Show People with Paul Wontorek Interview: "Wicked" & "Godspell" Composer Stephen Schwartz

To kick off the second season of the Broadway.com talk show "Show People," host Paul Wontorek sits down with the man who first dreamt up the smash hit "Wicked," composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz. As "Wicked" prepares to enter its ninth year at the Gershwin Theatre, Schwartz is also gearing up for the return of his very first musical "Godspell," which will play right next door at the Circle in the Square Theatre starting October 13. Watch the charming music man address his leprechaun-inspired past fashion choices, his hate-hate relationship with critics, which of his past flops is most ripe for a return and why now is the right time for the second coming of "Godspell."

[@justsomedude3562]

"It (the choice of who plays Elphaba in the movie) might be someone who's eleven now." Paul was probably kidding but he kinda nailed it.

[@bwaybabyeee]

Oh I love him so, he is THE BEST.

[@missraredoesstuff]

Lol here we are in 2020 still praying the wicked film happens. I LOVE Stephen!!!

[@samcotten2416]

There IS a musical of Prince of Egypt, and it’s opening in London in February!!! No idea when I’ll get to see it, but I’m dying of excitement!

[@bobcrandall7749]

I have the 1972 movie. Day by day was the very 1st piece I heard on the radio

[@TomIdelson]

I LOVE HIM!!! Should've won a Tony for Wicked!!!!!!

[@healthyholemealbread]

now he's got Pippin and Wicked!

[@kmb1023x]

Stephen Schwartz is amazing.

[@hugoarr12]

When he said that the characters for the wicked film might possibly be in high school, I freaked. Haha...oh. that would be far beyond a dream come true.

[@rayway82]

I love that he bought a Bösendorfer-piano of all brands

[@hpfan]

No, but really -- can Children of Eden seriously come to New York? I absolutely adore that show.

[@coconmiranda]

Come on ....what about a revival of "The Magic Show" starring Neil Patrick Harris

[@StapleFaceProduction]

I'm playing Jesus in our version of it and I'm so excited, such a good musical

[@cinderella458]

My dream is to be on Broadway and work with Stephen Schwartz one day.

[@alwysbarefoot]

What a G.

[@pardeepparkash398]

Well Brock he did write 'Out There' from Hunchback of Notre Dame, which I found very touching although admittedly I haven't seen his other stuff. Do you include this in his 'awful lyrics' or an exception?

[@booksandbroadway]

@potterbroadwayfan92 It's kind of difficult to explain, but Godspell is basically about Jesus and his teachings. Most of the songs are parables put to music and stories. It's really a beautiful show, I'm not a Christian and I still love it. It's in no way religious propaganda or anything. The plot isn't very important though.

[@kozeraag]

They must make Wicked as a movie. Not actually redo it, just record the show! I got to see it once when it was touring, but had to use the bathroom and then they wouldn't let me back in until the intermission :(

[@Anonymous18531]

It's should still be Idina and Kristin.

[@musicalfool]

I think if I ever won an Oscar I would receive the award and like fall to the stage from the weight

[@kmb1023x]

@sassyjurphy hahah YES i love her

[@SWein66]

Funny to watch this in 2023, that Stephen Schwartz says Phantom will never close, or at least not in my lifetime. Uh oh.

[@MattVargas]

A little disheartening he can't see Wicked as an animated film. Especially when he said his animated musicals need something unique if they're to be brought to stage. Isn't the medium of animation a unique enough motivation to do a film adaptation? He didn't even get into his reasoning behind saying no :/

[@BottleConcreteBlond]

@coconmiranda It would need some major rewrites--it's pretty dated and was really only so-so in the first place.

[@ldivagirl]

Bollywood musical? didn't Lloyd Webber do that just a few years ago?

[@shawnag84]

As much as I love Wicked, I think Avenue Q deserved it. Simply based on it's consistency and originality. Tough break for Stephen though, he may have won had Wicked been up another year.

[@herbertwells8757]

Stephen Schwartz says that the "New York critics" and he just have different aesthetic "sensibilities". Yes, that would appear to be so...and there's a name for Schwartz's sensibility, as it happens: it's called "kitsch".

[@herbertwells8757]

+Herbert Wells Here, by the way, is a taste of the aesthetic sensibility of "the New York critics", from the New Yorker's 2003 review of "Wicked" : "The show’s twenty-two songs were written by Stephen Schwartz, and not one of them is memorable. They leave you longing for the wit and playful precision of Yip Harburg, whose words filled the movie Oz with wonder. 'Don’t be offended by my frank analysis,' Glinda sings to Elphaba. 'Think of it as personality dialysis.'....No amount of support from old pros like Carole Shelley, Joel Grey, and Norbert Leo Butz can get this musical souffle to rise-although the audience sometimes does. It is only fair to report that on the night I saw 'Wicked' the spectators gave this fourteen-million-dollar piece of folderol a standing ovation, a phenomenon that the musical inadvertently explains in a number called 'Dancing Through Life': 'Life is painless / For the brainless.' ”

[@guinnberger2681]

Envious much?

[@mhss1992]

"not one of them is memorable." What a crock of shit. Defying Gravity? No Good Deed? What is this Feeling? All of them are amazing songs, and Defying Gravity is actually my favorite song of all time. What an idiotic, biased and completely nonsensical review.

[@simonvetter2420]

Well, when the first Harry Potter movie came out, the critics didn't like the music. It was called "a great clanging, banging music box that simply will not shut up". I don't think any critic today would dare to repeat that because they would ridicule themselves beyond redemption. Somethimes, critics are just blatantly wrong. Which is fine, they're human after all, but it can come across a tiny bit arrogant and grumpy.

[@aaronford2184]

I have a huge amount of respect for this man which is why it disappoints me that he dressed like a slob for an interview like this. I mean come on.

[@herbertwells8757]

+Aaron Ford He didn't dress like a "slob"; he dressed like someone who has no taste whatsoever in clothes. In the course of the interview he questions his own sartorial choices from the early seventies, but the evidence here suggests that in this regard he really hasn't changed a bit.

[@sophiamuharram]

He's wearing a tux, a blue button down. He looks fine (except for the fact that is hair is all messed up).

[@ValtronW]

I disagree. Wicked is primarily bland pop ballads.