Gordon & Caird's Jane Eyre re-thinked

Important news for the fans of the Paul Gordon & Michael Caird musical setting of Jane Eyre. Playbill reports that the composer and the librettist are going to return to Jane Eyre with a different, pre-Broadway approach:

Jane Eyre, the 2000-01 Broadway musical by composer-lyricist Paul Gordon and librettist John Caird, is getting a serious "re-think" by the authors, who aim to make a chamber version of what was previously seen as a 22-actor, large-set epic.

Songwriter Gordon told Playbill.com that he and Caird (of Les Miserables fame) have been huddling with director Rob Ruggiero (Ella, William Finn's Make Me a Song) about getting back to the essence of the novel by Charlotte Bronte — and the essence of what the collaborators created in earlier versions of the show, prior to Broadway.

Gordon said he and Caird are seeking to restore some song and book elements of the pre-Broadway Toronto version of the musical. For starters, they want to sharpen the narrative point of view so Jane is telling her own story, rather than the ensemble taking over that device. Some recitative between brooding Rochester and governess Jane will likely return, too, as will an important melodic section that linked Jane's mother to the future, Gordon said.

Caird and Gordon will meet this fall to hammer out a new 15-actor version of the show that would require perhaps five musicians. Gordon said the largeness of the Broadway production necessitated adding some fat into the writing that isn't necessary.

Gordon and Caird's goals now are "tweaking, shortening and clipping" and then presenting a version to Ruggiero for further collaboration. Hartford-based Ruggiero is the in-demand regional director who works all over the country (his next gig is staging 1776 for Goodspeed Musicals, followed by a New York mounting of the William Finn revue, Make Me a Song, a hit in Hartford).

Ruggiero told Playbill.com he's in discussions with regional theatres about giving fresh life to the "new" Jane Eyre in 2008-09. (...)

"Since Broadway," Gordon told Playbill.com, "I don't think I've ever stopped rewriting Jane Eyre. "John and I always imagined it as a more intimate experience..."

On the road to Broadway, there was a push — for better or worse — to make the 19th-century gothic romance bigger, better and shinier. "It lost that intimate feel," Gordon said.

Will the re-tooled Jane Eyre be spare, lean and actor-driven?

"Rob has interesting ideas about how to move the storytelling along," Gordon said.

For now, for the writers, it's about experimentation and exploration.

Gordon said, "We're going to look at every inch of the show. John calls it a 're-think.'" (Kenneth Jones)

Listen to the Toronto version of the musical on the Currer Wells Productions website.

EDIT: More information in the Jane Eyre: the Musical Forum. Paul Gordon says:

This does not mean a bigger tour won't happen at some later date, but we were approached by Rob [Ruggiero] through Jayne Paterson who had worked with him on URINETOWN. Obviously Rob would want Jayne to play Jane. All still in the talking stages but I am going to London in November to work with John on the new script.

Categories: Jane Eyre, Music, Theatre