#art report

[synapsephase]

up close middle finger pomni anyone? from this

[vro0ms-evil-twin]

ART REPORT

We went to see Kevin Germanier's exhibition. The pieces were very impressive. I think it's good that they put up videos of his runways because most of them are more interesting with movement than static.

I didn't enjoy the scenography. There was a room with bags and some were not visible because the shelves were too high. There also was a lab inspired room that made you want to touch things and you couldn't. Generally the fact that there was nothing to touch was a miss. Germanier's art is so tactile, there should have been samples to experience what it would be like to wear his creations imo. We were told there was a child section where we could create stuff and thus touch materials and we couldn't find it.

SPECIAL SURPRISE

There was a tapestry exhibition next to this one. Very impressive volumes.

The dialogue between historical tapestries and contemporary ones was well done. On the one hand I was almost disappointed that the modern tapestries were machine-made compared to the historical ones. On the other hand the ones I enjoyed most were the ones using almost glitch-like photo treatments. Made me think of my brother's artwork.

(Grayson Perry)

Of course I was most impressed by the 3d tapestry by Goshka Macuga - the most interactive part of both exhibitions with the 3d glasses to enjoy the illusion.

(not my photo, credits to Angus Mill photography for Kate MacGarry gallery)

[gudbreadsticks]

EDIT: Credit to the original artist @pestacular for the last drawing!

Reporting art theft, might as well show off the art as well :^) these were a commission and they ran off without paying so if you see these anywhere that's not under my name please let me know. The character reference at the end is not mine and is so any can recognize the character or if you get asked to draw him be wary about waiting til the end for payment.

The ridiculous watermark is to prevent this from happening again.

The sketches are just to prove it's my work for any one who doubts.

[chibimyumi]

Art Report - ‘Elisabeth 2019′ TOHO ACT 1

【Click here for Act 2 】

Dear everyone!~~!

Now 3 months late since I promised,  I finally bring you a VERY detailed photo report on ‘Elisabeth’ 2019!

DISCLAIMER:

I am not going to retell the story of ‘Elisabeth’; I will skip quite many scenes. For the full story, please look up a synopsis or something alike.

There is actually quite a lot I am not sure whether I remembered right. And Furukawa always changes his performance every few days, so my report does not cover all of Furutod.

Some of these drawings were made in a rush, while for others I had more time.

Cast - Matinée July 19th, 2019

Elisabeth - Manaki Reika

Der Tod - Furukawa Yuta

Lucheni - Yamazaki Ikusaburo

Franz I - Hirakata Genki

Sophie - Koujun Tatsuki

Rudolf - Miura Ryosuke

Child Rudolf - Jin Yoshiharu

The Descent

The descent has always been one of my favourite scenes. This number is just so great, a mere memory of it is enough to turn me into one giant goosebump. I was especially looking forward to this, because this would be the first time we see Furukawa Yuta as the role of his dreams; Der Tod.

Though I am no fan of the metallic wings, Furutod’s descent was SO MAJESTIC. The theme of Der Tod started, and from the ceiling a pair of boots descended.

Some ankles revealed itself, the calf... more of the calf... and there was more calf... AH finally some knees. Uw, more legs...leeegs...leeeegs... “WHERE DO HIS LEGS STOP!? Oh, there! No wait, those are his upper thighs. Ah, finally, his waist.”

I heard from someone who counted, Furukawa descends one beat earlier than Inoue Yoshio’s Der Tod does, because otherwise by the time Der Tod needs to sing, Furukawa’s face has not shown yet ( ´艸｀)

When Furutod touched ground, his Death Angels undid his wings, and he stepped onto the stage for the first time.

The way Furukawa carries himself as Der Tod is very two-dimensional, in a good way!  When he descended he was like a Greek statue, but when he stepped forward, he gradually came to life. In this photo ⇊ we catch a small glimpse of Furutod’s statue-like face.

Sissi’s Entrance

Manaki’s Sissi was the cutest and most majestic thing I have seen. When she made her appearance as child Sissi, it was very believable that it really was a child standing before me. She was beaming and her eyes were full of dreams. And yet there was this edge in her. It was easy to see how this young girl would grow into a woman who would survive ordeal after ordeal.

Enter the Underworld

During a family meeting, Sissi fell from the tree which wounded her so bad she enters the Underworld. She was escorted by the Death Angels, and at first Furutod did not seem interested at all. “Another mortal who died, nothing new.” When he approached her to take her life, Sissi sought eye-contact with Der Tod, and her eyes were so full of power and life, it was like she - though confused - was daring the lord of the Underworld to end her.

“The Rondo of Love and Death”

The song ‘the Rondo of Love and Death’ began, and I was stunned by how much Furukawa managed to improve his already good singing. He always had trouble with the high notes, and sometimes he would be a bit short of breath. But by ‘Elisabeth’, Furukawa has improved his vocals so much that even the highest notes went as smooth as silk.

