Stephen Schwartz
Stephen Schwartz | |
---|---|
Born | Stephen Lawrence Schwartz March 6, 1948 New York City, New York, U.S. |
Education | Carnegie Mellon University (BFA) |
Occupations | |
Years active | 1969–present |
Stephen Lawrence Schwartz (born March 6, 1948) is an American musical theatre lyricist and composer. In a career spanning over five decades, Schwartz has written such hit musicals as Godspell (1971), Pippin (1972), and Wicked (2003). He has contributed lyrics to a number of successful films, including Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), The Prince of Egypt (1998, music and lyrics), and Enchanted (2007).
Schwartz has earned
Early life and education
Schwartz was born to a
Career
Early career
Upon returning to New York City, Schwartz went to work as a producer for
In 1971, he wrote music and lyrics for
Two years after Pippin debuted, Schwartz wrote music and lyrics of The Magic Show, which ran for just under 2,000 performances. By mid-1974, at age 26, Schwartz had three smash hit musicals playing in New York simultaneously. Next were the music and lyrics of The Baker's Wife, which closed before reaching Broadway after an out-of-town tryout tour in 1976. However, the cast album went on to attain cult status, which led to several subsequent productions, including a London production directed by Trevor Nunn in 1990 and another at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey in 2005.[8]
In 1978, Schwartz's next Broadway project was a musical version of Studs Terkel's Working, which he adapted and directed, winning the Drama Desk Award as best director, and for which he contributed four songs. He also co-directed the television production, which was presented as part of the PBS American Playhouse series. In 1977, Schwartz wrote a children's book called The Perfect Peach. In the 1980s, Schwartz wrote songs for a one-act musical for children, The Trip, which 20 years later was revised, expanded and produced as Captain Louie. He then wrote music for three of the songs of the Off-Broadway revue Personals, and lyrics to Charles Strouse's music for the musical Rags.[9]
Later career
In 1991, Schwartz wrote the music and lyrics for the musical
In 2003, Schwartz returned to Broadway, as composer and lyricist for
After Wicked, Schwartz contributed music and lyrics for a new musical that was commissioned to celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen. The production, titled Mit Eventyr or "My Fairytale", opened at the Gladsaxe Theatre in Copenhagen in the fall of 2005. The American premiere of My Fairytale took place in the summer of 2011 at the PCPA Theatrefest of California and was directed by the composer's son Scott Schwartz.
Schwartz returned to Hollywood in 2007 and wrote lyrics for the hit Disney film Enchanted, again collaborating with Menken. Three songs from the film, "Happy Working Song", "That's How You Know", and "So Close", were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. He has written the theme song for the Playhouse Disney show Johnny and the Sprites, starring John Tartaglia. A recent project is incidental music for his son Scott Schwartz's adaptation of Willa Cather's My Ántonia.
On several occasions prior to 2008, Schwartz had reached out to
In 2008, Applause Theatre and Cinema Books published the first ever Schwartz biography titled Defying Gravity, by Carol de Giere. The book is a comprehensive look at his career and life, and includes sections on how to write for the musical theatre.
Turning to the pop world in 2009, Schwartz collaborated with John Ondrasik in writing two songs on the
In September 2011, the Northlight Theatre in Chicago premiered Schwartz's new musical, Snapshots, which featured music and lyrics by Schwartz, book by David Stern, and was directed by Ken Sawyer. It blended together "some of the best-loved music with some of the genuinely wonderful lesser known gems of (the) renowned Broadway composer."[12]
On March 22, 2012, the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus released "Testimony", composed by Schwartz with lyrics taken from submissions to Dan Savage's It Gets Better Project.[13]
In March 2015, Princess Cruises announced a partnership with Schwartz for the development of four shows over three years. The first will be a magic themed review of Schwartz's music, titled Magic To Do, including one new song written for the show.
Schwartz returned to write the lyrics for a sequel to Enchanted, titled Disenchanted,[14] and will do the same for a live-action remake of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.[15]
In April 2020 Schwartz participated in a fund-raising video called Saturday Night Seder which featured an "all-star" cast of performers, composers and religious leaders broadcasting from their home computers and cellphones due to the practice of "social distancing" used by people around the world in response to the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic. The video explained the story of Passover through stories, song, comedy and memories, and raised money for the CDC Foundation.[16]
Personal life
Schwartz married Carole Piasecki on June 6, 1969. They have two children, Jessica and Scott.[3]
In 2009 Schwartz was elected president of the Dramatists Guild of America, succeeding John Weidman;[17] he stepped down in 2014, to be succeeded by Doug Wright.[18]
Major works
Stage
- Godspell (1971) - composer, lyricist
- Mass (1971) - English texts (in collaboration with Leonard Bernstein)
- Pippin (1972) - composer, lyricist
- The Magic Show (1974) - composer, lyricist
- The Baker's Wife (1976) - composer, lyricist
- Working (1978) - adaptation, direction, composer, lyricist of 4 songs
- Personals (1985) - composer of 3 songs
- The Trip (1986) - children's show; composer, lyricist
- Rags (1986) - lyricist
- Children of Eden (1991) - composer, lyricist
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1999 Berlin) - lyricist to Alan Menken (stage version of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame); Michael Kunze translated the lyrics to German; English version in 2013, adapted from Disney animated film
- Wicked (2003) - composer, lyricist
- Tiruvasakam (2005) - English translation of selected verses of the Tamil hymn on Lord Siva by Manickavasagar; Indian composer Ilaiyaraaja wrote the music.
