History Theatre / Rebecca

* AccidentalMurder: [[spoiler:Maxim accidentally killed Rebecca; he got angry and pushed her, and she fell and struck her head.]] In the original novel, [[spoiler:he shot her, very much on purpose. Either way, she taunted him into doing it because she was a DeathSeeker.]]

* TheAllConcealingI: Used in the novel to leave the narrator [[NoNameGiven nameless]], known only as the second Mrs. de Winter. In the musical, she only refers to herself as "Ich" (I), and this is what she's called in the libretto and fandom as well.

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: The second Mrs. de Winter becomes even more passionately in love with Maxim once [[spoiler: he admits that he killed Rebecca. Justified because the second Mrs. de Winter's greatest fear was that Maxim still loved Rebecca. When he confesses to killing her]], it proves that he doesn't and never did. However, the novel repeatedly hints that Maxim is actually rather weak-willed ([[spoiler:as demonstrated by Rebecca's successful SuicideByCop]]).

* ArchEnemy: Mrs. Danvers to 'Maxim' de Winter and the second Mrs. de Winter.
* TheBadGuyWins: Discussed throughout the novel, with the narrator always thinking that Rebecca is conquering from beyond the grave. In the end, [[spoiler: Rebecca loses her power to hurt the new couple, but Mrs. Danvers destroys Manderley and causes the bleak ending described in the prologue right when the couple were happy for the first time]].

* BigFancyHouse: Manderley. The prologue to the novel includes PurpleProse describing it and its grounds. It may be based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Milton_Hall_Cambs.jpg Milton Hall]], which du Maurier visited as a child, or else [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menabilly Menabilly]], Du Maurier's home of twenty-six years.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Manderley is burnt to the ground by Mrs. Danvers, in a sense ensuring Rebecca has one last laugh over Maxim from beyond the grave. But having come clean with each other regarding Rebecca, the framing device suggests that Maxim and the heroine are, if not happy together, then at least content, having overcome Rebecca's shadow and earned something of a happy ending.]]
* BookEnds: The Prologue and Epilogue are both subtitled "Ich hab geträumt von Manderley", and take place in the same dreamscape. Only, in the epilogue, the shadows have faces, as the truth have been revealed to Ich and the audience.

* BuryYourGays: Averted in the book with Mrs. Danvers, and played straight if one subscribes to the musical's heavy suggestion she's a lesbian.
* ByronicHero: Maxim de Winter. A reclusive, introverted aristocrat and handsome widower, prone to broodiness and mood swings, and still seeming in the thrall of his late wife. [[spoiler: And is tormented by the knowledge that he is her murderer, living in fear of being exposed each day, isolated from his friends and family by being one of the only few individuals to have seen past his monstrous wife's facade.]]

* DancesAndBalls: Rebecca and Maxim are regularly entertained at Manderley, and another costume ball is held in the second Mrs. de Winter's honour, at the begging of the neighbours who loved the previous ones. It doesn't go well.

** Mrs. Danvers tries to do this to our heroine after the fiasco at the costume party, telling her how worthless and unlike Rebecca she is. This is foiled when they find the boat where Rebecca's SuicideByCop happened.

* HaHaHaNo: Maxim's reaction before clarifying to Ich that he doesn't want to hire her as a governess; he wants to marry her. Uwe Kröger makes it sound more natural, whereas Jan Ammann went for "Ha ha ha... [beat] No." Mark Seibert neither laughs nor calls her a little fool, but simply says "No.", there's a long beat, then he tells her he wants to marry her.

* HappyMarriageCharade:
** Maxim and Rebecca; they are thought to be a glorious couple even by the house servants, and neighbours for miles around speak of them, but their marriage is anything but.

* IAmSong: "I'm an American Woman" (which, aside from the title line, is entirely in German). Also, "Mrs. de Winter bin ich!" ("Mrs. de Winter Is Me!"), a duet between the heroine and Mrs. Danvers.

* MeaningfulName: Rebecca means "a snare" or "captivating".

* {{Motif}}: The big flourished R of Rebecca's name, as written by the woman herself. In the musical, this is translated to the main poster, which is a flaming R and the shadow of a face.

* NoNameGiven: The second Mrs. de Winter. In earlier drafts of the novel, her name was [[AuthorAvatar Daphne]]. A bit unusual, and, back in the days before ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'', easy to misspell. In TheMusical, she's just known as "Ich" ("I").

* PsychoLesbian: Mrs. Danvers. In the musical, she [[spoiler:dies ''wearing Rebecca's nightgown'', which she has never washed since Rebecca wore it last]].

Adapted by the duo behind ''Theatre/{{Elisabeth}}'' and ''Theatre/{{Mozart}}'', Sylvester Levay and Michael Kunze, it has been highly successfully staged in German (both in Austria and Germany), Korean, Hungarian, Japanese, Swedish, and Finnish. To the English-speaking theatre world, however, it's notorious for the shenanigans surrounding its [[TroubledProduction aborted 2012 Broadway production]], though a production is scheduled for the Off-West End in September 2023. Meanwhile, English demos of some songs, as well as fan lyrics, can be found on the Internet.

Adapted by the duo behind ''Theatre/{{Elisabeth}}'' and ''Theatre/{{Mozart}}'', Sylvester Levay and Michael Kunze, it has been highly successfully staged in German (both in Austria and Germany), Korean, Hungarian, Japanese, Swedish, and Finnish. To the English-speaking theatre world, however, it's best known for a [[TroubledProduction failed Broadway production.]] English demos of some songs, as well as fan lyrics, can be found on the Internet. As of December 2022, another attempt is being made at an English production. It remains to be seen how this goes.

* TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed: Rebecca was revealed to be dying of [[spoiler:a tumor in her ovaries]], which mean that she [[spoiler:couldn't have children]].