Does anyone else notice the similar melodies used in "Nosferatu" (Dracula) and "His Work and Nothing More" (Jekyll & Hyde).

"Nosferatu" kind of feels like a recycled Jekyll song in general. The intro sounds like "Sympathy and Tenderness" and the rest of it I can literally sing "His Work And Nothing More" to.

Yes, I did the same as you. Also, the bridge in "Life After Life" is supposedly "The Glory" from "The Civil War". The title "The Heart Is Slow To Learn" originates from an earlier Don Black lyric for "The Phantom of the Opera" sequel. I prefer the original. The Phantom song was abandoned and the tune was recycled as "Our Kind of Love" in "The Beautiful Game". "Our Kind of Love" was cut from the latest productions of this show, leading way to the theory that the original "Heart..." may appear in the "Phantom" sequel opening next year.

Yes both songs are pretty much alike, though in the show, since "Nosferatu" grows to Lucy's Funeral, it did had a different tune. On the CD it doesn't so it look basicly like "his work..." I still like the song though.
As for "The Heart Is Slow To Learn" it may appear in the PotO sequel since the song is no longer (Thank God!) in Dracula. It was replaced for "Please don't make me love you" who should never had leaved the show when it opened on Broadway :P

But Frank does recicles many songs, so I find it no surprise at all. Look at "The Riddle" from Scarlet Pimpernel, that appears in at least 3 shows!:
- The Riddle - SP
- Good and Evil - J&H
- The writings on the wall - Rudolf.
:D

Yeah, I guess this is just one of the more blatant references I've been able to find in Frank's works. The version actually used in the Graz production is very similar to the one on the recording though.

You're definitely right about that melody. It's also used in "Master of the Strings" and I've heard possibly in a song being developed for "Havana." He seems to be partial to it

Oh yes "Master of the Strings a bit" though in the Hungarian version of it, with the orchestrations it lost almost all the connection with "The Riddle".
Truth be told "A Mester és a drot" is is my favourite song in Rudolf, and when I saw it staged in Budapest, it was just brilliant! The idea of tying everyone with "strings" and have Taaffe actually pulling them in the middle of the stage was amazing.

As for Havana is a show I'm actually very curious about, and since "In the Heights" won the Tony's this year, Frank could take the chance, since from what I heard the spirit of both shows are similar. I just hope he doesn cut "Same old Song and Dance" because its a really amazing song!

I don't hear the similarity in "The Riddle" and "Good & Evil" at all :blink: Show me some examples. Also interesting that "The Heart Is Slow To Learn" is not in the current versions of "Dracula"? Is this yet another sign that the original song from the Phantom sequel will emerge in next year's "Phantom, Once Upon Another Time"?

Just pick up the OBC of J&H and listen to the part after "An therefore all evil is good". Its not as similar as "The writings on the Wall" but it still is very "The Riddle" like ;)

And yes, "The Heart is slow to learn" was cuted right after the Broadway staging. Nor the St.Gallen production nor the Graz one included the song.

Actually, they're two totally different songs -- the one in Dracula was composed by Frank Wildhorn for the show, while the version for the POTO sequel was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber in the mid-1990s -- they have pretty much no connection except the title. Apparently, though, "Our Kind of Love" has been cut from all recent productions of The Beautiful Game because ALW intends to recycle the original version for the Phantom sequel, though Ben Elton has apparently been brought in to do the lyrics.

Personally, I wasn't too fond of either song -- I found ALW's version very trite, though the melody was pretty nice. Frank's one had a good melody and overall message, but the English lyrics kinda ruined it for me. (Ditto for "Before the Summer Ends.")

Fantasma:

I've had the OBC for 8 years and I still can't hear the similarity.

I haven't heard anything from "Rudolf" except "Only Love".

It's included in the studio recording from GlobalVision Records that still hasn't been released. Hmmm. I wonder if they'll drop the track?

Toru771:

I know that.

That was my guess. I didn't know it actually happened. If that's true, I couldn't be more thrilled :D

It's probably the most heartbreaking melody I've ever heard, with the exception of "Not Allowed to Love" from the "Batman" musical.

I didn't really care for Frank's version.

I think the German lyrics for "Before The Summer Ends" are AWFUL. I'm not a German language speaker, but the song now sounds like a big glottal mess. Maybe the translation is "pretty" though I guess. Phonetically, I don't like it.

