I happened to be on a snorkeling trip and one of my friends, Holly Near, said, “Oh, I’m reading this really interesting book. STEPHEN SCHWARTZ: It’s so hard to be able to articulate why an idea hits you like the shaft of an arrow. I’m your host, June Cohen, and on this episode, you’ll hear original music composed for piano and guitar. Time and again, he’ll come back to his mantra: “Tell the truth, and make it rhyme.” And to create it, he had to not only adapt an iconic retelling of an iconic story, but persuade a lot of people that it was a good idea. Stephen adapted it from the book Wicked, written by Gregory Maguire. The story itself is a re-telling of The Wizard of Oz - from the perspective of the so-called wicked witch. Īs for Wicked, it’s broken nearly every record in theater history for ticket sales, making it one of the most successful musicals of all time. He’s written musicals that changed the landscape of American theater - like Godspell and Pippin. Stephen has a career spanning five decades as a musical theater lyricist and composer. And he’ll also share a universal truth about getting unstuck that anyone can use.Īnd here’s what you need to know about Stephen Schwartz and Wicked. He’ll show you how telling the truth to your team creates a space where great collaborations can thrive. But what Stephen learns along the way applies to any creative in any field: When your work expresses a universal truth, the widest audience will respond.Īs Stephen takes us on the journey of writing and composing Wicked, you’ll hear how he leans into universal truths that connect all of us – like the experience of friendship, betrayal, and love. It’s Stephen’s personal story of reinventing a beloved classic for the stage - and convincing others to believe in it as much as he does. JUNE COHEN: That’s the legendary composer Stephen Schwartz - and he’s about to tell us the story of creating the Broadway musical Wicked.
You think they know everything about you, but they don’t. It’s so mysterious, but it’s really also very reassuring, that if you expose yourself enough, your heart and your soul and your obsessions and your doubts and fears, if you really tell that truth, people respond to it, if you tell it skillfully.Īnd what’s more: You think you’re standing naked before them.
You don’t really even have to make it rhyme, but you need to tell the truth. Schwartz is currently writing the songs for a new adaptation of A Christmas Carol, which will be titled Marley.STEPHEN SCHWARTZ: When I get asked, “How do you go about writing a song?” I have a glib response - but it’s really quite true - which is: Tell the truth, and make it rhyme. Schwartz's breakup from Disney for this reason meant that he would not work for the studio for nearly nine years, prior to his return with Johnny and the Sprites.
Despite this, one of these songs, "Written in Stone", was later used for the children's theatre production Mulan Jr. Schwartz also wrote and composed songs for the film, Mulan, but these were not used due to his decision to continue with his work on the DreamWorks film, The Prince of Egypt. Schwartz is also known for his role as the writer and composer for the songs of hit Broadway musicals such as Godspell and Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz.
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He also wrote and composed the theme song for the Playhouse Disney series Johnny and the Sprites as well as the song " Brightly Shining" from the series and " Waiting for the Stars" from the show's original shorts.
He has worked as lyricist of The Happiest Little Elf, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Enchanted, all four with Alan Menken composing. Jessica and Scott Source Stephen Lawrence Schwartz is an American musical theatre lyricist and composer.
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