Dracula Expected at New Off-B'way Venue in Fall - broadway.com

[Rob]

Posted: 1/19/04 at 3:07pm

https://www.broadwayworld.com/l.cfm?id=18893 I recall this question coming up a number of times. Looks like it's got some off broadway chances...

[Phantom05]

Posted: 1/19/04 at 4:34pm

I was kind of hopeing for it to be housed in a Broadway theater, but who knows, it may work well in more of an intimate setting. Whatever happens, I can't wait for it to open! The music is amazing...What would be really amazing is if they could somehow get the original La Jolla cast to reprise their original roles!

See Ya Later!

Phantom05

Updated On: 1/19/04 at 04:34 PM

[BrdwyThtr]

Posted: 1/19/04 at 4:42pm

Great! I'm glad to see it's finally getting more of a life in NYC. Now, they NEED to get Tom Hewitt as Dracula.

[Phantom05]

Posted: 1/19/04 at 4:45pm

I agree....Tom Hewitt was an AMAZING Dracula...And they need him, hahaha!!!

Phantom05

[catcher]

Posted: 1/19/04 at 11:57pm

And here I thought he couldn't sing the role at all.

I have to say, in more general terms, I am shocked at this decision. Why is this a good move?

[MusicalComedyMan]

Posted: 1/20/04 at 12:07pm

OK... lets be real here... NOT ONE of his musicals have money. Not one!!! He writes pretty much the same score for every show and EVERY "LINDA" Pop ballad has the SAME chord progressions!!!! HAVN'T WE BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH IN NY!!! TWO MORE FRANK WILDHORN FLOPS??? PLEASE SOMEONE STOP THE INSANITY!!!!! (unless David Hasselhoff will star in them cause that will be better then Dance of the Vampires!!!)

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/20/04 at 1:44pm

I hope htey work on the score. What I heard was not very interesting at all. Same with Camille Claudel. I did like Pimpernel, though. He went through a period of writing some really lovely songs, but his new stuff is really ho-hum.

[markthomas]

Posted: 1/20/04 at 4:49pm

Is Jenn Morse gonna be in this one ?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/20/04 at 5:56pm

Believe J/H should have turned a profit with all the various stagings ( domestic & foreign) . His works do not make money as critics scare the audiences away . He is talented & it is a shame he is the critics punching bag, taking over from ALW

[Phantom05]

Posted: 1/20/04 at 6:52pm

When was Andrew Lloyd Webber ever a punching bag...Well to most of this board maybe, hahaha?!?!? Most of his shows are majorly successful!

Phantom05

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/20/04 at 8:25pm

I meant a critical punching bag - who laughed all the way to the bank

[MusicalComedyMan]

Posted: 1/20/04 at 8:32pm

Well ALW gave people HUGE musicals. He had one of the best producers in the business that hired an incredible creative team that made ALW's shows specacular to watch. Wildhorn's shows have NO vision. They go through NUMEROUS creative teams and many different concepts. And get to Broadway or keep coming back to Broadway (Scarlet Pimple) with no clear line and no clear creative direction.

[PB ENT.]

Posted: 1/20/04 at 8:41pm

Roxy~ I know you have a special place for Wildhorn's work...To a point I do too!I have a special place in my heart for a lot of the people he works/worked with. I applaud a guy who keeps going to bat despite striking out. I certaintly don't mean that all his shows are/were poor or failures. J&H,SP & Civil War are being staged pretty consistantly. For whatever reasons they are popular and fun to mount.

But I think it's short sighted to blame the critics for Wildhorn's lot with his shows. He writes some very nice songs, he just can't seem to pull all the ingredients together to make them fly well in a musical that is universally well liked...or at least in NY! Sorta like baking a cake with a missing ingredient. There just missing something.

I think his Dracula move is a risk that only time will tell how it is received. He's got guts, this much I'll say. I wish him well. No one deserves to succeed more than Frank! That's my thoughts on that.

[Phantom05]

Posted: 1/20/04 at 9:55pm

I agree...Wildhorn just seems to occasionally fall short with certain aspects of his shows, but he is a wonderful composer, and very determined to succeed! I have heard the demos for Dracula and they sound very promising! From what people have said, Dracula has gone through some major revisions and changes. I am personally very excited about it coming to NYC, and am hopeing for the absolute best!

See Ya!

Phantom05

[Peter]

Posted: 1/20/04 at 11:31pm

I agree with you PB to a certain extent. Most of his shows are missing something, but most musicals I see are missing something. And the composers of these less than stellar shows are hardly ever dumped on like Wildhorn is.

