Updates from Broadway and film composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz and biographer Carol de Giere.
1) Intro from Carol
In this oddest of times during a global pandemic when theatres are mostly closed, there is more online material related to Stephen Schwartz than ever! We’re adding to that collection with new comments from Stephen exclusive to this issue. Stephen has been involved with many online performances and interviews so it’s a good time for a deep dive into Schwartzian artistry. PHOTO ABOVE: Stephen Schwartz briefly unmasked on a friend’s boat in the NYC harbor–Summer 2020.
HERE in this issue you’ll find
- NEWS: Stephen Schwartz at an outdoor Godspell, The Prince of Egypt, Pocahontas anniversary; Schwartz musicals for streaming;
- ONLINE EXPERIENCES: links allowing you to listen to Stephen’s interviews from his home, watch him perform for an online concert, enjoy a virtual concert;
- FUTURE: Forthcoming livestreamed Snapshots musical and more. We expect additional news in December that we will publish in the Winter issue in January.
Holiday Note: In September I met with Stephen (with masks on and 6 feet apart) so he could sign more copies of the authorized biography Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz, from Godspell to Wicked (2018 2nd edition) and The Godspell Experience. These are available for holiday gifts or for yourself caroldegiere.com/signed-copies/ or you can buy the ebooks or paperbacks from your usual online booksellers.
For future updates please LIKE our Facebook – Schwartz Scene page where I regularly post news. For those on Twitter but not Facebook, the issue link will get posted on Stephen Schwartz’s feed @composerstephen and on @caroldegiere.
2. Stephen Schwartz News
GODSPELL IN THE BERKSHIRES
On September 20th, Stephen Schwartz drove up from his Connecticut home to Pittsfield, Massachusetts to attend the final performance of Godspell in the Berkshires. The sold-out, critically acclaimed hit production mounted by the Berkshire Theatre Group involved extensive collaboration on performance and audience safety by Actors Equity.
Since it was the first equity musical approved since the beginning of the pandemic, the whole journey to create it attracted a great deal of attention in the media, including extensive coverage in the New York Times. The article “‘Godspell’ in 2020: Masks, Partitions and a Contactless Crucifixion” described the production saying, “The first professional musical staged in the United States since theater shut down is also a de facto public health experiment.”
Inevitably the onstage public health measures — partitions, masks, social distancing —became part of the storytelling of parables.
Stephen reported being very moved by the performance. He commented for The Schwartz Scene, “To my surprise, I found myself in tears. Just to be at a live performance again, with the sound of applause and laughter loud and strong even from the extremely socially-distanced audience in the outdoor tent the Berkshire Theatre Festival had set up, was so exhilarating. I knew I had missed it, but I hadn’t realized how much. The dedication and bravery of the actors and of Kate Maguire and her staff were truly inspiring. I think I would have been moved no matter what show was being presented, but the fact that it was Godspell, which felt enormously relevant for these challenging times, was especially emotional for me.”
Read the whole fascinating story of Godspell’s development and song details in my book The Godspell Experience with a Foreword by Stephen Schwartz.
THE PRINCE OF EGYPT STAGE MUSICAL UK, “WHEN YOU BELIEVE,” AND INSPIRATION
LEFT PHOTO: Scott Schwartz and his dad Stephen Schwartz at the British Museum, early 2020.
ALBUM: Although the first full West End production of this new stage musical (adapted from the movie) has shut down until Wednesday 10 February 2021 (so far), the cast album is available. You’ll also find music videos for new songs “Footprints on the Sand,” “Never in a Million Years” and others on the show’s official YouTube channel. Enjoy a heartwarming virtual performance video of fans singing “When You Believe” during the pandemic lockdown, and more. Look around at youtube.com/c/PrinceOfEgyptUK/videos
Stephen adds, “I’m so pleased with the way this album turned out. Especially exciting to me musically, thanks to my brilliant orchestrator August Eriksmoen, is the use of authentic Middle Eastern instruments. It gives a special flavor to this score that sets it apart from my other work. With our wonderful production on hiatus, I’m extremely happy that we were able to get this album recorded before the pandemic.”
