I AM MY OWN INVENTION: The Wonderland "Good for You" Thread

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 3/23/11 at 7:17pm

otay, saw it last night. WOW. Has Rupert and Ellis made some HUGE changes...and all for the better. Now a story that makes sense, now lyrics tweaked to fit the pastiche score into the narrative, now the principals FACE EACH OTHER as they act in scenes...gone is awkward "SUNDAY IN THE PARK" book launch of modern characters as frames, now Karen Mason's dual characters make sense, now the connection of the "lost" Alice to her childhood self and her real child work....

Funny lines, good topical references, i'm sure it will get even better as they tweak. Proof POSITIVE the right show docs can turn it around, even in eight days or whatever they had in studio. Design still great, projections great, fine costuming, i love the orchestrations, and the cast continues to sing its collective face off. Kate Shindle MAJOR improvement in that rewritten role, only her connection to Alice's "selves" not quite clear or resolved well yet, but when she is LOOKING like that, and SINGING like that (i swear she belts to like a G), and ACTING so well we can wait until they finish her arc better before opening. Rupert i think is the real hero here, but hard to tell with no direct crediting listed as of yet. Can they really be "just ghosting" it?

Darren Ritchie remains strong-voiced and a great actor, and all support roles truly shining now....

TAKE A TRIP DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE AND SEE FOR YOURSELF. i predict you'll lose your heart before your head...

[Kad]

Posted: 3/23/11 at 7:29pm

This is ironic, right?

[kyle4]

Posted: 3/23/11 at 7:36pm

i liked it too... not perfect... but kinda ADORABLE...

http://thetheaterbuff.typepad.com/the-theater-buff/2011/03/wonderland-first-preview-thoughts.html

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 3/23/11 at 7:37pm

yes, though i'm not a hater of all things Wildhorn or Holmes like in the preview thread. In fact, i have heard so much about BONNIE & CLYDE and liked the F Scott/Zelda score so much under various titles, i can't wait to see those staged even if just workshops. And i like Holmes writing in general, particularly DROOD, REMEMBER WENN, and the excellent mystery novels like WHERE THE TRUTH LIES and the jazz one with its own CD.

i may be damning the fixes with faint praise, but in a season wher Spidey spent a ton more money and then hired the wrong show docs (well, jury out on the graphic novelist/playwright) this one seems to be "most improved" on the Little League team. i just know Spidey wasted a GREAT playwright the first time 'round...so not hopeful.

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 3/23/11 at 7:54pm

just noticed this credit on the website:

Additional dialog by Phoebe Hwang

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 3/23/11 at 7:57pm

i also don't quite get all the Dacal-bashing in the preview thread....here's a woman with a great belt, a wide range, who sings in pop idiom but with great diction and interpretation that keeps it conversational. She's funny and empathetic, and looks great onstage, in still photos, in video, and when i bumped into her at the Pax below New 42nd Street studios, in person...a natural beauty. She can dance and has probably by now learned so many versions of the shows she's nearly both Jekyll AND Hyde.

What's not to like?

Updated On: 3/23/11 at 07:57 PM

[philly03]

Posted: 3/23/11 at 8:20pm

Some facts for you:

Phoebe Hwang wrote the original story & script, and was credited as book back from 2007ish til just before Tampa's world premiere began. She was replaced because she took up another Wildhorn show, Tears of Heaven which just debuted in South Korea (with an English concept album).

I wouldn't be surprised if Gregory Boyd has it in his contract to keep his name fully attached from the start, considering he was replaced last minute for the Broadway production of Jekyll & HYDE (which pushed the show back a year). Jack Murphy continues to write the lyrics as far as I know, just gave up the book duties. Some of the new lyrics are however, atrocious.


I think a lot of the Dacal dislike comes from the fact that she's generally a rookie carrying a show that has no star power anyway. It's a role that will make her or break her, in my opinion. Her predescers in the readings and workshops were Brandi Burkhardt (A Tale of Two Cities) and the lovely Lauren Kennedy (who starred in Wildhorn's "Waiting for the Moon" .. the F Scott Fitzgerald show you mentioned).

I still also don't know if this is a sarcastic thread or not, but oh well!

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 12:47am

i just find it curious that this credit remains on the website but i missed it in my Playbill, as i scoured for that of either Ellis or Rupert. And to me, the newer lyrics (which i don't find atrocious at all) seem more like Rupert than anything i've heard or read Murphy do.

i am pretty sincere in my appreciation for the show's improvements. And while i do adore Lauren Kennedy, i am not that familiar with the other workshop person...but i don't see that there is some kind of hierarchy, despite what shows any of the ladies have "carried" or not. Kennedy and Dacal both seem fine choices; that you prefer one over the other does not negate the alternate choice. It's simply a different one.

All that being said, i don't think the show is pure genius or anything. i just don't see reasons to harp on what still might be wrong (or that a particular reviewer doesn't appreciate) when the fixes seem pretty much an improvement. Often shows in trouble, objectively, seem not to make this much progress.

