Nosferatu the Vampyre - The Musical!
(Thank you very much to bangles, who was nice enough to give this recording to me.)
So, one day, before Frank Wildhorn had even thought of making Dracula the Musical, this man thought it would be a great idea to make a musical out of Nosferatu. Yes, the Murnau film (he also, it seems, made musicals based on Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, and Much Ado About Nothing, among others). A group of people put it on in Ilinois, and also, apparently, in the UK somewhere, and they also made a concept recording. Which I now have.
In some ways, it's the most endearing thing in the world, even though the music is bad and the lyrics are worse. It's this random little thing that a group of people decided to make, and now it's out there, in the world. And the fact that anyone loves the Murnau Nosferatu enough to devote considerable time and effort into making a musical of it is a quite nice thought.
The musical itself is also probably one of the most hysterical things in the world.
Interestingly, though the names from Stoker's novel are restored (with the inexplicable exception of the title character himself, who is just called 'Nosferatu' throughout), the simplicity of the whole thing, particularly in the Jonathan/Mina (or should I say John/Ellen?) songs, is remarkably evocative of the atmosphere of the Murnau film. Whenever the Count gets involved, that accuracy rather devolves, but it's present for at least some of the musical.
We open with a solo for Van Helsing (who is played by Mark Wynter), called "Wild Talk of Vampires". It starts out as a mediocre Frank Wildhorn imitation and then, about thirty seconds in, turns into...some sort of techno dance music thing. I don't know, don't ask me. And it includes the line "some folk will swear that many stalk our shires/but there can be no truth in that", which should give you some idea of the type of lyrics in this musical. But then there's a reference to venus flytraps, which won me over instantly, as any who has laughed over Van Helsing character in the Murnau movie should understand.
Oh, and just so you all know, apparently the Count "once was a man of science/who sought to find the holy grail". Bernard J. Taylor, dear, I think that's Magnus you're thinking of, but that's all right.
Because of course we have to start this show with not only a ballad for Van Helsing but also one for the Count (who is played by Peter Karrie), next we have "Somewhere at the Edges of Creation", which sounds rather more interesting than it is, to be honest. Mostly I just laugh over Peter Karrie's character voice.
"Men may put it down to dreams, but however strange it seems, there can be no doubt that I exist!" Of course, dear. (This musical makes me want to condescend to the characters.)
Oh, I know what this song's like! An imitation of a Disney villain song! Really, really like that.
The third song, probably my favorite, is "Unspoken Thoughts", sung by Jonathan and Mina (Mario Frangoulis and Claire Moore, respectively). It's my primary reason for saying that this musical evokes the movie that it's based on. This song is so...simple and conversational. It's Jonathan proposing to Mina, and is very sweet, in the "Ellen playing with a kitten and John bringing her flowers" way of the movie.
(Also, what other musical has "we've discussed so many things: the fate of bygone kings, the things they've said, the books we've read, the weather" as a lyric?)
Next is "Mixed Feelings" (love these songs titles, don't you?) where...Mina and Jonathan tell Lucy (Annalene Beechey) about their engagement? I guess. But Lucy's characterization in this musical is so random and confusing that I really don't get it. I think Lucy says something about how she wishes Jonathan picked her instead of Mina which is just really, really weird. She also says "Maybe now that you've left the field, some man will look at me". Hello, Lucy, what about those three proposals? I think it's just a device to make Mina sound really irresistable, but that's stupid.
After that is "Opportunity", where Renfield (Barry James) tells Jonathan about his job out in Transylvania. Like the rest of the musical, this song is just so odd, with the combination of ridiculous character voices, repetitive techno background music, the conversational lyrics mingled with some that are just really funny. It's like something out of an odd dream.
Another song right out of the Murnau film! "Disturbed", where Mina tells Jonathan about her fears for him in Transylvania. This includes the lyric: "This news has made me sad/No one would expect you to be glad". Well. All right, then.
