 STEPHEN SCHWARTZ was born in New York City on March 6, 1948. He studied piano and composition at the Juilliard School of Music while in high school and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 1968 with a B.F.A. in Drama. Upon coming back to live in New York City, he went to work as a producer for RCA Records, but shortly thereafter began to work in the Broadway theatre.
His first major credit was the title song for the play Butterflies Are Free, the song eventually being used in the movie version as well. In 1971, he wrote the music and new lyrics for Godspell, for which he won several awards including two Grammys. This was followed by the English texts, in collaboration with Leonard Bernstein, for Bernstein's Mass, which opened the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
The following year, he wrote the music and lyrics for Pippin and two years later, The Magic Show. Next were the music and lyrics for The Baker's Wife, which closed before reaching Broadway after a disastrous out-of-town tryout tour in 1976. However, the cast album went on to attain cult status, leading to several subsequent productions, including a London revival directed by Trevor Nunn in 1988.
Mr. Schwartz's next Broadway project was a musical version of Studs Terkel's Working, which he adapted and directed, winning the Drama Desk Award as best director; he also contributed four songs to the score. Next came a one-act musical for children, The Trip, and music for three of the songs of an Off-Broadway revue, Personals.
In 1986, Mr. Schwartz provided lyrics for Charles Strouse's music for Rags, which after flopping in its initial Broadway run, once again followed the route of successful cast album and subsequent productions. Mr. Schwartz's latest work for the theatre is the score for Children of Eden, book by John Caird. The show was unsuccessful in its London debut in 1991, but has since become a staple of regional and community theatres in the U.S., and the cast album of the recent Papermill Playhouse production of Children of Eden was released on RCA Victor Records.
For films, he has collaborated with composer Alan Menken on the scores for the Disney animated features Pocahontas, for which he received two Academy Awards, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He also provided songs for DreamWorks SKG's first animated feature, The Prince of Egypt, for which he won another Academy Award for the song "When You Believe." Mr. Schwartz provided music and lyrics for the original television musical, Gepetto, seen on The Wonderful World of Disney, and he has released two CDs of new songs entitled "Reluctant Pilgrim" and "Uncharted Territory." He is currently working on Wicked, a new musical for the stage. |
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