Linda Eder in new musical reading @ Lenape

Broadway's Linda Eder to star in "The Seduction of Shelia Valentine"

Marlton, NJ: Broadway and Concert star Linda Eder to star in a One Act Reading at Lenape Regional Performing Arts Centers new musical comedy titled, The Seduction of Sheila Valentine on Saturday August 9th 8:00pm. This show, also penned by Jack Murphy and Vincent Marini, will replace The Day Before which will be moved to a later date. The remainder of the cast will be announced shortly but tickets can be purchased now for only $15.00! Tickets are expected to sell-out within days, so we encourage you to get your tickets today.

The show will feature approximately 10 actors and a six piece band. Again, this will only be a reading of Act I.

The Seduction of Sheila Valentine, set in the late 1950s, is about two forty-something, once-famous actresses who find themselves too "seasoned" to play the young romantic leads and too vain to play anyone else. They are reduced to working in Dubuque, Iowa at the John Wayne Dinner theater performing in a sad rip-off of Oklahoma called My Oh My Oh Iowa. Just when it seems things could not possible get any worse, their long lost agent drops in on them on his way to deliver a script to his newest young star. The script he is carrying bears the title, The Seduction of Sheila Valentine. It was penned by a hot young writer/director who is all the rage in the New York theater scene. Through a series of macinations the two women get their hands on the script and they both conclude, independently of course, that the role of Sheila Valentine is their ticket back to the "Big-Time." One Role of a Lifetime + Two Desperate Actresses = Big Trouble!

For tickets and information visit: http://www.sjtheater.com or call 856.983.3366

*edited by PB Ent.

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Updated On: 7/18/06 at 10:12 PM

Ah, Linda What a voice. This is going to be interesting.

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Here is some more information:

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/101001.html

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who is the composer for the piece? I guess Ms. Eder and Mr. Wildhorn still get along, as they both are working recently with Mr's. Marini and Murphy (WAITING FOR THE MOON and FOR THE GLORY).

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Since Linda Eder is such a gifted comedianne...

Well, you have to be a good actress to be a good comedianne, and Linda Eder has yet to impress me in the acting department in any show I've ever seen her in. I'm glad to hear she is engaging in concert, but that's not the same as being funny with written dialogue in a book musical.

I'm sorry, I don't buy that arguement. Think of all the many incredible actors who have managed to give extraordinary performances even with terrible material: Carolee Carmello in LESTAT, Angela Lansbury in PRETTYBELLE, Chita Rivera in just about every other show she ever did in her entire career...

Linda Eder is just not a good actor. She actually winked at the audience during the middle of "A New Life" when I saw it. True she might train and get "better" but I do not believe she will ever be a great actress. Even if she were doing "good" material.

And I actually have seen several other people play Lucy in J&H who more than rose above the material to be moving and believable in the role. People have done far more with far less.

"Linda Eder has yet to impress me in the acting department in any show I've ever seen her in."
any show??? shes been in one broadway show to my knowledge. I also saw her in Camille Claudel in CT and the overall consensus and my impression was that she showed a great deal of improvement in the acting department. I always amazes me how telling some people are. We're not even talking about an out of town tryout here, we're talking about a reading of Act 1 of a show that may never even have that tryout. For her one broadway performance in a show loathed by most critics, she has gone on to sellout Carnegie 4 times, has a loyal fan base most stars could only dream of and has recorded like 9 albums. This tells me she did something right and she should be on broadway again. Noones forcing you to see this READING or the broadway show, but something tells me you'll be there if/when it comes to broadway.

Updated On: 7/21/06 at 05:16 PM

I just find it funny how youve already formed a conclusion about a performance in a show before the first words of its first reading are even uttered. I'd rather review a performance once the final product is finished myself. Thats what I dont get about Linda Eders critics here...if I dislike someone or something, nothing would get me to waste even one minute of my time on it, but you find the need to endlessly tell us over and over again how bad you think she acts, even though this FIRST READDING has yet to take place. Once again..very telling to me.

If Madonna were to announce she was starring in a new movie, would we have to wait for it to be released to know she would be bad in it?

I'm happy to give people the benefit of the doubt. But you can also look at somebody's track record. Linda Eder is NOT an acting novice. It's not like I'm judging her without having ever seen her act. I have.

P.S. She attempted being funny in SVENGALI. She wasn't.

Updated On: 7/21/06 at 06:03 PM

Peter,

I don't hate Linda Eder. As I have said, I think she is a great singer. I adore her records. It is her RECORDS and her appearances on star search that launched her career and made her a wealthy woman. Her acting has always been a strange aside that recalls more than anyone, Sarah Brightman, who ALW somehow (and soley) thought should be the next Sarah Bernhardt.

I wish her and the project no ill will. I just wish she would stick to concerts.

Her Carnegie Hall gig is the result of her record sales. And yes, I believe her record sales had more to do with support from powerful players in the recording industry (including her husband) who supported her AFTER her appearances on STAR SEARCH than through her appearance in J&H. She had several albums out before she came to Broadway with that show anyway, and it would be foolish to think she sold the volume of records she did because of exposure in the pre-Broadway tours of J&H.

Linda Eder has the right combination of a beautiful voice, a presence people like onstage and off, and (for a while) a collaboration with a songwriter who wrote perfectly for her instrument and made broadway music in a pop-like style that sold records and earned her legions of fans. She also happened to come along at a time when Celine Dion was making zillions of dollars singing in a similar style, and there was room in the market for a Broadway/jazz version of Celine.

I agree that she's not really an actor, but she will get the chance to act because she's got so many loyal fans. To be fair, it's hard to get better at something unless you do it a lot with people who are better than you are, and it seems like she's prioritized making records and doing concerts, which is her right.

I doubt we'll be seeing her Medea, but perhaps she could still do well in a musical written for her.