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re: Jim's Lost Projects

Posted by:
steven_stuart 03:55 pm UTC 05/07/21
In reply to: Jim's Lost Projects - rockfenris2005 03:08 pm UTC 05/07/21

Wow Ryan. You really are The Historian. Like JD said the other day, your work is important. I guess it is sad that The Dream Engine didn't become the big New York hit that Joe Papp said it would be but I don't really see it as lost because to me it is very famous. As long as people remember Jim, they will be checking it out. As for Whistle Down The Wind, I am really surprised that it never played Broadway (didn't it get great reviews in Washington?) and I didn't know that there were plans for Spielberg to direct a movie version until I read below. Yikes. What would that have been like? It really is a shame about the Batman musical. We need your site back.

> From a write-up I did a while ago. I thought you might
> find this interesting. I'm sure I'm overlooking
> something.
>
> Quote:
>
> The Dream Engine, New York production: after Joe Papp from
> the New York Shakespeare Festival saw "The Dream Engine"
> and signed it up during the intermission, there were
> several attempts at productions in New York that never
> reached fruition. One version was going to open the Newman
> Theater in 1971 with the artistic director Gerald Freedman
> leading the show, but this never came about due to
> artistic differences between Jim and Gerald, and the
> Theater not being ready on time either. Next, it was going
> to be a workshop and a full production at the Arena Stage
> in Washington D.C. with Richard Pearlman directing,
> Michael Kamen as the musical director and Richard Gere in
> the role of Baal, which Jim had played at Amherst. The
> production ended up being cancelled due to artistic
> differences. For a time, Jim and the Robert Stigwood
> Organization were negotiating with singer David Bowie to
> play the role of Baal, but this never came about either.
> In 1974, Jim wrote a new script which he called
> "Neverland", and since "Neverland" was the basis of "Bat
> out of Hell: The Musical", "The Dream Engine" sort of did
> happen in a roundabout way.
>
> Skin Alley, New York Shakespeare Festival: Jim was
> pitching a rock musical futuristic sci-fi version of the
> Bertolt Brecht play "The Good Woman of Setzuan" but it
> never worked out, since the Brecht estate didn't allow
> permission to do this version. Jim had earlier provided
> the score for a 1971 production of "The Good Woman of
> Setzuan" performed in Massachusetts and directed by Barry
> Keating, who had directed and starred as the Historian in
> "The Dream Engine" and would work with Jim on various
> other projects.
>
> Titus Andronicus & Arturo Ui: according to the theatre
> program for the 1975 production of "Kid Champion", Jim was
> working on a musical version of the Shakespeare play
> "Titus Andronicus", the most violent Shakespeare play, and
> an opera based on Brecht's "Arturo Ui" based on the rise
> and fall of Adolf Hitler, but these projects never
> eventuated.
>
> Kid Champion Rock Suite: Jim had written a twenty minute
> instrumental rock suite for the 1975 production of "Kid
> Champion", which at one point was going to be released as
> a recording on Island Records.
>
> The Confidence Man, New York Shakespeare Festival: Jim's
> musical with Ray Errol Fox based on the Herman Melville
> novel had been written for the Shakespeare Festival, with
> Billy Atherton and Andrea Marcovicci leading the cast and
> Leon Russom directing, but this production never went
> ahead after various talent kept being snapped up for other
> productions at N.Y. Shakespeare Festival. A cabaret
> version finally took place at the Manhattan Theatre Club
> in 1977, gradually followed by a full production at Queens
> College in 1986.
>
> Neverland, New York Shakespeare Festival: Jim had pitched
> his musical "Neverland" to Joe Papp along with a demo tape
> of songs but he opted not to produce it. A workshop
> version was performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington
> D.C. with hopes that it would be done Off-Broadway later
> on, but these plans never materialized.
>
> Ragnarok, musical: Jim and Barry Keating were developing a
> new version of their 1973/75 rock musical "Rhinegold" in
> the late 1970s with none other than comic king Stan Lee
> himself. A concert presentation called "Future Gold" also
> took place around this time at the Manhattan Theatre Club
> with Andre De Shields, Ellen Foley and Karla DeVito.
>
> Raiders of the Lost Ark, Score: it is mentioned in the
> 1981 Sandy Robertson book "Meat Loaf, Jim Steinman and the
> Phenomenology of Excess" that Jim at one point was going
> to write the score for the Indiana Jones movie "Raiders of
> the Lost Ark".
