We begin with the stage depicting a house in the middle of a German forest. The house is a quaint little place, like those you would see in storybooks. However, it's also a bit unnerving, as it and the surrounding foliage create the silhouette of a wolf's face (wolves would be a motif in my staging of the show, invoking the idea of a Big Bad Wolf who punishes wrongful behavior). In front of the house is a well. This well is a constant presence in the show, appearing in every scene, though not always as a well. The well also doubles as a trap door/lift, allowing characters and set pieces to pop in and out of it. In front of the stage is a scrim curtain, which not only creates a somewhat foggy look, but also better allows for projections effects. While there is small pit in front of the stage, the orchestra/band actually performs on-stage for most of the time; some members in the background somewhat hidden by the set, others popping out from backstage as needed. Due to their more visible role, they are give black mourner costumes that subtly invoke forest animal, which are shared by the ensemble when they're not playing a character.
The show starts and the lights go dark. We hear the sound of children playing in the woods when one of them spots something by the well. The stage lights turn back on and we get our first look at our narrator, who has appeared by the well: a frightful being known as "The Will of the Well," who more resembles a wolf than a man. (In the original album, the narrator and this character (who was called "Ido" - which can mean "Id" or "Well") were separate. I combined them to give the narrator more to do.) He is also a constant presence in the show, often appearing in the background. He holds in his hands (more like claws, really) a book titled "Das Märchen des Lichts und Dunkels" (The Fairytale of Light and Darkness), which he begins to read from.
Prologue
While this part is presented as one section, it should be noted that this section consists of three songs (as opposed to the other sections, which focus on one): "The Fairy Tale Of Light And Darkness" (originally mainly a solo for Märchen, here sung by most of the main cast), "Within This Tiny Birdcage" (sung by The Saint as Elisabeth), and "The Reason She Became A Witch" (sung by The Witch as Therese), in that order. In addition, the events describe here are not shown in the same order as in the show, as the songs all tell the same basic story but from different perspectives and touching on different points. As such, these events are summarized here in roughly chronological order for the sake of clarity.
Once upon a time, there was a famed wisewoman named Therese von Ludowing. She would travel from one forest to another, healing the sick and injured and even delivering winter children. Living alongside her was her young son März, who was born with albinism and suffered from blindness. One day, Therese was called to help Elisabeth von Wettin, the daughter of a noble family who had fallen deathly ill. As the girl began to heal, she formed a deep bound with März, who became her first friend. However, the two had to part ways when it came time for Therese to move to another forest. Before he left, März and Elisabeth promised to meet again and Elisabeth gave März a parting gift: a doll that she had made.
Soon afterwards, the two moved into their new home: the house we see onstage. Unbeknownst to them, the well outside their home is the resting place of The Will of the Well. Strange events begin occurring to the two; most noticeably, März's sight was mysterious restored. This caught the attention of two witch hunters from the nearby village, who suspected Therese of witchcraft. The two approached März, who, too innocent to realize their malicious intent, guided them to his home. The hunters then threw März down the well and took Therese to the village, where she was burned at the stake (this is the well repurposed using projection effects). In her dying breaths, Therese, angered by the world that would so callously kill her son, declared that she will become a witch that would curse the world. Some time afterwards, the village was hit by the Black Plague and was wiped out.
Dusk's Song
Years later, The Will of the Well noticed März's spirit still lingered on and, recognizing that he still has unfinished business, gives him a second chance by fusing with him, creating Märchen von Friedhof, a ghost of great power, but with no memory of his past life. (Märchen's costume resembles that of an orchestra conductor, complete with a baton, with a subtle wolf motif.) Alongside him is Elise, the doll that Elisabeth made brought to life by The Will of the Well and fused with Therese's vengeful soul, who suggests that they take revenge on humanity, seeing them as cruel beings. (Elise is realized through puppetry and would ideally be voiced by the same actress as young Elisabeth as an ironic parallel; however, if this proves too difficult to work with, she would instead be voiced by her puppeteer) Märchen ends up agreeing with her and decides to help the Seven Dead Princesses (The Nun, The Poor Girl, The Snow White Princess, The Girl at the Bottom of the Well, The Briar Rose Princess, The First Wife, and The Saint) summoned by The Will of the Well get revenge on those that wronged them in life.
