The Questions Were Asked - Reprise
“We’re setting sail!”
The ship’s horn blared, and the call to depart echoed across the water. Elisabeth gripped the deck railing tight, dizziness washing over her.
Something’s wrong. Why does my chest feel so tight?
She figured it was that man who’d bumped into her at the dock earlier—just a punch to the chest. But what was this damp, burning sensation from inside her corset?
“Your Majesty, are you all right? You look terribly pale.”
Irma’s voice, her maid’s, rumbled like it was coming from underwater. Elisabeth tried to shake her head, but her vision twisted like the world was spinning.
The ship’s engine throbbed like a dull drumbeat. Thump, thump, thump.
The faces of the passengers on deck blurred and smeared. Familiar faces.
Mother.
A familiar voice emerged from the black smoke. Elisabeth’s eyes trembled.
There stood Rudolf, her son who’d taken his own life in Mayerling ten years ago. In his bloodstained uniform, staring at her with empty eyes.
Why did you abandon me? When the empire fell, where were you?
“Rudolf…?”
You wanted freedom.
This time, a stern voice came from the opposite side. It was her mother-in-law, Sophie Archduchess. Behind her flickered the ghosts of her firstborn daughter Sophie, who’d died young, and Maximilian, shot in Mexico.
That freedom’s price is this. All that’s left in the place you fled is the ruins of the Habsburgs.
“No… I…”
Elisabeth staggered back, but her feet felt glued to the deck. Every breath crushed her heart under the corset’s vise.
The pain sharpened, but her mind drifted into haze. Waves of questions from her life crashed over her.
— As empress, what have you done?
— As wife, what have you protected?
— As mother, what have you left behind?
The questions were hurled at her. But she had no strength to answer, no time for excuses.
“Your Majesty! Blood! There’s blood!”
Irma’s scream tore through the hallucinations. Only then did Elisabeth look down at her chest. A rose-red bloodstain spread uncontrollably over her black mourning dress.
Her legs gave out, and she collapsed slowly onto the deck.
The moment her cheek touched the cold wood, she knew it was the end of her life.
Ah.
It’s over. This endless duty, the guilt, the weight of the crown.
The ship’s horn wailed long once more. The world’s final question to her faded into blackness. The life of the Habsburg empress, Elisabeth, closed forever without answers.
And then.
“Hey, what’re you doing just standing there?”
“…Huh?”
I looked up blankly. No Lake Geneva, no blood-soaked deck. Instead, blinding stage lights and the bustling chaos of the dressing room greeted me.
“You weren’t like this at rehearsal, but now before the real show, you’re nervous? Zoning out.”
Oh right. Gender-free script reading. In musicals, gender-free means swapping genders freely—like a woman playing Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar.
“Oh, Rudolf, Elisabeth suits you too.”
“You happy stealing my role?”
I’d always done just Rudolf before…
“You need to break out of Rudolf. Aren’t you Rudolf in The Last Kiss too?”
What? I’d done Lola plenty in Kinky Boots.
“I’m her love interest too, sunbae.”
“I’m Joseph today? We’re fated, huh?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Someone might think we’re having an affair.”
In came Siu sunbae, Minhwa’s husband and today’s Sophie Archduchess.
“You and Minhwa dating would be adultery? Nah, cousins are the issue.”
Can’t argue with that…
“More countries allow cousin marriage, you know? Joseph and Elisabeth were cousins.”
“This is Korea.”
Okay, joke’s over. I flipped through the script and asked Minhwa noona.
“Noona, this emotional arc doesn’t click for me. Why does Elisabeth take her daughter to Hungary?”
“It’s tricky, but it’s like a mother’s desperate struggle to bring her daughter along… It’s key for showing why Rudolf feels ignored by her, so nail the emotions.”
How do I show emotions I don’t get? One of Rudolf’s numbers is staring in a mirror, singing about craving his mother’s love.
“If you had a kid, you might feel paternal love.”
True, noona got deeper after childbirth—everyone praised it.
But.
“I need to understand Elisabeth’s feelings right now?”
Kids don’t just pop out.
“You love your niece, right? Imagine Siu’s parents forcibly taking her away.”
