Harvey Edelman and Neil Fishman are a songwriting team that created and produced the first two audiobook musicals. The first, entitled , distributed by HarperAudio, and featuring Jim Dale, legendary Broadway performer and the voice of the Harry Potter series. The music of Spin was composed by Mr. Fishman, who also did the musical arrangements for the audiobook. Mr. Edelman wrote the book and lyrics and adapted his original stage play to the audiobook with , a popular writer of Fantasy novels. The cast of Spin, a witty musical re-imagining of the Grimm’s fairy tale, also features a list of Broadway and audiobook performers. Spin won the in two categories including Best Cast in Children's Production and Outstanding Audiobook Production, the – Silver Honor for Audiobook, and the 2019 Audie Award winner for best "Original Work". They followed up "Spin" with "," which was co-adapted by Khristine Hvam, a voice over actress, award-winning audiobook narrator, and director. "Puss In Boots" also featured Jim Dale and a cast of Broadway veterans and was released in August of 2019. "Puss In Boots a Musical" won two for Best Voiceover performance in a Children's Production and Best Audiobook Production, , and was a . Mr. Edelman and Mr. Fishman started working together in 1975, when they collaborated on a musical adaptation of George Farquhar's restoration comedy, "The Beaux' Stratagem," entitled, "To Bed a Fortune," which was produced in 1976. They were introduced by their co-writer and director of the production, , who later wrote a book about his personal search for his birth parents, entitled Mr. Gerstel, among other endeavors, was a respected news anchorman in the south Florida area for many years. Mr. Edelman and Mr. Fishman have collaborated on a number of educational works including "Songsleuth" a musical to be performed by sixth graders for their classmates. Songsleuth was published in the Macmillan Publishing Educational Series, "Music and You" and a recording of the songs is part of the accompanying "Music and You" soundtrack on CBS Records, produced by Merrill Staton and Barbara Staton. With the success of "Songsleuth," the pair was commissioned to write a new kids musical for the 1995 edition of "Music and You" entitled, "" a musical that teaches children about environmental concerns and what they can do about them. In addition to hundreds of school productions, "Earthkids" was produced in Nyack, New York, in 1996, under the direction of Rita Veri. Mr. Edelman and Mr. Fishman have also written and produced songs about hygiene, nutrition, and dental care for the national Program, sponsored by the Soap and Detergent Association, Weightwatchers, and Colgate-Palmolive, respectively. In 1989, they were commissioned by the to write a musical version of "Puss 'n Boots," for its Spring Season and serve as Artists In Residence prior to its debut. "Puss 'n Boots, the Musical" was subsequently produced in other regional and community theaters. The genesis of that commission was the Pittsburgh Playhouse's production of an earlier Edelman/Fishman children's musical, "Rumpelstiltskin," originally produced in northern New Jersey by the . Their other works include "On The Air," a musical spoof of the Golden Age of Radio, co-written by Peter Palame, which first appeared Off-Broadway in 1984 with numerous subsequent theater productions; a musical based on Sidney Kingsley's landmark play, " Dead End," also co-written with Peter Palame, first developed in the ASCAP Musical Theater Workshop that was chosen for a staged reading at the Dramatists Guild Musical Theater Workshop; and a musical about independent business people entitled, "Entrepreneurs", written with Mel Friedman. In 2004, they collaborated with Janice Cohen, the author of "The Christmas Menorahs, How a Town Fought Hate" to create the musical "Nightlights,“ which recounted the true story of how people of all faiths and races came together in the town of Billings, Montana in 1993 to successfully fight a group of haters threatening the town’s tiny Jewish population and other minorities. ”Nightlights” had its debut production at the in Trenton, New Jersey in 2005.
Business Entities
Under the auspices of Creative Audio Enterprises, their audio marketing company also doing business as , and , their publishing company, they have also written and produced award-winning musical numbers for advertising and industrial projects out of their production facilities in northern New Jersey. Their music has been heard on stage, cabaret, television, radio, film, and the Internet.
Background
Mr. Fishman received his formal musical education at Juilliard Preparatory Division and later earned his degree at Yale University. Besides his work as a composer and producer, he has also done extensive work as musical director, vocal coach, and arranger. Mr. Edelman earned a degree in Journalism from Georgia State University. In addition to his work as lyricist and producer, he has written the librettos for a number of their musicals including, "Rumpelstiltskin," "Songsleuth," and "Puss In Boots."