Next is a hopelessly generic solo of the Count's, called "Night". There really are too many random solos in this musical. I can't imagine how it would be staged. True, there's probably dialogue that ties it together more effectively, but the lyrics are so conversational that this could easily be an opera or operetta.
If you listen carefully to this solo, you realize that he's actually saying that all the peasants in Transylvania commit incest, and thus their blood doesn't taste good.
Back to Mina and Jonathan! Another duet, this one called "Wherever you Are", that's really sort of unneccesary if "Disturbed" is also here. And, about the song...well, do you all know that animated Thumbelina movie from about a dozen years ago? And that song that Thumbelina and the fairy prince sang together? That's what this song is like.
In the next song, Renfield has gone overtly crazy and been brought to the mental asylum, and sings a solo called "And Sheep Shall Not Safely Graze". I think this is the song containing the immortal line "There on the wall, I see a fly/Little fly, you are about to die". Or maybe that's "Worms Feed On My Brains". Renfield's solos are slightly interchangeable.
Finally, Jonathan leaves. Truly, this is probably the longest it's taken for Jonathan to start heading to Transylvania in any version of the story. At this point, Bernard J. Taylor does something quite interesting that I must admit I don't entirely understand. He gives that innkeeper who seems to by neccesity appear in every version of the story...his own solo! Called "The Miller's Daughter". It serves absolutely no purpose, with regards to either plot or theme, but it gives me the satisfactory amusement of hearing that hysterical accent.
After that, we have "Don't Go!" where the Transylvanian villagers entreat Jonathan to, you've got, it not go to the Count's castle. See what I mean about parts of this being taken right from Murnau?
In "Nosferatu's Welcome" and "So Young", we get all those meeting scenes that the Murnau film so excelled at. I'm not sure how they'd be staged, but that's all right. I'm perfectly content listening to them and reading Dracula/Jonathan - no, excuse me, Nosferatu/Jonathan - into them.
Flash back to Whitby, or wherever the musical is setting their story. Mina tells Lucy "I Cannot Sleep", in a song that really is rather pointless. Lucy serves as a generic friend, making her earlier revelation about loving Jonathan rather confusing.
Next...the Vampire Brides are here? When did that happen? I thought we were adhering to Murnau? Oh, no matter. We have a song called "Temptation" which is worse than the Dracula the Musical Demo's "First Taste" and far worse than all other versions of Dracula the Musical's "Forever Young." All right, since the Vampire Brides are impressively incongruous in this version.
Oddly, we next get an ensemble number called "Blasphemy!" (yes, with the exclamation point) where all the villagers discuss Renfield. Oddly, this is directly out of Murnau. Well, the messy harmonies aren't.
Another solo for Renfield! "Nature's Symmetry". It's extinguishable from the earlier one.
Here, I think we're at the end of act one, in a song call "Excuse Me While I Disappear". Someone should use that as a title for a Dracula parody. Here, it's a Dracula and Van Helsing duet, and really very amusing. I won't even begin to quote, because then I'll be here all day.
"A Lot of Fear" begins the second act, and it's a solo by Van Helsing which sounds...well, exactly like the solo by Van Helsing that began the first act. Except here, he actually believes in vampires. Huge character arc there.
Next, an ensemble number called "Ship of the Dead", where all the townspeople discuss the ship the Count arrived on, filled with dead sailors and rats. Listening to this song, and thinking about the sublime boat scene of the Murnau film, I am convinced that it would be possible to make an odd, haunting little musical based on that film. But this isn't it. Its existence is still endearing, though.
Then "Seduction", where the Count comes to visit Mina, on the initial premise that he's delivering a message from Jonathan. It's really rather weird. I don't trust "getting to Mina through Jonathan" versions of the Count, not when they manifest themselves like that.
