Who would you cast in The Count of Monte Cristo?

[bwaybabe2]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 6:23am

If it ever comes to Bway...I've had someone in mind, but then I thought that Aaron Lazar would be great, too--he has that look of elegance necessary for the role.

[A Fleur De Toi]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 6:46am

really? he seems awfully dopey eyed for the role.

maybe as the young Count - Edmund the sailor is it?

[folkyboy]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 10:16am

I cannot make an educated guess unless I heard the score.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 10:26am

James O'Neill

[monestere]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 4:26pm

I would love to see my favorite singer at this time, James Anest, make his Broadway debut in this role. Not only does he look the part, but as the youtube excerpts from South Pacific with Stephanie J Block have shown, he can act and sing anything. Coincidently, he is no stranger to swashbuckling roles on the operatic stage and in a review of his "Pirates of Penzance" Anest was called "the Errol Flynn of Opera".

[philly03]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 5:34pm

I think the chances of Frank Wildhorn coming back to Broadway are EXTREMELY slim ! 4 flops, about $25 MIL debt from those shows, and none of them could even come close to recouping even with their tours (Jekyll may have eventually but I doubt it). I just don't think any producer would want to gamble the risk of practically knowing you're going to get torn apart by the critics!

It's debuting at the place where Dracula in Germany premiered, so I could see Drew Sarich be interested in doing it because he has done several Wildhorn projects over there, but I don't evne know what the title character should look like :o!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 6:15pm

Nathan Lane

[B3TA07]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 6:23pm

"Nathan Lane "

lmao

[bwaybabe2]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 7:15pm

monestere, I checked out James Anest's website, and he does look like he would be well cast in this role. I was not aware he had so many credits in theater, and he has a great voice. His swashbuckling is a plus, too.
Where is he based...?

I disagree with those who think this would be a flop...again, the music and script have to have some substance, and everything has to be tweaked to make it a must watch Broadway show. But, it has a trememdous amount of potential to be a hit. The story is very intriguing and well written, so SOMEONE could come up with a winning score and script to match, don't you think...?

[Kev14]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 7:52pm

Oh man,

I always thought this would be an awesome show on Broadway. I love the book!

[monestere]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 7:54pm

James Anest lives in Southern California but he performs a lot in Europe and Japan where he is very popular in opera and classical music. However, as you saw on his website, he also has extensive musical theatre credits here in the US but mostly on the West Coast and in touring productions. His 1997 performance as Emile with Stephanie Block in South Pacific is all the more remarkable in that he was 23 at the time, the youngest singer ever to perform DeBecque in a professional staging of this musical. He really deserves to be seen and heard by a wider audience. The musical version of The Count of Monte Cristo seems tailor-made for him.

I agree with you that this musical has a good chance of becoming another "Les Miz", if the book and music are exceptional. The original novel of "The Count of Monte Cristo" continues to be very popular and has been made into countless films and TV productions, all of which were successful.

Updated On: 6/23/08 at 07:54 PM

[philly03]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 9:03pm

"I disagree with those who think this would be a flop...again, the music and script have to have some substance, and everything has to be tweaked to make it a must watch Broadway show. But, it has a trememdous amount of potential to be a hit. The story is very intriguing and well written, so SOMEONE could come up with a winning score and script to match, don't you think...?"

I want the show to be a hit too! I love Frank's music, but let's face it:

Frank: 0, New York Critics: 4
Hits: 0, Flops 4
Shows that have run over 800 (about 2 years): 1; 3 haven't (SP was close)

Jack Murphy is doing lyrics, and well...Havana! never worked out, and The Civil War was probably Frank's biggest flop all-together (perhaps Dracula...SP may have lost a substantial amount of money, but it did stick around for 4 years (and 4 incarnations!). We won't really find out about Rudolph or Wonderland, and I personally don't know too much about Carmen. So this team isn't exactly a dream-team. So unless it's so spectacular and doesn't have an extremely expensive running costs, it probably won't last too long . The Critics simply loathe Frank, and it's very unfortunate! He has such great ideas, and I'm always into what he's going to come up with next...but it looks like he's moved onto Europe & Japan...they all love him over there! Too bad .

I'm actually really curious about Frank's version of "Cyrano de Bergerac", which will be written with Leslie Bricusse, of course from Jekyll & HYDE among the many other things he's done!

[bwaybabe2]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 9:05pm

Sorry, but, does this look "dopey eyed" to you...? He looks like a Count to me! And with enough depth and mystery in his eyes to reel you into the Monte Cristo saga :I

(If the image does not come through, just look at the "link"...)

monestere, I wish the same for Anest. Hopefully his talent will be widely recognized very soon. Thanks for expanding our horizons in musical theater talent

http://www.aaronlazar.com/ Updated On: 6/23/08 at 09:05 PM

[bwaybabe2]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 9:19pm

philly03, thanks for that visual, it's cool :)

I know;it is too bad the so called critics shoot down all of Franks' projects...since I (and many, many others) find the music (look at Dracula, I think "Loving You Keeps Me Alive" is a great song) from Franks' shows, amazing, why do you suppose that is...?
Could it be some "blacklisting" or something...? I hope no. And I so wish I was fortunate enough to have seen SP on tour or whatever.
Anyways, perhaps it's just something to do with the whole chemistry of the personalities involved. I find that, for a project to suceed, you need to have individuals with a same vision. If they differ in opinions, they must "complement" the other to bring something the other cannot provide. There must be some magic there...otherwise, success eludes the project.

