User:Klinesy/Linda Kline

Linda Kline

Linda Kline (born April 6, 1942) is a Tony-nominated bookwriter and an Emmy- nominated television writer.

She was raised in Forest Hills, Queens, New York. As a child, she studied acting with Max Reinhardt company member, Clara Walzer. She was graduated from the High School of Performing Arts (Drama Major) at age 16. She attended Brandeis University, then transferred to Barnard College (B.A. ’62) where she studied playwriting with Howard Teichman, co-author with George Kaufman of The Sold Gold Cadillac. While at Barnard, she wrote books for several children’s musicals for Peppermint Players, produced by Carole Hyatt and Paul Libin at The Martinique Theatre off Broadway.

Like many women of her generation, she took time out from her career to raise a family. Her daughter, Cynthia Major, became a leader of the artisinial food movement, creating Vermont Shepherd Cheese. Her son, Jeffrey Schwartz, is a librarian in Brooklyn. During her “family years”, her play, The Laundry Workers Present Hatpin Bessie (about union organizer Bessie Hillman) was produced by the Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective; “Trick or Trick” was produced by the first Soho Festival; “Nesting” was produced at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California.

In 1977, she became a staff writer for Captain Kangaroo. She wrote scripts that she developed for such celebrity guests as Dick Shawn, Arte Johnson, Kay Ballard, and Carrie Fisher (before Star Wars was released).

She then became Head Writer for ABC-TV’s FYI (Emmy nomination), starring Hal Linden.

In 1979, she was accepted into the librettist workshop at the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, where she studied with Lehman Engel. At BMI, she met composers and lyricists who became collaborators and friends. She wrote the musical, “My Heart Is In The East” (about 11th century Sephardic poet, Judah Halevi) with BMI lyricist Richard Engquist, and BMI composer, Raphael Crystal, produced at The Jewish Repertory Theatre and directed by Ron Avni. . She also wrote book for The Theaterworks, USA version The Secret Garden with BMI lyricist Alison Hubbard and BMI composer Kim Oler.

She met A Chorus Line lyricist Edward Kleban (1939-1987) in East Hampton, New York. They shared a home in nearby Bridgehampton from 1980 until Kleban’s death from mouth cancer at the age of 48 in 1987. Her article, “How A Writer Became A Warden of The Dune”, about Kleban in Bridgehampton, was published in the New York Times, _____.

After Kleban’s death, she asked BMI lyricist, David Bickman, to join her in a massive effort to have Kleban’s unlabeled worktapes, from his several unfinished musical projects, transcribed and catalogued, with a view to creating a musical that would bring his music to the stage. She interviewed several potential collaborators, and chose actor/director Lonny Price. Price shared her enthusiasm for Kleban’s gift as both composer and lyricist, and together they wrote the book, and developed what was initially known as “The Kleban Project”, into the musical, A Class Act.

Kleban had written songs for a variety of uncompleted musicals including Merton of The Movies, The Heartbreak Kid, Musical Comedy, and Gallery (a song-cycle about paintings), as well as an autobiographical musical, Light On My Feet. Kline and Price decided to base “The Kleban Project” on Light on My Feet, and to incorporate songs from his several other musicals to tell Kleban’s life story.

Fortuitously, Price became artistic director of Theaterworks,

pe was nominated for a Tony in 2001 for Best Book of a Musical for A Class Act with co-bookwriter Lonny Price.

After the success of A Class Act, Kline realized that there were still many wonderful Kleban “trunk songs”, especially Gallery songs, that called out to be brought to the stage. Kline wrote a new book for Gallery. She brought it to her BMI collaborator, Raphael Crystal, who now runs a musical theatre program at The university of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. Kline’s family is originally from Dothan, Alabama, and relished the prospect of working at the UofA. The workshop in Tuscaloosa jump-started the development of Gallery.