After that, the Count and Mina go off and soliliquize with question marks in, respectively "What is Happening to Me?" and "Am I Awake?". Both songs are terribly (and I mean terribly) out of character, but I find "Am I Awake?" personally insulting, while "What Is Happening to Me?" is really just sort of pathetic. And, in concept, at least, reminds me of Angelo's infamous soliloquy in Measure for Measure.
Another ensemble number. "Pestilence". Guess what it's about. I think you'll be right. The harmonies give me a headache. Stop the ensemble numbers, please, they're pointless.
Van Helsing goes to visit Mina! To ask her to have sex with the Count in order to kill him! The song is "Sacrifice", and I don't remember any of this from the Murnau film. But it's oddly believable for novel!Van Helsing. See also The Waking Undead.
Mina then sings "If I Do It...", which is a song that greatly wants to be "If I Could Fly" - an impressive ambition, given that "If I Could Fly" hadn't been written yet. This contains such lyrics as "Should I do it?/Could I do it?/If I did it what would become of me?" It's so incredibly funny.
At that point, we finally get back to Jonathan. He's taking "Refuge" at a convent. This song I actually like, because Jonathan's frantic worrying about Mina is really quite endearing. Oh, Jonathan.
Next, the Count sings "Come To Me", which I rather assumed was to Mina but, upon later examination, is actually to Lucy. Gods, Lucy is confusing in this version. And, at this point, the musical gets really confusing.
Because then Mina sings "Poor Wretched Man". It's not clear, but I think it's to Renfield. Who then sings "Worms Feed on My Brains", and promptly dies. Cue for the ensemble to sing "Waiting for the Light" (was this also in Next to Normal?), and the Count to sing the jazz/blues song "Point of Singularity" about how pointless his life has been (oh, really). And then...something happens, and Mina's a mess, and Jonathan gets home, and...well, I guess she has sex with the Count, and then he died, because she's singing a strangely bitter and anachronistic song, "The Girl You Let Behind", and then he's confused (as are we all), and without warning, they're sining "Reconciliation" and are, well, reconciling, and...
oh, the musical's over. That was confusing.
Yes, I will upload this upon request. ;)
So, one day, before Frank Wildhorn had even thought of making Dracula the Musical, this man thought it would be a great idea to make a musical out of Nosferatu. Yes, the Murnau film (he also, it seems, made musicals based on Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, and Much Ado About Nothing, among others). A group of people put it on in Ilinois, and also, apparently, in the UK somewhere, and they also made a concept recording. Which I now have.
In some ways, it's the most endearing thing in the world, even though the music is bad and the lyrics are worse. It's this random little thing that a group of people decided to make, and now it's out there, in the world. And the fact that anyone loves the Murnau Nosferatu enough to devote considerable time and effort into making a musical of it is a quite nice thought.
The musical itself is also probably one of the most hysterical things in the world.
Interestingly, though the names from Stoker's novel are restored (with the inexplicable exception of the title character himself, who is just called 'Nosferatu' throughout), the simplicity of the whole thing, particularly in the Jonathan/Mina (or should I say John/Ellen?) songs, is remarkably evocative of the atmosphere of the Murnau film. Whenever the Count gets involved, that accuracy rather devolves, but it's present for at least some of the musical.
We open with a solo for Van Helsing (who is played by Mark Wynter), called "Wild Talk of Vampires". It starts out as a mediocre Frank Wildhorn imitation and then, about thirty seconds in, turns into...some sort of techno dance music thing. I don't know, don't ask me. And it includes the line "some folk will swear that many stalk our shires/but there can be no truth in that", which should give you some idea of the type of lyrics in this musical. But then there's a reference to venus flytraps, which won me over instantly, as any who has laughed over Van Helsing character in the Murnau movie should understand.
Oh, and just so you all know, apparently the Count "once was a man of science/who sought to find the holy grail". Bernard J. Taylor, dear, I think that's Magnus you're thinking of, but that's all right.
