Wildhorn’s European manager, Michael Staringer, told Playbill.com that Rudolf — The Last Kiss, which is based on Frederick Morton’s book, “A Nervous Splendour,” will open at the Operett Theater in Hungary May 26. There are plans to move the production to the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien for an open-ended run the following year; the latter theatre previously housed Wildhorn’s Jekyll & Hyde. Rudolf features music by Wildhorn and lyrics by Jack Murphy. The musical, according to Staringer, concerns the “story of Crown Prince Rudolf — the son of the Austrian Empress Elisabeth — who was married to his wife Stephanie and had an affair with Mary Vetsera. He and Mary commit suicide.”
A reading of the new musical was recently held in New York. The cast featured Rob Evan as Rudolf with Brandi Burkhardt as Mary and Michael Shawn Lewis as the villain Taafe.
Wildhorn has been commissioned to write two other musicals to bow in Europe.