- Snapshots (2005)
- Captain Louie (2005)
- Mit Eventyr – My Fairy Tale (2005) - contributed 6 songs
- Séance on a Wet Afternoon (2009) - opera[19]
- Schikaneder (2016 Vienna)
- The Prince of Egypt (2017) - composer, lyricist, based on the film
Recordings
- Reluctant Pilgrim (1997)
- Uncharted Territory (2001)
Books
- Defying Gravity (2008) - biography
Film
- Butterflies Are Free (1969) - title song (play and movie)
- Godspell (1973) - composer, lyricist
- Pocahontas (1995) - lyricist
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) - lyricist
- The Prince of Egypt (1998) - composer, lyricist
- Enchanted (2007) - lyricist
- Disenchanted (2022) - lyricist[14]
- Wicked (2024) - composer, lyricist, executive producer
- Wicked Part Two (2025) - composer, lyricist, executive producer
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (TBA) - lyricist
- Marley (TBA) - composer, lyricist
Television
- Working (1982) -composer, lyricist, adaptation, director
- Geppetto (2000) - composer, lyricist
- Johnny and the Sprites (2005) - theme song
Choral
- The Chanukah Song (We are Lights)
- Kéramos
- Thiruvasakam in Symphony (2005)[20]
- Testimony (2012)
Awards and nominations
Schwartz has won many major awards in his field, including three Oscars, three Grammys, four Drama Desk Awards, one
He has received six
In April 2008, Schwartz was given a
Schwartz received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Carnegie Mellon University in May 2015.[26]
References
- ^ a b "Stephen Schwartz to Receive 2015 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award". tonyawards.com.
- ^ "Genesis inspires newest show by composer of Godspell, Rags". J. January 14, 2000.
- ^ a b "Stephen Schwartz Biography (1948–)". FilmReference.com. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
- ^ "Alumni News". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. March 2008. Archived from the original on November 11, 2011. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
- ^ "Stephen Schwartz ('68) Gives Master Class to Musical Theatre Students". CMU School of Drama. September 21, 2011. Archived from the original on July 30, 2012. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
- ^ "Stephen Schwartz Full Biography | Broadway World". www.broadwayworld.com. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
- ^ "Stephen Schwartz Launched His Career with Godspell". Godspell the Musical. May 5, 2015. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
- ^ Staff, Playbill (May 28, 2021). "Revisit The Magic Show, Stephen Schwartz's Other Huge '70s Hit". Playbill. p. 1. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
- ^ "Articles | Page 3 of 4". The Schwartz Scene. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
- ^ "Taking 'Pippin' across cultures". Los Angeles Times. May 11, 2008. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
- ^ a b Wood, Ximón (June 5, 2015). "5 Tony Award-Winning Productions Produced at East West Players". East West Players. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
- ^ "Northlight Theatre 2011–12 Season Will Include New Musical by Stephen Schwartz", broadwayworld.com, February 28, 2011
- YouTube
- ^ a b Christina Radish (March 7, 2018). "Adam Shankman on 'Step Up: High Water' and The Status of the 'Enchanted' Sequel". Collider. Retrieved April 30, 2018.
As planned right now, there's more singing and dancing than there was in the first one, and it's all original music, with Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz coming back to do it.
- ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (January 16, 2019). "Disney Rings 'Hunchback' Bell: David Henry Hwang To Script Live Action Musical, Alan Menken/Stephen Schwartz Writing Music". Deadline. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- ^ Levere, Jane. "Alexander, Bialik, Drescher, Erivo, Menzel, Midler, Platt, Porter, Silverman, Others To Raise Funds For CDC COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund At Virtual 'Saturday Night Seder' April 11". Forbes. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
- ^ Gans, Andrew (March 19, 2009). "Stephen Schwartz Succeeds John Weidman as Dramatists Guild President". Playbill. Archived from the original on January 7, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
- ^ "Save the Date: Copyright Matters Program on Wednesday, January 29". Copyright Matters. United States Copyright Office. January 7, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
- ^ "Séance on a Wet Afternoon, composer, librettist, co-orchestrator: About the opera". seancetheopera.com.
- JSTOR 41699841.
- ^ "Schwartz, Stephen". stephenschwartz.com. Archived from the original on August 10, 2009. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
- ^ Stephen Schwartz at the Internet Broadway Database
- ^ "Stephen Schwartz Songwriters Hall of Fame Exhibit". songwritershalloffame.org. Archived from the original on November 28, 2010. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
- ^ Gans, Andrew (January 25, 2010). "Redgrave, Schwartz, Lloyd Webber and More Inducted Into Theater Hall of Fame Jan. 25". Playbill.
- ^ "Stephen Schwartz Theater Hall of Fame Induction". stephenschwartz.com. Archived from the original on June 30, 2013.
- ^ "Alan Alda To Give Commencement Address At Carnegie Mellon, May 17". www.cmu.edu.
Sources
- Anderson, Ruth. Contemporary American composers. A biographical dictionary, 1st edition, G. K. Hall, 1976.
- Green, Stanley; Taylor, Deems. The world of musical comedy. The story of the American musical stage. As told through the careers of its foremost composers and lyricist, A. S. Barnes, 1980.
- Kasha, Al. Notes on Broadway. Conversations with the great songwriters, Books, Inc., 1985.
- Press, Jaques Cattell (Ed.). ASCAP Biographical Dictionary of Composers, Authors and Publishers, fourth edition, R. R. Bowker, 1980.
- Suskin, Steven. Show tunes 1905–1991. The songs, shows and careers of Broadway's major composers, Limelight Editions, 1992.
External links
- Stephen Schwartz at IMDb
- Official website
- Stephen Schwartz official fan site
- The Schwartz Scene blog with podcasts of Stephen Schwartz talks
- Stephen Schwartz Interview for MusicalTalk
- Stephen Schwartz's audition tips at MusicalSingers.com
- Musical writing tips from Stephen Schwartz at MusicalWriters.com
- Interview with Stephen Schwartz in International Songwriters Association's "Songwriter Magazine"