The musical Rudolf tells the tragic story of Austrian Crown Prince Rudolf and Mary Vetsera, who were found dead in a hunting lodge in Mayerling, near Vienna. The show was previously referred to under the working title of Vienna, and now bears the subtitles The Last Kiss or Affaire Mayerling (The Mayerling Affair). It is loosely based on a book by Frederic Morton, which is available in English as A Nervous Splendor: Vienna 1888-1889 and in German as Ein Letzter Walzer (The Last Waltz). It has been previously published in German under the title of Herbstwaltzer: Chronik um Erzherzog Rudolf.

Performances:

Rudolf - The Last Kiss had its world premiere at the Operett Színház in Budapest, Hungary on 26 May 2006, and its open-air premiere on 28 July 2006 in Szeged, Hungary. The show is a co-production by Vereinigte Bühnen Wien, the Budapest Operetta Theater and the Szeged Open-Air Festival.

Vereinigte Bühnen Wien is presenting the German-language premiere of Rudolf - Affaire Mayerling at the Raimund Theater in Vienna, Austria. The show opened there on 26 February 2009 and runs through 4 July. The show is expected to return on 6 September 2009, with tickets available through 31 December. More information is available on the VBW website (in German and English), and the Rudolf blog (in German, includes numerous videos). Tickets and merchandise are currently available.

The video (below, at right) includes clips from the show and comments from cast members Drew Sarich and Uwe Kröger, and from opening night audience members Christian Kolonovits (composer and conductor) and Olivia Silhavy (stage and screen actress). It is in German, and runs approximately two minutes.

The cast of the show is led by Drew Sarich as Rudolf, Lisa Antoni as Mary Vetsera, Uwe Kröger as Taaffe, Claus Dam as Franz Joseph, Carin Filipcic as Marie Larisch and Wietske von Tongeren as Stephanie. The Ensemble includes Kathleen Bauer (Mitzi), Silke Braas, Sasha DiCapri (Clemenceau), Alexandra Farkic, Niklas-Philipp Gertl, Matilda Hansson, Jan Hutter (Meisner), Leigh Martha Klinger, Dennis Kozeluh (Edward), Adrienn Krékacs, Robert D. Marx (Andrássy), Markus Neugebauer (Wiligut), Tineke Ogink, Martin Pasching (Wilhelm II), Kai Peterson (Szeps), Rory Six (Prince of Braganza), Manuel Stoff (Vogelsang), Niran Straub, Anja von Geldern and Claudia Wauschke. Swings for the production include Liane Maynard-Schmid, Katrin Mersch, Maxi Neuwirth, Max Niemeyer, Fritz Schmid and Marcus Tesch. Photos from the first (press) rehearsal have been posted by Kultur-Channel.

The production is directed by David Leveaux (The Real Thing, Nine, Fiddler on the Roof), with choreography by John O'Connell, music direction by Caspar Richter, orchestrations by Kim Scharnberg, arrangements and music supervision by Koen Schoots, sets by Mike Britton, costumes by Laura Hopkins, lighting by Patrick Woodroffe and Adam Bassett, and sound design by Hendrik Maaßen. The German translation is provided by Julia Sengstshmid (script) and Nina Jäger (lyrics).

The Hungarian production first opened on 26 May 2006, with a series of performances through 3 June. Since then it has played two summers in Szeged and three full seasons in Budapest. Additional performances are possible, and will be posted as they are announced. Further information is available on the Operett Színház Website.

The cast for the Hungarian production was led by Attila Dolhai (Rudolf), Bernadett Vágó (Mary Vetsera), Kata Janza (Countess Larisch), Attila Németh (Franz Joseph), Tamás Földes (Taaffe, the prime minister), Veronika Nádasi (Stephanie, Rudolf's wife) and Zoltán Bereczki (Pfeiffer, the puppeteer). The show was directed by Kero® (Miklós Gábor Kerényi), with musical direction by Koen Schoots and choreography by Michael Reardon, Éva Duda, Jenõ Lõcsei and László Rogács. The musical arrangements were by Kim Scharnberg and Koen Schoots, the conductors were László Makláry, István Silló, and the chorus director was László Kéringer. The set design was by Csörsz Khell, with costume design by Rita Velich, lighting design by Péter Somfai and puppets by Lucia Õsz. The script translation was by Gergely Zöldi, with lyric translations by Gergely Zöldi, Szilárd Somogyi and Miklós Gábor Kerényi. The show was performed in Hungarian, with English subtitles.

Photos have been posted on this site from opening night and from the reading in NYC. Further details, including news, complete cast and creative team lists, photo galleries and more, are available on the Operett Színház Website (site in Hungarian). Information and photos from the Szeged performances can be found on the Szeged Open-Air Festival Website.

Rudolf - The Last Kiss had its Japanese Premiere, presented by Toho Musical & Play in Tokyo from 6 May through 1 June 2008. The cast for this production included Yoshio Inoue as Rudolf, Rena Sasamoto as Mary Vetsera, Rina Chinen as Princess Stephanie, Tatsuki Kohju as Countess Larisch, Haruhiko Jo as Franz Joseph, Kenji Urai as Johann Pfeiffer, Hiroshi Hatanaka as Szeps, Yuji Kishi as Kaiser Wilhelm, Shinya Niro as Edward (Prince of Wales) and Kojiro Oka as Taaffe. The staging was directed by Amon Miyamoto. Production photos have been added to the Project Photo Gallery.

Recordings and More:

A cast recording from the Viennese production, and a karaoke/sing-along CD have just been released. The cast recording spent seven weeks on the Austrian Top Albums chart, debuting at number 17. Information on these and other recordings can now be found on the Rudolf music page.

Song lists for the Hungarian and Viennese productions are available on this site.

Sounds clips from the show, as well as a video highlight from the Hungarian stage production, are available at Jack Murphy's website.