Is Wildhorn that bad?- Page 3

[baddadnpa]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 2:50pm

I find that with Wildhorn shows, I love the music, but hate the show. Hated Jekyll & Hyde and Civil War. Didn't see SP, and refused to see Dracula.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 2:56pm

Perhaps they did get together to make the same lyrics, lol.

Yeah, the other Frankenstein isn't his...

There's also another POTO, which is better than the crap that's on Broadway now...

I bet Wildhorn could make a better POTO....(except for the theme music of the phantom of the opera) Updated On: 2/16/05 at 02:56 PM

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 3:01pm

Jekyll and Hyde: Really cool, fun show (if kinda stupid)
Scarlet Pimpernel: Even more stupid, but still pretty fun
Civil War: Didn't see it, but the number on the Tonys SUCKED.
Dracula: Well, we all know about that show.

So, to sum it up, I guess Wildhorn started out as an OK composer, but is progressively getting worse. Also, he REALLY needs to learn how to find good lyricists, because even when his songs aren't that great, the lyrics are usually even worse. Even Jekyll and Hyde, which is his best show, has some pretty bad lyrics in it.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 3:04pm

But wildhorn should not be dismembered because the lyrics suck!

All his shows have good music, just it sounds the same a lot and most of his music isn't catchy...

[umgeoboy]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 3:05pm

DB that was an intersting post. Most people claim that Civil War is his best score not J&H. Also, you are judging a show (Civil War) on 1 song, and dracula on critics but not your own opinion. So I'm not sure your conclusion about his earlier stuff better then his newer stuff is valid.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 3:06pm

I know I started a thread about this a while ago, I'll go dig it up....

Who's seen Dracula? If you are going by demos and the critics, then....I don't know what to say...

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 3:19pm

Dracula: Well, we all know about that show.

obviously you don't. the show was incredible in La Jolla. It was butchered for Broadway. The End.

Posted: 2/16/05 at 3:24pm

I enjoy his stuff.
People are always dogging people. Snobbery is what I call it. When someone else can write a musical and get it done on Broadway THEN you can bitch about it like you know so much better then him. Until then.....

[baddadnpa]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 3:26pm

Well then I guess all of the professional critics out there should either write a show or find another profession, huh?

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 3:26pm

Wasn't the Civil War number on the Tonys just a film montage of clips from the show as it had already closed? Though I loved J&H pre-Broadway, I really thought Scarlet Pimpernel was his strongest show. The thought of Frankenstein isn't really grabbing me. I'd rather see him go back to something with more romance and adventure. He announced an interest in Zorro years ago and I thought that was a good idea for Wildhorn, but nothing ever came of it. I would like to see Svengali come back with better staging. It's a story that hasn't really been revived on stage or in film in a long time, but I guess it would too closely resemble the plot to Phantom.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 3:30pm

No, THE CIVIL WAR did perform at the Tony's, and I thought it was excellent. And I wouldn't call either PIMPERNEL or JEKYLL fun or stupid...they're dark, serious shows - nothing fun and stupid about them. I agree with Matt - PIMPERNEL is his best work.

boxofficejon: Stop with that logic - it doesn't work.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 3:36pm

I must agree with munk...which means it MUST be true, that logic doesn't work. Musicals are produced FOR an audience to be rated BY an audience...not only other composers.


I must admit, and you know how I am a big Dracula freak (points to username), I think it had A LOT of potential. As I've said, I think Dracula the book is much better than J&H. Btu aside from that, the show was killed by a lousy book that, if you didn't know Stoker's novel inside and out, left you confused and amateurish lyrics that at some points made me cringe.

The music was dry compared to his other shows. It seemed he did a half-aSs job. I think if he sat down and rewrote some songs, redid the lyrics to some songs, and strengthed the book, the show would have a whole lot more potential.

Sadly, it is too late.

It will remain, however, my guilty pleasure.

[WildhornFanatic]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 4:07pm

I don't actually think DRACULA's music is all that bad. I'll compile a list of songs that I think work and songs that need some more work.

