Prolific composer Stephen Schwartz has delighted us with such musical megahits as Godspell, Pippin, The Magic Show and...the most successful show in Broadway history Wicked, which is still playing in New York and on tour internationally and grossing millions of dollars on its souvenirs alone.
He will perform this Sunday, August 23 at 7:30 pm at the Ford Amphitheatre in an evening entitled Making Good. Guests, tributing Schwartz's past work include Valarie Pettiford, Michael Arden, Terrence Mann and opera star Lauren Flanagan. Schwartz will present selections from his new opera Seance on a Wet Afternoon at the event. Produced by Chris Isaacson and Shane Scheel and Upright Cabaret, this is the third and final concert in the series Wicked Summer Nights which previously showcased Shoshana Bean in June and Eden Espinosa in July, both triumphant Elphabas in Schwartz's Wicked. To quote producer Isaacson, the concerts were put together to "celebrate the past successes of these artists and to show what they are up to since Wicked." Stephen Schwartz was been awarded a Grammy, Tony and 3 Oscars for his songs in the film scores for Pocahantas and The Prince of Egypt, and nominated for The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Enchanted. He also composed the popular song "Butterflies Are Free" for the Broadway play and film of the same name. Schwartz took time out of his busy schedule to talk via phone from New York about his work, Seance on a Wet Afternoon, and what has become his latest andperhaps greatest passion in music.
Q: Tell me about Seance on a Wet Afternoon. It is based on the movie from the 60s. Was this one of your favorite films?
SS: No, I wouldn't put it that way. I saw it when I was a kid, and I remember liking it and being intrigued by it, like many other good films, and then I more or less forgot about it. Maybe a year after Wicked opened, the idea was suggested to me by an agent, Peter Franklin, who took me out to lunch and pitched some ideas for some possible musical theatre pieces. One of them was Seance and I didn't really think it was right for a musical, so I put it aside. I guess about a year later I got offered a commission to do an opera by the Opera of Santa Barbara. They asked if I had any ideas. For whatever reason, I immediately said Seance on a Wet Afternoon.
Q: Is this your first opera?
SS: Yes.
Q: How did you enjoy composing it?
SS: I actually wrote one when I was in college...an extremely bad one. So, Seance is the first one that will actually be performed by professionals.
Q: How much more difficult is it to write an opera than an operetta or a musical comedy?
SS: For me? Considerably! This is the most challenging thing I've ever done.
Q: Will we be the first to hear it on Sunday?
SS: Some people have heard readings in various developmental stages. There have been a couple of readings of the full opera here in New York under the auspices of an organization called the American Opera Project, accompanied by pianos, as will be the excerpts on Sunday night.
Q: Will you be playing piano?
SS: No. There'll be 2 pianos. I'll try to set up some of the various arias.
Q: What will you be performing in the show?
SS: I'm going to sing something in the second act.
Q: Terrific! When you finally got into the composition of the opera, what did you think had to be translated into the piece from the film?
SS: It's really a mood piece. The title alone suggests how moody it is. I needed music to set the tone and the mood. Also the 2 leading characters (Kim Stanley and Richard Attenborough on film) are characters who want things very, very badly and are passionate about them and this is always good for musical adaptation of any sort. A lot of what is going on in the piece is subtextual in that the characters don't actually say what's going on. There's a lot of deception and dissembling, so music can be telling that subtext. There are many exciting elements at play.
