The Voice - The Official Linda Eder Newsletter

MUSIC… WORDS… MOVEMENT… the creative team combined their phenomenal talents to sculpt the musical, CAMILLE CLAUDEL. Together, their unique artistry brought the story of this amazingly talented woman to the stage and into the hearts of all who experienced the production. We caught up with some of the creative team to learn about their reactions to being an integral part of this journey.

NAN KNIGHTON (Book and Lyrics)

“It's very difficult to single out one thing I loved most about working on CAMILLE in Chester/East Haddam. There was almost nothing I didn't love, but to list a few things:

Falling in love with the show itself, especially as I saw the staging and choreographic work Gabe and Mark did with the statues.

The coziness and beauty of everything about Goodspeed. The town is surrounded by water of every kind, you can lie on the pier and watch the boats going by, and then you walk down the street and always see someone you know. The people who work at Goodspeed are all warm and funny and smart and supportive – especially Michael Price, Sue Frost and Hattie Guin-Kittner.

It's such a great thing to have a family form within a show. This happens, of course, with every show, but because we were a small group, I think we became especially close. We had wonderful times together and I still remember the fun of all of us going bowling on my last night up there. I even got three strikes – amazing for somebody completely uncoordinated.

There are just a few specific moments that I remember:

The night that ‘What's Never Been Done Before' was born. Linda suggested rightly that ‘Snow Falls' was in the wrong spot and that we needed a rousing song midway through Act II instead. I knew she was right, Frank immediately wrote the music on the spot, put it on some old tape lying around the rehearsal hall. Then, about eight of us had a lovely semi-drunken dinner, discussing what the song should be about. The dinner took place on the terrace of La Vita Gustosa with candles on the table, and afterwards I just walked across the street to my apartment, played the tape and wrote the song. It felt like it was springing from sheer passion about CAMILLE.

Frank and Linda gave a party on our night off in late August. It was to celebrate Gabe's birthday, as well as two other birthdays. We were outside the whole time, people bouncing back and forth between touch football, tennis, swimming, and looking for Mars through the telescope. But Michael Nouri and Milo O'Shea and I just stuck together on the deck, drank and talked and then started telling jokes. Actually, I didn't tell jokes because I don't know any jokes. But Michael knew some great ones. And then, my God, Milo started telling a series of jokes in his Irish brogue that were so hysterical, I thought that Michael and I would have to be carted away from the sheer strain of laughing. I would never repeat Milo's jokes because it is the watching of and listening to Milo himself that make these jokes so extraordinarily funny. Let it suffice to say that in one of the jokes, Milo had to become a buffalo, and I am laughing right now just remembering it. After all the laughter, Michael got his guitar and we all sang. There is a photograph of this moment on my website.

Obviously, opening night with its power outage was a remarkable moment, but I've written extensively about this on my website, and the pictures I've posted there illustrate well that we all kept our sense of humor through the whole thing.

In closing, I could list 200 great moments, but I'll spare you all.”

Nan Knighton received a Tony nomination for writing THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (with music by Frank Wildhorn). PIMPERNEL ran on Broadway for three seasons and can now be seen in productions all around the world. She wrote the stage adaptation for SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, which received a 1999 Olivier nomination for Best Musical in London's West End, and ran on Broadway for two seasons. SNF is currently on tour both internationally and in the U.S. As a lyricist, Ms. Knighton has also worked with composers Jonathan Larson (RENT) and Howard Marren, with whom she has written two original musicals—SNAPSHOTS (first heard at the Manhattan Theatre Club) and OPEN HOUSE. Ms. Knighton's songs have been performed in numerous venues, including the 2002 Winter Olympics, NAN KNIGHTON AT EIGHTY-EIGHTS and STORYBOOK: THE SONGS OF NAN KNIGHTON, a sold-out run at Sam's Dream Street Cabaret. She is currently working on a play, MAN WITH TWO HEARTS FOUND ON MOON, which received its first reading at the Roundabout Theatre earlier this year. Ms. Knighton is an alumna of Harvard University , Sarah Lawrence College and Boston University , and holds B.A. and M.A. degrees. She is married to John Breglio and has two daughters, Eliza Mason and Nola Breglio. www.nanknighton.com

FRANK WILDHORN (Music)

“What did I enjoy most about the run of CAMILLE CLAUDEL at The Norma Terris Theatre? Watching my beautiful wife become the actress I always knew she had in her to be, everyday. There were so many memorable moments throughout our days there. We had Jake's birthday party backstage - he was running around with an emphasis on heavy flirting with all the girls! And, of course, Linda's performance of ‘Gold' every night - that was a definite highlight.”

