Linda Eder will scream her last scream in Frank Wildhorn's Jekyll & Hyde on Aug. 30. The musical's spokesman, Rick Miramontez, said a replacement for Eder would be announced shortly.
Eder, who is Wildhorn's wife, has been with the Broadway production since in opened on April 28, 1997. As reported by Playbill On-Line in November 1997, Frank Wildhorn is working on a new musical, Havana, in which Eder will appear. Said Wildhorn of the project (Nov. 1997), "It'll start as an Atlantic Records concept recording, but I'm hoping it'll be a real vehicle for my fiance [Eder]... The record will feature many of the world's best Latin and Cuban artists."
According to Wildhorn's assistant, Martha Ashton (reached June 10), the disk and the Broadway show are expected for fall 1999/ winter-spring 2000, about half a season later than originally anticipated.
Calling it "a film noir musical," Wildhorn said Havana is set in pre- Castro Cuba, with "romance and intrigue and high stakes." The show is being co-created by Gregory Boyd and Jack Murphy -- the same team as on Wildhorn's oratorio, The Civil War.
In Havana, Eder will play the wife of a high-level Mafioso. Eder and Wildhorn married in real life May 3. Jekyll & Hyde's two other stars, Robert Cuccioli and Christiane Noll, are signed to stay with the show through Jan. 3, 1999.