♪♬ “The wounds from which my pale blood flows Only you are capable of easing my pain I shall return you your life” ♪♬  - Der Tod

This is the first time when Furutod comes fully to life, and for the first time his eyes showed an emotion that was not utttttter boredom. We learn that Furutod is like a spoiled child who would take any opportunity to play. Despite literally being the personification of Death, the only thing Der Tod seems to want to kill is not the lives of others, but his own boredom. To me, Furutod is the first Der Tod that made me realise what this ‘pain’ in the script really meant to him; a lethal apathy paired with the suffering of not being able to end it.

The other Der Tods I have seen are also good; but especially in the Takarazuka version, this ‘pain’ is strongly hinted to be ‘a loveless existence’. A lethal apathy was a very refreshing take for me to see.

♪♬ “Until the day I win your love I will continue my pursuit... I will pursue your love no matter where you go”　♪♬

The song was meant to be a very romantic one, but once sung by Furutod, this pining lover’s song became that of an entitled stalker’s threat song. In the other versions of ‘Elisabeth’, Der Tod is also a stalker, of course. But the emphasis on the romance is usually laid on so thick, one would have to give the situation some extra thought before acknowledging how creepy it truly is.

Furutod however, only allows you room to either interpret it as a problematic kinky-romance, or sheer threat.

The Imperial Wedding

Franz I and Sissi get married, and Der Tod attends the Imperial wedding as well. I was a very lucky b*tch, I sat only 2 seats away from where Furutod passed us in the aisle.

... he was literally only a meter away from us, and my little dork sister Ò^Ó didn’t see him. Sigh. She was too busy looking at the stage. Which - not gonna lie - was glorious too. But Furutod thoughhhhhhh.

His long cape trailed behind him, the way he walked was so smooth it was like he was floating. We have seen a preview of Furukawa’s float-walk in Kuromyu, where he applied ballet even to walking. I thought that was already the height of Furukawa’s ballet skills; BUT I WAS WRONG! When I saw Furutod’s float-walk from up close, I realised that as Sebas, Furukawa was at least ‘TRYING’ to look human. With Furutod he did not bother.

Speaking of my sister @cutiepeimei , she also sketched the image of Floating!Furutod. He ghost.

The Game is On

After Furutod saw his ‘toy’ become someone else’s, it was like something snapped in his mind. He was very calm at first, solemnly warning Elisabeth that she will be the end of the Habsburg glory.

♪♬ “All misfortune starts here, as of today The demise of the Habsburg glory The downfall of an empire of which no one knows Let me tell you bit by bit, the source of all disaster People are blissfully oblivious of the scent of misfortune The die is cast by your grave mistake Elisabeth!” ♪♬ - Der Tod and Choir

But then after Elisabeth spoke her wedding vow, tears started streaming down Furutod’s cheeks, and suddenly, he broke into hysterical laughter.

He started with a few chuckles under his breath which bled into an uncontrolled laughter. Before we knew, this ominous laughter became a full-out hyena screech, going “iiiiyaaahahahaahahaha!”

The Japanese fandom is rather divided on their opinions on this hyena laughter. I at first didn’t like it either; I found myself pinching my nose willing myself not to laugh in the theatre. Despite it being funny at the time, it was indeed very very chilling. It wasn’t until after I watched other versions of ‘Elisabeth’ (because I just missed Furutod SO MUCH) that I realised I was REALLY missing Hyena!Tod. So I have settled with the opinion of “Hyena!Tod Hell YES!”.

“The Last Dance“

In the interview published in ‘Soen September 2019 Issue’, Furukawa shared with us that he asked costume designer Ikezawa to make this costume military based.

Though all guests attended the Imperial wedding in formal wear, Furutod chose to appear in military uniform because that was the moment he decided to declare war to Elisabeth. Quite a few years had passed between their first encounter and the wedding, and Furutod was done waiting; he was going to conquer his toy actively now.

In the song ‘the Last Dance’, Furutod made his appearance in a cool-headed manner, and he stayed so for... a few seconds. It was like he was trying very hard to remain calm, but his bottled-up impatience just could no longer be suppressed.

As Furukawa said himself before in this interview, “‘the Last Dance’, starts in gentle melody and sets the mood. But then suddenly the rock starts, and both Der Tod and the musical itself transform themselves.”

 Sissi was trying to escape the room, but the Death Angels had already guarded every corner of the room. Whenever Sissi seemed to finally have found a window to escape, a minion would just spin her on her heels and push her back to the boss.

Usually, this scene is one of my least favourites in non-Takarazuka versions, because it is usually performed with too much rape-vibes. Furutod however, was not rape-y at all. In fact, he hardly ever touched more than Sissi’s hands. The scene was devoid of sexual energy - it was just war.

By the end of the song, Furutod saw how Sissi was devastated by him, and seemed to regret for a second that he used the wrong strategy. Had he not scared her, then Sissi might have been less quick to run away from him. It was very refreshing to see a version of this scene wherein Der Tod reflects on how he scared somebody unduly.

Alas, no use crying over spilt milk, Furutod shrugged it off. Before he left Sissi he bowed to her, and with a gentle smile he gestured at the pathway that the Death Angels cleared for her. Furutod reminded Sissi that whether she escapes him or not would be entirely at his mercy, just like now. “Your last dance will belong to me.” ♪♬

“I Belong to Myself”

At the crack of dawn after Sissi’s wedding night, her mother in law Sophie inspects every inch of her, and even blamed her for not having consummated the wedding with her son. Sophie dictates the rules at the Imperial court and strips Sissi of every last bit of her autonomy.

