More information @ The Link

BroadwayWorld has bios for each of the newly announced creative team members.

Anyone else intrigued that Kennedy's NOT in Wonderland and Ron Melrose's bio says that Zelda / Moon is Broadway-bound? Hmmm wouldn't that be interesting!

I would be very surprised if "Zelda" is announced at this stage. I don't know how one person could cope with everything Frank's doing at the moment.

By the way, is it just me or is my instinct telling me "Bonnie & Clyde", "Wonderland" and "Havana" will move to Broadway and complete a new Broadway trifecta of Wildhorn productions? Is this true in any way?

Either way, I knew my patience would pay off but I didn't know it would be to this extent. We are entering into a Frank Wildhorn Renaissance that has never before been witnessed in his entire career.

Good times :)

I would be pretty surprised to have them announce something more with Zelda right now, too.

As for another trifecta... that would be terrific, wouldn't it? My instincts lean more toward "don't get the hopes too high, just wait and see what happens." We all know how things go with "Broadway-bound" projects. In each case, the producers are going to want to look at the out of town tryout, see how well it sells, and how good the show looks, before dropping the $12 to $15 million to go for a Broadway run (I'm pretty sure that's the price range for musicals there these days). I do think a possibility is still there, but it's in their hands, and those of the Theater Gods.

Don't forget, Frank's "company" apparently put up a slew of money for DRACULA, the musical along with whoever does La Jolla's main producing-money wise. So I wouldn't be surprised if Frank is really out of producers and that's why he's doing Wonderland with Tampa Bay PAC - they're putting up $3 MIL, I'm guessing Wildhorn's going to put up the rest.

I certainly think a trifecta or a QUAD is in the works. Will it happen that they all play at once? Nope, or atleast I highly doubt it. But it looks like Frank apparently has sights set on one for this season, Havana next season, and then we'll see. B&C was last minute / I still think it was only done so he could beat out the Hilary Duff remake, but we'll see.

Not to mention he could transfer CARMEN, which apparently has some interest, COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, which has been workshopped in English/there's always producers for the classic novesl to stage (A Tale of Two Cities :)), ZELDA's waiting out there (Ron's bio does say Broadway-bound and I thought it was done for a while too), Camille Claudel is out there, and .. Rudolf but I don't see that being a hit over here at all!

At this point in time, I personally think Wonderland and Havana are the only shows that even have a shot of going to broadway any time soon. Tim Burton's film adaptaion of Alice in Wonderland will either hurt or help Wildhorn's version (my thoughts are help). It's nice to think about a trifecta again, but I just don't see that happening. Jekyll & Hyde has been Frank's only reasonably successful broadway production (in terms of money and other factors). As such, producers aren't going to be excitedly putting up three of his shows at once again. It didn't benefit them the first time, and it likely won't this time either (Pimpernel had mild success and Civil War was mostly a flop).

Frankly, I don't think Dracula should have premiered on broadway until much later than it did (like right now). The changes to the show have taken it from mediocre to quite good. Plus America is vampire-obsessed right now due to the mass appeal of the Twilight franchise and various other media (HBO's True Blood, Tim Burton's upcoming Dark Shadows, and others). There's even talk of a new Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie without the involvement of Joss Whedon (the original creator)-- I pray to god this doesn't happen.

*Tries to remain calm* I agree about "Dracula". If it was anything like the World Premiere Recording, it would have succeeded? I just wish there was a way they could bring it back without opening a can of worms because that's what it would do?

Perhaps in the West End?

I most definitely embrace an English production of "The Count of Monte Cristo" which, judging by the concept album, was absolutely terrific. One of Frank's best.

Nix on "Carmen" for me. I listened to the CD only once and I didn't enjoy a minute of it. Latino-music wise, "Havana" has a much better score and I'd rather that make it first. The sampler from earlier this century was terrific.