During this song, the house set is dramatically removed, revealing the vast forest set behind it. This song also marks that first time the scrim curtain is pulled backed, indicating we are now in the "present." (Elisabeth's song in the prologue was sung in front of the curtain while the events are acted out behind it, as the song was Elisabeth flashing back to her childhood) After this song, Märchen and Elise spend most of the show in the pit in front of the stage, where Märchen "conducts" the show while Elise watches and reacts to the events unfolding. Most of the following songs follow a similar staging: the scrim curtain is closed and a projection of pages in a book are show turning until stopping on a illustration of the song's Dead Princess's resting place. When the song starts proper, the events leading to the Princess's death are shown behind the curtain. Once we're caught up and it's time for vengeance, the curtain is pulled backed and the Princess has donned a wolf mask to indicate that they have been fully consumed by revenge. The other Dead Princess (well, except maybe one...) join in on the last part of the song. After the song, Märchen and Elise have a brief exchange about the song before moving on to the next song.
The Burnt Witch
First up is The Nun in a story of gluttony. As a young child, the Nun lived a happy life with her mother in the forest. One day, however, her mother ended up abandoning her for unknown reasons, and she was taken in and raised by a Catholic church. When the church is destroyed by Protestant reformation, she takes it as a sign from God and heads back to her childhood home to find out why she was abandoned. Relying on her childhood memory, she finds her way to what she thinks is her old home, only to find a starving old woman (the Witch) who, driven insane by hunger, ends up sacrificing the Nun. Märchen decide that a murder by a mother should be repaid by children and summons a pair of lost twins: Hansel and Gretel. The Nun's ghost leads the two to the old woman's house, where the old woman has turned over a new leaf and, using the fortune of her moneylender husband, turned her house into a bakery to feed lost travelers. This does not satisfy the Nun, however, and she tricks the twins into thinking that the old woman is a witch fattening them up to eat and has them push her into the oven.
The Black Landlady's Inn
A story of greed follows the Poor Girl, who comes from a poor village that can barely afford to feed itself. After a peasants' revolt fails, the village is forced to sell her to a landlady from the countryside, who makes her a waitress at her inn. (The landlady was originally played by a man. I'd prefer to keep that but I open to a woman playing the role.) The inn's business is drying up and the desperate landlady one day decides to use the liver from a dead criminal from the nearby gallows as the main ingredient of the inn's main dish. It ends up being a huge hit and the landlady continues stealing livers from the dead... until she starts running low on corpses. Not wanting business to dry up again, the landlady hangs the Poor Girl to take her liver. Märchen responds by bring the Poor Girl back to life to take the landlady's liver for her own.
The Princess Sleeping In The Glass Coffin
A story of envy should be a familiar story: it's the story of the Snow White Princess, or just Snow White for short. A queen wishes for a daughter with hair black as ebony, lips red as blood, and skin white as snow, and she give birth to such a child, dying shortly afterwards. The king remarries to beautiful but cruel woman (The Witch) who became jealous of Snow White's beauty. Some time later, the new Queen's magic mirror proclaimed that Snow White had surpassed her in beauty, driving her over the edge. She sends a huntsman to kill Snow White, who convinces him to spare her by agreeing to hind in the woods. There, she ends up in the care of seven dwarves. The Queen finds out that Snow White is still alive and tries to kill her multiple times, eventually succeeding by feeding her a poisoned apple. Märchen, seeing that the princess isn't fully dead yet, summons the Blue Prince, a man of "peculiar preferences," who takes the glass coffin Snow White is in. While carrying the coffin away, a bump in the road dislodges the apple piece in Snow White's throat, reviving her. The two soon get married, and Snow White makes sure her stepmother comes... wearing red-hot iron shoes and forced to dance until she dies.
As an aside, this song is the only one with cut lines: during the part Snow White living with the dwarves, there is a random, out-of-nowhere conversation between two random guys about a man named "Idolfried Ehrenberg." He is never mentioned before or after this moment and whatever his involvement with the overall plot is suppose to be is theoretical at best, so this exchange is removed.
The Old Well At The Border Separating Life And Death
A story of sloth features the Girl at the Bottom of the Well. Her father was a sailor who loved her very much until he died under mysterious circumstances involving a well, leaving her at the mercy of her lazy and demanding stepmother (The Witch) and stepsister. Practically an indentured servant in her own household, she nonetheless puts her best in all her work for the sake of her father. One day, while spinning yarn, she accidentally drops the spindle down a well. Her foster family, upon learning of this, scold her and cruelly tell her to jump down the well and get it herself. She does so and ends up drowning. Märchen, noticing that she's still unsure about her revenge, lets her have some fun in the meantime and sends her to the realm of Mother Hulda, who makes snow fall from the winter sky. (The scrim curtain is pulled back at this point, but the Girl doesn't have the mask yet) Hulda asks her to help around her house, which the girl does quite happily. As a reward for her diligence, Hulda showers the Girl with gold before sending her home. The revenge now underway, the Girl tell her foster family about what happened, causing the stepmother to send the stepsister down the well to get more gold. However, the stepsister's laziness only earns her nothing but pitch.