Look, ⇊ it’s Akisono Mio (Frances) on the left!

Franz hears the noise from his bride’s chamber and comes to check on her. Sissi cries out to Franz, begging him to save her from Sophiezilla. Franz - the spineless mama-boy that he is - smiles at Sissi, and has the guts to sing the following:

♪♬ “ You have to learn the duties of being Empress You need to repress yourself, that is your life from now on I am your ally, but all of Mother’s advice is for your sake” ♪♬ - Franz

Sissi will swallow none of this bs, and declares that even though her body might now be the Imperial family’s property, her soul belongs to herself alone.

I have seen a lot of whimpering Sissis who turned this power song into a damsel-in-distress-song. But Manaki Reika was full of determination and spite. It was very empowering to see. She was looking up, of course, and it makes sense because the Imperial Theatre has multiple stories of seats. But because of Manaki’s immense presence, it felt like she was declaring her autonomy to a greater existence.

Hungarian Independence

Sissi’s life was getting harder and harder. First, her husband was very busy, so the couple did not have any time to produce any children. By the second year, Sissi finally gave birth to a baby girl, but the baby was immediately taken away by Sophie. Not only did Sophie go full Disney Villain by stealing a baby, she also took the liberty of naming the child after herself.

The state was in turmoil, and Franz had trouble keeping everything together. He was willing to make a last bet on his wife’s charms, and asked Elisabeth to come with him to Hungary.

Here, Sissi saw her chance to make a move, and demanded that she would only come if Franz made his mother return baby Sophie to her. Defeated, Franz finally made his first move.

Franz was supposed to show himself in a speech wherein he declares Austrian authority over Hungary. Sissi however, showed herself in a dress in the colours of the Hungarian flag, and greeted the Hungarian people in Hungarian language and acknowledges Hungary as an independent nation. Using this political move, she managed to single-handedly win the favours of the Hungarian people who were fighting for self governance.

The Hungarian revolutionaries however, were VERY unhappy with this development. While they would have been seen as ‘heroes who fought for independence’, they would now be reduced to ‘ungrateful rebellions’.

Elemer, played by Uehara Takuya (Grell) made his move to assasinate Sissi, but was stopped by Furutod. Furutod hid Elemer’s hand that was holding a gun with his cape, and showed the revolutionaries that the Imperial guards were very close by.

Furutod gave the revolutionaries an assuring pat on the shoulders and created an opening for them to escape the guards. The revolutionaries thanked him heartily. Furutod scoffed, reminding the audience once more that Sissi’s life and death was entirely in his hands.

Just like Furukawa explained marvelously before in this interview, Furutod is “an entity that represents both life force and death; death has no meaning to human beings if there is no life, after all. Death’s power ultimately, comes from his authority over the termination of someone’s life.”

Sissi seemed to be very full of herself after she won the popularity of the Hungarian people, but Furutod would not allow her this joy. His Death Angels appear with a small coffin and presented it to her like a gift box. They opened the ‘gift’ and revealed the corpse of baby Sophie to her mother.

Sissi screeches in pain and anger, and Furutod wrapped his arms around her, again with tears streaming down his face.

♪♬ “On the eve of your wedding you danced Your eyes shining with love for me But the arms around you were the Emperor’s Do you remember? Now in my eyes too, my love for you shines But in my arms rests another Elisabeth, quickly acknowledge your love for me And realise that you will lead his Empire into ruins” ♪♬ - Der Tod

Furutod is easily the cruelest interpretation of Der Tod I have seen... and I have seen MANY. (Ack, I forgot to draw this scene... might add it later.)

Ultimatum

Sissi’s produced 3 children by now, but all were taken away by Sophie. Her only son Rudolf was but a young child, but he was being literally being whipped into discipline by Sophie. Whenever the boy would say he wanted to see his mother, Sophie would whip him, and tell him his mother is a bad influence.

Sophie did not like Elisabeth’s success in Hungary, so she had been controlling every aspect at the Austrian court.

Sissi’s had enough, and wrote an ultimatum to her husband, demanding that he needed to choose either her, or his mother. If he did not comply, then her legs door would always be closed to him.

Franz takes the letter, but did not know what to do, and left. Sissi did not seem to have a lot of faith in Franz to be able to stand up against Sophiezilla either, and almost crashes.

Then in her lowest moment, Der Tod appeared and showed her the understanding and compassion she could get nowhere else. He sings in a cooing voice:

♪♬ “Elisabeth... cry no more Rest embraced in my chest Now is the time you can finally be free in the eternal world where time never ends” ♪♬ - Der Tod

He touched her very gently, only ever guiding her with his finger tips, never pulling her. Here he respected her bodily autonomy which her husband would not.

♪♬ “Elisabeth... let us go just the two of us...” ♪♬

Sissi seemed to be falling for the temptation, and Furutod got carried away because for the first time in years, he seemed to be a bit more successful. He forgot to maintain his gentle act, and pushed Sissi down a bit too forcibly. Sissi snapped out of the dream, realising her seducer was not unlike her husband who’s been trying to force himself onto her, and pushed Der Tod away.

