. Since 1994 he has directed the New York Radio City Music Hall’s popular
annual Christmas Show. His most important works for the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien
have been the choreography for Harry Kupfer’s world premieres of ELISABETH and
MOZART! at the Theater an der Wien. After working on Michael Schottenberg’s
production of GREASE at the Raimund Theater he played a key role alongside
Roman Polanski in the success of the premiere of DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES and
also created the choreography for the German premiere in Stuttgart. In 2005 he was
responsible for the choreography for ELISABETH, also in Stuttgart, as well as for
further productions of DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES in Warsaw, Budapest and St.
Petersburg. He also choreographed THE WILD PARTY in Amstetten and MISS
SAIGON and HAIRSPRAY in St. Gallen.
KOEN SCHOOTS
Director of Music
Born in the Netherlands where he trained as an opera conductor. He has conducted
around 60 productions at opera houses in Austria, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland
and the USA. His career in musicals began with the post of music director on the
German production of CATS in 1992. The European premiere of JEKYLL & HYDE
marked the start of his collaboration with Frank Wildhorn, for whom he has acted as
European supervisor ever since, conducting the European premieres of THE
SCARLET PIMPERNEL, DRACULA and the premiere of the Hungarian version of
RUDOLF in Budapest. He was musical supervisor of RUDOLF in Vienna and Seoul,
has arranged and orchestrated all of Wildhorn’s new works such as CARMEN, VIVA
AMOR! in Prague and the premiere of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO in St.
Gallen. He is permanent guest conductor at the Komische Oper Berlin and St. Gallen
theatre. From 2004 to 2010 he conducted the productions at the opera festival in St.
Margarethen: AIDA, CARMEN, NABUCCO, THE MAGIC FLUTE, LA TRAVIATA; in
2009, for RIGOLETTO, he was the festival’s principal conductor. Since September
2010 he has been music director for musicals and principal conductor at the
Vereinigte Bühnen Wien and is thus responsible for all musical productions in Vienna
and the VBW licensed productions abroad. He was supervisor for ELISABETH in
Seoul and will conduct the guest production of the show in Osaka and Tokyo. Koen
lives in Gablitz and, when time allows, Florida.

HANS SCHAVERNOCH
Set Designer
Hans Schavernoch grew up in Vienna where he studied at the Academy of Applied
Arts. Following several years of fixed employment at Austrian and German theatres,
he began working freelance in 1983, becoming one of the most sought-after set
designers in music theatre. He has worked in Munich, Berlin, Vienna, Paris, London
and New York, among others. Since 1995 he has been head of the Institute of Set
Design at Graz University of the Arts and also worked for some time at the Institute of
Theatre Studies at Vienna University. Hans Schavernoch has worked in the fields of
drama, music theatre, musical and kabuki theatre in Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona,
Basel, Bern, Bilbao, Bordeaux, Chicago, Cologne, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Florence,
Frankfurt, Genoa, Hamburg, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Jerusalem, Lisbon, Los Angeles,
Madrid, Nagoya, Naples, Osaka, Pesaro, Schwetzingen, Shanghai, Stuttgart,
Sydney, Taipei, Tokyo, Versailles, Warsaw, Yokohama, Zurich and at the festivals in
Salzburg, Bregenz and Bayreuth. Among his most outstanding sets are those he
created for the premiere of Penderecki’s DIE SCHWARZE MASKE and for ELEKTRA
at the Salzburg Festival; for Harry Kupfer’s production of THE RING OF THE
NIBELUNGEN at the Bayreuth Festival; for FREUDIANA in Vienna, LE PETIT
PRINCE in Paris, BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE and ERWARTUNG at the New York Met,
PORGY AND BESS at the Bregenzer Festspiele and the premiere of Rihm’s DAS
GEHEGE and SALOME at the Munich State Opera. In the course of his collaboration
with Harry Kupfer, which stretches to around 100 productions, the sets for many
other shows were created, including those for the WAGNER CYCLE at the Berlin
State Opera, the premieres of the musicals ELISABETH and MOZART! and
ARIADNE AUF NAXOS at the Theater an der Wien. Among the awards he has
received are the Berlin Bear, the Josef Kainz Medal of the City of Vienna, the
Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and the Arts, membership in the senate of the
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien and, in 2007, the German Stage Award for set
of the year.

