This means ‘War’
Claudia Figueroa
The Civil War was one of the bloodiest, most brutal eras in U.S. history,
so why would anyone want to write a Broadway musical about it?
“It’s not so much the subject matter of a musical, but the way the
material moves people,” said Frank Wildhorn, the composer behind the
musical “The Civil War.”
“There are many subjects that wouldn’t necessarily sound interesting
until you see it in the form of well-written musical production. Look at
‘Evita’; it’s based on the life of an Argentinian dictator’s wife. You
might not say that’s a typical idea for a musical.”
Before writing the score for “The Civil War,” which opens Tuesday at the
Orange County Performing Arts Center, Wildhorn looked to fiction and
narratives such as “Gone With the Wind,” “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and other
writings that were inspired by that era.
Wildhorn said when he writes a musical, he chooses a subject matter that
he can shed new light on.
“The best way to tell a story is to make it personal,” said Wildhorn, who
added that it was his son’s lack of interest in history that inspired him
to write the show. “I never thought the textbooks and lectures inspired
the kind of passion that the subject should have. “
Of the three musicals written by Wildhorn--which also include “Jekyll &
Hyde” and “The Scarlet Pimpernel”--”The Civil War” is the most
controversial.
In it, Wildhorn said his thoughts of patriotism are portrayed by American
icons and tragic moments, such as a scene where a Union soldier holds his
dying brother in his arms on the battlefield or the moment an
African-American man realizes his wife will be sold to a different
landowner.
To bring a deeper sense of reality to his work, Wildhorn toured an
underground railroad in Cincinnati and spent a great deal of time
researching family diaries from that era. He also toured the battlefields
at Gettysburg, Vicksburg and Fredericksburg.
“The Civil War marked the end to more than a presidency; historically
speaking, it took us in a whole new different direction,” said Wildhorn,
41, who earned a degree in history from USC in the 1980s.
The musical’s leading men, country singer Larry Gatlin and gospel singer
BeBe Winans, will perform a variety of pop-oriented tunes that have
country, gospel, folk, rock and soul influences.
Prior to the show’s production, Wildhorn wrote 10 songs, each for a
different character. He then asked a group of recording artists, such as
Patti LaBelle, Hootie and the Blowfish, Trisha Yearwood and Dr. John, to
record the songs on a demo to get a better feel for the final score.
Wildhorn said when he was in his early 20s and breaking into the
publishing business, writing musicals of this caliber was just a passing
thought. At the time, Wildhorn was composing songs for musical
productions at USC. Music publishers, hearing about Wildhorn’s talent
through the grapevine, went to the shows to meet him.
Wildhorn’s first published song, “Where Do Broken Hearts Go,” was
recorded in the early 1980s by Whitney Houston. That song led to other
offers from Kenny Rogers and Natalie Cole.
Almost 20 years later, Wildhorn said he isn’t far removed from that era.
“Success doesn’t drive me to write the music I write,” he said. “It’s a
great feeling when you hear people outside the theater singing your
songs.”
And Wildhorn continues mining the vein of unusual musical subjects--he is
working on a project about the legend of Bonnie and Clyde.
FYI
WHAT: “The Civil War,” starring Larry Gatlin and BeBe Winans
WHERE: The Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive,
Costa Mesa
WHEN: 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; and 2 and
7:30 p.m. Sundays. Through June 11.
HOW MUCH: $18 to $52
TELEPHONE: (714) 556-2787
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