>
> Guitar & Stark Raving Love: around the release of Jim's
> "Bad for Good" album and Meat's "Dead Ringer", Jim was
> working on two films called "Guitar" about the life and
> times of a Fender Stratocaster from the years 1954 to 1986
> which would be produced by Warner Brothers, and "Stark
> Raving Love", but these films never surfaced.
>
> Neverland, Screenplay: Jim was developing a screenplay for
> "Neverland" to be filmed by CBS Pictures, including songs
> from both "Bat" and "Bad for Good". Jim and Meat often
> talked about Meat playing the role of Tink, a warrior
> deaf-mute version of Tinkerbell.
>
> Def Leppard, Hysteria album: Jim worked for several months
> on the Def Leppard album "Hysteria" but was fired by the
> band when the collaboration was not working out. Joe
> Elliot from the band has said that he still has the
> Steinman tapes.
>
> Phantom of the Paradise, Musical: in the mid-1980s, Jim
> was writing music and lyrics for a musical version of the
> Brian De Palma film "Phantom of the Paradise", but for
> whatever reason this musical never ultimately went ahead.
> A demo in the New York Public Library from 1988 surfaced
> in the year 2010, a compilation of various hit Steinman
> songs, demos and some new ones which would appear on
> Pandora's Box "Original Sin".
>
> The Phantom of the Opera, Musical: in 1984, Andrew Lloyd
> Webber and Jim Steinman spent two weeks working on "The
> Phantom of the Opera" musical together, but in the end Jim
> was unable to commit due to the next Bonnie Tyler album
> "Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire". Jim regards this as
> the biggest regret of his career, since "Phantom" became
> one of the most successful musicals of all time.
>
> The Graduate, Musical: in 1988 it was announced that Jim
> was writing music and lyrics for a musical version of the
> 1960s film "The Graduate", which would be scripted and
> directed by Martin Charnin who Jim had worked with on "The
> National Lampoon Road Show" in 1975. This musical was
> never produced.
>
> Electric Light Orchestra, Part Two: Jim was involved with
> this project at an early stage. A demo version of "Kiss Me
> Red" sung by Rory Dodd and produced by Jim has surfaced
> from this project on YouTube.
>
> Paul Stanley, Chrome Heart: Paul Stanley from KISS has
> mentioned that he and Jim had written a song together
> called "Chrome Heart".
>
> Lorraine Crosby/Mrs. Loud, Album: around the time of "Bat
> out of Hell II" and "I'd do Anything for Love", Jim was
> working on an album for singer Lorraine Crosby aka Mrs.
> Loud who had performed the female vocal on "Anything for
> Love", but this album never surfaced.
>
> Bat Out Of Hell 2100, Screenplay and Stage Musical: Jim
> was working on a new version of "Neverland" called "Bat
> Out Of Hell 2100". A demo CD from June 1997 surfaced on
> the internet, with songs like "It's All Coming Back To Me
> Now", a new version of "All Revved Up With No Place To
> Go", a demo of Ellen Foley singing "City Night/Midnight
> Serenade" and a version of "Love Duet" from "Tanz der
> Vampire" and more, along with a "Neverland Overture" suite
> of songs Jim had composed, similar to "Pray Lewd" from
> Pandora's Box "Original Sin". A draft of the screenplay
> surfaced after the opening of the "Bat out of Hell"
> musical, including previously unseen lyrics like "In the
> Underbelly of the Beast" and "Designated Angel". This
> project was in development as both a film and a stage
> show, and the film would have been released by Miramax
> Pictures. This time Meat Loaf would play Hook.
>
> Pandora's Box, Screenplay: Jim wrote a screenplay with
> David Rimmer and Ellen Sandhaus called "Pandora's Box"
> which was about the lives of a pop group.
>
> Whistle down the Wind, Screenplay: the Andrew Lloyd Webber
> and Jim Steinman musical had begun as a screenplay by
> Patricia Knop, which would have been directed by Steven
> Spielberg and possibly starring Kirsten Dunst and Johnny
> Depp. After Andrew's Sydmonton Festival in 1995, the
> project became a stage musical with Harold Prince
> directing.
>
> Total Eclipse of the Heart, Screenplay: Jim had written a
> screenplay with Patricia Knop which was a contemporary
> version of "Wuthering Heights". This project would
> eventually surface in 2003 as the MTV movie "Wuthering
> Heights".
>
> Metal Philharmonic, Orchestral Group: Jim and Andrew Lloyd
> Webber were working on a rock orchestral group together
> called Metal Philharmonic, which actually performed at the
> Sydmonton Festival in 1997, but the only recording from
> this project ever to surface is the demo version of "A
> Kiss is a Terrible Thing to Waste" released on the 2001
> Andrew Lloyd Webber box set "Now and Forever".