As to Boyd, this is not the only show (neither is JEKYLL) he has failed to deliver all the way to Broadway...so not sure why a contract obligation would require his solo credit, or shared one with Murphy. It's not like he's a proven entity with a track record to exploit. Nor is Murphy, whose librettos to date have not exactly set NYC on fire. i felt in the Zelda musical i saw in NJ with Kennedy and Emrick the libretto was the biggest challenge. Can't recall who did those lyrics. And the "new" CIVIL WAR has almost no real book at all, just historic quotes that bridge the transitions between the songs. Are those lyrics also by Murphy?

[philly03]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 1:23am

Zelda's book was by Jack Murphy & Vincent Marini, who was the director of Lenape Valley PAC, which is pretty much defunct now only to concert and occasional regional performances. Murphy did the lyrics. Marini & Murphy have also workshopped their new piece there, which is still in the works - The Seduction of Shelia Valentine, with Book, Music & Lyrics by Murphy, and Book & additional lyrics by Marini. Linda Eder starred as the lead. That show suffered a lot of book problems, but the jazz score really shined with Wildhorn's talents. Kennedy and Emmick gave wonderful performances to boot.

I don't see Phoebe's name anywhere, maybe it's not somewhere I'd look?

Brandi Burkhardt was formerly engaged to Wildhorn. She starred as Emma in Jekyll & HYDE: Resurrection, and did countless workshops, readings, concerts & demos. She starred in "A Tale of Two Cities" on Broadway back in '08, then did Mamma Mia! in 2009 but hasn't been up to much New York theatre lately. Very talented!

People work in weird things in their contracts. Perhaps TBPAC/the original producers didn't want to surprise the Tampa audiences too much since they billed this past year's production & advertised as "This is what you will see on Broadway".. which is entirely untrue. It's nothing like either version of the show I'd seen previously. I don't know the story behind that.

The new lyrics are so child-ishly done changing a phrase or two every now & then, or just awkward lyrics. They don't seem that Jack Murphy to me, so who knows if he's since left the production. I saw Frank, the orchestrator, and some of the Tampa producers in the theatre the other night, but no Gregory Boyd & no Jack Murphy.

The Civil War had music by Frank Wildhorn, and then the trio split the "book" and lyrics, which was a Tony-nominated score. Doesn't seem like a good score at first, but when you listen to it and realize all the work they did to get to those lyrics... it really is incredible!


I am still a big fan of the show... been following it for years now! But this current version just isn't very good, but they have a month... hopefully things will change.

[Anakela]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 1:48am

I don't see Phoebe's name anywhere, maybe it's not somewhere I'd look?

It's on the Wonderland page at frankwildhorn.com

[philly03]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 1:53am

Last I heard Frank's webmaster is no longer his webmaster -- nothing has been updated since December 2010! From the looks of it, that's true as Bonnie & Clyde's 2nd production still trumps the homepage.

Jack Murphy's website hasn't been updated in a while either, but thats' a different webmaster as well.

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 9:06am

i loved the version of CIVIL i saw at Ford's...i think it was based on the one i never got to at Gettysburg but forget which title (FOR THE GLORY i think) was used where. i have met Marini but never knew how much was his and how much Murphy's. Met Murphy once or twice too. Isn't Marini now at Flat Rock? or some such regional. i don't find the current WONDERLAND lyrics any worse pop-music-philosophy than many other scores, actually. i try at those myself and they are not the easiest to pull off. NEXT TO NORMAL and AVENUE Q stand as my models for those.

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 9:09am

oh yeah and the only place i got to see F Scott/Zelda was at that small regional in NJ, where i think the title was then WAITING FOR THE MOON;;;my suggestion to the team was to consider using CLOTHES FOR THE SUMMER HOTEL (Williams) as their libretto with appopriate rights, and plug the songs into it....it was very similar to the libretto as it existed then. Murphy had never read it. One of my favorite "unknown" Tenn plays.

[philly03]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 11:59am

Yes - "For the Glory," I missed seeing it, but I believe it follows the same pattern as the national tour where they lost the specifics and made it "A soldier," or "a nurse" instead of specific names.

Yes - Marini is the new director at Flat Rock in North Carolina -- It was there or Lauren Kennedy's theatre that "Waiting for the Moon" was going to have it's second premiere, but the plans were scraped.

"The Mad Hatter Song"'s lyrics are a combination of the old lyrics, the old new lyrics and new lyrics and makes no sense. I noticed a couple of other problems too. It's previews, of course so they're working on it.


Lenape Valley PAC in Marlton is actually a huge theatre (no balcony/mezz), but it is virtually in the middle of nowhere (though Marlton is suburb of Philadelphia sort of), and attached to a high school.

"Zelda" was given a rewrite, but not sure if anything will come of it. Some of the score sounds oddly similar to songs popping up in other Wildhorn tuners...