The Schwartz Scene Newsletter 40 – Fall 2010

1. Autumn 2010 News and Intro from Carol de Giere

November, 2010

Below you will find the latest update from the world traveling composer-lyricist, Stephen Schwartz. He shares news from his trips to Finland to see a new Wicked, Australia, and other places. I’ve listed concerts and events with Schwartz after his update.

This issue includes Godspell and Wicked news, a holiday show story, and remembrances of people who have recently passed: Stephen’s colleague Joseph Stein (with whom he collaborated on The Baker’s Wife and Rags), and Pippin actress Jill Clayburgh. There’s a link to a video of Stephen Schwartz being honored for the success of the Wicked Cast album: it was just certified double platinum, having sold 2 million copies!

Speaking of copies sold, my book, Defying Gravity, has sold about 6,000 copies, and I’ve got 20 here at home to sell before the holidays. They are all autographed by Stephen Schwartz, the book’s subject, and me as author. Email me at carol@musicalschwartz.com (or carolmusical@gmail.com) if you’re interested.

I hope you enjoy this issue. Best wishes until 2011,

Carol de Giere
Schwartz Scene Editor
and author of Defying Gravity, the Stephen Schwartz biography

To share this newsletter, please invite your friends to subscribe by visiting http://www.theschwartzscene.com/quarterly-newsletter/

(The Schwartz Scene is protected by copyright. Do not paste the contents into your blog, emails, social networking pages, websites, or print it out for others without permission. Contact me at carol@musicalschwartz.com with “Question” or “Comment” in the email subject heading. The Schwartz Scene, Copyright (c) 2010 by Carol de Giere, is from the Stephen Schwartz fan site MusicalSchwartz.com)

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2. THE SPARK OF CREATION: Stephen Schwartz News

A Wicked team: Hans Berndtsson (director for Wicked in Finland), Winnie Holzman (bookwriter), Stephen Schwartz (composer-lyricist), Rebecca Evanne (choreographer).

STEPHEN SCHWARTZ UPDATE
Nov. 6, 2010

I know it’s been a while since my last update. I was inundated with deadlines and music preparation, etc., but I am finally out from under enough to have time to resume communication.

As I reported in my May update, New York City Opera will be presenting my opera, Séance on a Wet Afternoon, for ten performances next April. (I don’t think I ever expected to see my name hanging on a banner outside Lincoln Center alongside those of Leonard Bernstein and Richard Strauss.) After last year’s production of Séance in Santa Barbara, I wrote a new second act aria for the leading character of Myra, made a few other revisions, and improved (I hope) some orchestration, so I have been working hard getting the musical scores prepared for the conductor and the singers. I am pleased and relieved to report that I delivered them last week. The opera itself goes into rehearsal in the spring, and as you know, it will be the same beautiful physical production as in Santa Barbara, again expertly directed by my son Scott Schwartz, and while most of the cast will be new, the two leading roles will again be sung by the wonderful Lauren Flanigan and Kim Josephson.

I have also been busy going over the Danish translation of Wicked, which is about to begin rehearsals in Copenhagen. This will be our second “non-replicated” production, which, for those of you who are new to this site, means that it will be different staging and design than the Broadway production. This past summer, Winnie Holzman and I had the opportunity to attend the opening of our first non-replicated production in Helsinki, Finland (in Finnish, of course.) It was fascinating to see this new interpretation, particularly because the source material of The Wizard of Oz is not well-known in Finland, so they had to find other cultural resonances for their country. There are strong overtones in the production of the fraught historical relationship between Finland and Russia; for instance, the Wizard looks like a younger Josef Stalin! The tone is darker, a bit more like Gregory Maguire’s novel, with more of a sense of a totalitarian regime, talking animals marked with X’s and being led away, an omnipresent all-seeing eye with a big red pupil watching over Oz rather like the eye of Sauron, etc. I realize this sounds somewhat grim in description, but the show was still funny and touching and the two leading girls and the rest of the cast were absolutely terrific. Winnie and I found it both informative and very exciting, and to celebrate, we took a three-day holiday to St. Petersburg (since we were already in the neighborhood.) What an astoundingly beautiful city that is!

It’s been quite the travel year—I reported last time on my Brazil adventures and what was in store for my June in Australia, and that proved to be a great trip as well. In addition to the concerts and master classes, where I heard some home-grown musicals in development by very talented Australian writers, I got to see Tasmanian devils (adorable and not at all like the Warner Bros’ cartoon version), kangaroos and koalas in the wild, and giant potato cod (yes, they truly are giant) swimming happily around the Great Barrier Reef. Australia remains one of my favorite travel destinations, and I can’t wait till the next time I get to go again (probably 2012.)