♪♬ “No, I will not run! It's still too soon to give up! As long as I am alive I can obtain my freedom Get out! I will never rely on you!” ♪♬  - Elisabeth

“MILK!”

‘Milk’ is such a powerful song...! Yamazaki’s powerful and slightly drunk voice is PERFECT for Lucheni... eternal sadness that 2019 is probably his last time as Lucheni...

Austria was suffering from famine, and the price of milk had sky-rocketed. Lucheni here poses as a milk merchant and sells milk to the starving people. There was barely enough milk left for one small jug however, and the people raged even further.

Lucheni then explains that all the milk is gone because it got into the bathtub of the Empress, who was using food to maintain her beauty.

♪♬ “Can the beauty of the Empress really save a nation!? Instead of looking at other countries Have some eyes for your own!” ♪♬ - Lucheni & Choir

After having successfully fueled the anger of the people, Lucheni then ships cans and cans of milk to the Imperial palace, where Sissi was having her beauty routine.

The Mirror Hall

Franz could not really keep it in his pants anymore, and finally decided to confront his mother. He gathered his courage and approached his wife, to tell her that she will have her authority as the children’s mother back, “so please, please sleep with me again.” Though this is exactly what Sissi wanted to hear, Franz started another train of spineless excuses for how he was toootally not a coward for NOT standing up against his mother, but that he merely had to abide his duty as the Emperor.

Sissi makes another power move. She showed herself in the iconic Empress Elisabeth dress, and presented herself so majestically she manages to shut her husband up. (Sorry, my art here cannot quite represent just HOW majestic she was...)

My sister’s self portrait does cover the reaction it demanded though!

When Franz wanted to get close to her, Sissi stopped Franz with but a mere hand-gesture. Though Sissi presented herself as a very elegant and perfect wife, her words carried a very strict warning that Franz should not mistake her as his property just because she’s happy he showed her basic decency.

♪♬ “I am pleased to hear your words I too wish to walk by your side, Your Majesty However, my life belongs to myself!” ♪♬ - Elisabeth

Franz was not the only one who was impressed, Furutod too had to begrudgingly admit he was one-upped by Sissi. Now that Sissi had determined to live on regardless of the hardships, Der Tod was forced to literally stay in the background, watching Elisabeth reconquering everything that was stripped away from her bit by bit.

♪♬ “Because I've permitted you another chance to live you ended up finding the purpose of life!” ♪♬ - Der Tod

The platform on which Furukawa stood rose up, and he pressed a hand onto his heart, raising his head to the sky.

Herewith, the curtains of the first Act fell (and while applauding, everybody shot up from the seats and bolted for the toilets.)

【Click here for Act 2 】

[chibimyumi]

Art Report – ‘Elisabeth 2019’ TOHO ACT 2

【Click here for Act 1 】

“Kitsch!”

Act 2 commenced, and the audience was greeted by the radiant presence of Yamazaki’s Lucheni. He was dressed as a merchant who sold souvenirs of the Imperial Family in light of the Hungarian coronation. Lucheni held a tray with merchandise, including mugs and plates with Elisabeth’s print on it. The luckiest people sitting at the very front were lucky enough to receive these gifts from Lucheni personally.

Lucheni warned the people that even though Elisabeth’s beauty was enough to literally enchant a nation into submission, one should not be fooled by her looks. Behind her beauty, a true egoist resided.

The Coronation

Lucheni lead us back into the 19th century, and finally the curtains rose. Franz I and Elisabeth were crowned King and Queen of Hungary, and the Hungarian people cheered. The King and Queen were lead on a chariot that gradually turned towards the audience. It weren’t normal horses that pulled the chariot, but Death Angels disguised as horses. The Death dancers’ dance was phenomenal. These Death Angels have always been one of my favourite parts about the Japanese version of ‘Elisabeth’. Sometimes they are minions of Der Tod, sometimes they are the noble guards. Furutod’s Death Angels did not seem sentient to me. The way they moved was so perfectly in sync with everything Furutod did, they felt more like the extension of his limbs, much like Sebas’ black miasma.

The one who held the reigns of the chariot was of course none other than Der Tod himself. Like he foretold Elisabeth in Act 1, her presence would lead Franz’ Empire into ruins. Who would be more suitable to steer the Royal chariot onto the path towards the Underworld than Der Tod himself?

Lord of the Leeeegs

Furutod sat very majestically at the front, and his leeegs just went on forever. According to Death Angel Okazaki Hiroki, once when he was dancing underneath the the chariot and he jumped up just a bit higher than otherwise. But his boss’ legs were too long, so the poor man bumped his head into Furutod’s solid heel. I heard that after that performance, Furukawa changed his pose, and sat with his legs to the side. ( ´艸｀)

“When I wish to Dance”

After the coronation, Elisabeth was full of confidence and declared her victory to Der Tod.

