[Da_Dark_Dude]

Hello there, just researching roles here and came across Dracula: The Musical and I can find no information/audio on it at all bar the website that is doing the official recording.

Does anyone have any more information on this musical and/or audio samples/files?

[Apples2for10]

Here ya go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracula%2C_The_Musical

Hope it helps!

[Sweeney Hyde]

They keep telling us that the recording will be released soon...but it has been like three years almost since the show was on Broadway and still no recording. I for one really want to hear it. I was actually in NYC on its opening night...I read the reviews the morning after...ouch. It only lasted a few months on Broadway. I have been searching for info on it as well and there really isn't that much...*sigh*...they just need to get the recording out and I will be content...for a while lol

[Jekkienumber24601]

www.davidweitzer.com/multimedia.html


www.guy-lemonnier.com/sounds.htm

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=58566720


All the above have sound clips from the show.

The final one is the whole song Deep in the Darkest Night from the offical recording.

[Sweeney Hyde]

Those are Great!

What official recording are you talking about? I just checked amazon and it still says that the 2006 studio recording is "currently unavailable"

[Da_Dark_Dude]

wowthank you vey much, you're amazing

the recording is complete, but not yet realeased, it will b released under the same label as the J&H resurection album

[Sweeney Hyde]

Do you know of a date?

EDIT: Nevermind...I was just at the recroder's site...ugh that's frustrating when the just say, "Comming Soon!"

[Jekkienumber24601]

It is frustrating. The reason DITDN is on myspace is I convinced Jeremy Roberts to make a myspace page for better publicity. I miss the good old days when we assumed it was coming out april 06. Jekyll got pushed to August and Dracula is indefinate. Speculation is it was put off because of the James Barbour courtcase that was going on.

[Marian]

I just need a sound clip of Life After Life for MP3! I'd like that. I love that one. In English Please ^_^

[dcrowley]

I have heard sooooo many terrible things about this musical, but I have been listening to the CD religiously and I really LOVE it. I think it's terrible that it didn't last long on Bway. Oh well C'est La vie.

[Salome]

I own a bootlef dvd of it. except for Missy Errico and Tom Hewitt..along with soem good costumes and effects..its junk.

[Sweeney Hyde]

[dcrowley]

Well... I think it is the concept album?

[Sweeney Hyde]

Yes. So you have the actual CD? I didn't see that they had released it!

*runs off to amazon*

[SilverQuill]

If someone does have this CD (or a way of getting the mp3s) for this musical, could you tell me how you got it? Or think you could send me the music?

[krisavalon]

The concept album has never been released, but it's been traded extensively online. I acquired it through a Yahoo Group that specializes in trading these types of recordings.

[Anno_Domini]

Having listened to Wildhorn's music before, I was certain that he wasn't the reason for the show's utter floppage. So I checked around online and actually found the libretto for the show

...I could not believe how much it stunk. The book, the lyrics, the character and plot development...all rubbish, except for the music (based on the clips I'd heard from the cd, it was wonderful, if a bit poppish)

[Salome]

the music is just as bad as the lyri\cs. too poppish ,not memorable..very repetitive.

[Anno_Domini]

Songs do not have to be "memorable" to be good, per se. Simply enjoyable, and Wildhorn's music delivers that. However, I will agree that pop-ness and repetition (i.e. constant use of ballads) is something that Wildhorn needs to fix in order to improve his shows.

[Salome]

hmm let me see..you call Fredrick Loewe's brilliant music to my fair lady bland but praise Wildhorn. something is drastically wrong.

seriously..Dracula was terrible musically,lyrically and book wise. and only Missy Errico and Tom Hewitt made it watchable.

[Anno_Domini]

What can I say? In the past, Wildhorn's music has given me goosebumps that Loewe's has only touched upon. I can't argue with goosebumps.

It should be noted, though, that I have not yet heard the music from Camelot, so I shall not pass judgment on the composer, only My Fair Lady

[Salome]

everyhing Lerner and Loewe wrote is far superior to even wildhorn's best (Scarlet Pimpernel)

My Fair Lady and Camelot are thewir finest works together. Camelot to me gives me goosembumps..makes me cry,laugh..gives me a full rush of emotions.

Yo uneed to buy the DVD of the 1982 breoadway revival with Richard harris. sheer brilliance.

[santtu]

[Monsieur D'Arque]

I've always wondered this, Salome. What is your ideal musical palate and genre for a musical to be written in. You tend to have a dislike for pop influence, so where does your taste lie? Are you a believer in the neo-opera, the jazz palate, etc?

[Salome]

I think the music needs to reflect the pice..the characters need a voice in the lyrics and music.rrpop/rock works in modern set shows like Chess or Rent but not in victorian pieces.rrJazz influence works gret in early to mid 20th century pieces but not in elizabethan or biblical obviously. let the genre and score fit as well as the words to them usic.

[Sweeney Hyde]

^In other words, keep it realistic to what was heard durring the time period the show takes place?

If that's the case what musical genre should have been used for Children of Eden? Joseph...Dreamcoat?

Parade has strands of pop in its score, but you have praised it as the best show of the past decade, save maybe Grey Gardens.





As far as Dracula goes...I think it could be good with a MAJOR re-write. In other words, scrap most of the songs in place of ones that don't all sound like crappy pop songs, keep the characters closer to the original novel (example being don't make Dracula sympathizable...he made a deal with the Devil so he could live forever...), make the music darker and more orchestral and classical sounding, give more for Dracula to do, etc., etc., etc.

[Salome]

no i dont mean that exactly but it should give the sense of it. Loewe used laot of viennese influence in his scores..now gigi seems very french in spite of it.but wildhorn never cares if his characters sing in their own voice.

[Mungojerrie_rt]

I realise that this may me a stupid question, but does this have anything to do with 'Tanz Der Vampire'? Only I heard that when they changed it to English for broadway they rewrote it a lot and subsequently made it a flop. This might be the same thing.

Or completely different.

[Anno_Domini]

Composers are faced with choices. In writing a period piece, they may prefer to write the score so that it reflects the emotions, thoughts, and/or personalities and still seems appropriate to the period; or they could write a score that reflects the thoughts, emotions, and/or personality of the characters regardless of genre or time, choosing instead not to hinder their music with chronological correctness, allowing for more flexibility.

Shows such as My Fair Lady and Man of La Mancha fall into the former category, wheras shows such as Parade and The Phantom of the Opera fall into the latter.

Then there are shows such as Wicked, Into the Woods, Pippin, A Funny Thing...Forum, Joseph...Dreamcoat, and Jesus Christ Superstar, in which the settings are imaginative, or else too far back in time to find a distinct form of music. In these cases, the genres are left entirely up to the composer's discretion.

All of these are masterful shows (...well, except perhaps Wicked), and are much-beloved additions to the canon of musical theatre. Why? Because the composers flourish in the choices they have made in writing their scores.

As I always say, in the end, whichever style is better, is nothing more than a matter of opinion