Another development this fall is that for the first (and probably only) time in my life, I am being a producer. The show is called The Blue Flower, written by a husband-and-wife team named Jim and Ruth Bauer, and I originally encountered it when it came through my ASCAP Musical Theatre workshop. It is the story of four friends and lovers—two painters, a Dada performance artist, and a female physicist—caught up and buffeted by the currents of history, the time frame extending from World War I and the Weimar Republic in Europe to America in the 50′s. It is startlingly original and has amazing music which is sort of an improbable but marvelous mixture of Kurt Weill and Country & Western (the composer calls the style “Sturm and Twang”.) I saw a showcase performance of the show in New York a little over a year ago, and I was so blown away I felt I had to try to help get it to a wider audience. So I signed on as a co-producer and am now part of a team bringing it to the ART in Boston (run by the insightful and talented Diane Paulus.) It will play there from Dec. 1st through Jan. 8th, so if you’re in the area and want to see a piece of smart, funny, and exciting musical theatre unlike anything you’ve ever seen, come check it out.

Also coming up later this winter is the Chicago production of Working (Chicago in February—yikes!) This is a further development of Gordon Greenberg’s excellent new production which played at the Asolo Theatre in Sarasota, Florida and the Old Globe in San Diego, and it features two exceptional new songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda. I’ll have more to say about it in my next update, I’m sure.

There has been sad news lately. As most of you probably know, my dear friend and collaborator Joe Stein, book writer for The Baker’s Wife and Rags, passed away a couple of weeks ago. He was a warm, extremely decent, and constantly funny human being, who at age 98 (!) was still working on new shows up to his very last day. At his memorial service, his three sons, two stepchildren and a (very witty) granddaughter all spoke lovingly of him, along with Sheldon Harnick, Jerry Bock, Charles Strouse, and John Kander. At the request of his wife Elisa, I sang “Chanson” from The Baker’s Wife. It was a truly uplifting ceremony, filled with laughter as people recounted stories of some of the hilarious things Joe had said; if anyone ever lived an exemplary life, it was Joe, and I found myself thinking this is the way we all ought to go!

Now this morning, as I type this, there has been more sad news. Our lovely original Catherine in Pippin, Jill Clayburgh, has also passed away. I hadn’t seen much of Jill in the intervening years, though she and her family lived not far from me, but I always remember working with her with great fondness.

Well, that is my report for now. I now return to going over the revisions in the Danish translation of Wicked. As always, I thank all of you for your interest and support, and I wish you a wonderful rest-of-the-year and holiday season. Thanks and we’ll “speak” again in 2011.

Stephen Schwartz

Editor’s notes: Schwartz Schedule of Public Events and Links

Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 6pm Boston area

The American Musical in the 21st Century: A conversation with Diane Paulus and Stephen Schwartz. Location: OBERON, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. You need to register in advance even though it’s free. Call 617.547.8300.

February 4, 2011 – LOS ANGELES AREA: San Bernardino, 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

Stephen Schwartz in Chicago 2011 – Spring

Stephen Schwartz will be involved in a production of Working in Chicago. See Working in Chicago or read more about the musical http://www.MusicalSchwartz.com/working.htm

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 as part of the New York City Opera’s 2010 – 2011 season. Read more: Schwartz opera Seance on a Wet Afternoon

April 21, 2011, New York City, Defying Gravity: The Music of Stephen Schwartz

The NYC opera is hosting a special concert. Stephen will be there. So far scheduled to perform: Kristin Chenoweth, Raúl Esparza, Victor Garber, Elaine Paige, and Brian Stokes Mitchell. Get tickets at NY Opera concert

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Scott Schwartz

3. FATHERS AND SONS: Update for director Scott Schwartz (Stephen’s Son)

 

From Scott Schwartz, January 2011

I’ve just opened a production of ARSENIC AND OLD LACE at Dallas Theater Center, and it runs through early March. It stars Betty Buckley and Tovah Feldshuh. It was a joy and an inspiration working with these two great ladies, as well as the rest of the great cast and team. I think the show is great fun!

Next up, of course, is SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON at New York City Opera. I can’t wait to start rehearsals. Lauren Flanigan and Kim Josephson are back in the cast, as well as a lot of new singers. It’s going to be thrilling.