[philly03]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 9:45pm

The image is from Jack Murphy's blog...he has more info than Frank's website does, but in all it's kind of the same.

And I have no idea why the critics dislike Frank. I always thought it was because of his attitude, which I think is perfect for the business. When he first came onto Broadway with The Scarlet Pimpernel (with Jekyll already running), he made a BIG deal about having two "new American musicals running simultainsly on Broadway," as in just about every interview! Same with the Civil War. And his productions have been known (with the exception of Jekyll) to have high budgets for whatever reasons. The Scarlet Pimpernel lost TONS of money, but to me it seemed like it had spent a LOT of money on costumes and set design, among other things. The Civil War just didn't make any money, and Jekyll lost about a million, how? I don't know! It ran for 4 years, and couldn't have had too big of running cost (but did have a large ensemble, another common trait in Wildhorn shows until The Civil War flopped), so maybe the stunt casting had a major effect on it?!
Dracula called for some big changes to his writing style. He of course had planned out for just about every show 3 "stars" (Jekyll: Jekyll/Hyde, Lucy, Emma; Scarlet: Marguerite, Chauvelin, Percy/Scarlet Pimpernel; Camille: Camille Claudel, Paul Claudel, Rodin) and 2 "featured/with"s...and with Dracula, he changed to I think 6 or 8 "leads" (of course Lucy dies at the end of Act 1), and a small ensemble to cover understudying/minor roles, so I'm sure The Count... could be like that. Also, his general style of music writing is often very similar to Lloyd Webbers, where it's a bit repitive, and Frank's name isn't big enough to carry that, and the overall "score" just isn't great--but lopsided. Either good lyrics (obviously not him) or great music. He's also been said to copy Lloyd Webber/Les Miserables/Miss Saigon/Chess in certain ways. "In His Eyes" is practically "I Still Believe" which is basically "I Know Him So Well". Also, the sets for both SP1&SP2 were uncannily similar to some of the minor sets in SUNSET BLVD., which played at the Minskoff. Jekyll's were slightly similar as well, just not really!

As for Scarlet Pimpernel, beautiful music, beautiful costumes, some interesting sets, always casted well,...for the most part a boring show. You won't get that on here, but SP1 was a pretty big snooze-fest, SP2/SP3 made it more funny, and SP4 seemed to rely on some ad-lib here and there. I didn't fall asleep for the record! The music was so good, just the story, even if you read the novel, isn't all extremely interesting. I actually liked how they focused more on Marguerite for SP1, but SP2-SP4 went to Percy. I'd love to see the show revived, but besides Pierre Cossette (who funded SP1-SP3, The Civil War) I don't know who'd take the gamble.

Also, I love the fact that all of his shows have a "star" who is a female who has brown hair. We all know who he has in mind for all of those roles (NOT CAROLEE CARMELLO! haha)--Linda. Too bad she's older now and probably won't do any more stage work. She cares too much for her son :).

[bwaybabe2]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 10:01pm

philly...interesting stuff you've exposed. You know, I think the difference between a "flop" and a hit, is definitely "that" magic...like a person with charisma--you either have it, or you don't.
If a show does not have the magic needed to make it special, it will not capture an audience. Audiences are a bit more sophisticated than we think, and can sense that special connection with this magic. This is what draws them in to see a show, over and over, again, to make it a hit, and keep it around.

I loved your info :)
BTW...who would "you" cast?

[MCfan2]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 10:12pm

Douglas Sills!

Sorry, I know I sound like a broken record, but I really want him back on Broadway already!!

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 11:01pm

I think the chances of Frank Wildhorn coming back to Broadway are EXTREMELY slim !

I'm not so sure. Not all the failures were due to his score. I think The Civil War simply wasn't right for Broadway and Dracula was his only rather dismal Broadway score. J&H was horribly misdirected when the show was previously in near-perfect shape years before it was tinkered to death. And Scarlet Pimpernel, his best Broadway venture, was mostly a victim of bad timing and rather odd production strategies. I believe the right team could turn one of his shows into magic.

[philly03]

Posted: 6/23/08 at 11:22pm

"This is what draws them in to see a show, over and over, again, to make it a hit, and keep it around."

Description of Jekyll & HYDE: Except the part where it became a hit--a big crowd pleaser, a lot of fans came back five times for the different Jekylls anyway.

"J&H was horribly misdirected when the show was previously in near-perfect shape years before it was tinkered to death."

