Schwartz' Captain Louie to Set Sail on National Tour

The Stephen Schwartz children's musical Captain Louie, in which the young boy of the title finds Halloween adventures, will set sail on a national tour in 2006-2007.

It will head to "both coasts, the midwest, southeast and in the NY metro area," according to press notes.

Schwartz' score for Captain Louie is set to Anthony Stein's libretto. The show, which is based on Ezra Jack Keats' childrens' book The Trip, was helmed by Meridee Stein when it opened on October 31st, 2005 at the Little Shubert Theatre  after playing at the York Theatre Company earlier last year. It ran for six previews and sixteen regular performances at the Little Shubert.  Along with choreographer Joshua Bergasse, musical director Ray Fellman, and Elizabeth Flauto (costumes), Jeff Subik (sets) and Josh White (multi-media design) were on hand for the off-Broadway run, for which Stein, Kurt Peterson and Bob Reich were the producers.

"Young Louie feels lonely and without friends in his new neighborhood. Looking for something to cheer himself up on Halloween Night, Louie returns to his old neighborhood in an imaginative journey on the wings of his magical toy, his little red plane...Captain Louie is about friendship-- the ability to make new friends and the importance of old ones," according to press notes.

Schwartz, whose Wicked is the biggest musical hit on Broadway, wrote the music and lyrics for Godspell, Pippin, The Magic Show, The Baker's Wife and Children of Eden, and contributed his songs to the score of Working; he also collaborated with Charles Strouse on Rags. He has also written for the big screen, with a number of scores for animated films; he wrote music and lyrics for DreamWorks' The Prince of Egypt and the TV musical Geppetto, as well as lyrics for the Disney films Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (both with Alan Menken). Schwartz, whose two solo CDs Relucant Pilgrim and Uncharted Territory feature him performing his own songs, has received three each of the Academy Awards, the Grammy Awards and the Drama Desk Awards.

The tour of Captain Louie will be presented by the Brad Simon Organization.

A cast recording of the show is available on PS Classics.