Bonnie & Clyde took place over February. It was strictly industry only. Laura Osnes did complete it, and was held at Roundabout. B&C has one truly beautiful song: "I Don't Know the Way," a solo by Bonnie. Who knows is Laura did it justice to Brandi, but who knows if this one will ever get picked up -- I don't have any details on that reading
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Count of Monte Cristo's last workshop/reading was actually in early December I believe...several took place directly following A Tale of Two Cities closing -- and I believe Frank took his connections with Brandi Burkhardt & James Barbour to the cast... Count's word premiere is in Switzerland......so not too sure about a future English production.
The music in 'Rudolf - The Last Kiss' is better in my opinion, and it's onto a second widely successful staging, but I'm just not sure how interesting the story is to people over here (It's about the Austrian Crown Prince of the late-late 1800s.); and it's sort of complex: there's these cute little moments ("The Moment I Saw You") to inspiring (James Barbour has been singing "The Measure of a Man" at his concerts reportedly) to serious ("Can I Say Goodbye?" "I Was Born to Love You," which despite sounding like it was ripped out of his Dracula, the musical, is a marvelous song). Although I question why "It's Only Love" is the Act I finale, I wonder if they tampered with the ending to make it more Act-finale-ish. Brandi Burkhardt was the star of that one -- but Kate Shindle has done some work with it too.
For comparison purposes, "Count" is most like "Jekyll & HYDE" & "Dracula, the musical," which is also similar to "Rudolf" and "The Scarlet Pimpernel," but 'Rudolf' is much more "rock"-infused for certain songs (for the better!). "Bonnie & Clyde" is most like "The Civil War." -- which will make it interesting to see how it's perceived. It's .. an interesting blend of country, gospel, blues, showtune-esque. Seems like there's a lot of interest on the story (even several people in this thread), but I don't know how well the music would appeal to everyone.
RE: "Yeah, what IS up with that?!! Seems to me there is another "blackballing" going on here? His shows might not appeal to some, but they have been very successful otherwise (look at Europe, where they have no "bias"). And his music cannot be put down in any way, because some pieces are spellbinding and evoke the deepest of emotion, so I, again, say, WHAT is up with that?! "
Well the critics wouldn't agree with you on that ... I think the problem all started with all the hype started with "Jekyll & HYDE" with it's Broadway opening: the critics were expecting something much different (and it was drastically changed); then he puts up The Scarlet Pimpernel SP 1.0 which was a snoozefest (although the music/costumes/Douglas Sills (& Andreas) were all wonderful), so bashed again; then they rushed "The Civil War" because they released SP 2.0 couldn't hold out at the Minskoff too much longer. It almost seemed like they planned that one to flop - didn't it go on tour right away? And I think if you see/read any interview he did in 1999, he pushed the envelope a little too far with the "3 SHOWS ON BROADWAY SIM." - even if it was only for a month. Then, since all 3 of those flopped whilst on Broadway, for whatever bizarre reason he downgrades the "Dracula, the musical" Broadway orchestra - which destroyed it (perhaps he did it to recoup faster? I really have 0 clue); listen to the Austrian/German Cast Recording that came out last June - the piece would have been amazing & what the critics called "lifeless" would have been totally different."
Phew......sorry for the long post!
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