Stephen Schwartz at the Fairmont, a benefit for the Choral Project


A lovely segment on the evolution of Elphaba's first big number in Wicked

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Sure, the sound quality is pretty crappy, and I took this on my Treo, not a camera, so i couldn't zoom in very far, but this is a 13-14 minute segment of composer Stephen Schwartz describing how Elphaba's opening number in the musical Wicked evolved throughout their early readings of the show, complete with him playing musical snippets of earlier versions of the song.

If you turn the volume way up I think you'll be able to hear his story...complete with his amusing recollection of seeing the original pre-Broadway A Chorus Line for the first time, an example of how a musical theatre master (Michael Bennett) manipulated an audience that thought they were above that (or at least Schwartz did.)

This was all at a benefit evening for The Choral Project, a San Jose group.

Enjoy.

Posted: Mon - May 5, 2008 at 07:57 AM       EmailFeedback

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