Frank Wildhorn's works span the worlds of popular, theatrical and classical music. In 1999, Mr. Wildhorn became the first American composer in 22 years to have three shows running simultaneously on Broadway—JEKYLL & HYDE, THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL and THE CIVIL WAR (for which he received two Tony nominations). He also wrote additional songs for Julie Andrews in Broadway's VICTOR/VICTORIA. Mr. Wildhorn composed and served as Musical Director for the Opening Ceremonies of the 1998 Goodwill Games in NYC, and his songs have been featured in the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the World Series and Presidential inaugurals. Artists who have recorded and performed Mr. Wildhorn's music include: Whitney Houston (the international number one hit “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”), Natalie Cole, Kenny Rogers, Sammy Davis, Jr., Liza Minnelli, Julie Andrews, Hootie & The Blowfish, Trisha Yearwood, Travis Tritt, Deana Carter, Patti La Belle, Bebe Winans, Ben Vereen, Dr. John, The Moody Blues, Johnny Mathis, Anthony Warlow, Colm Wilkinson, and Linda Eder—whose September release, “Storybook,” is written and co-produced by Wildhorn. Mr. Wildhorn's new projects include: DRACULA, VIENNA , CYRANO, BONNIE & CLYDE, SCOTT & ZELDA and ALICE . Mr. Wildhorn is an Associate at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Creative Director of Atlantic Theatre, a division of Atlantic Records, husband of Linda Eder and father of Justin and Jake. www.frankwildhorn.com .

JEREMY ROBERTS (Musical Director)

“I enjoyed working with our cast and production staff. We were taking on an enormous challenge—a three-week rehearsal period and only two days of technical rehearsals for a brand new musical. Our director, Gabe Barre, set the tone—we were one big happy family. Everyone did their homework. Everyone gave 200%. Everyone brought something more to the table. We were exhausted, but the professionalism, commitment, and level of excellence from the entire company (including the Goodspeed staff and crew) made it a pleasure to go to work. The blackout on opening night was quite the event... But the show must go on, so we figured out how to rig some emergency lights—the orchestra had no sound reinforcement—it was painfully warm in the theatre without ventilation or AC—no costumes, lights, or sound. But we did it... And it actually helped us as a company, as we had never run through the entire show without stopping... So, without the technical issues such as costumes, lighting or sound, we ‘simply' performed our show... In a way, it was a blessing.”

Jeremy's association with composer Frank Wildhorn began in 1988 when Frank recorded the original JEKYLL & HYDE demo recordings in Jeremy's studio. Projects with "Team Wildhorn" include the Broadway and pre-Broadway stage productions of JEKYLL & HYDE, as well as SVENGALI, THE CIVIL WAR, DRACULA, and CYRANO. He has been Linda Eder's Musical Director since 1987; he's arranged, conducted, produced and played piano and/or keyboards on all her recordings and concerts, including her recent BRAVO Christmas Special, PBS special and recent appearances with the Boston Pops, National Symphony Orchestra, and her sold out shows at Carnegie Hall and the Gershwin Theatre on Broadway. Recordings: All 3 JEKYLL & HYDE recordings (keyboards, electronic music realization, associate producer); THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL Concept Recording—(orchestrations/conductor); THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL Original Broadway Cast Recording—(vocal production/digital audio engineering); THE CIVIL WAR (keyboards and production/digital audio engineering); and last but not least, all 8 Linda Eder solo albums: "Linda Eder," "And So Much More," "It's Time," "It's No Secret Anymore" (musical director, keyboards and arrangements), “Christmas Stays The Same,” "Gold,” “Broadway, My Way” (arrangement, orchestration, conductor, keyboards, associate producer), and the upcoming “Storybook” (producer, arranger, keyboards). Jeremy's sound development company, SAMPLEHEADS ( www.sampleheads.com ), creates award-winning sound libraries used by musicians worldwide.

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Congratulations on a successful pre-Broadway run! We're all looking forward to the next step in the journey.

(NOTE: Bios as presented in the CAMILLE CLAUDEL Playbill from The Norma Terris Theatre, Summer 2003.)