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Stephen Schwartz on the influences behind Godspell, Pocahontas and Wicked

The composer and lyricist looks back at his most notable achievements including musicals Godspell and Wicked, as well as his Oscar-winning work on Pocahontas.
Composer Stephen Schwartz at the premiere of Stephen Schwartz's Magic To Do on October 10, 2015. (Getty Images for Princess Cruise)

Stephen Schwartz was behind two really successful musicals in the '70s: Godspell and Pippin. But then he took a turn into writing music for films including Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Prince of Egypt. Schwartz thought he was done with musicals forever and that his career would focus solely on films, but then a friend introduced him to a book called Wicked

"I thought it was one of the best ideas I've ever heard," he recalls. "I like works about familiar stories, where one spins the point of view and looks at it from another angle." 

Wicked, of course, became one more hit of Schwartz's. When asked about the appeal of this musical in particular, Schwartz quotes something one of his producers once said: "All of us have that green girl inside us — that's what speaks to young people figuring out how to fit into the world."

Today, Schwartz talks to Tom Power about the influences behind some of his most notable works, the difference between writing a musical and writing songs for film, and what he thinks of his friend Lin-Manual Miranda's breakout hit, Hamilton.  

Schwartz will be at the Panasonic Theatre in Toronto for an onstage conversation with ASCAP's Director of Musical Theatre, Michael Kerker, on May 7. For more information, head over to Mirvish's website.

— Produced by Beza Seife