A Wicked Chat with Stephen Schwartz

"When I first came to see the show Wicked, it was like America finally got it," shouted Tony award-winner Ben Vereen Sunday evening at a star-studded musical tribute to Broadway and film composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz and benefit for a new Regional Theatre Company in the Los Angeles area.  "I said to myself, 'I got it.'  What a genius thing...the music has moved us all.  Not just for us, but for our children and generations to come."

Vereen, who starred in Schwartz's Pippin in 1973, subsequently winning the Tony, topped the list of an all-star cast including Corbin Bleu from Disney's High School Musical, Nita Whitakaer, Christa Jackson, Victoria Oscar, Julia Gregory and Michael Leon Wooley, all on hand to sing some of Schwartz's most popular songs.

Before the cabaret-style evening was through, Schwartz took the stage to sing "For Good," one of the final numbers from his musical Wicked, while nursing a sore throat from jet lag, having just flown into the Los Angeles area.

Schwartz sat down with me following the evening's festivities to talk about the benefits of regional theatre, his plans for an opera, plus a few hints about the upcoming sit-down production of Wicked in Los Angeles, beginning performances February 10, 2007 at the Pantages Theatre.  

Following are excerpts of our conversation:

James Sims:  So how did you become involved with this new regional theatre in the Santa Clarita Valley, The Theatre Project/SCV?

Stephen Schwartz:  I became involved with Theatre Project SCV because Marc Chancer, a very good friend of mine, and his business partner Annie Schwartz have a talent agency, and he said Annie was supporting this theatre they were trying to launch, and while I was out here could they set something up with me.  So of course, it's always good to have another theatre doing musicals.  I'm also going to The Rubicon Theatre (Ventura, Calif.), where my son (Scott Schwartz) directed tick...tick...Boom.  He directed that, and then they moved it to the Coronet Theatre (Los Angeles).  They also did a reading of his play, My Antonia, which I had done incidental music for.  It was just a good condience to have two of these things that I could do while I was in Los Angeles.

JS:  With your various Disney works and the recent release of Captain Louie on CD, do you feel drawn to family-themed musicals?

SS: Captain Louie certainly is a children's show, as it is performed by and for kids.  I am not necessarily a children's author, though I have certainly done a bunch of things for kids.  Although this other project I have started working on is an opera which is extremely adult oriented.  The Captain Louie show is actually an old show from the 1980's which has been expanded recently.  I did that originally for a group called the First All Children's Theatre in New York, where I had taken my kids to see things.  And obviously Disney and Dreamworks animation, who wouldn't want to do that?  Alan (Menken) and I did two of the most adult Disney animated features, including The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  That movie is actually more for an adult audience than many other Disney animated films.

JS:  So now fill me in on this new opera you are working on.

SS:  It's based on a British novel which was then turned into a movie in the 1960's, called Seance on a Wet Afternoon.  It was an art-house flick in the 60's, and I got offered an opportunity to write an opera for a company up in Santa Barbara.  So I had an idea of doing an adaptation of that film.  But it's a very dark story, sort of a psychological thriller.  We're having a discussion of opening no sooner than 2009 and more likely 2010.

JS:  Do you think you could reveal any of the casting for the new Wicked production opening here in Los Angeles in February?

SS:  I don't think I am allowed to.  I actually know who's doing it.  With two exceptions, all of the leads are people who have already done the show in one of the current companies, and almost all of them have done it on Broadway at one point or another.  It's a really good company.  Two of the leads were cast here in Los Angeles.  Although, I am not sure who is doing the Wizard.  It's an open ended run, sort of like Chicago, but we will see what happens.  L.A. isn't the type of town that you can run as long as we are running in Chicago, but we did very well here in our limited run the last time.  So I think they will run it as long as they can and then move the company to somewhere else, presumably.

JS:  And what about Los Angeles as a theatre town?

SS:  They are probably not as good of a market, from a commercial point of view, as some others cities.  Things don't run as long here, but what they do really well is small local theatre.  I just saw a wonderfully acted new play at a theatre in Venice (Calif.), the Pacific Resident Theatre.  The performances were fantastic.  I've seen a lot of good smaller theaters which are very impressive.  This play was very well attended, so I think that sort of theatre is very strong here.  It's not the best town in America for commercial theatre, however.  But that being said, Wicked was nuts here last time around.  All of us ran out of house seats and we couldn't get anybody in, no matter if they were the head of some studio or not.  The town really supported Wicked when we were here before, so we will see how long we will go here.  But it is going to be a very good production, and we are going to incorprate a couple of the little changes that we did with the London premiere.  There are a couple of things we wanted to do for a while that we felt could be better.  We were finally able to address them a little bit, even though they are a few small things.  We are going to put these changes in everywhere (including Broadway).  In fact, I think they just called a rehearsal in New York.

JS:  Does Wicked have a date with the silver screen in the future?

SS:  My assumption is yes, due to Universal backing the production.  They are a movie company, and I also think that for many reasons it is one of the musicals that could work as a movie if it is done well.  I think it has a possibility to be adapted successfully, but truthfully, the topic has not come up.  We are not talking about it at all.  At this point, it is just about keeping the companies fresh and strong here in the states and overseas.  

JS:  What are your thoughts on movie studios financing Broadway productions?

SS:  There are both good bad things about it, depending on the specific project.  The good thing about it is that they can afford it.  Wicked, for instance, cost $15 million, and to a movie studio that is not such a big deal.  To try and raise that amount with Broadway producers is a year of backer auditions.  So it's nice to have that financial support.  Some of the projects that are being backed by film projects are worthy.  But I am a little bit dismayed about studios finding a recent hit movie and making it into a musical, whether it's deserving or not.  But I don't think that is the whole story.  There have been some very strong productions backed by studios, so on balance, it is a good fit.  What's really good is that studios will take a chance on new writers, whereas those old-school Broadway producers who have stuggled so much to make the money will not.  And all of a sudden you have all these new writers showing up.  Because of that some of the off-Broadway stuff with new writers is starting to transfer.  I have never seen the Broadway musical stronger than it is now, in my experience.  I wasn't around in the first golden age of Broadway, but certainly since I have been working, I have never seen it this strong.  It's very encouraging.

For more information on The Theatre Project/SCV, visit:  www.theatrescv.com.
For more information on the upcoming Wicked production in Los Angeles, visit:  www.broadwayla.org.



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