YAN TAX
Costume Designer
Yan Tax studied fashion at the Academy of the Fine Arts in Breda. In Dutch theatres
his creations have appeared in productions such as CYRANO DE BERGERAC, JOE,
ELISABETH, CISKE DE RAT and SUNSET BOULEVARD. He was responsible for
the costumes for ELISABETH, MOZART!, TITANIC, THE THREE MUSKETEERS
and ICH WAR NOCH NIEMALS IN NEW YORK in Germany and Austria, as well as
for TINTIN and DAENS in Belgium. Tax designed the costumes for productions of the
Amsterdam Theatre Group, the National Theatre in Brussels and Amsterdam and for
numerous operas in Paris, Berlin, Dresden, Bern, Zurich, Florence, Sydney, San
Francisco, Vienna, Frankfurt and Helsinki. In Belgium and France he designed
costumes for DAENS, ELINE VERE, LE HUITIÈME JOUR, MINA ANNENBAUM and
LA CHAMELLE. Yan Tax received a Tony nomination in New York for his
outstanding work on CYRANO DE BERGERAC, won the award as “Best Costume
Designer” from EuropaCinema and won awards for the best costumes for
ELISABETH, MOZART!, TITANIC – DAS MUSICAL and THE THREE
MUSKETEERS in Germany in 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2004. In 2008 he was
nominated for the German Film Award for BLACKBOOK.

HANS TOELSTEDE
Lighting Designer
The lighting designer was born in northern Germany in 1945 and is one of the most
sought-after lighting designers in international music theatre. He has worked at
almost every major opera house and music theatre in the world. He studied
electronics and theatre engineering and worked as chief lighting engineer at the
Staatstheater Wiesbaden and the Bayreuth Festival before becoming artistic director
of the lighting department at the Cologne Opera. As a freelance lighting designer he
also created lighting compositions for the Theater an der Wien, the Musical-Theater
Bremen, the Musical-Dome in Cologne, the Opéra National de Paris (Bastille), the
Opéra-Comique Paris, the Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, the Brussels Opera, the
Flanders Opera, the Dutch Opera Amsterdam, the Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos in
Lisbon, the Edinburgh International Festival, the Bregenzer Festspiele, the Teatro
Colon Buenos Aires, the State Operas in Hamburg and Munich, the New York City
Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the San Francisco Opera House and the London
Opera House Covent Garden as well as for LA TRAVIATA at the Metropolitan Opera
in New York in 2010/11. He has collaborated with international directors such as
Harry Kupfer (ELISABETH/Vienna) and Dietrich Hilsdorf (JEKYLL & HYDE/Bremen,
Cologne and Vienna) for many years. He is also responsible for legendary opera
productions with directors that include Harry Kupfer, Willy Decker, Peter
Konwitschny, Oliver Tambosi, Andreas Homoki, Ian Judge, Kurt Horres, Karoline
Gruber, Karin Beier, Katharina Thalbach and Michael Hampe.

THOMAS STREBEL
Sound Designer
This native of Basel has been working in the fields of sound design, consultancy,
audio engineering, event and studio productions and studio design since completing
his training in Europe and the USA. Numerous live and studio productions as well as
the production of film scores with the composer Niki Reiser (including Beyond Silence
– German State Award for the Best Film Score 1996, and Nowhere in Africa – State
Film Award 2002, Oscar 2003) underline his versatility. Since the mid-1990s he has
been responsible for designing the sound on musical productions in Switzerland and
Germany (for example for the Seebühne Thun, Basel, Zurich, Berlin and Munich). In
2008, Volker Hesse engaged Thomas Strebel for the Tellspiele in Altdorf. In 2009 he
was awarded the “Opus” for the best sound design at the Einsiedler Welttheater.
Since 2003 he has taught stereo microphone techniques and session procedures at
the SAE Institute in Zurich as well as the master of arts course “The roles of directors
and producers”. Since 2005 he has been technical director of the Basel Tattoo, which
has become one of the most successful tattoos alongside Edinburgh, and the Berlin
Tattoo which was held for the first time in 2011. He is founder and head of audiopool
GmbH.

THOMAS REIMER
Video Designer
Thomas Reimer discovered his passion for video and graphic design at an early age.
Following his training as a television technician, his hobby became his vocation.
Since then he has worked on various TV and DVD productions. He began as
cameraman and editor on the national series of concerts for the CHICKERIA
TVToday Band Award. There followed ballets by John Neumeier: NIJINSKY at the
Hamburg State Opera, which was recorded for Bayerischer Rundfunk, and
ILLUSIONS – LIKE SWAN LAKE for SWR and international DVD release. Reimer
gained his first experience of projected stage sets on John Neumeier’s
WINTERREISE. He created the films of the symphonies SIBELIUS – EIN
ARCHITEKTONISCHES WINTERMÄRCHEN and EDVARD GRIEG – DIE
GESCHICHTE DES LEBENS for Westdeutscher Rundfunk. Films such as SHALOM
HAMBURG, training films for the German air rescue service, BAD SEGEBERG –
HEUTE UND DAMALS and various music video clips, product and image films also
bear his hallmark. He was responsible for the TV and DVD productions of the
musicals MIAMI NIGHTS (WDR), ROBIN HOOD and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST –
THE MUSICAL and for the printed programmes for the latter two shows and the
touring version of ELISABETH (2008 – 2012). For the ELISABETH tour he also
designed the extensive stage set projections, and did the same with video for THE
MERRY WIDOW at the Hamburg State Opera and for ARIADNE AUF NAXOS at the
Theater an der Wien.

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