Because of course we have to start this show with not only a ballad for Van Helsing but also one for the Count (who is played by Peter Karrie), next we have "Somewhere at the Edges of Creation", which sounds rather more interesting than it is, to be honest. Mostly I just laugh over Peter Karrie's character voice.
"Men may put it down to dreams, but however strange it seems, there can be no doubt that I exist!" Of course, dear. (This musical makes me want to condescend to the characters.)
Oh, I know what this song's like! An imitation of a Disney villain song! Really, really like that.
The third song, probably my favorite, is "Unspoken Thoughts", sung by Jonathan and Mina (Mario Frangoulis and Claire Moore, respectively). It's my primary reason for saying that this musical evokes the movie that it's based on. This song is so...simple and conversational. It's Jonathan proposing to Mina, and is very sweet, in the "Ellen playing with a kitten and John bringing her flowers" way of the movie.
(Also, what other musical has "we've discussed so many things: the fate of bygone kings, the things they've said, the books we've read, the weather" as a lyric?)
Next is "Mixed Feelings" (love these songs titles, don't you?) where...Mina and Jonathan tell Lucy (Annalene Beechey) about their engagement? I guess. But Lucy's characterization in this musical is so random and confusing that I really don't get it. I think Lucy says something about how she wishes Jonathan picked her instead of Mina which is just really, really weird. She also says "Maybe now that you've left the field, some man will look at me". Hello, Lucy, what about those three proposals? I think it's just a device to make Mina sound really irresistable, but that's stupid.
After that is "Opportunity", where Renfield (Barry James) tells Jonathan about his job out in Transylvania. Like the rest of the musical, this song is just so odd, with the combination of ridiculous character voices, repetitive techno background music, the conversational lyrics mingled with some that are just really funny. It's like something out of an odd dream.
Another song right out of the Murnau film! "Disturbed", where Mina tells Jonathan about her fears for him in Transylvania. This includes the lyric: "This news has made me sad/No one would expect you to be glad". Well. All right, then.
Next is a hopelessly generic solo of the Count's, called "Night". There really are too many random solos in this musical. I can't imagine how it would be staged. True, there's probably dialogue that ties it together more effectively, but the lyrics are so conversational that this could easily be an opera or operetta.
If you listen carefully to this solo, you realize that he's actually saying that all the peasants in Transylvania commit incest, and thus their blood doesn't taste good.
Back to Mina and Jonathan! Another duet, this one called "Wherever you Are", that's really sort of unneccesary if "Disturbed" is also here. And, about the song...well, do you all know that animated Thumbelina movie from about a dozen years ago? And that song that Thumbelina and the fairy prince sang together? That's what this song is like.
In the next song, Renfield has gone overtly crazy and been brought to the mental asylum, and sings a solo called "And Sheep Shall Not Safely Graze". I think this is the song containing the immortal line "There on the wall, I see a fly/Little fly, you are about to die". Or maybe that's "Worms Feed On My Brains". Renfield's solos are slightly interchangeable.
Finally, Jonathan leaves. Truly, this is probably the longest it's taken for Jonathan to start heading to Transylvania in any version of the story. At this point, Bernard J. Taylor does something quite interesting that I must admit I don't entirely understand. He gives that innkeeper who seems to by neccesity appear in every version of the story...his own solo! Called "The Miller's Daughter". It serves absolutely no purpose, with regards to either plot or theme, but it gives me the satisfactory amusement of hearing that hysterical accent.
After that, we have "Don't Go!" where the Transylvanian villagers entreat Jonathan to, you've got, it not go to the Count's castle. See what I mean about parts of this being taken right from Murnau?
In "Nosferatu's Welcome" and "So Young", we get all those meeting scenes that the Murnau film so excelled at. I'm not sure how they'd be staged, but that's all right. I'm perfectly content listening to them and reading Dracula/Jonathan - no, excuse me, Nosferatu/Jonathan - into them.
