An Evening with Stephen Schwartz: A Life in Film, Television, and Theater

Reception to follow the program

The Society of Composers and Lyricists, ASCAP, and the Paley Center present this special clip-filled conversation with three-time Academy Award–winning composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Godspell). With television series, such as Fox’s Glee and NBC’s upcoming Smash, dominating the media landscape, the gifted musical artist will share his experiences working on film musicals, both animation and live-action, and theater and how they’ve informed his view of the music industry today.

Over the course of his acclaimed career he has collaborated with composer Alan Menken on the scores for the Disney animated features Pocahontas, for which he received two Academy Awards and a Grammy, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He also provided songs for DreamWorks’ first animated feature, The Prince of Egypt, for which he won another Academy Award for the song “When You Believe.” He provided music and lyrics for the original television musical, Geppetto, seen on The Wonderful World of Disney, and collaborated with Alan Menken on the songs for Disney’s Enchanted. He’s currently working with Oscar-winning composer A. R. Rahman on a new Bollywood animated film musical, Monkey of Mumbai.

He wrote music and lyrics to Godspell (Grammy Award), Pippin, The Magic Show, The Baker's Wife, Children of Eden, and the current Broadway and international smash hit, Wicked. At one point, Godspell, Pippin, and The Magic Show were all running on Broadway at once. With Leonard Bernstein he wrote English text for Bernstein’s Mass, which opened The Kennedy Center. He composed his first opera, writing libretto and score, and contributing some of the arrangements to Séance on a Wet Afternoon, based on the British film of the same name. The opera debuted at Opera Santa Barbara in the fall of 2009 and was produced by New York City Opera in 2011. He has released two CDs on which he sings new songs, entitled Reluctant Pilgrim and Uncharted Territory.

This event is FREE. RSVPs are required. RSVP below.