In my opinion, Wildhorn is always burdened with the entire blame for his shows failures, and this stems from the critics and a group of theatre snobs who would rather jump off a bridge than see a Wildhorn show back on broadway. I clearly recall the entire blame for Dracula's failure in La Jolla being attributed to him in the first line of the San Diego Union review. Most people probably dont remember the directors for J&H or Civil War, or the book writers or lyricists, but they should equally share the blame for those shows. I do believe that all the elements finally did fall into place with the Bobby Longbottom directed version of SP...and certainly also with Camille Claudel this past summer. So in my opinion, his shows are certainly capable of being quite enjoyable. He just has to find the right team and critics need to become a little more openminded. Camille Claudel, btw, was more chamber opera than pop opera, very elegant and theatrical with songs that defined character and advanced plot.

[MusicalComedyMan]

Posted: 1/20/04 at 11:43pm

Well one of the big reasons to blame him (certainly for J&H and Camille Claudel) is the fact that his WIFE is starring in them! IF you want to know who to blame its the producers that are putting together these creative teams. ONE show shouldn't need 2-3 directors. BUT when every show Wilhorn writes has CONSTANT creative team changes, he does seem to be the visiable common demoninator.

[Peter]

Posted: 1/21/04 at 2:03am

Your logic Musicalcomedyman evades me. Do you really believe that a big reason why J&H was bad was that he hired his wife to star in it? Would it have succeded with another actress in that role? I really really doubt it. In fact, the original cast was one of the only things I thought was good about it. There were much bigger problems in J&H, than the acting in it. And maybe she didn't win everyone over in J&H, but she did an excellent job in CC in my opinion.

I've always surmised that a lot of the negativity surrounding Eder has to do with her association with Frank, and her ability to land a broadway role without going through all the turmoil that most other broadway actors have to. This combined with the fact that shes done only one broadway show and has hardly had the opportunity to prove herself, but even still gets strongly ridiculed by a few.. leads me to suspect that jealousy is rearing its ugly head.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/21/04 at 10:07am

Why J&H was so drastically altered after the first proscenium staging in Houston and Seattle is beyond me. The show was really amazing at that time and was almost identical to the 2-CD recording with Anthony Warlow. The sets and staging were visually stunning and the show deserved the hype that it had. By the time it reached Broadway, the hype for both the show and Eder had reached such huge proportions, it couldn't fail. But the Broadway production was a cheap horrendous mess compared to what it used to be. I literally laughed my way through it. I felt so bad for all the fans that never got to witness J&H as it once was.

I thought Pimpernel was his best in terms of incorporating book and score. The songs were more suited to the characters and still kept a bit of flavor for the period and locale while keeping his pop-style ballads for which he is famous. It was quite entertaining, but like J&H, was reduced to an inferior production from its original (though to a lesser degree).

I never caught Civil War on Broadway, but I left the premiere in Houston during intermission. It was one of the most bizarre and horrible experiences I've ever witnessed in a musical. The set consisted of huge broken columns that resembled more the fal of Rome than the burning of Atlanta. There were three small sets of risers for the actors to occasionally stand on for no apparent reason other than to look like a school choir concert. The colorful computerized lighting remided me of all the B-52's concerts I had attended. The costumes were a parade of 80s fashion including red snakeskin pants and lacy shoulder-padded dresses with boots. Nothing in it really resembled the Civil War at all except an occasional lyric and slide projections that were difficult to decipher as they panned across the set. When the first act ended with the slaves clapping their hands in a pop-gospel revival (trying in vain to get the audience to clap along), I thought, "I don't think they were actually this happy during the War". The audience didn't seem to please, either as no one joined in their "celebration". We were among many who rushed to their cars. I honestly don't know what they were thinking.

[MusicalComedyMan]

Posted: 1/21/04 at 10:57am

Well not to beat this to death, but Linda (and Cucciolli) were certainly a problem in the Bway production. SHE has NO presence on stage - NONE. Every time she sings, set fly away every walks off stage and she stands dead center and doesn't move. Yes I believe that she was in the show because her husband wrote the score. NO i don't believe she belongs on a Bway stage. I don't think anyone else would hire her (which is why she has only done one show on BWAY) Were there other problems with the show. ABSOLUTELY. But when ur leads are not capable of creating characters that are believeable and compelling then your show is going to fail. (Christiane Noll however was brilliant) and i'm sorry if I spelt names wrong!!!

