Biography
Leslie Arden has had a varied background as a composer/orchestrator, lyricist, librettist, performer, director and teacher. She has written over a dozen musicals, including the critically acclaimed and multi-award-winning The House of Martin Guerre, the Chalmers Award winning The Happy Prince, and the Dora Mavor Moore nominated The Princess and the Handmaiden. She wrote the score to Harvest Moon Rising, the beautiful story of a modern family and a pioneer family, both struggling to maintain their family farm and their rural way of life. Leslie wrote the score to The Boys Are Coming Home, a musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, which was produced by Chicago’s American Musical Theatre Project in August 2006 and showcased by the National Alliance of Musical Theater in New York City later that same year. Leslie composed the music for Canadian Stage’s productions of The Beard of Avon and It’s a Wonderful Life (in which she was also featured as a performer), and she has spent five seasons as a composer for The Stratford Festival.
Leslie collaborated with Norm Foster on the oft produced The Last Resort and Ned Durango. Her choral works include The Best Years, commissioned by Toronto’s VIVA Youth Singers, and Feathers on the Page, which was commissioned and premiered by the King Edward Choir in 2012. The Gift of the Magi, her musical adaptation of two O’Henry short stories, premiered in 2015. She composed the music for a musical version of Goethe’s Faust, which premiered in 2016. She has been working on Moll, a very loose contemporary musical adaptation of Defoe’s “Moll Flanders”, and The Lancashire Lass, which has been commissioned by Queen’s University’s Dan School of Drama and Music, where she is presently Writer-In-Residence for two years.
Leslie was the artistic director of the award winning Theatre For Young Audiences company, The Children’s Trio from 1983 – 2003. While with this company, she wrote, directed and performed in musicals for children from ages 5-14.
Leslie was one of 13 professional musical theatre writers chosen by Cameron Mackintosh and Stephen Sondheim to take part in a 6 month master class taught by Mr. Sondheim in Oxford, England in 1990.
RESUME
THE LANCASHIRE LASS – Composer, Lyricist, Bookwriter
Commissioned by The Dan School of Drama and Music – 2019
AN IDEAL HUSBAND – Composer
Produced by Stratford Shakespeare Festival – 2018
MOLL – Music, lyrics and co-bookwriter
Commissioned by The Canadian Stage Company – 2003
Developed by The Canadian Musical Theatre Project – 2013
THE GIFT OF THE MAGI – Book, music & lyrics
1-Act version commissioned and 1st produced by The Smile Company – 2014
2-Act version commissioned and 1st produced by Theatre Orangeville – 2015
THE THREE MUSKATEERS – Composer
Produced by Stratford Shakespeare Festival – 2013
FEATHERS ON THE PAGE – Book, music & lyrics
Commissioned and 1st produced by the King Edward Choir – 2012
NED DURANGO – Music & lyrics
Commissioned and 1st produced by Theatre Orangeville- 2011
THE PRINCESS AND THE HANDMAIDEN – Music, lyrics and book
Produced by Young People’s Theatre & Ginger Cat Productions – 2009
Nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award – Outstanding New Musical/Opera
CYRANO DE BERGERAC – Composer
Produced by The Stratford Festival – 2009
THE BOYS ARE COMING HOME! – Music & lyrics
Commissioned by The National Arts Centre, Ottawa
First produced by The American Musical Theater Project, Chicago – 2006
THE BEARD OF AVON – Composer
Produced by The Canadian Stage Company – 2002
(Dora Mavor Moore Award Nomination – Best Score/Sound Design)
THE HAPPY PRINCE – Book, lyrics and music
Commissioned by Prologue to the Performing Arts – 1998
First produced by Leslie Arden’s The Children’s Trio – 1999
(2000 Chalmers Award Winner, 3 Dora Mavor Moore Award Nominations)
THE HOUSE OF MARTIN GUERRE – Music, lyrics and co-bookwriter
Commissioned and 1st produced by Theatre Plus Toronto – 1993
(Dora Mavor Moore Award for best new musical/play)
Revised and produced by The Goodman Theatre – 1996
(6 Joseph Jefferson Awards, including best new musical)
LESLIE ARDEN AND FRIENDS – A MEETING OF MINDS – Music, lyrics & book
Commissioned and 1st produced by The Canadian Stage Company – 1999
Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination for best new musical
THE SHEPHERDESS – Music, lyrics and book
Commissioned by the Blyth Festival Theatre – 1999
THE LAST RESORT – Music & lyrics
1st produced by Theatre Orangeville/Thousand Islands Playhouse – 1997
A HERO’S STORY – Music and lyrics
A high school project initiated by The Canadian Opera Company – 1995
THE GREATEST GIFT – Book, music and lyrics
1st produced by The Lighthouse Festival Theatre – 1991
THE SAGA OF ROZA BROWN – Book, music and lyrics
Commissioned by C.B.C. radio for five part series – 1989
HARVEST MOON RISING – Music and lyrics (book by Peggy Sample)
First produced by Homefree Productions, PEI – 1989
RICKY OF THE TUFT – Music, lyrics and book
Commissioned by Prologue to the Performing Arts – 1988
First produced by Leslie Arden’s The Children’s Trio – 1989
THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER –Co-lyricist
First produced by Toronto’s Young People’s Theatre – 1987
(Dora Mavor Moore Award for best musical production)
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“A brilliantly talented composer-librettist.”
Canadian Theatre Review
“Leslie Arden is a major artistic talent, but that merely restates the obvious.”
Goeff Chapman – The Toronto Star
“Arden writes gorgeous music and lyrics about the hopes, pain, love and aspirations of ordinary folks. And she does so with truth.”
Chris Jones – The Chicago Tribune
“By all rights, Leslie Arden should be the toast of Broadway, yet Arden, a Canadian composer-lyricist of enormous sophistication and grace, might possess too much fervor and intelligence to find her place there.”
Hedy Weiss – Chicago Sun-Times
“Leslie Arden is the best hope among Canadian writers of musicals.”
Robert Cushman – The National Post
“With a resume that includes the Dora Award-winning The House Of Martin Guerre, as well as Harvest Moon Rising, The Last Resort, the Chalmers Award-winning The Happy Prince and even her own review, titled A Meeting Of The Minds, Arden has established a solid record as one of the Canadian stage’s pre-eminent musical makers.”
John Coulbourn – The Toronto Sun