Frank Wildhorn’s music inspires passionate responses. From his admirers, there’s an almost religious appreciation of his melodic gifts and his willingness to put emotion front and center.
Jekyll & Hyde devotees have returned to the show dozens of times, and they responded with fervor when the New York Times recently dared to label Wildhorn a “lesser” theatre composer.
The Scarlet Pimpernel‘s fans have made every InTheatre cover featuring the show a sellout. On the other hand, the Times‘ Ben Brantley declared that the J&H score “makes Sunset Boulevard sound like Parsifal,” and Michael Feingold of The Village Voice was moved by the revised Pimpernel to say: “The score being by Frank Wildhorn, there was no way to improve it except by shooting him and starting over with an actual composer.”
Wildhorn – who, with The Civil War, became the first American composer in more than two decades to have three shows running on Broadway simultaneously – remains cheerfully oblivious to his detractors. “The only time I spend second-guessing the critics is when I talk to people like you,” the composer says.
“They have nothing to do with the impetus of my writing. I’ve seen so many producers, directors and composers talk more about the critics when they’re creating a piece than about the people who pay for tickets! I hate that. If anything has been shown out in my little career so far, it’s that the people speak louder than anyone.
At the end of the day, if you’ve written something from your heart that is honest and visceral and not contrived, people respond. I am not a sophisticated theatregoer; I’m a man of the people.”
“You’ve got to remember something,” Wildhorn goes on. “I’m still a baby in this business. It’s not like I’ve been around for 20 years and written 15 shows and they’ve all been trashed. I’ve written three shows. Yes, a lot of the New York critics were not kind to Jekyll & Hyde; but there are critics all over the world who have been very kind to the show.
The fact of the matter is, the gods have been good to us in the last few years. I know that there’s a target on my back half the time because I don’t apologize for the pop music vocabulary I use. And these are people who are not going to like what I do no matter what. But I forgive them. We’ve all been wrong, and they’re wrong. What else can I say?”
Speaking during Civil War previews, Wildhorn expressed delight with the development of what was supposed to be a history-based song score. “I never wrote The Civil War to be a Broadway musical,” he insists. “The intention was to create an emotional and musical tapestry of America in those times, but in a way that a younger generation would be able to embrace because of the accessibility of the music.
Therefore, the double album recording and the educational scenario and the Broadway show and especially the tour – they’re all important, and together, they create this thing, this entertainment called The Civil War.That’s a different head space than saying, ‘I’m going to write a Broadway show.'”
Wildhorn, who had a number-one hit a decade ago with Whitney Houstons “Where Do Broken Hearts Go?”, makes no apologies for having turned to country and pop stars like Hootie & the Blowfish and Trisha Yearwood for the concept album of The Civil War. “I started this project saying, ‘Here’s the challenge: Let’s get the entire score recorded by major artists before we ever do the show. In fact, if we don’t get the credibility and validation that you can only get from popular recording artists, maybe we shouldn’t do the show.’
The fact that these artists have a bigger audience than a traditional theatre audience – or can make the theatre audience bigger – to me, that’s a positive.”
And yet, when the decision was made to present The Civil War on Broadway, Wildhorn chose the ultimate Broadway insider, Jerry Zaks, to direct. “Yes, he brings that incredible theatre savvy and the ability to make things dramatic,” the composer says of Zaks, “but the thing I like more about Jerry is that he shares with me a heart and soul for the music. He was never afraid to let it be performed in the visceral, real way it should be. There are no Broadway ‘quotes’ around the way the songs are performed; it’s not a Broadway version of a style, it’s the style itself.
As intelligent as Jerry is, as sophisticated a theatre guy as he is, he’s also a real guy with heart and soul.”
The Civil War mixes pretty ballads (“Virginia,” “Last Waltz With Dixie”) with stirring anthems (“By the Sword,” “Freedom’s Child”), giving equal time to the Union, the Confederacy and the slaves. “When I see a mixed audience of black and white, North and South sitting in that theatre, it gives me chills,” Wildhorn says. “They’re experiencing why the country is what it is – and we’re still dealing with all this stuff. We hear from a lot of African-Americans who say, ‘Thank you for articulating my feelings.’ The feedback we’re getting is enormous and passionate, which is just what I’d hoped for.”
With no less than seven future shows listed in his bio (Havana, Alice, Dracula, Ali, Svengali, Casanova, Blade Runner), Wildhorn’s most exciting upcoming project is a personal one: having a baby in August with his wife of a year, Linda Eder. (He’s already the dad of 13-year-old Justin.) “It’s very exciting,” he says. “We know [the baby’s sex], but Linda would like to keep that private for a while.”
And how does it feel to have three musicals on Broadway? “Great,” he says with a laugh. “My mother’s kvelling. But I don’t wake up in the morning about think about how many I’m doing, I just try to do the best work I can. It’s not about the end to me; it’s about the journey.”
