133 posts
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Post by whygodwhytoday on Aug 15, 2016 18:57:57 GMT
"Jekyll & Hyde" and "Bonnie & Clyde" are two shows I know intimately, and are firm favourites of mine. Should I leave my Wildhorn repertoire at those two shows or are there more worth checking out?
Yes, Wildhorn can be a tad overbearing with his generic pop melodies, but you could argue ALW went in for the same thing a couple of times (with a huge difference in quality, obliviously...). The score for "Jekyll & Hyde" is fairly consistent, and a solid 'mood' is achieved throughout - a quality I always look for in a composers work. I can't imagine he has ever topped it, but I might be wrong.
What are your thoughts on Wildhorn and his shows? When I look on theatre forums the popular opinion always seems he writes nothing more than a load of crap.
Hope you're all well xxx
(ps: I wish there was a Board for Creatives as well as the one for Performers, then I could put this thread neatly in there...)
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1,103 posts
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Post by mallardo on Aug 15, 2016 19:16:49 GMT
The two shows you name are, IMO, his best, especially Bonnie and Clyde which the Southwark Playhouse should produce as soon as possible. The Scarlet Pimpernel (in whatever version) also has good things in it.
I think his problem is in his choice of subject matter. Historical costume dramas are not well served by his very pop oriented style - which is why Bonnie and Clyde is, for me, far and away his most successful show - his style fits it perfectly. The man is a great songwriter who always seems to be in search of the right context. |
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133 posts
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Post by whygodwhytoday on Aug 15, 2016 19:41:14 GMT
The two shows you name are, IMO, his best, especially Bonnie and Clyde which the Southwark Playhouse should produce as soon as possible. The Scarlet Pimpernel (in whatever version) also has good things in it.
I think his problem is in his choice of subject matter. Historical costume dramas are not well served by his very pop oriented style - which is why Bonnie and Clyde is, for me, far and away his most successful show - his style fits it perfectly. The man is a great songwriter who always seems to be in search of the right context. I'm so happy musical theatre fans have kept hold of Bonnie & Clyde in their hearts. I think after the success of Jekyll he reeled off all the classic stories hoping for the same impact. It would be a bit like ALW composing The Woman In White straight after Phantom - it lacks sincerity I guess. I will check out The Scarlet Pimpernel, thanks for the reccomendation x |
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Post by 49thand8th on Aug 15, 2016 22:01:42 GMT
I never saw Bonnie and Clyde, but I've seen a couple productions of Pimpernel, and it's a very fun show with a bouncy score.
Jekyll & Hyde is a mess.
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1,103 posts
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Post by mallardo on Aug 15, 2016 22:11:12 GMT
Dramatically speaking, yes. But there are three or four excellent songs and "In His Eyes" is one of the great female duets in the MT repertoire.
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Post by stevep on Aug 16, 2016 8:05:10 GMT
I'm booked in to see Wonderland twice. I'm going purely because of the music. I listen to the cast recording lots. Wildhorns music just does it for me somehow.
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Post by viserys on Aug 16, 2016 8:33:17 GMT
Jekyll & Hyde and The Scarlet Pimpernel benefitted from long gestation processes in the 90s.
Musically, I think Wildhorn is at his best, when he can do Americana - Bonnie & Clyde is a prime example as was The Civil War, which is probably my favorite work of his because he doesn't even try to tell a story and just assembles a boat load of decent pop-country songs with some bigger-than-life ballads.
What I absolutely detest Wildhorn for is his way of churning out mediocre, bland, ill-planned musicals on a yearly basis that all sound the same and don't show any deep occupation with the subject in question, careful work or even the attempt to create something special.
I was actually offended by his godawful "Rudolf" in Vienna, which was supposed to be a musical about the Austrian crown prince Rudolf (son of Elisabeth "Sissi", who had her own musical already) who committed suicide in Mayerling in 1889. Rudolf was a complex, interesting individual who is definitely worth a second look - but Wildhorn reduced him to a banal bland idiotic and fictional love story full of sappy ballads.
He did the same to the "Count of Monte Cristo" and most recently I've sat through his adaptation of the Arthurian legend, which is basically a bland uninteresting rehash of the most famous bits like Arthur pulling the sword from the stone and the love triangle between him, Lancelot und Guinevere. But Wildhorn being Wildhorn, he couldn't even bring it to its normal conclusion but wrote a sappy happy end for Arthur and Guinevere. Everyone is utterly black and white with no shades of grey allowed- on one hand the super perfect dashing hero Arthur, on the other side the evil witchy Morgana as his nemesis.
It's very obvious that Wildhorn ALWAYS writes shows with a male dashing hero (Jekyll, Percy, Dantes, Arthur, etc.) who has women fawning over him - not sure what it says about him
I think what makes me angry - beyond him playing fast and loose with European history like the worst kind of Hollywood dross - is that he clearly has potential to write wonderful melodies. If only he took the trouble to work on ONE show for some years find GOOD lyricists (not the awful trite nonsense people like Jack Murphy cobble together) and carefully bring them to life instead of throwing them out left and right in the hope that something will stick somewhere.
Having said all of this - I'd definitely see a version of Bonnie & Clyde (it was done here in Germany last year, but I don't want to hear this in German) and see a good version of Scarlet Pimpernel (saw that one in Germany years ago, but again, would prefer to see it in English with a good cast).
Have no interest in anything else he churns out though. I had made an exception for Monte Cristo because I could tie it up into a weekend trip to Leipzig as a present for my Mom (long story) and for Arthur now because I tend to support the open air theatre with my annual visit.
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Post by schuttep on Aug 16, 2016 9:01:43 GMT
I saw both Jekyll and Hyde and The Scarlet Pimpernel on Broadway years ago. I loved J&H but hated TSP. I also saw J&H in Vienna in German which was a wonderful production. So was the Union version. But the tour with Marti Pellow was not that great.
Not yet sure about Wonderland after the National's awful wonder.land.
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423 posts
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Post by schuttep on Aug 19, 2016 14:32:40 GMT
Having discovered that Wimbledon will have Kerry Ellis, Wendi Peters and Dave Willetts, I'm giving Wonderland a punt (well, several actually).
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2016 15:31:48 GMT
Unless Linda Eder is singing it, Frank Wildhorn ain't worth the bother.
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