[MusicalComedyMan]

Posted: 1/21/04 at 10:57am

Well not to beat this to death, but Linda (and Cucciolli) were certainly a problem in the Bway production. SHE has NO presence on stage - NONE. Every time she sings, set fly away every walks off stage and she stands dead center and doesn't move. Yes I believe that she was in the show because her husband wrote the score. NO i don't believe she belongs on a Bway stage. I don't think anyone else would hire her (which is why she has only done one show on BWAY) Were there other problems with the show. ABSOLUTELY. But when ur leads are not capable of creating characters that are believeable and compelling then your show is going to fail. (Christiane Noll however was brilliant) and i'm sorry if I spelt names wrong!!!

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/21/04 at 12:59pm

I agree that Linda's acting left much to be desired, but when she sang, I thought she performed brilliantly. I really like Cuccioli in the show. I thought he gave a good performance. Especially after having been through three totally different incarnations of the show. The script is pretty weak, so there was no a lot for them to work with in creating characters other than now-I'm-good now-I'm-bad with a toss of the ponytail and filtered mics.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/21/04 at 1:06pm

This reminds me of a funny story. My friends were in rehearsal for a production of J&H and I was brought in as a consultant. The woman playing Lucy was doing the scene where she reads Jekyll's business card. A friend of mine watching for the first time turned to me and said, "I don't get it. Why does she tell us she loves dogs?"

Of course, she was reading the last part of the address, "Isle of Dogs", without properly enunciating. My laughter stopped the rehearsal. It took a while before I could watch that scene with a straight face again.

[PB ENT.]

Posted: 1/21/04 at 2:33pm

I will try to be a tactful and resonable on this subject...lord knows there are a few voodo dolls with my face on them on this whole J&H, Eder/Wildhorn thingee...especially on certain "fan" sites....

It is totally unfair and untrue to say that Eder & Cuccioli did NOT do a great job with what they had to work with. Cuccioli was up for a Tony for Pete's sake! And let me tell you, if you were in that J&H audience, as Linda Eder was being "discovered", you would have seen, heard and felt the excitment they felt over her!
Noll & Eder's "In His Eyes" is hands down one of the best live duets out there, in my opinion.

That OBC (Cuccioli, Noll, Eder) made a campy, mediocre show fly. This was surely a case where people came to see the cast and got caught up in a campy, culty show.

And it also held its own when the incredible Rob Evan took over the lead! NO ONE poured his heart into that role better than Rob! J/H is a killer role to endure and both Cuccioli & Evan played it for 2,3+ years!!! It was a pity they had to resort to what I call the "Jekyll-Go-Round" with, Wagner (Jack), Bach, Hasselhoff (who did not kill the show,it was dying already, he just didn't save it ). ::feeling the pins in my side::.

While I agree that Linda Eder still needs to develop better stage presence and work on her acting skills :: sharp stab in my back:: and thank god, she is getting a sense of fashion :: duobles over with tummy cramps:: ... this gal is beautiful to see and hear, a mega songstress and sells out many of her concerts. Frank or not...you cannot argue with sell outs. For now, her concerting is her "strongest suit" and her husband write the songs. Take it or leave it...she'll be around.

[Peter]

Posted: 1/21/04 at 3:04pm

Musicalcomedyman...I've seen many broadway performances where the leads had marginal acting AND singing ability and I don't see them the subject of your endless rants. Perhaps your exposure to broadway shows is limited. Eder was able to stop the show with standing o's, so I gather some people believe she can sing at least. I just dont think J&H is a good showcase for any of the actors.

From what I've read, she isn't that driven, so she records only new music by her husband and appears only in his shows. She studied with an acting coach for CC..and I believe it showed in her performance. Your ridiculous statement that noone will hire her, as well as your irrational, relentless anger directed at her, in this and other posts ..is only added proof of my theory that she faces an unfair amount of criticism because of her relationship with Frank and her ability to land roles because of him. Why else would someone be so filled with anger over a relatively minor role years ago?

MisterMatt..I agree with much of what you say. I also saw the touring version of J&H and thought it was better than what they brought to broadway, though it still needed work I thought. I hated Civil War..but liked much of the music.

But then again, I thought Thoroughly Modern Millie in La Jolla was much better than what landed on broadway...as well as Jane Eyre. The revised Martin Guerre brought to LA was a bonifide disaster..Taboo is said by many to have lost something in its voyage overseas, Bounce never was able to work out its problems...the list is endless. Musicals are the toughest art form for ANYONE to get right.