SONGS THAT WORKED ON B'WAY:
Prelude
Over Whitby Bay
First Taste (Demo Version)
Fresh Blood
The Mist
Mist (reprise)
Modern World
A Perfect Life
Man of Woman Born
Life After Life
There's Always A Tomorrow
If I Could Fly
Deep in the Darkest Night
Before the Summer Ends
The Longer I Live
Finale

SONGS THAT NEED SOME WORK:
A Quiet Life (B'way version)
Forever Young
The Heart Is Slow To Learn

Some songs have bad lyrics and I think they need to redo some of the lyrics. My least fav is from the most beautiful song musically in the show, BEFORE THE SUMMER ENDS:

"She made me give my promise.
A terrifying promise.
It's not the kind of promise made everday.
To desecrate a temple,
To trample on a flower,
To catch a butterfly
And simply tear off it's wings.
It's worse than all of these things..."

Ew.

- Michael

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 4:47pm

WHAT??? "Before The Summer Ends" is the BEST thing DRACULA had going for it!!! After I saw it in La Jolla I turned to my dad and said "If they cut "Before the Summer Ends" for Broadway, it would put a stake through my heart"... he laughed, but I was so serious... thank god they left it in. but, the show as a whole is flawed. and the book and lyrics are the biggest upset. some songs work and others like "The Modern Wold", which was NOT in the show in La Jolla need to be abandoned all together in favor of some of the songs from La Jolla like "The Invitation". that song was so lusty that I didn't care about the lyrics... yowza... Updated On: 2/16/05 at 04:47 PM

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 5:48pm

Yes, "Before the Summer Ends" is actually the signature song of the show even though Dracula doesn't sing it and it is also my and Frank Wildhorn's favorite song in the score.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 6:42pm

My favorite song is The Longer I Live - very nice song for Dracula at a perfect moment in the show. Also, the staging of it was great!

I hate Modern World, 'nuff said!

I also LIKE The Master's Song.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 6:53pm

To Box Office Jon

Great Post

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 6:56pm

His post made absolutely no sense.

I'm a Wildhorn fan - I love JEKYLL, PIMPERNEL, and THE CIVIL WAR's music, but I thought dracula was absolutely terrible. I'm allowed to say that.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 6:58pm

Yes you are but I respectfully disagree re Dracula

Anyone who likes Wildhorn cannot be bad

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 7:00pm

Box office jon's post just makes no sense and it's illogical. THat's what i'm saying.

[Yonah]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 7:06pm

I'm among those who can not stand the song "Modern World". It felt to me as though it was haphazerdly stuffed into the show in a last ditch effort to give it some historical context. I don't find the song at all attractive, and I don't see it as having any point in the story.

The songs that I really loved in Dracula were "Forever Young", "If I could Fly", and "Life After Life".

The first time I saw Dracula, I had a pretty strong dislike of "Who Do You Choose". The song just seemed too cheerfull and out of place to me. Also, some of the lyrics made me cringed. However, over time that song really grew on me.

I think that a lot of the bad lyrics in the Broadway production of Dracula were made up for by some really impressive acting.


Yonah


Ps: *cough* Messege board for Frank Wildhorn/Dracula/vampire fans *cough* http://chianaq.conforums3.com/index.cgi

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 7:07pm

No, munk, it makes PERFECT sense...it's just the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

Roxy, when did you see Dracula?


I think you have to take Dracula for what it is. My mom, who saw the show with me the second time, was TOTALLY agianst it. She doesn't like that somber music. I must say that she is a an avid theatre goer, more than most people here. She has seen many shows. In her older age she has been having a much higher standard of shows.

I wanted to see Dracula again and literally DRAGGED my om to see it (had to buy her ticket). After the second act she said the show was OK, the staging was amazing, but the music is too somber, etc. After the second act she said she was glad I brought her. Just a few hours ago, actually, I received an e-mail from her saying that she has been listening to the Dracula CD over and over and is starting to enjoy it more and more.

This is also coming from someone (well, the two of us) who found ALW's POTO boring.

I know that this is one person's opinion, but I think that it means a lot.

The one thing I don't undersatnd is that the two times I have seen the show, everyone around me and everyone next to me as we left the theatre enjoyed the show. In fact, when I saw it the first time in previews, there were two critics behind me who said the show was good, only the staging had to get much tighter. It was very weak. When I saw it the second time, A LOT had been changed in the staging. Changes I know were made when the show officially opened.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 7:08pm

Hahahaha BSO, you're right. It does make sense, it's just absurd.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 7:09pm

What is it with the POTO bashing? This thread is about Wildhorn not POTO.

**steps off soapbox**

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 7:09pm

Saw it on 8/19