PERFORMANCE: Stephen Schwartz performed virtually for a fundraiser called “Saturday Night Sedar” for this year’s Passover. As part of the event Shoshana Bean and Cynthia Erivo beautifully sang “When You Believe” to Stephen’s recorded piano track. They also created a single audio recording available for download/purchase. Youtube version with Stephen: When You Believe. New Recording: “When You Believe”
INSPIRATION from an interview: Last spring Entertainment Weekly interviewed Stephen Schwartz about The Prince of Egypt album. As part of the interview, he was asked “How do you think Broadway and theater will weather this storm? A shutdown of this nature is unprecedented in the age of modern theater.” He answered: “It’s completely unprecedented. But I think there’s a deep human need and desire for a collective experience, and a live collective experience, which is what the theater offers. There’s something about the liveness of being there, and being with fellow human beings experiencing it and being part of it, that will always be something that people will want to experience. There have been pandemics before and ones that were more serious, going all the way back to the plagues that shut down Shakespeare’s theaters. Yet theater survives because, I think, it’s a basic human impulse.” The full interview is still online at EW Prince of Egypt
PERFORMANCE RIGHTS DURING THE PANDEMIC
Tell your local theatres and schools: the show can go online!
Music Theatre International, which licenses most of Stephen Schwartz’s musicals, has worked toward rights arrangements in a variety of situations during the pandemic. MTI launched a streaming platform and has made other arrangements, such as for remote Zoom performances.
Remote: (meaning performers in different locations can contribute to a compiled show). Working and Captain Louie Mtishows.com/remote-performance-rights
Streaming (meaning performers are all on stage in one location) Captain Louie, Working, Children of Eden and Pippin. MTIshows – Streaming
Streaming – Schools only: Disney’s My Son, Pinocchio and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (same link as above).
POCAHONTAS TURNED 25 – THEMES RELEVANT TODAY
Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz wrote the songs for Disney’s classic summer 1995 animated feature Pocahontas. When first working on the film, Schwartz joined other movie developers in a trip to the historic Jamestown and in meetings with surviving members of the Powhatan nation. With his lyrics for “Colors of the Wind,” Schwartz had the Pocahontas character express her wish for cultural empathy and for walking the footsteps of strangers to learn their point of view. Now twenty-five years later, Stephen shared his reflections as a Disney lyricist in a new interview. He notes, “The messages of the film have become more urgent and more necessary.” Read the full interview at Grammy.com.
DOCUMENTARY PROJECT
In late August Variety announced the launch of a documentary project covering Stephen Schwartz’s musicals and career. The documentary Defying Gravity: From Godspell to Wicked, A Musical Journey will draw extensively from my book Defying Gravity, and I have been hired as a consultant. John Scheinfeld will write and direct the film that will be produced by Spencer Proffer, Corey Brunish, and Russell Miller. More news on this in forthcoming issues.
2) ALL GOOD GIFTS – ONLINE EXPERIENCES
SONDHEIM BIRTHDAY CONCERT FEATURES SCHWARTZ INTRO
The Sondheim celebration with over 40 Broadway and movie stars began with Stephen Schwartz playing the Prologue to Follies and wishing his friend Steve Sondheim a Happy Birthday. If you haven’t watched Stephen play piano, here’s your chance. The April concert continued for almost 2 ½ hours. Stephen reflected for The Schwartz Scene: “I was so pleased when Raúl Esparza asked me to be part of the concert. I’ve always loved the music to the Follies Prologue, and I was happy for a chance to honor Steve, who has had so much influence on me, as he has on all musical theatre writers. (I found I did have to practice quite a lot. Thank goodness I didn’t have to play all the songs that Mary-Mitchell Campbell did, with her usual astonishing skill!) I heard from Steve afterwards, and I was very glad that it was meaningful to him. We don’t often have a chance to say thank you to our heroes; it was nice to be given this special opportunity.” Sondheim Concert
VIDEO: PROFESSOR ROBERT MEFFE INTERVIEWS SCHWARTZ
Robert Meffe, who heads the San Diego State University’s Musical Theatre MFA program, conducted an interview with Stephen Schwartz. Stephen, wearing his Prince of Egypt logo sweatshirt, spoke about his early musicals and his writing process. He also gave advice to students. The interview gave a clear view of his life as an artist in the musical theatre world. He also talked about the way he’s adapting to the current social distancing situation. He even answered the questions made famous by James Lipton. Stephen Schwartz interview
VIDEO: SCHWARTZ WITH KEN DAVENPORT
On March 24, producer Ken Davenport did a video chat with Stephen Schwartz as part of a new series of Livestream Facebook sessions. You can now watch the video of that particular conversation on YouTube Schwartz/Davenport. Stephen comes in about 10 minutes into the video. He spoke about the album for The Prince of Egypt, working with Alan Menken remotely on a project and posting things to Dropbox, and other topics. He answered a few questions, such as how he deals with writer’s block. (His creative process is covered in depth in my book Defying Gravity.)
