The fourth issue contained interviews with Frank Wildhorn and Jekyll & Hyde's Robert Cuccioli, a short profile of Scarlet Pimpernel's Sandy Rosenberg, and still more from Rob Evan. Here are some excerpts:

Frank Wildhorn gave us a rundown on the status of his future projects (subject to change at any time). Following Civil War, he has planned a romantic musical comedy called Havana, and after that...

Photo by Diane Baker

What follows that really depends on a few different things, that are kind of beyond my control right now, including Linda's and my own life. And how much time we want to spend doing some other things. I might spend a good part of the year 2000 making records, and taking a little time away from the theatre.

And then going into what I call "the next wave." And the next wave includes: Svengali, which will have, again, a pre-cast album and then the show itself; this version of Alice, which is based on Alice in Wonderland, that we're working on, which we're talking about doing with David Copperfield; and there's definitely a Dracula in the future somewhere; and then there's some other titles which will surprise some people, but are very big commercial titles that we're working on acquiring the rights to do, so I'm not going to really talk about those right now. Besides, I gotta leave some things out for surprises.

So, our agenda is really full, for the next five to ten years. If we want to fill every minute of it, we can. But we also want to have a life. We've been really burning the candle at both ends now, and the next year is gonna be very busy, with all these projects and looking after the ones that have, thank God, brought on other lives for themselves, and we'll go from there.

Robert Cuccioli, Broadway's first Jekyll/Hyde, recounted the following on-stage mishap:

Photo courtesy Judy Katz Public Relations

It's rare, but occasionally the set has a mind of its own. Actually, one day, the lab table for the first lab scene did not come in. It ran into something and got stuck, I have no idea what happened. But I heard some really bad sounds during "This is the Moment." Every single night, even though I can't see, I know the set is moving. So I got to that point in the song and nothing was moving. And as the song is going on, I'm seeing in the corner of my eye, my desk is still there. So I'm singing the song and in the back of my mind, I'm trying to think, "What do I do here? How do I plan this out?" So the song is over and my study is still there, and I remembered that we had planted the hypodermic in my desk as a contingency, because there was a slight problem in previews, so we planted all the stuff in the desk. I kinda forgot where it was. I knew it was in the middle somewhere. The desk opens up -- there's a flap and then it's got a drawer in the middle. So I open the flap and there was nothing there and I hear, [from off-stage] "Center drawer!" -- very judiciously, a stage whisper. So I opened that up and it was all there, and I had to restage the scene on my feet with that, and it was very exciting. You don't have your normal trappings to hold on to, so that was kind of neat. And, then the girls did their dance [upstage, at the end of the scene]. And Linda ended up in my study, writhing around the back there. I finished transforming as Hyde, I turned around, and I went up and grabbed her, and in my Hyde voice I said, "What are you doing in my study?"

Sandy Rosenberg played Lady Digby in Scarlet Pimpernel after playing Lady Beaconsfield in the pre-Broadway tour of Jekyll & Hyde. We also asked her about funny things that happened on stage ...

Sandy Rosenberg with Lady Digby Photo by V. Karen

With Lady Beaconsfield, my costume was so heavy - we weighed my costume once, I think it came in at thirty pounds. It weighed more than my dog. The first time we did the show, we had this circular staircase that led to the bridge. And I had Ray McLeod ["Simon Stride"] behind me, and honest to God, some nights, he had to push my butt, so that I had the energy to get up that spiral staircase. It was thirty pounds of velvet. The most beautifully constructed dress I have ever worn in my entire - it was flawless. It was gorgeous, beautiful. And there's Ray McLeod, hands on my rear end, pushing me up the stairs!

From J&H in Belgium --
An Lauwereins and Harry Deswarte
as Emma and Sir Danvers Carew.
Photo by Luk Monsaert,
provided by Michael Edwards.