♪♬ E: I won, did I not? T: Victory is mine E: Mine. I made people acknowledge me T: The world shall move according to my whims, as I dictate E: It is for nobody’s sake but my own T: You did so for my sake. But you did indeed outwit your enemy and for now you triumph E: I was once made to dance like a marionette, but now I have paved my own path. Even on my own I shall dance, and only when I wish to, to the music of my choice. When I dance, even at the moment my life ends, I shall dance, before you and beyond your reach. ♪♬

Here, Elisabeth provoked Der Tod, at one point even extending her hand as she walked down the stairs. Der Tod got down on one knee and extended his hand, but Elisabeth retracted her own, and gave him a vindictive smile instead.

This was a very impressive scene, as well as the perfect execution of what Furukawa said in this interview: "As Death, I wish to provoke Elisabeth and give her the energy to live on in their game. I hope I will manage to communicate [on stage] how Death is an entity who gives Elisabeth life energy, except that the controls are ultimately in his hands.”

Indeed, just like Elisabeth’s line “it is for nobody’s sake but my own” and Der Tod’s reply: “you did so for my sake”, we see how these two characters stimulate each other to constantly play up their own games in outwitting the other. Perhaps Elisabeth might have given up before, but if she had, then she would have given Der Tod the satisfaction of having an easy victory. Perhaps she did not really want to live on for her own sake, perhaps she just wanted to prove to Der Tod she was better. If that were true, then Der Tod’s reply would indeed have rang very true.

Elisabeth was confident enough to not fall for Der Tod’s seductions anymore after his previous unsuccessful attempt in Act 1. She boldly swung the tail of her dress and pranced off stage.

Furutod had to reconsider his options now that seducing Sissi was out of the window. Luckily for Der Tod, the new option presented itself on a silver platter.

“Mama, Where are You?”

Enter child Rudolf who had been whipped and beaten into isolation from his mother.

♪♬ “Mama, where are you? Can you hear my voice? I am so cold, please hold me But everyone says that I am nothing but your burden And that I can’t be with you” ♪♬ - Child Rudolf

Rudolf had been pushed towards despair and insanity. His only company was a loaded pistol, and he even sung: “in order to test my courage, yesterday too I killed a cat.”

Der Tod knew that Rudolf would be his ultimate ace card to obtain his current favourite toy, and manifested before the child. Rudolf was startled, and asks: “who is this?” Furutod gave him a gentle smile and took the pistol from his hands, and replied in a soothing voice: “I am your friend.”

Furutod - The Shapeshifter

Furutod’s performance in the scene with child Rudolf was phenomenal to say the least. Though Der Tod had mostly been masculine-coded, once he manifested before Rudolf, he morphed into a willowy and feminine figure.

‘Death’ is understood differently by everyone. In the musical ‘Elisabeth’, Der Tod mostly shows himself in relation to suicidal persons. Suicidal tendency - when roughly translated -  is ‘yearning’ for death. We know explicitly that Rudolf yearned most for his mother, and thus we may understand that Furutod morphing into a motherly figure was him taking shape as the thing that Rudolf yearns for.

Through contrast, we also suddenly understand what Elisabeth had been yearning for. The way Furutod carried himself in front of Elisabeth was masculine and confident. Here we realise what Elisabeth longed for: namely a man who would respect her autonomy. She was very much in love with her husband at the beginning, but Franz’ spinelessness and lack of respect for her autonomy was quite a deal breaker.

On the other hand, ‘death’ is also ‘fear’ to most people. Elisabeth’s fear was to have her autonomy taken away. We did indeed also see how every time Furutod failed, it was because he crossed Elisabeth’s boundaries and scared her.

Please compare the following drawings of Furutod’s body language of when he is with Rudolf (at his most feminine) vs when he is at his most masculine (Dr. Seeburger** Will discuss later.)

Hyper Detailed Acting

Furukawa is famous for his hyper detailed acting, and he obviously paid the same attention for detail to playing Der Tod.

Rudolf rejoiced as he finally found someone, anyone at all, he could talk to, and continued his song at the bottom of the stage, while Furutod remained on the platform. Furutod’s eyes never left the child during the song. He was constantly fidgeting with the pistol, and it was very clear that he was carefully weighing all his options in getting Elisabeth.

Then, a glint appeared in Furutod’s eyes. As dictated by the script, Der Tod would point the pistol at Rudolf. All Der Tods I know of had pointed the mouth of the pistol at the child. Furutod however, aimed with the grip of the pistol instead.

Herewith, Furukawa brilliantly foreshadowed that Der Tod was not going to kill Rudolf, but instead make Rudolf commit suicide by shooting himself in the head.

The Madhouse

The madhouse was a very powerful scene. Elisabeth was a VERY clever woman who studied her history. She knew of her royal consort senpais that the being a woman in public eyes was a very hard job. She knew that queens like Marie Antoinette were hated for spending too much money, while other queens were criticised for not living up to the royal reputation by being too economical.

Elisabeth managed to find a perfect middle ground; she would spend a lot of money like a proper royalty, but she would spend it on education, hospitals, madhouses, and other such beneficial places. “Whaddya gonna say then, huh?”

