Broadway Star Joined: 7/12/22
I find it a bit funny that BWW has a story "Broadway JukeBox: The Best of Frank Wildhorn". He has been trashed for years by the theater critics and quite a few members of this board. I never thought I would see would see a story about him and his music on BWW. Personally, I saw the original J&H and liked it very much. I also saw "Scarlett "Pimpernel" (first version) and it was ok at best. Never saw "Bonnie & Clyde" but definitely liked the cast album. Also, I really liked the songs he wrote for Linda Eder on the album "It's Time".
Jekyll will always be his best work (pre broadway tour years ago and the German version)
Frank Wildhorn shows are my guilty pleasure. Jekyll & Hyde is my favorite of his closely followed by The Scarlet Pimpernel and Bonnie and Clyde.
Jekyll & Hyde is my favorite. Wore the concept album out and saw the pre-Broadway tour. I felt it was a far more superior production than the Broadway production. Cuccioli was out for a good portion of the Denver run and I think it was Rob Evan that we had. He was excellent. Denver got a bonus. They sold the most tickets in Denver so as a thank you, Linda Eder did a free concert at the Auditorium Theater, which I attended, and it was the first time she sang Man of La Mancha for the first time onstage.
Stand-by Joined: 12/9/23
That Death Note concept album from circa-2014 is an absolute guilty pleasure. Adrienne Warren is always a pleasure.
His score to Bonnie & Clyde is very underrated, as is the whole show. I also second the love for the Death Note concept album - I wish it could be produced somewhere stateside.
It's true, his shows haven't had a lot of success on Broadway, although I believe Jekyll & Hyde eventually recouped on tour. Several of his musicals are less than stellar (lookin' at you Wonderland and Dracula) but he's very well produced in Europe and Asia and has earned a couple Tony nominations, so his career is nothing to sneeze at.
Broadway Star Joined: 6/25/20
Bonnie & Cylde is by far his best show and it's because his collaborators encouraged him to spring from the material
Broadway Star Joined: 5/28/13
I really love Bonnie and Clyde. I really like the score for Wonderland even tho I know it has book issues. I also love Before the Summer Ends from Dracula
I enjoy parts of Bonnie and Clyde and Wonderland. I think the man can do something that many people struggle with and is really important - he knows how to find an interesting and novel melody. I just think he needed/needs the right collaborators to channel that for a musical theatre context. Otherwise it feels a bit shallow and not aligned to the characters, moment and story.
Broadway Star Joined: 7/12/22
"I think the man can do something that many people struggle with and is really important - he knows how to find an interesting and novel melody. I just think he needed/needs the right collaborators to channel that for a musical theatre context."
Excellent point and I agree 100%.
I like the songs he wrote with Jack Murphy for Linda Eder's It's No Secret Anymore and It's Time albums much more than anything he ever wrote for the stage. I think he's a song writer, not a musical writer. B&C was the only time he ever even came close to trying to have a musical language across a whole show. Otherwise, his songs could be interchangeably plunked into any of his shows.
The double pre-Broadway cd of "Jekyll & Hyde" is my favorite. Saw the show twice before it opened in NYC - August 1995 in Costa Mesa, and then January 1996 in Palm Springs. Loved it. Then saw J&H in NYC July 1997. So many changes occurred with the Broadway version, and not for the best.
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