Scott Schwartz page at MusicalSchwartz.com

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4. ALL GOOD GIFTS - Articles and news

Backstage for Finland’s Wicked

I asked Director Hans Berndtsson for comments about his experience of working on Wicked in Finland. He writes “It was not without some anxiety that I approached my first meeting with Stephen Schwartz. I was visiting NY and would introduce my concept (interpretation) of the first non replicated version of WICKED. But my concern was unwarranted. I met a very friendly man, a devoted listener and great artist. Many cups of tea later, I left his apartment in NY. It had been a very productive meeting at all levels. What followed was an extensive e-mail correspondence between me, the theater, translators and Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman….” Read the rest on our Wicked in Finland  page

Updated Sept. 2010 – Godspell Financing Shifts into “Community” mode

On September 15, 2010, producer Ken Davenport announced his plan to crowd-fund Godspell for Broadway. He worked with attorneys to arrange for investment shares of Godspell to be not the normal $10,000 or $25,000 or $100.00, but rather only $100.00 with a minimum of 10 shares. He says it took a lot of time and “I even had to pass a Series 63 Exam to become a Securities Agent!” to do it.

He thought this was the best show to fund in this manner. He wrote in his blog post: “To be honest, I’ve had this idea for several years, but I was just waiting for the right show. And Godspell is the perfect show for this concept. As Stephen Schwartz said to me, ‘Godspell is essentially about a community of people coming together.’ It just makes sense to bring together the largest community of Producers ever to mount this historic 40th Anniversary production.” For info visit www.peopleofgodspell.com

Can a Pinocchio Story Bring Holiday Cheer?

The most successful shows at the holidays are those that appeal to the whole family, according to Jeff Frank, artistic director of Milwaukee’s First Stage Theatre. When he learned of Disney’s My Son Pinocchio, with score by Stephen Schwartz, he thought that the story had elements that would appeal to a range of age levels: For the kids it has the Pinocchio story, and for adults, the challenges that Pinocchio’s father faced.

In addition, it involves a toy shop and a generous spirit and a heart-felt, non-materialistic message reminiscent of the theme of holiday shows like Gift of the Magi. “What better sentiment for the holidays,” Frank noted about one of Schwartz’s lyrics sung by Pinocchio’s father:

“…Till I felt like this
I could not have understood:
Until you give your heart to someone else
It might as well be made of wood.”

[from "Since I Gave My Heart Away"]

Mr. Frank contacted Schwartz with the idea of setting My Son Pinocchio in the winter in the mountain village, and sprinkling in holiday tie-ins. Schwartz and bookwriter David Stern made a few adjustments and it’s being tested this season. So if you’re a part of a theatre group looking for a new holiday show for the future, you might want to check out this professional production. For information on the Milwaukee show that runs November 26 – December 26, 2010 see www.firststage.org/

For background on the show see Musicalschwartz.com Disney’s My Son Pinocchio and also visit our The Schwartz Scene Youtube channel www.youtube.com/theschwartzscene/ to find the video “Composer Stephen Schwartz talks with Jeff Frank, Artistic Director, First Stage Children’s Theater.”

In memory of Joseph Stein

I’ve added a Joseph Stein/Stephen Schwartz collaboration page to MusicalSchwartz.com along with some of Stein’s comments. www.musicalschwartz.com/joseph-stein.htm

Jill Clayburgh and John Rubinstein

Jill Clayburgh and John Rubinstein played Catherine and Pippin in the original Pippin on Broadway, music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Rubinstein recently told a reporter “It was as easy as pie to fall in love with her anew eight times a week on stage…”

For a wonderful set of photos of John, Jill, and the cast, as well as the whole Pippin development story, see the Pippin chapter of Defying Gravity. Have you heard them them on the cast album? musicalschwartz.com/pippin.htm

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5. THANK GOODNESS FOR WICKED – Wicked news from around the world

NEW Wicked for kids Tshirt and MORE

Find this and other perfect Wicked gifts or stay warm this fall with a Wicked track jacket. MusicalSchwartz.com Wicked shop

Wicked Broadway Cast Album — A Double Platinum Record!

Celebrated Nov. 10, 2010: Stephen Schwartz receives a new plaque at the Gershwin Theatre.
The Grammy Award winning (Best Musical Show Album) original cast recording of the smash-hit Broadway musical WICKED has been certified “Double Platinum” by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for sales of more than 2 million copies. The only other cast albums from Decca Broadway that have reached this level are Rent, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera and Cats. Watch the video of Schwartz receiving the plaque with the costumed Wicked cast on hand.