Elisabeth would likewise pay personal visits to madhouses, showing her care. In the madhouse, she encountered a woman who thought she was the Empress herself; Windisch. Windisch glorified the Empress’ life, but to Elisabeth it was but a very sour parody of her miserable existence.

♪♬ “ If only I were really you The only thing about you that is chained is your body But your soul is free. That’s right, you’re free I have been fighting every war, but what did I win? All I won is solitude I can no longer stand this I feel like I am going mad I could walk on, but where am I headed to, I cannot see I cannot see anything” ♪♬

Madam Wolf and Madeleine

Despite Sissi’s inner torment, on the outside she was more successful than ever, and Sophiezilla hated how her son had become Sissi’s puppet instead of hers.

She blamed Sissi for having enchanted her son with her beauty, and was desperate to do something about it. She and her ministers had an idea. “An eye for an eye, a woman for a woman”. ♪♬

Sophie and her ministers arrange for a secret clandestine meeting between Franz and the most beautiful women of Austria. They invite Madam wolf to bring her girls. The most beautiful sex worker Madeleine - “the most ardent at her work, and carries an ‘occupational disease’“♪♬  - would be the one to enchant Franz instead

Franz was powerless against Madeleine’s charms and eagerness.

Dr. Seeburger

Sissi realised that the power she held was due to her beauty, and that the moment her beauty faded, so would her power. She maintained a spartan exercise- and diet-routine to maintain her small waist to the point of becoming anemic, and fainted.

Enter Dr. Seeburger. It was Der Tod of course (who probably punched the real doctor K.O., stole his clothes and shoved him into the broom closet).

Here Furutod was exceptionally manly; his voice was low and growly, and his movements big and difficult, as though he were an old man. Furutod here was so manly that in comparison, even his earlier masculine-coded behaviour seemed entirely gender neutral. I really, really love how Furutod was gender-fluid in performance. Why would ‘death’ have a gender anyway?

Dr. Seeburger sat down on the bench where Sissi was lying, manspreading his leeeeegs as he undid her corset and ribbon. (It was very creepy, but also sexy... not gonna lie...)

♪♬ T: Let me feel your pulse E: I am fine T: You have a light fever E: It’s normal T: How pale the colour of your face. The symptoms of that disease have started to show ♪♬ - Dr. Seeburger

“It is the French disease”

Sissi sprang up at Dr. Seeburger’s diagnosis, and claims it is impossible because she knew her husband to be many things, but not unfaithful.

♪♬ T: He too is but a mortal man E: He would never betray me T: And yet it is true E: If that is true , then I shall leave this palace! ♪♬  - Elisabeth

“No, I shall take my own life,” Sissi said, and Der Tod smirked and undid his disguise. Furutod didn’t waste another second to shed his ‘old skin’ and jumped onto the bench with swiftness previously unseen. “I have been waiting for this!”

♪♬ T: “Now is the time to welcome you to the the netherworld! Come with me, the one who truly loves you!“ E: No, wait! From now on I will shut my heart from him If he committed any sin, it means that I'll be free! T: Stop pretending, you bear no love for him The one you truly love is no one other than me! E: You're wrong! I will not dance with you yet” ♪♬

Again with renewed determination to live, Sissi successfully kept death at a distance.

Rudolf

Rudolf meanwhile had reached adulthood, but was never able to free himself from the Imperial family’s chains.

Miura Ryosuke’s (Joker) Rudolf was especially broken. Most other Rudolfs I have seen so far still had some battle spirit in them and truly believed they might succeed. Miuradolf however seemed to be convinced that everything would be in vain anyway, and was merely compelled to fight by external circumstances.

Rudolf strongly disagreed with his father’s way of ruling and was convinced that only joining the opposition and establishing a new Danube State would save the Habsburg rule. Franz warned his son that if he dared to become an ‘extremist’, he would take away his right of succession.

Rudolf was desperate, because on the one hand, the extremists (later the Nazis) did indeed have ideas that benefited the economy of Austria, but on the other hand, their extremist ideas were very hard to ignore. Rudolf sank to the floor.

Then, Furutod appeared again, literally helping Rudolf back onto his feet. When he asked Rudolf whether he still remembered him, he showed the pistol he took from him in his childhood before safely tucking it away again, as though saying: “I protected you back then, and now too I’ll protect you from harm.”

♪♬ T: The time of this long slumber has ended Do you still remember? That promise we made when you were just a child that when you need me I'll appear before you R: I would never forget a friend, it's just that I am... so consumed by fear that I am about to break T: I am now beside you! ♪♬

Rudolf was scared shitless and could only back away, but Furutod knelt down and caressed Rudolf when he was about to give up on the rebellion against his father.

♪♬ “Misfortune is drawing near, are you truly fine with looking on? Oh, my future Emperor.” ♪♬

Rudolf liked being addressed as Emperor alright, and quickly he scraped whatever energy he had left to stand up.

The Hungarian Rebellion

Under Rudolf (manipulated by Der Tod) the Hungarian revolution went smoothly. When the revolutionaries finally seemed to be reaching their goal, the Death Angels revealed the Imperial guards arrival at the scene. The Revolutionaries try to flee, but the Death Angels guided them towards the guards one by one. When Rudolf found a window for escape, Furutod spun him at his heel and showed him Elemer who was wounded, causing him to miss his only chance for escape.