This song is bookended in the concert by dance interludes to the instrumental track "March Of The Black Death." For this show, instead of dividing the track in two, the whole thing done after this song to allow for the forest backdrop to be switch out for an indoor one (as most of the remaining songs take place indoors). In addition, I was thinking that maybe the track could redone to promptly feature a flute, invoking the Pied Piper and the rats that followed him. Also, among the dancers you might see the stepsister, suggesting it might not have been just pitch she was covered in...
The Princess Sleeping In The Rose Tower
A story of pride is another familiar story, featuring the Briar Rose Princess, better know as Sleeping Beauty. At the Princess's birth, all of the kingdom was invited, save for one: the vain sorceress Alte-Rose (The Witch), who, angered at this slight, crashes the festivities and curses the Princess to prick her finger on a spindle and die on her 15th birthday. The good fairy Aprikose counters the curse so the Princess will merely sleep for 100 years before being awaked by a kiss and her parents try their best to hind all spinning wheels from her, but the Princess's curiosity proves her undoing. On the night of her 15th birthday, the Princess finds the only spinning wheel in the castle and, trying to spin, pricks her finger and plunges the castle into a deep sleep, thorny vines blocking it from the outside. Märchen, realizing the 100 years are almost up, summons the Red Prince, who's only different from the Blue Prince by wearing red instead of blue, to awaken Princess. Once awaken, the Princess's first act is to have Alte-Rose banished. Alte-Rose responds by casting one last parting curse: that the Princess would abandon her first born child.
The Blue Count's Castle
A story of tells of Bluebeard and his First Wife. The Wife truly did love him; however, Bluebeard seemingly did not return her affections, treating her coldly. The Wife, driven to sexual frustration, began an affair with another man, only to be found out by Bluebeard, who, enraged, whipped her to death. From that moment on, Bluebeard held a deep distrust for his wives, killing them when they showed the slightest sign of swaying and hiding the bodies in a locked room before moving on to the next one. Märchen, responding to the First Wife desire to "save" her husband from his twisted ways, give her power over Bluebeard's newest bride. The First Wife leads the woman to the locked room, where she finds the remains of the pervious wives. Horrified, the woman flees from the castle with Bluebeard in pursuit. Eventually, the woman's brother is alerted of her plight and kills Bluebeard.
The Crucified Saint
A story of wrath is different from the others. For started, Märchen actually goes on stage for this one, entering a church containing a lone violinist and a statue of Saint Kummernis, which contains the spirit of our last Dead Princess, The Saint. The Saint is then reveled to be Elisabeth who, upon learning of März's untimely death, realized that she loved him and vowed to never marry anyone as long as she lived... much to the ire of her brother, the Prince-Elector. After she refused to go through with a politically adventitious marriage, he ordered that she'd be crucified in a fit of rage. When offered to give her brother his just deserts, however, Elisabeth refuses, casting aside her wolf mask. (At this point, the lighting focuses on Märchen and Elisabeth, as to allow the Will of the Well to "vanish" for the rest of the show.) Elisabeth explains that she has no desire for revenge, as simply being reunited with März is enough for her. At this, Märchen regains his memories from life. Elisabeth then passes on peacefully, having no regrets. Afterwards, Elise realizes that Märchen no longer has any desire for revenge and freaks out before "dying" in a blazing hellfire (for extra parallels with Therese's death, this takes place on top of the well).
Dawn's Song
Märchen, carrying Elise's charred remains to his home in darkness, come to the realization that his time on Earth is almost over and that he'll disappear when the dawn comes. In the end, though, he realizes that he loves Elisabeth, and, since he now has no resentment in his heart and is at piece, he'll be reunited with her. As he reaches his home (the set is restored to the state it was in at the start of the show during the first part of the song), the stage lights up, indicating the coming dawn, and the whole cast, even the Dead Princesses, show up dressed in white. At the song's end, Märchen opens the door to his home and is enveloped in a bright light.
A brief blackout, and we're back where we started: with kids playing in the woods and finding something by the well. This time, we get to see what they found: a restored Elise, now dressed in white, and a book titled "Das Märchen des Lichts und Dunkels."
love that track - what do you think of this? My first Disneyland upload - I'd been wanting this but as far as I know no one else has made this, so... I did
(Don't worry. I did sleep and eat during that time.) Anyways, I sincerely hope you like this.
