Westport Country Playhouse’s Annual Gala honors Stephen Schwartz (Westport, CT)

Westport Country Playhouse’s 2010 Gala will honor Stephen Schwartz on Monday evening, September 13, at 6 p.m. with a star-studded production, “The Magical Music of Stephen Schwartz.” (Directed by Joe Calarco)

Cast has been announced - follow this link for Playbill.com article.

For more information or ticket purchases, call Kathryn Gloor at (203) 227-5137, ext. 122, or kgloor@westportplayhouse.org.

Opera Preview - September 19, 2010, 3:00 pm, Mt. Kisco, NY in Westchester County

An Afternoon with Stephen Schwartz

The composer previews his new opera, Séance on a Wet Afternoon, prior to its New York Premiere. Songs from the opera will be performed, followed by an audience Q&A with the composer.

Tickets $25, $20 (for Friends of Copland House), $10 (students with ID)
455 Byram Lake Road, Mount Kisco, NY
Info: (914) 788-4659 or office@coplandhouse.org

Coplandhouse.org news page

Montreal Workshop - October 30 (Samedi 30 octobre 2010)Musical theatre interpretation workshop with Stephen Schwartz

Stephen Schwartz will offer a workshop for performers in Montreal, offering feedback. Since 1971, Stephen Schwartz has been involved with professional theatre auditions and hiring decisions as a member of creative teams for musicals. This is an opportunity to work closely with one of the leading musical theatre creators of our time.

Masterclass - Montreal

January 4, 2011 - San Bernadino, CA Stephen Schwartz in Concert

Stephen Schwartz and Friends concert is scheduled for 8:00 at the California Theatre for the Performing Arts

Stephen Schwartz in concert

April 10, 2011 - Gershwin Theatre, New York City

Opera or Musical Theatre?

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 Broadway musical Wicked.

Sunday, April 10 at 7:30 pm
Gershwin Theatre
222 West 51st Street

For more information: New York City Opera Calendar

Special thanks to Carol de Giere, webmaster of fan site MusicalSchwartz.com, for her terrific work creating the STEPHEN SCHWARTZ FORUM ARCHIVES, a collection of questions and answers from previous incarnations of the Stephen Schwartz Forum  from 1998 to present, organized by subject.

Here’s a sampling of one of the Question and Answers sessions she found in the archive:

Question:
Do you think management of creativity is possible?

Answer from Stephen Schwartz:
Absolutely. I think the job of a professional writer is to learn how to harness his or her creativity in service of deadlines, specific problems to be solved, and deliberate goals. Each individual has to develop his or her own process to be able to be creative on demand.

Enjoy your time looking through the STEPHEN SCHWARTZ FORUM ARCHIVES!

The summer issue of “The Schwartz Scene,” a free newsletter from the Schwartz fan site Musicalschwartz.com, is available for subscribers. If you would like to meet composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz, and live anywhere near Chicago, New York City, Kalamazoo Michigan, Pittsburgh, Montreal, or Los Angeles, be sure to check this new issue for events. It also includes other news relevant to fans of Stephen Schwartz and his musicals, from Godspell to Wicked. You’ll find a link to a new video clip from Schwartz’s Australia trip and more. Go to: http://www.musicalschwartz.com/newsletter.htm to subscribe.

Disney’s “Geppetto and Son” has been re-named “My Son Pinocchio”

Disney’s My Son Pinocchio: Geppetto’s Musical Tale

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Book by David Stern

Two Acts, Book Musical, Rated G

The classic tale of an aging toymaker and his puppet, Pinocchio, takes on timely issues in Disney’s My Son Pinocchio. Grammy Award-winner and master melodist Stephen Schwartz adds a compelling score of original songs to the beloved classics “When You Wish Upon a Star” and “I’ve Got No Strings.” Join the Blue Fairy, Stromboli and a lively cast of characters as Geppetto journeys beyond the Toy Shop to discover what makes the “perfect child.”

This family-friendly musical is appropriate for all audiences and is a magical mix of heartwarming fairytale and action-packed adventure. Audiences will love following Pinocchio’s journey from an awkward wooden puppet to a real, live boy and will be charmed by Geppetto’s transformation from demanding creator to a real, live father.