Flash back to Whitby, or wherever the musical is setting their story. Mina tells Lucy "I Cannot Sleep", in a song that really is rather pointless. Lucy serves as a generic friend, making her earlier revelation about loving Jonathan rather confusing.
Next...the Vampire Brides are here? When did that happen? I thought we were adhering to Murnau? Oh, no matter. We have a song called "Temptation" which is worse than the Dracula the Musical Demo's "First Taste" and far worse than all other versions of Dracula the Musical's "Forever Young." All right, since the Vampire Brides are impressively incongruous in this version.
Oddly, we next get an ensemble number called "Blasphemy!" (yes, with the exclamation point) where all the villagers discuss Renfield. Oddly, this is directly out of Murnau. Well, the messy harmonies aren't.
Another solo for Renfield! "Nature's Symmetry". It's extinguishable from the earlier one.
Here, I think we're at the end of act one, in a song call "Excuse Me While I Disappear". Someone should use that as a title for a Dracula parody. Here, it's a Dracula and Van Helsing duet, and really very amusing. I won't even begin to quote, because then I'll be here all day.
"A Lot of Fear" begins the second act, and it's a solo by Van Helsing which sounds...well, exactly like the solo by Van Helsing that began the first act. Except here, he actually believes in vampires. Huge character arc there.
Next, an ensemble number called "Ship of the Dead", where all the townspeople discuss the ship the Count arrived on, filled with dead sailors and rats. Listening to this song, and thinking about the sublime boat scene of the Murnau film, I am convinced that it would be possible to make an odd, haunting little musical based on that film. But this isn't it. Its existence is still endearing, though.
Then "Seduction", where the Count comes to visit Mina, on the initial premise that he's delivering a message from Jonathan. It's really rather weird. I don't trust "getting to Mina through Jonathan" versions of the Count, not when they manifest themselves like that.
After that, the Count and Mina go off and soliliquize with question marks in, respectively "What is Happening to Me?" and "Am I Awake?". Both songs are terribly (and I mean terribly) out of character, but I find "Am I Awake?" personally insulting, while "What Is Happening to Me?" is really just sort of pathetic. And, in concept, at least, reminds me of Angelo's infamous soliloquy in Measure for Measure.
Another ensemble number. "Pestilence". Guess what it's about. I think you'll be right. The harmonies give me a headache. Stop the ensemble numbers, please, they're pointless.
Van Helsing goes to visit Mina! To ask her to have sex with the Count in order to kill him! The song is "Sacrifice", and I don't remember any of this from the Murnau film. But it's oddly believable for novel!Van Helsing. See also The Waking Undead.
Mina then sings "If I Do It...", which is a song that greatly wants to be "If I Could Fly" - an impressive ambition, given that "If I Could Fly" hadn't been written yet. This contains such lyrics as "Should I do it?/Could I do it?/If I did it what would become of me?" It's so incredibly funny.
At that point, we finally get back to Jonathan. He's taking "Refuge" at a convent. This song I actually like, because Jonathan's frantic worrying about Mina is really quite endearing. Oh, Jonathan.
Next, the Count sings "Come To Me", which I rather assumed was to Mina but, upon later examination, is actually to Lucy. Gods, Lucy is confusing in this version. And, at this point, the musical gets really confusing.
Because then Mina sings "Poor Wretched Man". It's not clear, but I think it's to Renfield. Who then sings "Worms Feed on My Brains", and promptly dies. Cue for the ensemble to sing "Waiting for the Light" (was this also in Next to Normal?), and the Count to sing the jazz/blues song "Point of Singularity" about how pointless his life has been (oh, really). And then...something happens, and Mina's a mess, and Jonathan gets home, and...well, I guess she has sex with the Count, and then he died, because she's singing a strangely bitter and anachronistic song, "The Girl You Let Behind", and then he's confused (as are we all), and without warning, they're sining "Reconciliation" and are, well, reconciling, and...
oh, the musical's over. That was confusing.
Yes, I will upload this upon request. ;)