Rudolf too was arrested and brought back to his father. His father was utterly disappointed and seemed determined to strip him of his succession right.

“Mama, You and I are like Mirror Reflections”

Rudolf was in despair, but fortunately his mother had just returned home since forever. Rudolf begged his mother to help him change the Emperor’s mind, but Sissi feared for her own skin, and rejected her son.

Most Rudolfs in this scene fell to their knees to beg Sissi ( like Kimura Tatsunari did ⇈ ), singing the song in a genuine plea. Miuradolf however was already beyond hope. He did not kneel, instead he remained standing and his own song seemed to lack any effort. It was like he knew his mother would reject him anyway, so why bother trying?

When Sissi rejected Miuradolf, he merely sighed and looked up. “Mama too abandons me...” in a tone of utter defeat.

Mayerling Incident

Now that Rudolf stopped seeing the point of living, Furutod appeared again.

“You wish to die?”

All Der Tods I have seen so far said the line “you wish to die?” either indifferently, or excitedly. Furutod however, spoke it in the SADDEST and most DISAPPOINTED tone ever! As though he could not believe the ‘ultimate key’ he selected was so spineless. As though he was disappointed that the son of the human he loved for her determination would give up so easily.

Furutod took a deep breath, and suddenly all enthusiasm in his eyes disappeared. The Death Angels appeared and ripped Rudolf’s jacket off. Furutod took out the pistol again, and the Mayerling dance started.

Furutod was mocking Rudolf, abusing his privilege of leeegs and aaaarms to keep the pistol outside Rudolf’s reach. He did so while wearing the most disappointed expression that had ever disgraced Furukawa’s face. It was as though Furutod was hoping that Rudolf would show a tenth of the vigour his mother did, and would try a bit harder to get that damn pistol.

But alas, all Rudolf did was basically begging Der Tod to stop the teasing. Miura’s performance was splendid, I’ve never seen any Rudolf as defeated before on stage. Furutod who suffered from ‘lethal apathy’ however, HATED it.

Der Tod stopped seeing the fun and just handed Miuradolf the pistol. Furutod was beyond cruel; he seemed to have concluded that if Miuradolf wanted to think himself as such a sad puppy, he’d let him. With pity in his eyes he caressed Rudolf’s cheek. When Miuradolf seemed somewhat uplifted to at least have affection from ‘his friend’, Furutod dropped his compassionate act, and made it a bit too clear to Rudolf that he was but ‘a boring nuisance’.

Miuradolf kissed Der Tod, but the latter did not even bother kissing him back.

Other Rudolfs - Kyoumoto and Kimura

I did not see the two other Rudolfs, but I heard that Kyoumoto’s Rudolf managed to anger Furutod so much, he bitchslapped him before kissing him at one point, and did not even bother looking at Rudolf as he blasted his own brains out.

Kimura’s Rudolf was apparently the only one who offered sufficiently much challenge/entertainment, and he was the one Furutod hated least.

Entertaining or not, Furutod still took Kimuradolf’s life as he really was nothing but a means to an end. I heard that as such, Kimuradolf was all the more hurt when his ‘friend’ appeared to have heartlessly used and betrayed him.

Kimuradolf was allegedly the only Rudolf Furutod bothered ‘seeing off’.

Rudolf’s Funeral

Sissi knew that if she had not rejected her son to save her own skin, then he might have been alive. She begged Furutod to take her life, and he seemed very content that he was about to win.

♪♬ “You took my son from me... Do not let me wait for any longer... do not let me suffer... I'll give it to you... take my life...! End my misery!” ♪♬ - Elisabeth

Furutod leaned in to kiss Sissi, but he saw that she merely longed for death only to escape life.

♪♬ “You do not really desire me!” ♪♬ - Der Tod

He was SO angry his face contorted and his hands were shaking! “How DARE you fool MOI!? I am the one to toy with people, NOT the other way around!”

Nightmare

After being a rejected by Sissi, Furutod had been behaving like a total baby. He had started a death orchestra where he plotted the death of one Habsburger after another. Franz found himself in this nightmare, where the Maestro - Furutod - stood on the platform, conducting the deaths of his family.

♪♬ F: Where is my Empress? T: Elisabeth belongs to me F: She is MY wife! Know some shame! T: But the one she desires is me F: I gave her everything I have T: And yet only I can give her the one thing she wants, freedom! F: I need to save my wife! T: But only I can truly save her F: If she had wanted you, she would already have been yours! ♪♬

Furutod was like: “enough. I’ll show you. I can take anything I want, I am mofo DEATH”. Here Furukawa raised his hand and ‘wiped’ his beautiful mask off his face, and revealed the monster underneath. (I fear that my art can’t really express how terrifying and GOOOOOD the symbolism was...)

♪♬ “Lucheni! Quick, come and take it!” ♪♬

Normally it is a bit hard for me to see how Elisabeth would go from rejection, denial and plain defeatism to ‘yes, I’m okay with dying!’. But now because Furutod had decided that the game is over, Elisabeth’s death was just everything abiding the law of nature.