Hmm. Niece.
“Uncle, make ramen again!”
Nieces are pure fun, no responsibility.
“Wouldn’t care if they took her?”
I’ve done love scenes in Dracula, but that’s not parental love. Noona stared at me, deflated.
“…How do you even play Lola?”
“I’ve never done method acting.”
It’s just what the script says. The scene paints itself.
“Lola’s a drag queen, not a woman anyway.”
“Then call your aunt?”
“Mom?”
Noona nodded. “She’s Austrian. Famous as the last empress.”
Well… technically Zita was the last. But I wasn’t socially inept enough to nitpick.
“Already did. She cut contact to visit the Mozart museum.”
Why would an Austrian go there? Like a Busanite vacationing in Haeundae.
“Always playing Rudolf, you’ve become him for real.”
I liked it, actually. Parents away? Late-night gaming, midnight snacks.
“My personality’s more like Elisabeth’s, no?”
Noona pondered, then nodded. “Thirst for freedom, resentment of authority, looks-obsessed, cynical.”
“That’s how you see me? And when was I looks-obsessed or cynical? I followed school rules, so no authority issues.”
“What? As a kid, you ran to your aunt saying you hated Grandpa for being ugly.”
…Me?
“Even for an actor, few guys doll up like you.”
Siu sunbae chimed in agreement.
“Looks are specs these days.”
“That’s cynical.”
“Siu sunbae, you think I’m cynical too? You know how warm-hearted I am.”
“Do I?”
Whoa, don’t agree?
“Noona, last week actually—”
“Hahaha… yeah, warm-hearted guy.”
Our male solidarity nearly cracked.
“What? Fishing again last week?”
“No, no.”
They bickered, then turned back. “Wiki it?”
“Basics. Researched English, German, Hungarian too.”
“You probably just ran it through a translator.”
Yeah. Similar, nothing major.
A staff voice from outside: “Show starts!”
They said, “Let’s go.”
Different from Rudolf: As lead, I’m onstage almost constantly. Makes sense, it’s Elisabeth.
Prologue began; I watched from wings. Assassin Lucheni, imprisoned 100 years for killing Empress Elisabeth, defends why. Did she want death?
In the show, she wavers between death and Joseph, chooses death. Did real Elisabeth want it? Wouldn’t she have chosen like Rudolf?
Prologue’s from everyone but her. Lucheni claims she craved death lifelong; he just fulfilled her wish. Death loved her, she longed for it. Joseph defends loving her. Rudolf resents unloving mother. Empire’s ghosts say she scorned duty, selfish, cold, risked empire with Great Compromise.
“Ready?”
I stepped onstage, shouted my line. Just one.
“I’m mine!”
Audience vibe’s different today. That’s why we do gender-free sometimes. Rare full cast like this promo.
Blackout; I quick-changed.
“Didn’t know it’d be this hectic.”
Staff laughed.
“You’ve worn dresses before?”
“I’m Lola. First real gown like this.”
Musical rolled on. To father Maximilian, Elisabeth sings wanting gypsy freedom; he chides her it’s better than sister Nene. Next, at family gathering, she tightrope-falls, locks eyes with Death first time.
Lead’s always busy. Scene to Bad Ischl; Joseph gives necklace, I act childish, “Too heavy.”
“Crown, quick.”
Crowned, up with noona. Next: All Questions Were Asked, She Doesn’t Belong Here, Last Dance. No lines or song for Elisabeth—just pure acting, childish amid crow-like Death angels, spinning to his gesture… end! But to show choosing Joseph over Death, I sidled to him.
Yeah, she chose life, not death.
“…April 24, 1854. I hereby pronounce you united.”
Was that line scripted? I looked front—no familiar actor, a priest stood there.
“…What?”
Who’re you, holding my hand? Where’s noona, why this guy…
“Sissi?”
Yeah, that’s my role. I scanned around, grasping the situation.
What? This? Audience gone? Vision: cathedral space, strange man holding my hand, Westerners in old uniforms and fairy-tale dresses staring.
Brain overload? Vision blurred, world tilted.
“The Empress has fainted!”