Hmm I doubt about the "Wonderland", "Bonnie & Clyde", "Havana" trifecta. Not with Bonnie & Clyde. Something tells me that the show won't have much success in it's primal state...after all it's Don Black and he's far from good... :unsure:

I agree on Dracula. Now would be the time to premiere it on B'way (or anywhere else) thank's to the Twilight fever (honestly...while I was reading the book I kept thinking..."this is Frank Wildhorn all over"...I can imagine Frank composing a bunch of sugar-sweet melodies to the book LOL NO the last thing I want is a twilight musical. It's bad enough as a film already :lol: )

The Count of Monte Cristo is probably one of Franks best indeed. The show still needs fixing script wise though. Its too short and therefore all the revenge thing is to hastened. They should extend the script. Oh and...cut "Tarantella". Believe me, the song is just useless...it actually looks like Draculas "Forever Young". Cut that out and extend the scripts is all it takes for the show to be perfect. I don't know if it's B'way material...the fears I have with the B'way production of Rebecca are the sames I would have with a fixed Monte Cristo. Both show's are very "classical" and apparently B'way is more into popish stuff right now.

I'm very curious to see/hear what will come out of the Addams Family Musical though... :blink:

HAHA I think it will help it, but for the WRONG reasons. As in, random, innocent tourists will see it thinking it's based off the Burton film.


I, unfortunately, don't see another trifecta happening. Wonderland as of now has NO "names" (and "little" Broadway "names" like Melissa Errico and Tom Hewitt did little for DRACULA, the musical). Atleast when THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL got trashy reviews, people were going to see it because they could see two B'way legends: Terrence Mann and Christine Andreas. The Civil War didn't even last... J&H already had a following.


I suppose there's a chance if he literally opens Wonderland (or whichever show) in April last deadline, opens Havana in August and then another work in the Spring, whihc would mean competition against not only himself by Sister Act, Rebecca and Phantom 2!

I agree that having big names does help (that's why they continue to cast awful singers in movie musicals), but I don't think it's neccessarily the nail in the coffin to have lesser known people. Many actors/actresses obtain fame from their first major productions. For example, Sutton Foster in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Laura Bell Bundy in Legally Blonde, Kerry Ellis in Wicked, and various others. Big names are the most helpful in revivals (like Patti Lupone in Gypsy recently) and film musicals.

Scarlet Pimpernel, which I think most of us can agree has an AMAZING score, mostly failed because of the production as a whole. That's the problem with Frank's shows-- almost none of the productions live up to his music. Even the broadway Jekyll & Hyde was a heavily edited and knocked off version of the original concept.

All of the musicals you listed besides Wicked flopped though! And I wouldn't necessary count this in regards to something like Wicked or Jersey Boys which are still selling out every week. Blonde also had Orfeh (and Andy Karl) as well as Michael Ruppert, which believe it or not, people actually went to it for. Not to mention a huge movie-following as it was.

I think with Frank's .. track record on the flop-o-meter, it should be something he should atleast try to do; it's not like there aren't plenty of "famed" Broadway singers who aren't constantly singing his stuff. People are already turned off because it's a Wildhorn piece, so if he got someone like even Karen Ziemba who has a somewhat-following, people would for whatever reasons decide to see it because she's in it.

I don't really know what your definition of "flop" is. Thoroughly Modern Millie won like 6 Tony's and Legally Blonde garnered a huge following. Orfeh had some recognition before that show, but not a ton.

I agree that a big name or two would be nice and helps, but that doesn't mean it's going to be a success. Pirate Queen sunk even with Stephanie J. Block, Little Mermaid didn't last long with Norm Coleman and others, and Young Frankenstein (which I personally like a lot) didn't garner a lot of broadway success even with Megan Mullally, Roger Bart, Sutton Foster, and the rest of rather star-studded cast. A big name can help get people in the seats for awhile, but it won't last if the rest of the production isn't good. For example, David Hasselhoff in Jekyll.

And I definitely don't want to see a repeat of Michael Crawford in "Dance of the Vampires"...