Jim Steinman
James Richard Steinman (born
November 1,
1947 in
New York City,
New York) (more commonly known as
Jim Steinman) is an
American rock and
musical theater composer. He is notable for having written most of
Meat Loaf's hit songs and hits for many other musical artists. His biggest musical successes are an
album Bat Out of Hell (1977), sung by
Meat Loaf, the Billboard number one singles "
Total Eclipse Of The Heart" (1983), sung by
Bonnie Tyler and "
I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" (1993) sung by
Meat Loaf, and a German
musical Tanz der Vampire (1998).
The Dream Engine
While he was a student at
Amherst College in
Massachusetts, Jim wrote the book, music, and lyrics for
The Dream Engine (
1969), a musical about
revolution. The story, set in the distant future, is about a young boy named Baal who, along with his rebel fellows, doesn't accept the restraints and limits of their society. Baal is the leader of a group of wild boys called The Tribe, whose mortal enemies are Max and Emily, the parents of the Girl, a young woman with whom Baal has fallen in love. Steinman himself played Baal in the original production, which was staged in the Spring of 1969. Critics hailed the musical as visionary and ahead of its time. Its Steinman-composed tagline said it all: "Makes 'Hair' look like 'Hello Dolly.'" Some themes from Steinman's later songs can already be heard here, like the
"Turn Around" line in
Total Eclipse of the Heart. This show was remade 8 years later as
Neverland (see below).
Joseph Papp, founder of the
New York Shakespeare Festival, saw the play and was so impressed he signed it up during intermission. He wanted to bring it to
Broadway, but was stopped by the law because the play was much too sexually explicit to be represented in a public place.
More Than You Deserve
From the collaboration with Papp, another musical was born: originally titled "Souvenirs," it became
More Than You Deserve (
1974), co-written by
Michael Weller. In 1974, Papp was producing a show; the author, Weller, said he was interested in adding a song or two to the show. Papp hooked up Mr. Weller with Steinman. Steinman had other ideas though. He envisioned a full blown Broadway musical, and pretty soon he had his way, with Jim writing the music and collaborating on the lyrics with Mr. Weller.
It was during the auditions for this show that history was made. This marks a very important encounter for Steinman. A young actor from
Texas whose biggest show to date had been
Hair showed up for a part in Jim's new show and tried out; his nickname was Meat Loaf. After hearing him sing a song from his album
Stoney & Meatloaf called
(I'd Love To Be) As Heavy As Jesus, they were so impressed that they gave him the script and asked him to tell them which character he would like to play. He surprised them all by picking Rabbit, a not too bright soldier who believed he was helping send his fellow comrades home by blowing them up with hand grenades and other ammo. The moment Steinman saw him, he realized that Meat Loaf was going to be his voice.
The story is set in Vietnam during the war in a non-combat camp run by a commander who is impotent and who falls in love with a reporter sent to cover the camp, who turns out to be a nymphomaniac when she is gang raped by the other soldiers in the camp. However, she realizes at the end that she will be even happier giving up her new found lust for sex to settle down with the impotent commander.
Neverland
In
1977 another musical saw the light (as a
workshop in Washington, DC, and New York),
Neverland. Basically a re-write of
The Dream Engine, this time more overtly based on
J. M. Barrie's
Peter Pan, but much more of an adult version, although it's questionable how much this 1977 version has in common with Steinman's finished concept of Neverland. Thematically all, or at least most, of Steinman songs and works, can be seen as ongoing parts of his
Neverland. Meat Loaf has joked about this, claiming "He (Steinman) thinks I'm
Tinkerbell!"
*
Dream Pollution, by the
Rockman Philharmonic, The Jim Steinman Society For The Arts
*
Neverland Hotel, comprehensive site including biography, discography, news, lyrics and photo gallery.
*
Realm of Dreams Smeghead's Jim Steinman fan site, contains comprehensive material.
*
Bat Out Of Excess The Works Of Jim Steinman
*[
1]Official website for The Dream Engine, a music group created by Jim Steinman and Steve Rinkoff, performing songs by Jim Steinman, with Steinman and Steve Rinkoff producing the debut album.
*
Wagnerian Rock*
Richard Wagner*
Fire Inc.*
Pandora's Box*
Meat Loaf*
Todd Rundgren
