"Lestat"

Which brings us to the project currently reuniting her with Roth, West, and "Lion King" composer Elton John, "Lestat". The musical theater version of two Anne Rice novels -- Vampire Lestat, and "Interview With a Vampire" -- Lestat sees a new role for Woolverton. Not only is she writing the book, she is also co-producing the play, along with Roth, John, John's longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin, and Warner Bros. The musical, which opened in San Francisco came to Broadway last spring.

Aside from the excitement of having Elton John as a business partner – John will call her on her cell phone and say, "get to a landline, I want to play a song for you" -- "Lestat" provided Woolverton with her greatest writing challenge to date. "It's still a fantasy world, but it's very complex," she says. "My job -- and Bernie's -- is to reflect the works of Anne Rice on stage. I don't want this to sound like Linda Woolverton. People are coming to see a musical version of Anne’s work and her world. It's a very big challenge."

While "Lestat" is the most adult-oriented piece she's ever written, Woolverton feels that the musical's themes are universal. "It's about one man's journey," she says, "a moral man who is thrust involuntarily into an immoral existence. It's about his struggle to find his own morality in that. It's a human struggle."

After "Lestat," Woolverton will write a screenplay for Universal, and would ultimately love to write an original musical, one based on her own vision. But whether adapting highly-prized works or creating worlds of her own, Woolverton will surely continue to enchant audiences with her ability to plant her own deep feelings and rich experiences at the core of her characters.

"It's all personal, because it has to be universal," says Woolverton. "You have to be able to relate to these characters whether it's a talking teapot or not. So I take it all very seriously. I don't stand back and laugh at it. I never do that. You have to draw from yourself to make it a universal experience for everybody. It’s
all personal."