Frank Wildhorn is an American Musical Theatre and Pop Music composer. He was born of the 29th November 1959 in Harlem, spent his childhood in Queens and then moved to Hollywood at the age of 14. After High School he went to Miami's Dade College but after a year transferred to the University of Southern California (USC) where he studied history and philosophy. He also worked in the Los Angeles area in clubs as a musician. Whilst at USC he started to develop his writing and persuaded the drama department of the college to perform his work Christopher. Although it has never been performed since it attracted Chrysallis Records to Wildhorn's music and they offered him a song publishing deal. Over the next few years Frank wrote over 250 songs which were published and recorded by artists such as Kenny Rogers, Sammy Davis Jr, and Natalie Cole and included his co-write with Chuck Jackson on the song Where Do Broken Hearts Go which was a hit for Whitney Houston.

Writing for Musicals

Despite his success as a songwriter Frank still had a strong fascination with musical theatre and 1990 saw the first production of his musical Jekyll & Hyde which saw Leslie Bricusse collaborate with him as lyricist. The show had several recordings and versions of songs and included maybe Wildhorn's most famous musical theatre numer This is the Moment which went on to be sung, in 1996, at Bill Clinton's presidential inauguration. After several re-writes the show opened on Broadway in 1997 at the Plymouth Theater. Although the critics were harsh the production ran for 1563 performances eventually closing on January 5th 2001. During the audition process he met his wife-to-be Linda Eder who went on to star in the show. They married in 1998. 1998 also saw the opening of Wildhorn's second Broadway show The Scarlet Pimpernel, again the show was not showered in praise from the critics but again featured some soaring Wildhorn songs. Nat Knighton was the lyricist for this second Broadway show. It opened at the Minskoff Theater before closing and reopening a year later at the Neil Simon Theater. In 1999 Wildhorn became the first composer in over 25 years to have three Broadway shows running at the same time when his first work with lyricist Jack Murphy opened at the St. James Theater. The Civil War was a collection of songs 'more suited to radio than Broadway' as far as the critics were concerned. The show ran only two months before closing. Wildhorn is an self-proclaimed workaholic and since 2003 has created numerous new projects. Camille Claudel had it's World Premiere at The Norma Terris Theatre in 2003, followed by Dracula, which had lyrics by Christopher Hampton and Don Black, which, after being first produced in 2001 had subsequent performances in St. Gallen, Switzerland in 2005 and Graz in 2007. Waiting For The Moon was another which was lyricised by Jack Murphy premiered in July 2005 before Cyrano de Bergerac opened in Japan in 2006. His most recent new venture on Broadway was the 2009 production of Wonderland based on 'Alice in Wonderland' with his most recent work being Artus - Excalibur which opened in St Gallen, Switzerland in March of 2014. Wildhorn has also been busy in recent years with new shows, new productions and new stagings of his works. Death Note, a musical which reunites Wildhorn with lyricist Jack Murphy, has had a New York reading in preparation for its April 2015 launch in Japan at the Nissay Theatre in Tokyo before moving on to Seoul in South Korea for July & August of 2015. Dracula is being staged in Seoul in 2014, Rudolf is also being performed in Seoul in October, and Carmen in being staged in Japan.

The Official Website of Frank Wildhorn
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Selected list of musicals for which Frank Wildhorn has composed songs;

• Jekyll & Hyde (1990) [Alley Theater 1990, Plymouth Theater Broadway 1997] Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse
• Svengali (1991) [Alley Theater]
• The Scarlet Pimpernel (1997) [Minskoff Theater Broadway] Lyrics by Nat Knighton
• The Civil War (1998) [Alley Theater] Lyrics by Jack Murphy
• Camille Claudel (2003) [Norma Terris Theater]
• Dracula, the Musical (2001) [La Jolla Playhouse] Lyrics by Christopher Hampton and Don Black
• Waiting for the Moon (2005) [Lenape Performing Arts Center] Lyrics by Jack Murphy
• Cyrano do Bergerac The Musical (2006) [Japan]
• Rudolf - The Last Kiss (2006) [Budapest Operetta Theater]
• The Count of Monte Cristo (2009) [Theater St. Gallen, Switzerland] Lyrics by Jack Murphy
• Bonnie & Clyde (2009) [La Jolla Playhouse] Lyrics by Don Black
• Wonderland (2009) [The David A Straz Center for the Performing Arts] [2011 Broadway] Lyrics by Jack Murphy
• Artus - Excalibur (2014) [Theater St. Gallen, Switzerland] Lyrics by Robin Lerner
• Death Note (2015) [Nissay Theatre, Tokyo, Japan] Lyrics by Jack Murphy