About Stephen Schwartz

Stephen Schwartz was born in New York City on March 6, 1948. He primarily grew up in Roslyn Heights on Long Island, and started attending Broadway shows when he was nine years old. It was love at first sight. From then on he wanted to compose for Broadway.

His parents bought a piano when he was seven, and he took lessons locally. Then after an audition, the Juilliard School of Music accepted him in their preparatory division for their classes in piano and composition.

While studying for a BFA in directing from Carnegie Mellon University, he wrote songs for original msuicals each of his four years there. These shows were staged as part of the “Scotch ‘n’ Soda” club, an extracurricular student-run club. He was also involved in summer stock productions as a teenager. Therefore, by the time he wrote his first professional score, Godspell in 1971, he was experienced with the process of writing original work and staging other people’s shows.
He settled in Connecticut shortly after Godspell became a hit. It serves as home base and a place to compose, although he travels frequently for work on various productions. Mr. Schwartz is married to Carole Schwartz. They have two children, director Scott Schwartz and art teacher Jessica Schwartz. His main hobby (besides playing music and attending shows) is tennis.image

Photo to right: Stephen with his son Scott in 2001

Schwartz lives in Connecticut and has an office/studio/city apartment in Midtown Manhattan. He spends much of his time traveling for theatre activities, composing, conducting ASCAP workshops, giving concerts, and playing tennis.

He generally composes at his piano in Connecticut. For scoring music, Schwartz is now using Sibelius software at home. The recording specialist with whom he works uses Logic for recording and multi-track sequencing.

Projects

Stephen Schwartz inducted into the Theatre Hall of FameSongwriter Stephen Schwartz started his career by writing music and new lyrics for Godspell. Next he wrote music and lyrics for Pippin and The Magic Show. When Godspell moved from off-Broadway to Broadway in 1976, Schwartz then had three successful shows running on Broadway at the same time.

PHOTO: In Broadway’s Gershwin Theatre upstairs lobby, American composer Stephen Schwartz stands beside his name after his induction into the Theatre Hall of Fame, January 25, 2010. Photo by Michael Cole.

His songs on the cast albums for The Baker’s Wife helped keep the show in motion ever since it failed to reach Broadway in 1976. Children of Eden is his second most popular show for regional theatres. He co-adapted Working and wrote lyrics for Rags before transferring some of his creative energy to Hollywood.

He wrote lyrics for the songs for Pocahontas (movie), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (movie and stage),songs for The Prince of Egypt – (movie and stage). He won two Oscars for his work on Pocahontas(including Best Song “Colors of the Wind” and his contribution of lyrics to the score) and one for The Prince of Egypt’s song “When You Believe.”

Schwartz’s musical Wicked is a hit on Broadway, on tour, and internationally. While working on Wicked, he wrote what he believes is one of his best songs, “For Good”, a piece that is now often used for graduations, memorial services, and friendship-related events.

In 2006, Schwartz worked in collaboration with Alan Menken for Enchanted. Disney’s Enchanted, and he completed Geppetto and Son, a stage version of his Disney TV movie Geppetto. The show was later renamed Disney’s My Son Pinocchio. His first opera, Seance on a Wet Afternoon, premiered in 2009.

Other work includes songs for a Hans Christian Anderson celebration–a musical called My Fairy Tale. His family musical, Captain Louie ran twice Off-Broadway, toured the USA, and is now being made available for local groups to perform. An album of his first Princess Cruise musical Magic to Do was released in September 2016.

From 2009 to 2015 Stephen Schwartz served as the president of the Dramatists Guild of America, the national association of playwrights, composers and lyricists. His honors include three Academy Awards, four Grammy Awards, four Drama Desk Awards, a special Tony Award, and others. He has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and Theatre Hall of Fame.

For more information on Stephen Schwartz, including latest news, musical DVDs, music CDs, sheet music, reviews, schedule, licensing info, and free newsletter, visit MusicalSchwartz.com.

 

Photo at top: Outside Broadway’s Gershwin Theatre, Broadway composer Stephen Schwartz stands before the marquee for the musicals Wicked and GodspellPhoto © 2011 by Jeremy Daniel