For more information and licensing:

“My Son Geppetto” Music Theatre International Listing

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

Lauren Flanigan will star in the New York premiere of Stephen Schwartz’s Séance on a Wet Afternoon, based on the novel by Mark McShane and its 1964 film noir adaptation. The opera focuses on Myra Foster (Flanigan), a trance medium who involves her passive husband (to be played by Kim Josephson) in a plot to kidnap the daughter of a neighboring family. The composer’s son, Scott Schwartz, will direct, while George Manahan conducts, sets are by Heidi Ettinger, costumes by Alejo Vietti and lighting by David Lander.

For more information on the opera: http://www.seancetheopera.com/

Stephen Schwartz was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame last night, January 25th 2010,  at the Gershwin Theatre where WICKED has played since October 2003.

Photo by Michael Cole

Now in its seventh year on Broadway, ‘Wicked’ became the first show to gross $2 million in eight shows.

Wicked became the only Broadway show in history to gross more than $2 million for a single week of performances, bringing in $2,086,135 for the week ending November 29, 2009. The smash-hit musical topped its own previous record of $1,839,950, set in December 2007, and set a new house record for the Gershwin Theatre.

“Wicked” features music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman.

For more information on “Wicked” see the official site at www.wickedthemusical.com and the Stephen Schwartz fan site “Wicked” pages at
www.musicalschwartz.com/wicked.htm

Stephen Schwartz and John Ondrasik (of Five for Fighting) have penned a couple of tunes together. Five for Fighting’s latest album is titled “Slice”: the title song was co-written by the duo.

Five For Fighting’s “SLICE” CD on Amazon.com

(from Five for Fighting’s Myspace page):

If every album provides snapshots of where an artist’s mind at heart is at the moment, Slice, the latest offering from John Ondrasik (aka Five for Fighting), is a collection of digital jpegs and faded Polaroids. The album takes stories of friends, family and even American servicemen, and sets them to music shot through with the spirit of the great songs of his youth. It’s a diary, or a blog, in which Ondrasik speaks his mind about current issues, experiences and sentiments, while setting those thoughts to piano, bass and drums.

The title track, featuring Ondrasik’s soaring falsetto, comes from a daydream that we’ve all had at some point in our lives-that moment when we long for a simpler time when life seemed better and the songs were bigger. It’s a sly play on one of those grand songs, Don McClean’s “American Pie”: “There was a time a long, long time ago/Chevies and levies played on the radio/No cell phones just 20,000 lights, swaying on a Saturday night.”

Academy Award-winning composer Steven Schwartz (who penned the songs for acclaimed musicals such as Wicked, Godspell and Pippin), helped Ondrasik bring the idea to fruition, co-writing “Slice” (as well as the song “Above the Timberline”). “We sat down at a coffee shop to talk about writing together,” says Ondrasik, ” I told him about my idea for ‘Slice,” and ‘American Pie’ actually came on the radio. It was surreal. Stephen immediately wrote the first two lines on a napkin, and we were off and running.

“I’ve been a fan of Five for Fighting since I first heard ‘Superman’,” says Schwartz, “and then was blown away by ‘100 Years.’ I got the full CDs and was really impressed by John Ondrasik’s writing-great tunes and smart and surprising lyrics. So naturally I didn’t hesitate a moment when John asked me to co-write a couple of songs with him. It was, as I expected, great collaborating with him-experiencing first-hand his musicality and gift for melody, his incisive way with words, and the passion and care he puts into each of his songs.”

FORTHCOMING ISSUE: Schwartz Scene 38 - Spring 2010, schedule of Schwartz’s public appearances and concerts, update on Schwartz’s forthcoming trip to Australia, news of his trip to Brazil, new projects.

The Winter 2009 issue of The Schwartz Scene is online and is packed with news related to Stephen Schwartz and features a special update provided by Stephen with lots of terrific insight about the process of writing his first opera “Seance on a Wet Afternoon”.  Here’s a snippet:

“I had a fascinating moment when I was going over an aria with our brilliant leading lady, the soprano Lauren Flanigan. At one point on a big high note, I said to Lauren that I wanted a very warm sound because of the emotional content of the moment. Lauren replied instantly, “Oh, well, then you don’t want me on the high A where you have me; I can give you power on the A but for the warmest sound you probably want me on the G#.”

For the rest of the story, please subscribe to the free quarterly ezine/newsletter: follow this link and you will be sent a link to the current issue from Carol de Giere’s fan site for Stephen Schwartz.