You'd be fascinated with what you'd find in the Google news archives so when I had some free time today I typed in Frank Wildhorn's name. Unfortunately for those who aren't prepared to pay, many of these articles are only available after you've paid for them. Here's something interesting I found here:

Link

So who is this John Bettis character and when did he become involved?

I've seen Bettis' name come up in connection with the show before. I think he was involved for a time, working on the lyrics, but then left the creative team again.

He did write a couple of other tunes with Frank... "After All" on Linda's debut album, and "If Tomorrow Never Comes" on Richard Elliot's album "After Dark".

John Bettis did indeed help write some of the libretto for Svengali



I wonder when there will be a new staging of the show, I so wish to see it staged again.

I think never, since apparently Frank used some of the tunes for new shows. It's a pitty though...but who knows?

Which shows did he reuse the tunes in?

If I'm not mistaken in Rudolf. The tune that became "Pretty war" was originally from Svengali. However, granted the huge amount of time that "Rudolf" took to come to life, like Only Love, it's possible that the tune was originally from Vienna, then taken to Svengali and then when the show "died" replaced in Rudolf.

But we can never be sure. Frank could have done it without notice it. Just like "The Riddle" and "Writings on the wall" sound a alike and I'm sure none of the songs was cut from the shows their in.

Steinman & Webber reuse tunes, why shouldn't Wildhorn be able to. People have often told me that the tune to One-Two-Three became the tune to The Riddle yet I have listened to 2 different versions of the riddle & no matter how many times I re-listen to them I cannot hear any similarity to One-Two-Three so I am taking it that a lot of people hear similarities in songs & think they are the tunes reused when in fact they are not. Like I have heard people say that the song Nosferatu reuses the tune of His Work And Nothing More, & that is ridiculous, it does not, the songs are similar but it is not the same tune. The songs are written by the same composer of course they are going to be a bit similar, but that doesn't mean they are the same tune.

As for Rudolf, I have never heard it so I cannot say if any of those songs are similar to the songs in Svengali.

Thanks Fantasma for your response :) .

You're welcome.

Actually I too think Nosferatu and His work and nothing more are almost the same tune. Actually, I have the playback of Nosferatu and I can sing half of His work and nothing more using it. It's the one that is really really close.

I don't think One-Two-Three is at all similar to The Riddle either.

And yeah, Webber does it a lot. Actually, Love Never Dies is more of a "try to find out where this tune was before" game than a real musical :lol:
Steinman I only know one musical by him, Tanz, and well, he basicly used the songs he had already composed. He was just lazy :P

Steinman also wrote the musicals More Than You Deserve, The Dream Engine, Neverland, & Wuthering Heights CA, & then there are those Batman Demos he himself released on his bog. I have heard all of those musicals & the Batman Demos, & all of them share music with each other & Tanz.

The Masters Song from Dracula sounds a lot like You And I from Svengali.