VIDEO: SCHWARTZ AND BUCCHINO
The charming conversation between the moderator Andy Einhorn, Stephen Schwartz, and long-time friend John Bucchino is still online from Spring 2020. It was originally scheduled as part of their longstanding “Lyrics & Lyricists” program. If you go to this page you should be directed to the way to access the interview by signing in to the 92nd Y website. Among other topics, Schwartz and Bucchino tell their story of a shared boat trip in Hawaii where Stephen first learned about Gregory Maguire’s book Wicked and thought about making a musical. 92y.org/archives/stephen-schwartz-and-john-bucchino
VIDEO: STEPHEN SCHWARTZ AND 3 PIPPINS
On November 14th, the ongoing Broadway-related fundraiser series STARS IN THE HOUSE featured an interview with Stephen Schwartz and three actors who had played Pippin in the original Broadway production: John Rubinstein, Dean Pitchford, and Michael Rupert. The hosts are Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley. They share many backstage stories from the early days. Stars in the House Schwartz and 3 Pippins
(You’ll also find stories from Stephen, John, Dean, and others in the Pippin chapter of Defying Gravity.)
VIDEO: OPERA INTERVIEW
Stephen Schwartz gave a video interview for Opera Santa Barbara when they played a video of his opera. Facebook only. Schwartz on Opera.
VIDEO: SCHWARTZ ONLINE MUSIC CONCERT: AUSTRALIA
“Lights Up on the Arts [Home Delivery]” was a virtual concert of Stephen Schwartz’s music with Australian performers. About a minute into the video, Stephen gives a brief intro from his home in Connecticut. Lights Up concert – Facebook only.
AUDIO PODCAST: STEPHEN SCHWARTZ INTERVIEW ON CHORAL MUSIC
For anyone interested in choral music, composer Stephen Schwartz was just interviewed by The Choral Project artistic director Daniel Hughes. Here’s the link for Apple and below in comments we will post a link to the Soundcloud version. For The Choral Project, Schwartz wrote a beautiful piece called Keramos, part of which you hear in the podcast. Apple Podcasts – Schwartz.
RAGS CAST ALBUM
Rags: The fully revised version of the musical tells an emotional tale of Rebecca, her son David, and a group of Jewish immigrants struggling with life in America in the 1910s. The Original London Cast Recording is available and licensing will be made available in the future through MTI Amazon.com link
Stephen says, “Finally to have a version of Rags that successfully realizes its potential is extremely gratifying. With all the current attention on immigration and the resistance to it, the show has become highly relevant. So nice to have been given the opportunity to have a production of this new version recorded, as I have learned how important that is for the future life of a show”
3) FUTURE
SNAPSHOTS: A MUSICAL SCRAPBOOK STREAMING
Stephen Schwartz is involved with the preparations for an upcoming regional theater production of his musical Snapshots: A Musical Scrapbook which runs January 28 – February 21, 2021 at ACT of CT (in Ridgefield CT). The theater and the show’s director have a very exciting plan for this upcoming production; details to be released soon. Snapshots: A Musical Scrapbook is an original musical that features many songs from Schwartz’s musicals. Stephen is on the artistic advisory board for ACT of CT, and the theater has staged Godspell and Working in past seasons as part of their “Presenting Stephen Schwartz” series. ACT of CT’s artistic director Daniel C. Levine (and director of Snapshots) is a friend of Stephen’s and a talented director, as well as actor with multiple Broadway credits. Tickets are currently on sale for ACT’s upcoming Snapshots. Actofct.org/upcoming-shows
And read more about the musical itself on MusicalSchwartz.com What is Snapshots?
PIPPIN REVIVAL: AUSTRALIA
The revival of Pippin is scheduled to open in Sydney on November 24. It is based on the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of 2013-2014. pippinthemusical.com.au/
Stephen says: “I was hoping to be able to go there in person to be part of preparing the production, but the two-week quarantine necessary before beginning work made it impossible for me to schedule. So I have been cheering the team on from afar. And to have live theatre back somewhere in the world – such a good feeling!”
SPECIAL PHOTO
STAN SCHWARTZ TURNS 100
Stephen Schwartz with his son Scott, daughter Jessica, and mother Sheila celebrate the 100th birthday of his father Stan (front left).
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About The Schwartz Scene
The Schwartz Scene is an independent publication written for musical theater enthusiasts who appreciate the work of American composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz. It does not formally represent composer Stephen Schwartz, although the editor, Carol de Giere, is in regular contact with the Schwartz office for updates. Send questions or comments to Carol through CaroldeGiere.com contact page.
Copyright 2020 by Carol de Giere. Carol de Giere has exclusive rights, unless otherwise specified, for all materials included in the newsletter. Permission must be secured in writing before any part of it may be reprinted, except for the printing of one copy for the reader’s private use. Editor: Carol de Giere, 10 Library Place #909, Bethel CT 06801-0909.
