According to Vereinigte Bühnen Wien, it has been translated into ten languages and seen by over 12 million spectators in 14 countries, making it the most successful German-language musical of all time.

As his witnesses, Lucheni brings back the dead aristocracy of the bygone era and takes us to the past, where he serves as a sarcastic narrator of the events that lead to the transformation of the sweet and innocent Sisi to the revered and infamous Elisabeth, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, and her decline through later years until her assassination.

At a young age, Sisi, grown up in a seemingly sorrowless environment, experiences her first encounter with Death, which launches a love–hate affair that will span her entire life.

Lucheni claims that once Franz Joseph, the Emperor of Austria, picks Elisabeth as his bride – for once opposing his domineering mother Sophie – he begins a chain of events that will eventually topple the Habsburg Empire.

Eventually, Rudolf's own loneliness and his father's pressure cause him to snap and he embraces Death, committing suicide at Mayerling with his mistress, Mary Vetsera.

As of November 2007[update], at least twenty-five cast and studio albums, demos, and promotional albums/singles, as well as eight commercial DVDs of the show, have been released to the public, including the following.