>
> The Little Prince, American Television Network: Jim was
> working in the late 1990s on a musical version of "The
> Little Prince" for the American Television Network.
>
> Neverland and Lulu, Musicals: the theatre program for the
> 1998 production of "Whistle down the Wind" mentions that
> Jim is working on two musicals called "Neverland" and
> "Lulu". "Lulu" is possibly based on the play from Frank
> Wedekind which was the basis for the 1920s silent movie
> classic "Pandora's Box".
>
> Batman, Musical: Jim was famously working on a musical
> version of "Batman" in the late 1990s and early 2000s,
> which at one point was going to be directed by Tim Burton
> himself, returning to the franchise after the failure of
> the movie "Batman & Robin". This musical never went ahead,
> probably due to the collapse of Jim's "Dance of the
> Vampires" on Broadway. In 2006, Jim released several demos
> on his blog. The songs "In the Land of the Pig the Butcher
> is King" and "Not Allowed to Love" were reused in "Bat out
> of Hell: The Musical".
>
> Bat out of Nashville: Jim was planning to produce a
> Nashville version of "Bat out of Hell" around the early
> 2000s, which would also contain songs from the second "Bat
> out of Hell". It would have been released on Restless
> Records.
>
> Frank Wildhorn's The Romantics, CD collection: American
> musical theatre composer Frank Wildhorn was developing a
> series of mini-musicals on his Atlantic Theatre label
> called "The Romantics". Each musical would contain about
> three songs each. Jim would have written lyrics for one of
> the installments, a version of the 1980s film
> "Ladyhawke".
>
> Karine Hannah, Album: Jim had written and produced several
> songs for a 2001 debut album from Canadian singer Karine
> Hannah, among them the new song "Braver Than We Are" from
> "Tanz der Vampire", but this project never surfaced. The
> demos have since leaked.
>
> Dance of the Vampires, Broadway Cast Recording: the
> Broadway cast recording was planned for release on
> Interscope Records, but due to the failure of the musical
> the recording never went ahead.
>
> Frenchie Davis: in the theatre program for the 2003
> Hamburg production of "Tanz der Vampire", it is mentioned
> that Jim is working with artist Frenchie Davis, but no
> such project materialized.
>
> Cry-Baby, Musical: Jim wrote and recorded several songs
> for a musical version of "Cry-Baby", among them "Cry to
> Heaven", "Speaking in Tongues" and "I Don't Have Enough
> Middle Fingers for You". A "Cry-Baby" musical was
> produced, but without Jim's involvement.
>
> Bat Out Of Hell III, Album: Meat Loaf and Jim would have
> reunited a second time for a 2005 release of "Bat Out Of
> Hell III: The Last At Bat", preceded by a single in 2004,
> all of which would be announced at a press conference in
> 2004. This project never went ahead with Jim's
> involvement, probably due to a combination of things like
> Jim's ill-health and Meat and Jim's managements being
> unable to reach an agreement between them. According to
> Jim on his blog in July 2006, his version would have
> included songs like "We're Still the Children", "Braver
> Than We Are", "Paradise Lost", "No Lips, Hands or Butts",
> "God has Left the Building", "The Monster is Out of the
> Cage", "Cry to Heaven", "The Powers of Darkness" and "What
> Part of my Body Hurts the Most".
>
> Bat Out Of Hell: Conclusions and Climaxes, Album: after
> the release of "Bat III", both Meat and Jim talked about a
> special album for the 30th called "Conclusions and
> Climaxes" which would contain various songs Jim had
> intended for "Bat III".
>
> The Dream Engine, Album: following several live shows in
> New York and Connecticut under the name "Over the Top:
> Songs by Jim Steinman", this group was formed to record
> and perform classic and new songs written by Jim. Several
> demo recordings were released online but in the end no
> album was released.
>
> Westlife, Mega Eclipse of the Heart: Jim produced a remix
> version of the Westlife cover of "Total Eclipse of the
> Heart", but it was never released. The recording leaked
> online.
>
> Excalibur, Musical: Frank Wildhorn's bio in 2006 mentioned
> that he was writing a musical called "Excalibur" with
> lyrics by Jim and book by Gregory Boyd. This musical was
> eventually performed in Switzerland in 2014 but with no
> involvement from either Jim or Boyd.
>
> Nutz, Musical: Jim was working with Terry Jones for a
> number on years on a new musical version of the
> Tchaikovsky ballet Nutcracker. A reading directed by Terry
> Jones took place in New York in 2014.


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Previous: re: Jim's Lost Projects - neverlandfan 05:22 pm UTC 05/08/21
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