Biographical Note

Heidi X. A. Vanderbilt-Robberbaron was born to a wealthy coal mining, steel producing, computer chip inventing family in the wilds of Connecticut. She spent much of her young life on boats, as her grandfather was a great maritime man, and sailed everyday of the year except Christmas. Heidi’s sea legs guided her to the Sorbonne at the tender age of 16, where she earned a degree in Economics while also working at the Opera Française. She soon became a part owner of the Shakespeare and Co. bookstore on the left bank, where she pioneered the great literary careers of Jack Kerouac, Michael Chabon and Jane Austen. She is also credited with the discovery of uranium in secret lab in the basement of her bookshop. While in Paris, she met and married a direct descendent of the Emperor Napoleon. Heidi fled Paris after the student uprisings in 1968 and settled in Morocco, where she lived in the desert and traveled with a caravan through the desert. After discovering the lost kingdom of Zanzibar, Heidi returned to the Western world to begin one of the greatest creative marriages in the history of the American musical. Her work with Stephen Sondheim has been called “transcendental,” “inspired” and “homosexual.” Heidi now lives in Aspen, Colorado, and teaches skiing.