CREATING LINT! THE MUSICAL: AN INTERVIEW WITH AUTHORS BILL ARNOLD AND SCOTT AUDEN

Many years ago, HITW veteran, Bill Arnold had an idea. He wanted to write a musical about a laundromat down the road from his college. He had a crush on a girl there. He took a few stabs at it, but wasn’t happy with the dialogue.

Enter Scott Auden.

“Scott and I started talking about it,” said Bill. “I gave him some songs and sketched him what I was thinking about. It was a pretty empty sketch. There was no order to the songs. We conceived the characters. He did his magic and made it into a meta-theatrical thing.”

That meta-theatrical experience was LINT! The Musical, a labor of love that made its debut at Hole in the Wall in January 2003. It was revived this past January and has delighted audiences in the Greater Hartford area. “When I was writing this, I was a straight play snob and poking fun at musicals,” said Scott. “Subsequent to writing LINT, I have had some positive experiences with musicals.”

“We did the original production, but I thought that was the end,” said Bill. “Then, it was picked up by a publisher. It was performed out of state. The cast recording was put on iTunes.” The time seemed right for a revival. In addition to composing the music, Bill was the Music Director for both the 2003 and 2016 productions. Both were extremely positive journeys. “In this new production, (Directors) James DeMarco and Stephanie Layne have really dug and found things that I didn’t know were there. They worked levels that I thought we missed in 2003. It’s been really neat to watch. The cast is very good. They are incredibly strong singers. It has been amazing to see these people bring this work to life.”

Despite a few minor changes and refinements, the original book is still intact. “This cast came in with all of this energy and no pre-conceptions,” said Bill. “They read the notes and the words and came up with their own stuff. I laugh my ass off every night.”

“I really enjoyed the musical. It is hard to compare casts,” said Scott. “They have different takes on things. This current cast did stupid very well.”

Bill credits Scott for writing a strong book. “What Scott did was nothing short of amazing. He wrote a great story.”

“I’ve always enjoyed working with Bill,” said Scott. “He is very flexible and generous. He is easy to work with. It was like two kids working in a sandbox. One of the benefits of being a playwright at the Hole is we got to see what we were imagining.”

Bill has a huge respect for the entire creative team, and that respect is reciprocated. “Having Bill working with us has been a great resource,” said James DeMarco. “However, he mostly stepped aside and let us discover this work on our own. He has been very generous with us.”

This homegrown musical holds a beloved place in the Hole in the Wall history. It was written by two of our own and brought to life by countless HITW family members spanning thirteen years. We strongly encourage you to see this production before its’ final performance this Saturday.