The Musical Journey of Stephen Schwartz
By Adam Hetrick | Playbill.com | April 12, 2013
Jeremy Jordan, Norm Lewis, Julia Murney and Jennifer Laura Thompson perform with the New York Pops April 12 in a celebration of the music of Academy Award-winning and Tony-nominated composer Stephen Schwartz.
NY Pops music director and conductor Steven Reineke leads the 8 PM concert at Carnegie Hall that showcases Schwartz’s prolific career from stage and screen, including “Magic To Do” from Pippin, “Colors of the Wind” from “Pocahontas,” “The Spark of Creation” from Children of Eden, as well as songs from Wicked, including “The Wizard and I” and “For Good.”
Murney (The Wild Party, Falling) and Tony Award nominee Thompson (Nice Work If You Can Get It) are both veterans of Wicked, having played Elphaba and Glinda, respectively. Jordan is a Tony Award nominee for Newsies and Lewis received his first Tony nomination for The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess last season.
The evening also includes Judith Clurman’s Essential Voices USA, who are premiering “Testimony,” a new work by Schwartz that is inspired by the words of the “It Gets Better Project.”
A five-time Tony nominee for the scores of Pippin, Godspell, Working, Wicked and his lyrics for Rags, Schwartz has earned Academy Awards for “Pocahontas” and “The Prince of Egypt.” He earned three Academy Award nominations for his work on “Enchanted.” Schwartz also received Grammy Awards for the recordings of Wicked, Godspell and “Pocahontas.” His opera Séance on a Wet Afternoon debuted at New York City Opera in 2011.
Program:
”Wicked: A Fable for Orchestra” – N.Y. Pops
”The Spark of Creation” (”Children of Eden”) – Ensemble
”Lost in the Wilderness” (”Children of Eden”) – Jeremy Jordan
”Meadowlark” (”The Baker’s Wife”) – Julia Murney
”West End Avenue” (”The Magic Show”) – Jennifer Laura Thompson
”Magic to Do” (”Pippin”) – Norm Lewis
”Morning Glow” (”Pippin”) – Jeremy Jordan
”Godspell” medley – Ensemble
Orchestral Suite from ”Seance on a Wet Afternoon”
”Out There” (”Hunchback of Notre Dame”) – Jeremy Jordan
”Colors of the Wind” (”Pocahontas”) – Julia Murney
”Through Heaven’s Eyes” (”The Prince of Egypt”)
”When You Believe” (”The Prince of Egypt”)
”Testimony” – Essential Voices
”The Wizard and I” (”Wicked”) – Julia Murney
”For Good” (”Wicked”) – Julia Murney, Jennifer Laura Thompson
”Can You Imagine That?” (”My Fairy Tale”) – Stephen Schwartz and Ensemble
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