The complete album with Anthony Warlow (Where the song comes from) is 500% better than the bway recording, which is good too. My favorite songs are any that Lucy sings because she is my fav. character in the show and "Confrontation," especially on the COMPLETE recording because Warlow sounds like two completely different men and makes is unbelivably creepy. It is one of my favorite cds.
Also, "In His Eyes" is one of the best bway love songs of ALL TIME!!!!
"They're eating her and then they're going to eat me. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!" -Troll 2
I have never read the book (BAD SPIDER, I know) but it adds a lot more to the story, especially Lucy's side. Also it adds more to the Jekyll-Emma/Lisa (both recordings have different names for this character)relationship. In my opinion, the story, voices, and instrumentals are a lot better on the complete recording. They really should have done the show based on that recording, instead of cutting it up like they did.
"They're eating her and then they're going to eat me. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!" -Troll 2
Yes, the complete recording is very close to the book. Utterson has a much bigger role in the actual story. Its interesting, the book sort of starts in the middle, and then at the end, Utterson finds his lab journal with all his recountings of the project, after he's already dead. So the whole bit about the wedding doesn't happen in the book, if I remember correctly.
It's so odd... all of the material that was cut from the 1994 Concept version for the Broadway version is STRIDES beyond what was left to be included in the show. "I Need To Know", "Bring on the Men" (which is 1,000,000 times better than the "dammit-we-get-the-point-of-the-show-already" train wreck "Good & Evil"), "The Girls of the Night", and "The World Has Gone Insane" are some of my favorite songs in the show.
Plus, as it has been stated before, Anthony Warlow may be the best male vocalist of all time.
"Jekyll & Hyde" is definitely my favorite Wildhorn piece... Unlike his other stuff, the material has TONS of potential, but no one has yet to stage it properly.
"Goodness is rewarded. Hope is guaranteed. Laughter builds strong bones. Right will intercede. Things you've said I often find I need, indeed. I see the world through your eyes. What's black and white is colorized. The knowledge you most dearly prized I'm eager to employ. You said that life has infinite joys."
magic8ball - I agree with mostly everything you said, but I still think GOOD 'N EVIL is better lyrically and especially musically than BRING ON THE MEN. BOTM just sounds so amateurish to me, while G&E seems more professional.
I was a fan of J&H when it originally premiered and absolutely LOVED the show that resembled the 2 CD recording, but I hated what ended up on Broadway. Bring on the Men was FAR superior both in staging and writing to Good and Evil (which was originally the 2nd act opening sung by the owner of the pub). The music to Good and Evil just wasn't vibrant enough to justify as a flashy cabaret number and worked far better as incidental recitative music. The lyrics were redundant to the plot as we have already been given all the information that is in the song by Dr. Jekyll in the Board of Governor's scene and also as social commentary in Facade. There was no reason to hear it all over again especially when accompanied by Linda in a faux Napolean outfit and spandex-clad devil boys. It was absurd and meaningless.
Bring on the Men is EXACTLY what you would expect to see and hear from those characters in that setting. They are prostitutes performing a burlesque cabaret number in a seedy pub. It's SUPPOSED to sound amateurish! Put the song in context of the show and you'll realize it makes much more sense than Good and Evil. It was fun and exciting and belty and had the audience cheering in the first two productions of J&H. The third production staged it with rather unusual Mardis Gras-esque constumes that made no sense in the setting and it was clear that the show was starting on its downward spiral to what became the Broadway production.
Bitch Bitch Bitch was a cute song, but unecessary and a little too cute for the tone of the show. I think it would have worked better in The Scarlet Pimpernel. From what I remember, The World Has Gone Insane was recorded but never actually appeared in the show. It may have been in the first production, but I can't remember at the moment. I'd have to look it up.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
I agree that G'n'E is kind of beating the idea of the show down...but I like it...I love Façade - it reminds me of The ballad(s) of Sweeney Todd...
I just got the OBC...
I plan on getting the Cpmplete concept with Anthony - I'm actually likeing the music a lot...maybe more than Dracula...I think I'll have to get the DVD so I can see the actual staging, etc.
After hearing it though, I think that Dracula could also have so much potential if some melodies and lyrics were changed and the book was altered.
I realized a lot of the lyrics and a lot of the score of J&H is also in Dracula "endless night" - then "touch the light" to the same tune as "I'd give all my yesterdays to touch the light" in Dracula)...
I see that Dracula has A LOT more potential now. Frank did say Dracula didn't turn out how he wanted. I think he needs to rework it. Unfortunately, it has been killed for Broadway and its only chance would be to have AMAZING reviews. Frank will never receive such reviews, sadly...
Bitch, bitch, bitch does seem very out of place. But it is a nice break from the slow, somber music and a pretty funny song. It is like a very good version of "The Modern World" (Dracula) because it sets the mood of the scene and the upper class.
i need to know is one of my all time favorite songs to sing. I fully prefer the concept cast to the b'way version, especially the original version of facade
"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel