What makes this new Pippin recording special?

By Carol de Giere

The 2013 new Broadway cast recording of Pippin is not simply a replication of the 1972 album with new singers. It does offer outstanding new vocal performances by the Broadway revival cast, but it also includes previously unrecorded parts of the score and new orchestrations that contribute to a fresh sound. BUY it here: Pippin at iTunes or to enjoy the physical CD Pippin Cast Album CD  

Stephen Schwartz likes to produce his albums, which means that he is the commander-in-chief helming operations in the control room at the recording session, keeping track of various takes and coaxing performances that he feels will work best on a recording. He also works closely with the audio engineers as the tracks are combined and refined.

The benefit for listeners is that the composer-lyricist has finessed the finish product. We are hearing what he’d like us to hear with whatever performances, new lyrics, and enhancements he has encouraged.

As Schwartz explains in the Spring 2013 issue of The Schwartz Scene newsletter, he really enjoyed working on the new Pippin recording, especially given the options available today. He recalls that when he worked on the original cast album in 1972, “it was so challenging to squeeze all the songs onto one disc. We had to compress ‘Morning Glow’ greatly and slightly speed up ‘Spread a Little Sunshine.'” But using digital recording technology in 2013 he was able to include over an hour of music at exactly the pace he wanted.

As you listen to the album, note previously unrecorded dance music for songs like “No Time At All” and “With You.” There’s a lively “Entr’acte” track with music that opens Act II. The 1972 album did not include the charming piece from the beginning of Catherine’s scene, but for this 2013 album Schwartz fit it at the beginning of the “Kind of Woman” track. Another addition is the newer ending, so when you think the “Finale” is over, keep the music running to hear Theo sing. (Find out all about the origins of Pippin songs in Defying Gravity.)

The New Broadway Cast

One of the great delights of this album is hearing the Broadway revival cast. Back in 1972, twenty-four-year-old Schwartz had argued with Pippin‘s director-choreographer Bob about casting singers. Fosse’s focus was on dancers and in those days triple threats like Ben Vereen were harder to find than they are today. Fosse got his way. Fortunately many of the dancers were pretty good singers for the live stage production. For the recording studio, however, Schwartz felt they weren’t really “strong enough that you could really hold a magnifying glass up to the sound” the way a recording does. A few studio singers joined the cast to enhance the vocals and the score was immortalized in the original cast recording.

The new album features top notch solos and duets and group harmonies that are pitch perfect and complex. (Publicity photo by Joan Marcus)

One of the first things listeners will notice is that songs for the Leading Player role that Mr. Ben Vereen originated are deftly performed by Ms. Patina Miller (Sister Act). Her vocal prowess enhances “Magic To Do,” “Simple Joys,” and other pieces. Listen to her voice slither up the scales on the last notes of “Glory” and “On the Right Tracks.”

Matthew James Thomas is so committed to the role of the angst-filled seeker Pippin that you hear the passion of his quest on “Corner of the Sky” and “On the Right Track.”

Star performances are also provided by Terrence Mann (Les Miserables) as King Charles, Charlotte d’Amboise (Chicago) as Fastrada, Erik Altemus (The Fantasticks) as Lewis, the comic genius Andrea Martin as Berthe, and others. I want to make a special mention of Rachel Bay Jones who plays Catherine, as I’m a great fan of her album ShowFolk (itunes: ShowFolk – Rachel Bay Jones or CD at Amazon: Showfolk album ) Her folk-like rendition of “I Guess I’ll Miss the Man” brings new meaning to the piece, and her “Kind of Woman” enchants.

The album also features surprise guest appearances by 700 Pippin fans, including me. We all showed up for a recording session on the sing-along for “No Time At All.” It’s a treat to hear. (You might enjoy the USA Today article about the sing-along recording: Critic Elysa Gardner joins the ‘Pippin’ choir”)

None of this could have happened as well as it did without the talents and cheery spirit of music director Charlie Alterman, who had also lead the musicians for the Godspell revival.

Highlights of the New Orchestrations

Larry Hochman’s orchestrations enrich the recording in a number of ways. One of the best treats comes at the beginning. He had a simple idea of using the orchestra warm-up sounds as music, and Stephen Schwartz accepted it. Hochman says, “I had a notion of starting with instruments tuning up, starting with the ‘A’ note given by the oboe, spreading out to the strings, tuning up with their open strings and morphing into an orchestral kind of an avant guard crescendo… I’m doing it in about 5 bars and when we get to the peak of it, it cuts off sharply exposing the single organ note so all of a sudden we will be in the familiar land of Pippin.”

Hochman was quite familiar with Pippin when he took on the project. He had been a substitute pianist in the orchestra pit for the show in the early 70s, so he knew the score by heart. When he was hired for the 2013 revival production, he knew he’d only have 12 musicians to work with instead of the original 24. He also knew he could take advantage of technology. The conductor would be using a hybrid acoustic piano with a built-in synthesizer interface that could be used to trigger other sounds.

If there is a bit of an angle to the approach, it is the contemporary circus, because director Diane Paulus chose that style for the whole production. For the music, although they didn’t bring a hurdy-gurdy into the orchestra pit, they could sample one. There’s also other instruments that could have traveled with a circus like a harmonium, accordion, glockenspiel, and various brass instruments. Still, it sounds pretty much like a pop musical orchestra for an incredibly melodic score. Read more about Pippin and the orchestrations at Pippin Broadway Revival.

Watch the Youtube video with clips from the recording sessions and live performances. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAHDP6PRW7U&feature=youtu.be

TRACK LIST: 1. Magic To Do, 2. Corner Of The Sky, 3. War Is A Science, 4. Glory, 5. Simple Joys, 6. No Time At All, 7. With You, 8. Spread A Little Sunshine, 9. Morning Glow, 10. Entr’acte, 11. On The Right Track, 12. Kind Of Woman, 13. Extraordinary, 14. Love Song, 15. I Guess I’ll Miss The Man, 16. Finale

BONUS TRACKS: Sing Along with the Pippin Orchestra: 17. Corner Of The Sky, 18. Simple Joys, 19. Kind Of Woman, 20. Extraordinary

Album credits

Music & Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz

Book by Roger O. Hirsona

Directed by Diane Paulus

Produced for Records by Stephen Schwartz and Kurt Deutsch

Cast Includes: Matthew James Thomas as Pippin, Tony and Olivier Award nominee Patina Miller as Leading Player, Tony Award nominee Terrence Mann as Charles, Tony Award nominee Charlotte d’Amboise as Fastrada,Rachel Bay Jones as Catherine and Tony Award winner Andrea Martin as Berthe, plus Erik Altemus, Grégory Arsenal, Andrew Cekala, Lolita Costet, Colin Cunliffe, Andrew Fitch, Orion Griffiths, Viktoria Grimmy, Sabrina Harper, Olga Karmansky, Bethany Moore, Brad Musgrove, Stephanie Pope, Philip Rosenberg, Yannick Thomas, Molly Tynes, Anthony Wayne, Ashton Woerz.

Orchestra Pit credits from the Playbill

Conductor/Keyboard: Charlie Alterman

Associate Conductor/Keyboard: Sonny Paladino

Reeds: Edward Joffe, Rick Heckman, Trumpet: Dave Trigg; Trombone: Michael Davis; Violin/Viola: Rick Dolan; Cello: Peter Sachon; Guitar: Larry Saltzman; Bass: Steve Millhouse; Drums: Jared Schonig; Percussion: Sean Ritenauer.

[PHOTO: Composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz, 2012. Photo by Olivier Ciappa.]

The Grammy and Oscar-winning songwriter Stephen Schwartz marks his sixty-fifth birthday today, March 6, 2013. With dozens of musical scores completed and several more in midstream, it seems unlikely that he’ll ever retire (again).

It’s easy to forget that long before Wicked, he once did retire at age thirty. For about three years he stopped writing and basically stayed home in Connecticut with his wife, Carole, and their two young children; not because he needed to be the stay-at-home dad, but because he was exhausted and discouraged over his failures.

It certainly wasn’t what he had expected for his life’s journey. When Schwartz was a teenager and writing musicals for a college drama club, he felt confident that he could write scores for the commercial Broadway theatre in his native New York City. He didn’t realize it would take more than talent and persistence to sustain a career—it would also require a thick skin.

Although his scores for the off-Broadway hit Godspell (1971) and Broadway hit Pippin (1972) brought him some renown and financial rewards, he was shrugged off by critics like Clive Barnes who described his Pippin score as “bland,” and John Simon, who described his songs as having “awkward and amateurish charm.” In those days before ubiquitous Internet access, he had fewer ways of being bolstered by an audience who cared for his work. A trickle of letters came in from fans who wrote him in care of the theatre, which he appreciated. Still, harsh words from critics and some colleagues tended to overshadow positive ones. “It just felt clear to me that the New York theatre establishment saw me as an untalented upstart who had no business being part of their club,” he recalls.

In 1976, he endured the embarrassment of his first flop, The Baker’s Wife, that never even reached Broadway. Then on a rainy opening night in May, 1978, his next pet project, a musical adaptation of Studs Terkel’s musical Working, was to appear before the critics and public featuring several of his songs and his directorial debut. He and Carole dressed up and drove into the city through the drizzle. He told her, “This is going to change our lives in one way or the other. If this works, that will be one path, and if it doesn’t work, I’m through.”

Critics didn’t go for it and Working shuttered on Broadway on June 4, 1978, after twelve previews and twenty four performances. So he quit. Fortunately, it was good timing. He later commented, “I sometimes think that the happiest time of my life was the three years when I was depressed. My kids were little; I ended up spending much more time with them. It worked out in this strange way the way a lot of things in my life somehow work out in unforeseen, serendipitous ways.”

Schwartz would eventually defy the gravity of his flops and, with the help of friends, lift himself up. He has been on quite a roll for the past few decades since coming out of that early retirement. He is currently far too busy to consider stepping away from the piano or the pencils he uses for writing lyrics. His latest set of lyrics for a DreamWorks animated feature is slated to open in December 2015. He’s also midway through a score for a Broadway show about Houdini. And he’s no doubt pleased that his supposedly “bland” score is now a source of nostalgia for fans who are likely to flock to the Broadway revival of Pippin when it opens in previews on March 23rd, 2013.

He’s accomplishing so much that I’m already planning a revised edition of Defying Gravity– my story of this artist’s truly creative career.

Subscribe to The Schwartz Scene for updates on Schwartz’s activities.

It’s a golden year for award-winning songwriter Stephen Schwartz who turns 65 this spring. Around the country, his music will be featured in several major concerts, as well as on Broadway in the musicals Pippin and Wicked.

March 18, 2013 at Wright State University, Ohio

On Monday evening March 18, Stephen Schwartz and Friends will perform a concert of music ranging from Godspell to Wicked, from Pocahontas to Enchanted, just a few of the 20-plus Broadway and animated musicals Schwartz has written. Mr. Schwartz, Debbie Gravitte, and Scott Coulter will be performing and will stay afterward to autograph their CDs. The concert is part of a two-day visit that includes master classes at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.For ticket information go to www.wright.edu/celia/visiting-artists

Apr 12, 2013 at Carnegie Hall

Fans will gather in 2013 in New York City to celebrate Stephen Schwartz’s 65th birthday and the 10th anniversary of his hit musical Wicked, with a program that highlights his compositions for movies, opera, television, and the Great White Way. The New York Pops with Steven Reineke, Music Director and Conductor.

Singers include Julia Murney and Jennifer Laura Thompson who starred in Wicked on tour and on Broadway, as well as Broadway stars Jeremy Jordon and Norm Lewis. Also performing are “Essential Voices USA” with Judith Clurman as Music Director and Conductor. Mr. Schwartz will be attending the concert.

Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at 8:00 pm. Tickets – Carnegie Hall The Wizard and I: The Musical Journey of Stephen Schwartz

April 19-20, 2013 in Atlanta

“No Rest for the Wicked: The Music of Stephen Schwartz”

The spring concert, No Rest for the Wicked, will feature a much-anticipated evening of the music of award-winning composer Stephen Schwartz, the mastermind behind the hit Broadway shows Wicked, Godspell, and many more. You can expect an evening of great music, including “For Good,” “Defying Gravity,” and many more. The chorus will also perform Schwartz’s “Testimony” – a new choral work with lyrics drawn from the “It Gets Better” project. 14th Street Playhouse. Atlanta gay men’s chorus concert

May 11-12, 2013 in Omaha

Wizard and I – The Musical Journey of Stephen Schwartz

The Omaha Symphony will be performing the Wizard and I – The Musical Journey of Stephen Schwartz, to be led by New York Pops conductor Steven Reineke. A cast of Broadway performers is due in for 2 wonderful nights of the best of Stephen Schwartz, including Julia Murney and Jennifer Laura Thompson who played Elphaba and Glinda respectively in Wicked. Also performer are Darius De Haas and Christopher Johnstone.

Both performances take place at the Holland Performing Arts Center in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Tickets are available online at www.omahasymphony.org

May 16-18, 2013 in Washington DC

The Wizard and I: The Musical Journey of Stephen Schwartz

The National Symphony Orchestra Pops will pay tribute to the 10th anniversary of Wicked and the 65th birthday of composer Stephen Schwartz with concerts entitled TheWizard and I: The Musical Journey of Stephen Schwartz. It will feature the talents of former Wicked stars Jennifer Laura Thompson and Julia Murney. According to one source, on May 18th there will be pre-concert “Conversation with Stephen Schwartz” event from 5pm – 6:30 pm. ASCAP’s Michael Kerker will interviewing Mr. Schwartz on stage. Go www.kennedy-center.org for tickets.

Pippin opens on Broadway

The stunning production of Pippin from the American Repertory Theatre of Boston is coming to Broadway, opening in previews March 23rd with an official opening on April 25th, 2013. Read all about it and see photos at www.musicalschwartz.com/pippin-revival.htm. Note from The Schwartz Scene edito: I’ve organized a group trip for March 30th matinee at the group ticket rate. I have a few tickets left. Contact me at carol@musicalschwartz.com if you’re interested in joining us.

Wicked tour continues strong

Wicked is in its 10th year on Broadway and is adding cities to its tour all the time. Check out some of the recent additions at www.musicalschwartz.com/wicked-tour.htm

About Stephen Schwartz

Did you know that Stephen Schwartz began studying piano at age seven and wrote scores for musicals in college? He launched his professional career at age 23 when he wrote the score for the hit musical Godspell, followed by Pippin (which he completed at age 24). Read all about Mr. Schwartz and his creative life in the career biography Defying Gravity. www.defyinggravitythebook.com

Subscribe to The Schwartz Scene

If you are not already subscribed to The Schwartz Scene for the quarterly newsletter, stop by www.theschwartzscene.com/ to sign up. It’s a great way to keep up with Stephen Schwartz who writes updates for this fan publication.

Now that my Stephen Schwartz biography, Defying Gravity, has been out for three years and you’ve all read it (right? – www.DefyingGravityTheBook.com), it’s time for new material for Schwartz and Wicked enthusists. So I’ll report on three books you could read this fall. 

Wicked: A Musical Biography

 My friend Paul Laird wrote a book that came out this summer. Paul is a professor of Musicology at the University of Kansas, where he teaches courses in music history, musical theater. His book is called Wicked: A Musical Biography –  Wicked: A Musical Biography.

He drew extensively from the 150 pages on Wicked in my Defying Gravity (giving me credit, of course), as well as The Schwartz Scene newsletter.  He extended the scope beyond my ending point (which was the show’s opening on Broadway). Chapter 8 of Wicked: A Musical Biography covers what happend to the musical after the Broadway opening, including a sizeable section about the London production.

Professor Laird approached Stephen Schwartz for his own interviews, asking questions that a musicoligist would ask. He also interviewed Winnie Holzman (who wrote Wicked’s “book” or script) and explores the Schwartz/Holzman collaboration in a chapter “Collaboration and Creation.” Schwartz gave him access to handwritten music drafts of various versions of songs, some of which he includes as images in the book. In his chapter “The Music and Lyrics of Wicked” readers will find comparisons of versions of the score and playscript.

When I wrote Defying Gravity, I used a “narrative nonfiction” style so that readers would feel like they were present at the time Stephen Schwartz and others were working on Wicked. (Narrative nonfiction is a style used for books like Three Cups of Tea or The Devil in the White City.) Professor Laird writes in a consciously evaluative style offering a careful study of what happened as Schwartz and Holzman pieced together the Broadway musical Wicked while adapting Gregory Maguire’s novel Wicked for the stage.

Also beyond the scope of my book, Laird provides a chapter called “Wicked in Context” that places the themes of Wicked in context of musical theatre history.  And he includes a chapter covering orchestrations for Broadway and the differences between this and touring productions that use a smaller orchestra.

Wicked: A Musical Biography may be most useful for students or faculty members writing papers, for composers who want details about Schwartz’s subtle adjustments to his score over time, and for fans who want to collect everything about the show.

Gregory Maguire’s Out of Oz: The Final Volume in the Wicked Years

Out of Oz

Gregory has really outdone himself with this final book in his Wicked series–a series that began with the book that launched the musical. This new one to be released November 1st is listed at nearly 600 pages. It’s available for pre-order in hardcover, Kindle, audio, and large print. Out of Oz: The Final Volume in the Wicked Years 

Maguire has said that this novel focuses on Glinda. As he told me for an issue of The Schwartz Scene, “all I can say about it before it is released in, I hope, the fall of 2011, is that it opens with Lady Glinda under house arrest….”

The blurbs offer enticement: “a thrilling and compulsively readable saga in which the fate of Oz is decided at last. . . The stirring, long-awaited conclusion to the bestselling series begun with Wicked, Out of Oz is a magical journey rife with revelations and reversals, reprisals and surprises—the hallmarks of the unique imagination of Gregory Maguire.”

Maguire fans can now “Friend” Gregory on Facebook for future updates. Also, to listen to a 30-minute audio segement of the book, go to excerpt on a website: http://www.harpercollinswidgets.com/hc.php?wid=374

Unnaturally Green

Felicia Ricci, former Elphaba Standby in the San Francisco Company of Wicked, has announced her memoir: UNNATURALLY GREEN: One Girl’s Wild, Impossible, Pit-Stain-Filled Adventure Along a Yellow Brick Road Less Traveled. Here’s a description of this book that is due out in October: “From her audition to the show’s closing, to every moment in between, Felicia takes you behind the scenes of her first professional theater job (ever!) as she understudies Elphaba, Wicked’s lead character.” Unnaturallygreen.com/

Sunday, April 10, 2011 – Is It a Musical or Opera panel

Stephen Schwartz

A panel of distinguished composers and playwrights join Stephen Schwartz for an in-depth look at what defines the opera and musical theater genres. The roundtable will take place on the set of Schwartz’s hit Broadway musical Wicked. It has been reported that Adam Guettel, John Kander and David Henry Hwang will be joining Stephen Schwartz.  George Steel will moderate. Sunday, April 10 at 7:30 pm, Gershwin Theatre, 222 West 51st Street, NYC opera event info

April 19 – May 1, 2011, Seance on a Wet Afternoon opera NYC premiere

A scene from Stephen Schwartz's opera "Seance on a Wet Afternoon" at the world premiere production. Photo by David Bazemore

If you haven’t yet read about the New York premiere of Stephen Schwartz’s opera Séance on a Wet Afternoon, be sure to check this out:  Stephen Schwartz opera Seance on a Wet Afternoon. New York City Opera is staging Seance April 19 – May 1. Scott Schwartz directs this first professional opera that his dad wrote.

Thursday, April 21, 2011, New York City, Dinner and Concert–Defying Gravity: The Music of Stephen Schwartz

The NYC opera is hosting a special concert and gala evening featuring Anne Hampton Callaway, Kristin Chenoweth, Raúl Esparza, and Victor Garber. NY Opera concert

Carol de Giere

You’re invited to a Stephen Schwartz fan gathering before the “Defying Gravity” concert in Manhattan on April 21. We’ll have a casual dinner at 6 pm before walking to the concert. Send me a message at carol@musicalschwartz.com if you plan to come and I’ll send location details. It will be at a diner with a wide range of menu choices and prices. — Carol de Giere (author of the Stephen Schwartz biography Defying Gravity and editor of The Schwartz Scene newsletter and blog) and Chris Kuczewski (President, UNLIMITED: The First Official Wicked Fan Society)

Saturday, April 23 – Opera Insights

Seance on a Wet Afternooon director Scott Schwartz will discuss the opera, Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 12:00pm NYC opera site.

Thursday, April 28th at 6pm, Artists Dialogue – NYC

The New York City opera will be holding an artist dialogue for Seance on a Wet Afternoon, with Stephen Schwartz and others. Look for the April 28 listing: Stephen Schwartz as part of the NYCO lecture series

More Schwartz Events

This listing is posted in conjunction with The Schwartz Scene Quarterly Newsletter, Spring 2011 issue. Subscribe to the newsletter here

Children of Eden with full orchestra

Children of Eden is one of Stephen Schwartz’s most popular musicals for stock and amateur productions through Music Theatre International, thanks to the rich score and philosophically interesting book. Now Piane Productions is taking it to a new level. They’ve organized a world premiere for the symphonic version of the show, and a special concert as well. For the first time, Schwartz’s Children of Eden will be accompanied by a 55-piece orchestra. These performances will run in Kansas City from July 15 to 24, 2011.

Concert and Schwartz Fan Meet-Up

Stephen Schwartz

Piane Productions also organized a special concert on July 18th, featuring 4-6 well-known theatre performers and a variety of KC-based professionals presenting a celebration of Stephen’s musical catalogue. The concert will be performed with a full symphony orchestra.  This unique evening will include an on-stage interview with Schwartz about his career and musicals. The concert is set for July 18th at 8:00pm at the Music Hall in Kansas City (201 W 13th St. Kansas City, MO 64105).

More information about these shows will be available in the coming weeks at PianeProductions.com (link opens in new browser window)

Carol de Giere

YOU’RE INVITED TO A GATHERING

I’ll be in the Midwest this summer, heading out to Kansas City for the concert and show. I’m meeting with up some Schwartz fans for lunch before the show on the 17th, and you’re welcome to join us. Email me at carol@musicalschwartz.com with “KANSAS CITY” in the subject line to be notified of details as they develop.

— Carol de Giere, The Schwartz Scene editor and author of the Stephen Schwartz biography, Defying Gravity.

Children of Eden

ONLINE RESOURCES:  Children of Eden Albums, Sheet Music, Synopsis, Licensing info, etc.

The Children of Eden Logo is from the licensing agency Music Theatre International.  They run a social networking site with a Children of Eden section that includes a link to the licensing, rentals, and more information.

Other Schwartz Events

For information on additional events with Stephen Schwartz subscribe to The Schwartz Scene

Composer Stephen Schwartz speaks to a group about the origins of his musical "Wicked" - September 2006

Audio clip from a public talk

On this page, in addition to an audio clip, you’ll also find the transcript of Stephen Schwartz’s public talk about Wicked‘s origins, and my introduction. For visuals, I’ve inserted a photo of Stephen Schwartz and novelist Gregory Maguire from their first meeting over the rights.

You can also take a look at the PDF sample chapter from my book “Defying Gravity,” Chapter 16 “Landing In Oz.”  It includes photos related to the material of this podcast. Defying Gravity sample chapter Landing In Oz – see photos at the end of the chapter

The sound quality on this audio clip is not the best because I taped Stephen Schwartz’s talk from across the room on a small cassette recorder. Later, I received permission to post this excerpt, and tried to clean up the audio file as best I could.

[audio:https://www.theschwartzscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/schwartzscene2-wicked-history.mp3|titles=schwartzscene2-wicked-history]

Transcript of the Podcast

INTRODUCTION

Carol de Giere: Welcome to the 2nd podcast from The Schwartz Scene website and blog at www.theschwartzscene.com. I’m Carol de Giere. Today you’ll hear from Wicked’s composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz as he discusses his discovery of the novel Wicked and the arrangements he needed to make to adapt it.

In the past Schwartz has been involved with such adaptations as Working, a musical based on Studs Terkel’s collection of interviews and Children of Eden, an adaptation of the first chapters of the Book of Genesis. Back in 1996 when he first heard about the novel Wicked, he had just finished writing songs for The Prince of Egypt, a film adaptation of the biblical story of Moses, and had recently completed lyrics for Disney’s adaptation of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. So he was somewhat in the habit of watching out for stories that might be retold in musical form. Then he found a story that was truly wicked.

So now you’ll hear about the early moments of the adaptation process for Wicked the musical. About a year ago I attended a talk that Stephen Schwartz gave at a gathering in Connecticut. I taped the talk and my husband worked on the audio track so you can hear it a little better. Stephen approved this segment for me to share with you in the podcast. He describes a weekend vacation in December 1996. Picture him on a boating trip off the island of Maui in Hawaii.

Stephen Schwartz Talks about Wicked the Novel and Musical

Stephen Schwartz: I heard about the book Wicked in a very random and serendipitous way, about 7 years ago, maybe eight years ago now. It was one of those completely unlooked for events. I actually was on a very last-minute and sort of capricious weekend vacation with some friends. It was unplanned and came up very quickly. The last day we went on a snorkeling trip because we were in Hawaii, and on the boat on the way back to the mainland after our little snorkel adventure, one of the people that I was with just making idle conversation said, I’m reading this really interesting book called Wicked and it’s by this guy named Gregory Maguire. It’s the Oz story from the Wicked Witch’s point of view.

As soon as I heard this I had one of those light bulb moments where something just said this is a really great idea. For many reasons it seemed particularly the kind of thing that I like to do. I’m very attracted to stories that take a familiar story or myth or character and then spin it and look at it from another way. I’ve done several pieces like that; I refer to it as the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead school of writing. It is something that always intrigues me; from an academic perspective I guess it would be called post modern because it takes an existing work and deconstructs it. For whatever reason, I’m very attracted to that, so immediately that aspect of it appealed to me.

I also was very taken with the idea that this character of the Wicked Witch of the West, who is so much a villainess that she doesn’t even have a name, she is only referred to in The Wizard of Oz as the Wicked Witch of the West, that someone had the idea to look at what had transpired through her point of view. It was pretty obvious that something called Wicked was going to deal with themes that appeal to me: the difference between the reality that is presented to us, where things are oversimplified and told in black and white terms, and something is evil or good and there are good guys and bad guys, and the reality of life, which is, of course, a good deal more complicated than that. For all those reasons I was very intrigued by the idea.

The next day, when I got back to the mainland, I called my representative and said look, there is this book called Wicked and somebody has the rights to it, because it has been out for about a year. And therefore someone has bought the rights. Please find out where those rights are, because I think this is something I would like to do, and then I went out to get the book.

At that point, things turned out to be lucky, frankly. It turned out the rights to the book belonged to Universal Pictures. They had bought it and were in the process of developing a movie, not a musical movie. They were a good way along, as you might imagine because the book had been out a while. They had a first draft of a screenplay and had given the writer notes, and were expecting a second draft shortly. As you can imagine, they had spent some time and money on it. So the first task was to persuade Universal to abandon the idea of doing it as a movie and to consider the idea of doing it as a stage musical, something they had never done before because they are a movie company and not a theater producing company. So I began to get meetings with various people and work my way up the food chain and it took a while. After about 6 months of this, I finally got a meeting with the gentleman who was running Universal Pictures at the time, Marc Platt, and this is where luck took over a bit. It turned out that Marc, very much unlike most motion picture executives, had a knowledge of the theater, had a love for the theater, liked musicals, and in fact in college had been in his college production of Pippin. So he was not completely deaf to my entreaties.

Basically what I did was go to him and say, ‘Look, I know you’re developing this as a film. I don’t think it’s going to work as a film and this is why,’ and I had some reasons that may or may not be legitimate but sounded cogent anyway. I said, ‘I really believe this is a theater piece. I think it needs to be a musical,’ and I gave him some reasons why, mostly having to do with the leading character of the Wicked Witch. She was going to need to give voice to what was going on inside her, and this was going to need to involve soliloquies, which are very difficult to do on film unless you do a tedious voice-over. What’s more, the usual thing film relies on to convey this kind of emotion, which is the close-up, was not going to be particularly effective in this case because she’s green and covered with makeup. So it was going to be difficult to turn her into a complicated and nuanced character. And I had some other reasons as well.

In any event, Mark was cordial and he gave me no indication that he actually was going to do this, and in fact he sent me out with a huge packet of other movies, treatments of other movies that Universal owned in case I was interested in any of them, which of course I was not. There was a bit of a depressing time when it looked as if they were not going to go along with this. I started thinking what other villains could I do? Should I do a musical about Iago? Should I do something about the wicked queen in Snow White? But nothing was as satisfying.

I had by this time read Gregory’s book and seen how much of that book lent itself to musicalization. The end of the story is obvious. Ultimately Mark did call me and say, ‘Okay let’s give it a go.’ And then I went and met with Gregory.

Stephen Schwartz and Gregory Maguire meet to discuss musical adaptation. Photo by Andy Newman, copyright 1998

Again I got lucky, because I had to go this guy who had sold his book to the movies and was waiting to have a great big major motion picture and say, ‘Guess what? Instead of that, how would you feel about the risky and unlikely prospect of a show?’ I was lucky in that Gregory is sort of an amateur musician, and he told me that he had learned to play piano by playing the scores to Godspell and Pippin. Again my past rescued me. And so he agreed, and then from that point on we began.

Carol de Giere: That’s Stephen Schwartz’s report and how it all began. And of course then he and his colleagues found ways to compress and rearrange the story from Maguire’s 406 page novel to create a 2 ½ hour musical. Thanks for listening to this podcast from www.theschwartzscene.com

Buy Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz, from Godspell to Wicked – the Stephen Schwartz biography with 150 pages on the making of Wicked.

Visit the Wicked home page at MusicalSchwartz.com – an index to over 50 pages related to Wicked the musical.

Copyright for this blog, podcast, and website is by Carol de Giere. You may link to this blog, but do not copy any of this material without prior permission in writing. carol@musicalschwartz.com

The Art of Deception: Mrya in Stephen Schwartz’s Seance on A Wet Afternoon, Frollo in the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Wizard of Oz in Wicked and Bernie Madoff in real life.

I originally wrote these reflections about the deception theme in Schwartz’s opera “Seance on a Wet Afternoon” in the summer of 2009 before the world premiere. I’m posting them now in 2011 as the New York City Opera prepares their production.

Illusions and cover-ups were on my mind recently as I shopped for a dress for an upcoming opera premiere while wearing shorts, t-shirt, and a baseball cap. Actually, my husband and I don’t mind switching from our casual selves to dressed up versions for one night, and we’re looking forward to attending Stephen Schwartz’s first opera, Séance on A Wet Afternoon. Still, it’s interesting to consider the range of topics suggested by facades.

Séance on A Wet Afternoon weaves itself around the subject area of illusion, deception, self-delusion, being “in denial”—the misty and twisted possibilities outside of straightforward thinking. The warped mindsets of the couple, Myra and Bill, in the movie version of Séance on A Wet Afternoon, captivated Stephen Schwartz when he first saw it. Years later, when he was commissioned by Opera Santa Barbara for a new opera, he thought Séance would be ideal as source material for something tragic. [Read more about the opera]

As I ponder the kidnapping deception plot of the movie and opera, I can’t help but think of news reports of recent months and years.  I think of master deceiver Bernie Madoff, and of politicians who create facades as model citizens and prove otherwise in their actions. And so it’s not surprising that an artist like Stephen Schwartz should want to depict deception. He has already touched on the topic in his musical Wicked in terms of the Wizard of Oz. His original angle on Wicked was to create a musical that showed how “things are not what they seem.”

There’s another twist on the theme in Séance. Unlike Bernie Madoff, who apparently fully cognizant of the rules he was breaking, Myra doesn’t get what she’s doing wrong. She is in denial about the criminal nature of the kidnapping plan and only focuses on how to bring acclaim to her skills as a medium by revealing the location of the kidnapped child. She believes what she’s doing is legitimate. AND she thinks she’s better at her mediumship than she actually is—she is also self-deceived.

Claude Frollo in Disney’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”

She is much like Claude Frollo in Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, for whom Schwartz wrote the lyrics for the song “Hellfire.” Frollo is the dark antagonist character who is personally haunted by his repressed desire for the gypsy Esmeralda. Writing the lyric, Schwartz has Frollo sing a prayer while saying “you know I’m so much purer than the common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd.” Not so! He blames Esmeralda’s “witchcraft” for his own passion’s fire. He tries to destroy her.

Schwartz claims that Frollo was a delight to write for. As quoted in Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz, from Godspell to Wicked, Schwartz says, “My favorite character I have ever written is Frollo, who is probably the most despicable human being in anything I’ve done; I love him as a character. He was so totally self-justifying and in such denial of his own true motives. It was really fun to go to dark places in myself I would never let myself do in real life. It made me understand why actors love to play villains.”

I’m sure Stephen Schwartz has also relished writing for Myra. He has commented that the movie’s characters struck him as operatic. Myra’s “intense neediness,” for example, “seemed very worthy of being sung, but at the same time, she is covering a lot of what’s really going on inside her with the veneer of calm and pleasantness.” [Comments quoted on a New York City Opera VOX Showcase video documenting his process for Séance.]

The opera depicts a difficult subject. We might consider it a kind of cautionary tale both for the times we live in and for the webs we spin for ourselves.

Says Daniel J. Boorstin about human psychology: “We suffer primarily not from our vices or our weaknesses, but from our illusions. We are haunted, not by reality, but by those images we have put in place of reality.”

For further reflection: Read Scott Schwartz’s comments about Seance themes at Schwartz Opera: Seance Details following the Synopsis.

Lauren Flanigan, Opera Soprano

To play the lead role in his first professional opera, Seance on a Wet Afternoon, Stephen Schwartz chose Lauren Flanigan. He had seen her in another opera production and thought she would be a  good fit as Myra, and so he contacted her. When she said yes, that allowed him to be able to write with a performer in mind. She proved to be quite supportive of his process. He comments, “She taught me how opera singers use their voices and how knowledgeable they are about their own instruments.”

In the video you’ll see here, Stephen Schwartz and Lauren Flanigan are testing out his second act aria for Myra, called “Brightness Falls.”
By email, I asked Stephen to fill us in about the context for the piece, and his process of working with Lauren. See my questions and his responses below the video.

[mediaplayer src=’http://theschwartzscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/seance-aria-schwartz-brightness-falls.wmv’ ]

Carol de Giere’s Email Interview with Stephen Schwartz

Carol de Giere:
What role does “Brightness Falls” play in the opera or why did you
write it? What are we learning about Myra in the song?

Stephen Schwartz:
The lines “It’s always so bright after a séance. Brightness just falls from the air,” are in the original film script by Bryan Forbes. I loved the unusualness of the phrase “brightness falls.” And I found it psychologically interesting and surprising that after the harrowing events of the séance that ends the first act, we find Myra not only recovered but serene and optimistic. So that’s how I chose to open the second act. We will soon find out why she feels this way.

Carol de Giere:
In the video, you and Lauren Flanigan talk about her voice being happy or not on certain notes, and you offer to rewrite it. Tell us about the process of working with her in this way.

Stephen Schwartz:
Lauren and I did very much work in the way you describe — I made adjustments in keys or certain notes to make sure she could convey the right emotional subtext vocally. In the case of “Brightness Falls”, I dropped the key a half step after working with Lauren on the aria.

Seance Opera Details

Seance on a Wet Afternoon is being performed in NYC in April and May 2011 and elsewhere in the future. If you haven’t yet read about the opera, visit these pages Musicalschwartz.com/schwartz-opera.htm and Musicalschwartz.com/schwartz-opera-seance.htm – with a list of musical numbers in Act I and II.

Read more about Stephen Schwartz at Musicalschwartz.com/schwartz.htm and my biography of Schwartz, Defying Gravity, at DefyingGravityTheBook.com/