If Wishes Were Horses

If Wishes Were Horses cannot escape the unmistakable influence of hot child Nick Gilder and his trusty sidekick James McCulloch, who acrimoniously split for the City of Angels after writing the doomed single "Roxy Roller" on the first Sweeney Todd. Enter a certain 16-year-old named Bryan Guy Adams, mimicking the gilded genius down to the last note and pushing this rocky choral show all the way over the top. Except for stellar opener "Tantalize" and bizarre Berlin finale "Say Hello Say Goodbye," Gilder is gone (Sweeney Todd gives him a snide sendoff in "Song for a Star"). Throughout the remainder of this grand and cosmic obscurity, Adams croons (the title track, written by the band's manager) and moons ("Until I Find You"), but never shuts up until "All of a Sudden," a mesmerizing instrumental, materializes out of nowhere. With the greatest of ease, Bryan the boy wonder spreads Gilder's glittering gospel of pixie dust and backstage biz with more helium and heady Mercury bombast than anywhere in his homogenized solo work, even sliding in some sexual shenanigans ("Pushin' & Shovin'"), resulting in a theatrical touch of magic sure to make you sigh.