BUT, I will admit that the English version does have some pretty corny lyrics. I still prefer it to the German one.

rockfenris2005:

Well then maybe its just me, but I can hear some resemblences. :P

I have no idea, but then again, in the GlobalVision recording "The perfect live" and "Loving you keeps me alive" are separated songs and they aren't separated since St.Gallen either so... I don't know if the many differences between the new version of Dracula and the Concept Recording aren't one of the reasons for it to not be released while the show doesn't get popular.

libradude:

I speak both German and English and the Lyrics to Dracula are still the biggest problem of the show. "Frost an einem Sommertag" (Before The Summer Ends) is just a remain of Don Blacks touch. The german lyrics are VERY similar to the english ones, therefore it still has all the awfulness of the original ones.
The translator, Hervin Talen, sometimes seems a bit bipolar...while in some songs he almost rewrites the entire song and makes it much better ("Master's song" and "If I had wings" are the best examples) in other songs he completly fails, and "Before the Summer ends" is the best example of that.

Hey,

I am new here, but I am a grat Frank Wildhorn lover so I thoguht it would be fun discussing with other people, who likes him,too ;-).

But back to topic. I am German and I have to agree that the German lyrics are partly awfull e.g. in "Lass mich dich nicht lieben" (Please don't make me love you) Mina sings "Bin ich nicht auf brav und bescheiden getrimmt".....Well, in my opinion thats sound more than stupid.

Another example is "Ein Leben Mehr". I think in that case they should have taken the lyrics from St. Gallen. Because lines as "Geh in die Welt und Zeig ihr dein Dunkles Potenzial"......well no comment. I think the chorus is also inferior to St. Gallen. In Graz it is"Ein Leben mehr das ist mein trost für deine Qual und du entkomst dem kühlen Grab. Brauchst kein Gebet, steigst nicht ins Totenriech hinab" I d on't know but it's sound VERY strange to mel, while the translation that was used in St. Gallen sound much lyrically to me.
Nevertheless I have to admit that I like the translation of "The Masters Song" and of "Nebel und Nacht" (The Mist).

I know my english isn't t he best, but I hope it is understandable anyway.

Yes I totaly agree. The lyrics of St.Gallen were much better in that song. I personaly think that "Lebt noch einmal" (Live once again) makes much more sence and sounds better than "Ein Leben mehr" (One more life)...allas there's no Gallen CD...

It is really a shame that the producton in St. Gallen wasn't recorded.
Besides that ,personally, I prefer Drew Sarich than Thomas Borchert, in my opinion the orchestrations were much more powerful in St. Gallen. Now Dracula sounds much more like a "rock-opera" like JCS than a great "pop-opera" like Jekyll & Hyde/Scarlet Pimpernel

I agree. Since "Jekyll & Hyde: Resurrection," the "rock-opera" approach seems to be more prevailant in recent productions of Frank's shows. However, I feel that Drew Sarich works best in the rock approach to the show (That's generally what his band performs) and Borchert would be best in a more traditional "pop-opera" production.

I actually like both approaches. The rock apparoach seems to work quite a bit better than it did with J & H (IMO).

Although I prefered the lyrics to St.Gallen, when it comes to orchestrations I think the Graz ones are far much better and suit best the show. The only orchestrations I really don't like in Graz are the ones for "Life after Life". The Gallen were much better, but even so, in that song, my favourite are still the B'way orchestrations. :D

As for Jekyll & Hyde...am I the only one who loves Ressurection to pieces? I mean I would really like the show to be orchestrated all with those orchestrations. I think it fits well the Musical. :P

I don't think the Resurrection orchestrations are awful, but I don't think they were neccisary. Like at the end of "Transformation" when they added a pointless 30+ second guitar solo. However, Resurrection really is a concept album for J & H. It's hard to know how well things would really work until a full production is done somewhere-- like you said.

For me, the "Complete Work" album still serves as the ultimate J & H recording. I also don't care for Rob Evan at all. He's no Cuccioli and definitely no Warlow. Also, besides a few riffs, he doesn't add anything particularly new to the role.

Yes that guitar solo at the end of "Transformation" is really unecessary and I honestly don't like it, but overall I think the orchestrations would work really well on a stage.
Of course the "Complete Work" is the ultimate recording, after all I can't remember any song wich isn't there, apart from Good & Evil and If you only knew, and Anthony is probably the best J&H in the english language, but I like Rob Evan in is place if Warlow is not available.

If it was meant to be a rock opera, like JCS, good. If it wasn't, don't play with it. I don't think J&H or "Dracula" were meant be rock operas and I don't think either one of them should have been played with.

Well although I don't know if any were meant to be rock operas, I still think they work better with that rock touch. Dracula sounds obviously much better, much more powerfull with that touch.
I don't consider them as Rock-Operas though because unlike JCS, Dracula and J&H are heavy on dialog too, and that is what I think separates them from JCS and the "Rock-Operas"

personally i love the reesurectin cd for j/h but if u think about the guitart solo in transformation that is such an active song that it would give the actor time to recoup be for the reprise