"Defying Gravity" details Stephen Schwartz's sometimes difficult dealings with the Walt Disney Company

re: "Defying Gravity" details Stephen Schwartz's sometimes difficult dealings with the Walt Disney Company

Jim Hill — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 07:25:43 GMT

I'll have to get this as I love Schwartz's work. He's worked on some of my favorites:

Working, Prince of Egypt, Godspell, Hunchback, Wicked, Pippen.... I could go on and on. Simply one of the best ever at his craft and a real burning shame that he hasn't won a Tony yet. How can the Oscars recognize such talent while Tony has its head up its butt?

re: "Defying Gravity" details Stephen Schwartz's sometimes difficult dealings with the Walt Disney Company

Jim Hill — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:48:10 GMT

Ditto Mr. Tucknie's thoughts. I have long felt that Mr. Schwartz's work on 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' song "Out There" was quite underrated (as was Tom Hulce's vocal performance of the tune). If "Colors of the Wind" is deserving of an Oscar, "Out There" was worthy of at least a nomination.

re: "Defying Gravity" details Stephen Schwartz's sometimes difficult dealings with the Walt Disney Company

Jim Hill — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:49:05 GMT

Tuckenie-

The Tony voters bypass his work because each of his shows, while enjoyable to listen to, are musically interchangeable. For example, "Spark of Creation" from "Children of Eden" could be swapped for "Corner of the Sky" from "Pippin" or "What is this Feeling" from "Wicked."

I enjoy his work. I have "Pippin" on rotation on my iPod all the time. But his music is not Tony-worthy when compared to Adam Guettel, Jason Robert Brown, Sondheim or even (*grimace*) Lloyd Webber.

What has made his shows work are the visionary designers, directors, and actors he's had to cary his material. "Pippin" was crap before Fosse got a hold of it. Even today, the liscensed version of the show is nowhere near what the original Broadway version was due to the "watering down" that Roger Hirshon (book writer) and Schwartz did after Fosse had moved on to other projects.

"Wicked" got middling reviews for a reason. It is fun and technically very cool, but not the best written show. "Godspell" hasn't worked since the original Commedia' inspired production in NYC.

His music in "Working" is the least interesting of the entire show.

I could go on.... but I'm at work and should probably actually do some... :)

re: "Defying Gravity" details Stephen Schwartz's sometimes difficult dealings with the Walt Disney Company

Jim Hill — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:30:06 GMT

Eh. I find him to be a generally pretty boring lyricist, as evidenced by his mostly forgettable work on Pocahontas and Hunchback. (He only won for Pocahontas because it was caught in the afterglow of Disney's "big four": Mermaid, Beast, Alladin & Lion King. Who thinks of that stuff now?) Mulan proved to be surprisingly good and obviously did not need him.

Luckily, he brought his "A" game to Enchanted, simply his best work ever.

re: "Defying Gravity" details Stephen Schwartz's sometimes difficult dealings with the Walt Disney Company

Jim Hill — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:39:20 GMT

Excerpt lyrics from Mulans' "Destiny":

'Destiny, Destiny, Destiny, Destiny;

There's no need to protest-any..."

Yes, Mulan did just fine with David Zippel & Matthew Wilder.

A special "May the (Stephen) Schwartz Be With You" edition of Why For

Jim Hill — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 04:02:27 GMT

Jim Hill's back with even more answers to your Disney-related questions. This time around, he talks about "Enchanted" 's score evolves over the course of that motion picture, where Stephen drew his inspiration for "Out There" as well as talking up an