Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Excerpt from An Interview with "A Little Princess" Creators, Lippa & Crawley
Dateline: July 20, 2004
Andrew Lippa (Composer) and Brian Crawley (Book & Lyrics)
TW: How did the show come about?
Brian: It started with Heidi [Ettinger, set designer and producer] and Susan [Schulman, the director] who both worked on "The Secret Garden" in the same roles. That production got remounted in Australia and did extremely, extremely well for the Australian producers, who eventually decided they were interested in trying to generate a new project.
Andrew: I think Susan also directed something else with those guys.
Brian: They took her [Susan] over there to direct some other stuff, and also Heidi without Susan had done an opera and "Big River." On one of their trips to America, the Australian producers happened, just by coincidence, to see Heidi and Susan both on different days. They went up to Stratford to see Susan's production of "Fiddler on the Roof..."
Andrew: Which got rave reviews...
Brian: ...and they said, "We'd love to work on a new piece with you." And Susan and Heidi and I were working on a different piece that we were all ready to abandon, and they said "are you working on anything new", and Susan said, instead of talking about that, "Well, Heidi and I were talking about doing something based on "A Little Princess"." But really, I think her conversation with Heidi had been about 2 minutes long. As it happens the Australians were going next to New York to see some Broadway shows and they went to an opening, and they happened to be seated next to Heidi. They said, "Well we hear you're working on A Little Princess, we want to be involved", and she said, "Ok, why don't you be the principal." So, it was something that occurred because there was a market for it without anybody trying. So, they came to me because I was already working with them and...
Andrew: ...and you had already worked with Susan on "Violet..."
Brian: Right. And before even talking about composers they wanted me to read it and respond to it. My initial reaction to it was not positive, only because I had seen a preview for the movie A Little Princess that had come out...
Andrew: The Alfonso Cuarón one.
Brian: Oh you naughty minx.
As you can tell we didn't have to ask much to get these two rolling. There's more to the interview, and it will be published in the TheatreWorks e-newsletter, In the Works.
Click here to receive the newsletter and read the rest of the interview with the creators of our world premiere production of "A Little Princess."
Andrew Lippa (Composer) and Brian Crawley (Book & Lyrics)
TW: How did the show come about?
Brian: It started with Heidi [Ettinger, set designer and producer] and Susan [Schulman, the director] who both worked on "The Secret Garden" in the same roles. That production got remounted in Australia and did extremely, extremely well for the Australian producers, who eventually decided they were interested in trying to generate a new project.
Andrew: I think Susan also directed something else with those guys.
Brian: They took her [Susan] over there to direct some other stuff, and also Heidi without Susan had done an opera and "Big River." On one of their trips to America, the Australian producers happened, just by coincidence, to see Heidi and Susan both on different days. They went up to Stratford to see Susan's production of "Fiddler on the Roof..."
Andrew: Which got rave reviews...
Brian: ...and they said, "We'd love to work on a new piece with you." And Susan and Heidi and I were working on a different piece that we were all ready to abandon, and they said "are you working on anything new", and Susan said, instead of talking about that, "Well, Heidi and I were talking about doing something based on "A Little Princess"." But really, I think her conversation with Heidi had been about 2 minutes long. As it happens the Australians were going next to New York to see some Broadway shows and they went to an opening, and they happened to be seated next to Heidi. They said, "Well we hear you're working on A Little Princess, we want to be involved", and she said, "Ok, why don't you be the principal." So, it was something that occurred because there was a market for it without anybody trying. So, they came to me because I was already working with them and...
Andrew: ...and you had already worked with Susan on "Violet..."
Brian: Right. And before even talking about composers they wanted me to read it and respond to it. My initial reaction to it was not positive, only because I had seen a preview for the movie A Little Princess that had come out...
Andrew: The Alfonso Cuarón one.
Brian: Oh you naughty minx.
As you can tell we didn't have to ask much to get these two rolling. There's more to the interview, and it will be published in the TheatreWorks e-newsletter, In the Works.
Click here to receive the newsletter and read the rest of the interview with the creators of our world premiere production of "A Little Princess."