I know a lot of people say that, but it wasn't ENTIRELY misdirected. They cut some good numbers, shortened the show's length, but a lot of the piece remains in tack. I say the show probably would have done the same business as it did, or just barely recouped, which is unfortunate. Before, Linda Eder as said before, simply walked on the stage sang, talked to Jekyll, walked off. Came to Jekyll's house, removed a part of her costume, sang, stood there, sang again, and walked off. Sat on a bed, sang, went to bed, showed to the audience that she was dead. Sure the Broadway version was campy and EXTREMELY over dramatic...especially with the stunt casting. RSC/Trevor Nunn defanetly had an effect on Robin Phillips (I believe that was his name), as you can certainly see with the actualy song Facade similarities with "Look Down" from Les Mis. I love what he did with Someone Like You -- when the people walk across at the end...subtle yet nice directing. Another misconception about Broadway is the Facade Reprises...they had been in since the beginning of the shows first demos in 1987 as "The Ballad of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde"...does that sound so oddly familiar or what. It actually legit sounded like the Sweeney Todd ones too, but they usually ended in like in an Alive sequence! The work has changed sooooo much over 10 years that's impossible to list all the misconceptions that people think weren't included here, were included there, but Facade is probably the major one. They simply did not record them for the 2disc Concept Album, why I'm not sure, but they were defanetly included in the tour...the Broadway National Touring Company (starring Chuck Wagner & Sharon Brown & Andrea Rivette/Kelli O'Hara) tried to get rid of a few, but I think ended up still with 2 or 3 instead of 4.

I'd love to see Douglas Sills (thanks to MCfan2 for bringing it up!) in the role or atleast back on Broadway, but it is slightly similar to Percy in a way, and I don't know if he'd do it. He almost seemed bitter when SP2 was on Broadway, but seemed to really enjoy himself with SP4-the national tour! I was actually suprised Terrence Mann joined SP as Chauvelin seeing as no doubt the character was loosely based off of Les Mis' Javert! I wish I knew the story more of TCOMC, but I haven't read it, only synopsises of it, but I'm sure Frank has a twist up his sleeve just like Jekyll. I'd also need to hear the score to seem who would do it justice!

Jekyll certainly had many aspects of a hit -- ALWAYS had a great cast (well, maybe not all 3!), a big plot twist (I won't post all the spoilers!), a central conflict, catchy "ballads", creative marketing (HAHAHAH I don't know why I wrote that but it's staying), among other things. It's unfortunate it didn't run longer, it certainly could have, just another example of a bad producer. The shows attendance rates weren't that bad at the time of closing, they just decided to close because they couldn't get Donny Osmond for 3/4 months...ridiculous but from the articles, it sounds like that's the most true. It would have been a tough Jan & Feb, but "a new life" into it by the time he came around.

"And Scarlet Pimpernel, his best Broadway venture, was mostly a victim of bad timing and rather odd production strategies."
Interesting you say that, seeing how I still believe Jekyll & HYDE was. Linda does. I'm sure Frank does too. Jekyll was a crowd pleaser, but Scarlet certainly attracted many different fans during ITS life, because we all know Jekyll attracted all kinds of people/things during it's last year! And I believe SP lost the most money out of all of his shows, unless Dracula really did loose the huge amount it's said to be!

I do agree though...the songs of the Civil War either belong in a legit musical, a museum (like now) or some sort of Civil War restuarant with live singers? IDK it could work!?
Updated On: 6/23/08 at 11:22 PM

[bwaybabe2]

Posted: 6/24/08 at 12:53am

The Count is tall, slim/fit, has dark hair, and is supposed to have rather attractive looks, in a classic way (not a Brad Pitt way), for those who wanted a description.

I believe that a strong singer can tackle any score they are given. But, I would say that in this role, a baritone would be the only choice. I would cast an actor by not only their looks, but the charisma and powerful interpretation they would bring to this role.

[dayao]

Posted: 6/26/08 at 5:38am

I usually do not like to speculate on who should play a role but since it has already been suggested I must say that the casting of James Anest as The Count of Monte Cristo would be inspired. Besides his great voice and acting talent, Anest would surely be one of the best looking guys ever to appear on a Broadway stage, if that counts for anything. But since this show has not even been announced for the US as of yet, I sincerely hope that we don't have to wait that long to see and hear this talented singer in a Broadway show. A friend of mine who works in the business told me that several important casting agents already are looking to cast Anest in a major revival. As one of his fans here on the West Coast who has seen Anest in several wonderful shows and concerts, I would love to see him in a Broadway show. If the role is a swashbuckling one like The Count of Monte Cristo, that would be icing on the cake.

[bwaybabe2]

Posted: 6/27/08 at 4:10am

dayao,...I hope so, too. Lazar will be probably--and all good wishes that he will be ;D --too busy with A Tale of Two Cities, to take on this one, which, I also hope comes soon.
I have to say, you West Coasters have exposed me to this new talent (new for me), and I wish, now, that I could see him in some great show in the near future...:)