Wicked on Broadway

Broadway’s current Elphaba (Mandy Gonzalez), Glinda (Katie Rose Clarke) and the cast of WICKED surprised the 5 millionth Broadway audience member at the smash-hit musical yesterday, September 29. The winner was surprised during the matinee curtain call and presented with the Key to the Emerald City in addition to additional prizes. BroadwayWorld was on hand and brings you photo coverage below!

Currently in its 7th year on Broadway, WICKED’s three North American and four international companies have been seen by over 25 million people worldwide.

Left to right: Briana Yacavone, Katie Rose Clarke, Brett Latorre (the winner), Mandy Gonzalez, and Jonathan Warren. Photo by Genevieve Rafter Keddy/ Broadwayworld.com.

Wicked on Tour

The latest news for tour dates is that Wicked will be traveling through Western Canada – a first for that part of North America.

I had a chance to take some family members to see Wicked on tour in Madison, WI. We were enthralled with every aspect of the production and the little enhancements that have been made over time, such as with the lighting.

Wicked Tour Locations announced to date:
* Toronto, ON, CANADA
* Little Rock, AK
* Tulsa, OK
* Chicago, IL
* Kalamazoo, MI
* Indianapolis, IN

2011

* Chicago, IL
* Tucson, AZ
* Appleton, WI
* Albuquerque, NM
* San Antonio, TX
* Costa Mesa, CA
* Ft. Lauderdale, FL
* Eugene, OR
* Buffalo, NY
* Spokane, WA
* Omaha, NE
* Washington, D.C.

WESTERN CANADA, Vancouver, etc. see details by following the link below

2012 – Las Vegas

We regularly update the Wicked tours and cast pages on MusicalSchwartz.com with new cities. Please see Wicked Tours schedule and tickets

Casts lists: www.musicalschwartz.com/wicked-tour-cast.htm

Wicked at International

Helsingin Kaupungin Teatteri, Helsinki, Finland: Wicked opened in Finland in August, 2010. See our Wicked in Finland page for a report from the diretor, review, links to photos and a video.

Australia: Wicked is moving in 2011 to Brisbane and Adelaide. Then the story of Glinda and the Wicked Witch of the West will move on to Western Australia where it opens June 19 in Perth. According to a recent news report, more than 850 Wicked shows have been performed in Australia so far, and has developed a cult following. One audience member has seen the show 100 times. See www.wickedthemusical.com.au/

London: Wicked London will celebrate another anniversary in September. For more about Wicked in London, see our site at www.wickedwestend.co.uk/

Germany: Wicked for Germany is playing in Oberhausen. Wicked in Germany

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6. Defying Gravity and other Books

AUTOGRAPHED COPIES. Please contact me at carol@musicalschwartz.com if you’d like to buy autographed copies of Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz, from Godspell to Wicked signed by Stephen Schwartz. Please include the words SIGNED COPY in the subject line.

HAMMERSTEIN

This is only peripherally related but…. one of the lyricists that Stephen Schwartz admires is Oscar Hammerstein. His grandson Oscar “Andy” Hammerstein the III (in the photo with me) has a new book out. He lives in my area and I attended a book talk. Check out: The Hammersteins: A Musical Theatre Family

I have a quote from Stephen Schwartz in my book in the “Colors of the Wind” section, page 238. Schwartz talks about how he kept the famous lyricist’s style in mind while writing “Colors of the Wind” lyrics, asking himself, “What would Oscar do?”

SHOPPING

This newsletter is supported solely by book sales and the small commission I make from readers’ purchases via links to the Wicked Shop MusicalSchwartz.com Wicked shop, Amazon: Broadway Music and More at Amazon.com , MusicNotes: Download Broadway Sheet Music and others. Once you click through these links, anything you buy provides a commission. Thanks for helping keep this newsletter free and supporting MusicalSchwartz.com.

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Editor: Carol de Giere, P.O. Box 510, Georgetown, CT 06829
The Schwartz Scene is an independent publication from MusicalSchwartz.com and does not formally represent Stephen Schwartz.

To send comments or questions: mailto:carol@musicalschwartz.com.
Copyright 2010 by Carol de Giere. MusicalSchwartz.com 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 subscriber’s private use.