Elisabeth’s Assassination

Furutod had sent Lucheni to assassinate Sissi. Lucheni merely walked up to her, stabbed the dagger he had received from the boss into Sissi’s torso. The historical Sissi’s corset was so tight that she did not even notice she had been stabbed, and walked on as though nothing happened.

In the musical, her assassination also happened quite matter-of-factly, except that this time, it is because Der Tod had decided he was not interested in the game anymore; so there was nothing anybody could do to stop him.

Sissi entered the Underworld again where Der Tod welcomed her.

♪♬ T: The time has come to welcome you to the nether world... E: Please take me with you, to the far away world of the dark to the place where my free soul can be at peace Both: If it is farewell to this sinking world anyway then embark on an eternal journey where time never ends E: I have cried, laughed, been disheartened and I have prayed There had been days where I tasted defeat in my senseless battle Regardless, I have entrusted my life to myself alone T:Regardless, you entrusted your life to me alone ♪♬

Furutod was the perfect prince charming again. Like he did before, he only guided Elisabeth with his finger tips, and gently caressed her hands. He let Elisabeth take the initiative of embracing and kissing him, and he kissed back very romantically.

When Elisabeth died and her body fell limp however, Furutod dropped his prince charming act. He transformed from lover to conqueror.

Furutod took Sissi’s body and rammed her into the grave, pinning her there like a bio-specimen🦋. Oh boy, was he happy.

The moment he had her however, he seemed to have lost interest again. The game was fun for as long as it lasted, but what next?

Never mind, he won, that’s what counted. Furutod turned to the audience, and struck a pose telling us that he is mofo ‘DEATH’. "If you’re interesting enough you might be able to avoid me, for a bit.  But don’t you think you can escape me.”

Then he retracted three fingers of the hand he had raised, and pointed at the audience. I personally could not see it as anything else but: “You’re next.”

“Later, maybe. No? Never.”

Like I said before in the report of Act 1, Furutod is easily the cruelest and the most skin crawling Der Tod I have ever seen.

He is like a little kid who’s spoiled beyond reason. But indeed, he is ‘death’. ‘Death’ is the biggest force of nature nobody can avoid, so it makes sense that Furutod never learned how to deal with rejection.

Concretely, Furutod’s mindset is: “Later, maybe. No? Never”.

The sketch below summarises the entire existence of Furutod and the musical ‘Elisabeth 2019′.

(Doll Marie-Antoinette and Mozart on the ground, as he throws old favourite doll Sissi away.)

[chibimyumi]

Thank you for the Elisabeth review! I was very curious about Furutod. Of course he was majestic as always 🖤

【Referred Elisabeth Art Reports Act 1 and Act 2】

Dear Anon,

No problem! It was a real pleasure to do it too!💖💖💖 I really miss Furutod, and drawing and writing about him was really like reliving the moment again ^^ And I know that there are reallllly realllllly genuine Furukawa fans on Tumblr, so I am especially happy to ‘relive’ the experience with you guys~~!

Thank you for being my audience and allowing me to indulge in my own fanmom-obsessions ^///^

[vro0ms-evil-twin]

ART REPORT

More cool things I saw at the biennale d'arts visuels

CALLING PHILIPPE/PROVE YOUR LOVE - Jenny Rova

Jenny Rova met Philippe in Zurich after his asylum application was rejected. Because he was living there illegally he refused to be photographed but she still decided to screenshot their video calls without his knowledge. After a few months they decided to get married but the authorities suspected a sham marriage. Suddenly, the intimate screenshots became crucial evidence of their love.

Opinion : very impressive and heart-breaking depiction of what it's like to be an asylum seeker in Switzerland and tough questions about the artist breaching her partner's consent in the first place.

THE ADVENTURES OF GUILLE AND BELINDA - Alessandra Sanguinetti

Sanguinetti met cousins Guille and Belinda in 1998 while they were living at their grandmas in Buenos Aires. Fascinated by their personalities, she followed them for 25 years.

Opinion : I was so delighted to see this project for real! It's one of my favorite ever. Their bond is beautiful, and the contrast between their humour and whimsy vs the difficult conditions they live in is fantastic. I'd seen some of the photos online before and I had never realised that Sanguinetti had documented their lives for so long. Seeing them grow up together and support each other still in adulthood was the cherry of the cake. I need to find out if there's photobook asap.

FASHION FAUX PARR - Martin Parr

Martin Parr spent his life documenting British society and doing fashion photography. His photos blur the line between street photography and couture by depicting all subjects through a hyper pop hyper saturated lense with humour.

Opinion : I also need this book asap. It's like a higher society version of Boogie's photography.

MUSHROOM & FRIENDS - Phyllis Ma

Ma became obsessed with mushrooms' beauty after visiting a mushroom farm in brooklyn in 2019. Her projects highlights their importance in many aspects of our lives : food, construction, medicine, fashion, etc.

Opinion : I fucking hate mushrooms so this wasn't for me BUT I loved that it was shown in the basement of an open air theater, I would never have had the opportunity to go down there otherwise, and the bathroom sink mushrooms had these fantastic lights that tickled my brain perfectly right