FRANKENSTEIN
The Ghost in the Machine
Music: Marian Lux
Book & Lyrics: Kevin Schroeder
Based on the novel by Mary Shelley
Premiered in 2023 at the Luisenburg Festival in Bavaria, Frankenstein is a bold new musical adaptation of Mary Shelley’s iconic novel — a psychological thriller for a world in flux.
In search of the “ghost in the machine,” young Viktor Frankenstein pushes science to its limits, caught between the promises of modern progress and his love for his sister Elisabeth. As he crosses the threshold between life and death, he is forced to confront questions of faith, responsibility, and the fragile boundaries of what it means to be human.
Blending contemporary musical theatre with cinematic electronic soundscapes, the piece explores the monsters we create — and the ones we carry within. Awarded the 2023 German Musical Theater Prize for Best Musical Concept and Score.
In telling the story, Kevin Schroeder — who wrote both the book and lyrics — focuses on the inner lives of the main characters. (…) Beneath the surface story, a psychological dimension emerges that asks whether the true monster might actually reside in all of us. (…) With their Frankenstein, the Luisenburg Festival disproves anyone still insisting that musicals are merely commercial entertainment. Frankenstein is profoundly thoughtful and tackles questions that have preoccupied humanity for centuries.
– musicalzentrale
No. No. Impossible. No — stop!
— VICTOR (The ghost in the machine)
This is madness. Delusion.
To choose your own fate,
To flip the switch —
To life, death, or rebirth?
But the body — yes, exactly —
is nothing but a system of flesh and blood.
Responses. Rules. Errors. Decay.
Replace one part. Discard another.
Cause and consequence.
And none of it — irreversible.
You made us.
— THE OTHERS (Finale)
Made us what we are.
Ghosts, stitched from flesh. Half-formed.
Lost in a world that cannot hold us.
Because you ran.
Ran from the life
you gave us —
and took
before it even began.
Who knows what life could be?
How much more —
if we dared to face it,
instead of turning away,
ashamed
of what could be?
