Try as he might, Stephen Schwartz can't seem to get away from the Bible. "I have to start looking for other source material, and soon," he laughs. But the acclaimed composer/lyricist of "Godspell" better not put it away yet.
First, there's his newest stage musical "Children of Eden", based on the book of Genesis. Besides its Cleveland area premiere on November 1 at the Jewish Community Center's Halle Theatre, "Children of Eden" is getting a big, high profile production at New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse -- a toe in the water for potential Broadway backers. And then there are his songs for "Prince of Egypt" (the Moses story): the first animated feature upcoming from the new DreamWorks SKG film studio.
It isn't that Schwartz considers himself particularly spiritual. But in a flash-and-hype era of musical theatre dominated by crashing chandeliers and hovering helicopters, baby-boomer Schwartz is decidedly old-fashioned. In an interview, he comes across as the proverbial Nice Guy your mother wishes you'd bring home: charming, thoughtful, and whimsically good natured.
His musicals, from "Pippin" to "The Baker's Wife" to "Children of Eden", reflect the same sensibility: they're fables for adults, trying their best to make moral decisions under ambiguous circumstances.
Those preoccupations haven't exactly set Broadway afire lately -- he hasn't had a genuine hit show since the late 1970's -- but with delicious irony, what Broadway has spurned, Hollywood has embraced. Chalk one up for the Nice Guys: Schwartz is now a major player in the great Disney Renaissance -- most recently as the lyricist for "Pocahontas" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", both with composer Alan Menken.
With "Children of Eden", Schwartz has written a mature but family-friendly show that looks at humanity's First Dysfunctional Family: Adam, Eve, and their Father, and the intergenerational conflicts and family patterns that are so easily passed along from parent to child.
"It's about second chances, of course," says Schwartz -- a compelling family story of rage and guilt and their consequences, and the need to begin again. The show also includes the world's first eco-disaster, The Flood, and unusual spins on many Biblical characters, from Eve to Cain to the multigender ensemble that makes up the Snake, who sings a sophisticated jazz reminiscent of Manhattan Transfer.
The score is Schwartz's most elaborate, full of layers and motifs, and Halle Theatre Artistic Director Elaine Rembrandt has nothing but praise for its invention. "It blew us away," says Rembrandt.
Schwartz's pop-inspired musicals have always been ubiquitous in regional, community, and college theatres. His show "Working", based on Studs Terkel's book, is getting a major revival at Arlington's Signature Theatre -- as well as a concurrent production here at Baldwin Wallace College.
Unlike some Manhattanites who ignore everything between the coasts as "flyover country", Schwartz pays close, respectful attention to his regional productions. He passes along kudos for an earlier Halle Theatre production of "Rags", which his collaborator Joseph Stein dubbed "phenomenal" -- and recalls Robert ("Freddy Kruger") Englund appearing in the cast of an early "Godspell" production at Great Lakes. In the case of "Children of Eden", smallish theatres have been his salvation, helping him shape and refine a show that needed work since its troubled 1991 London debut.
Librettist/director John Cairn had brought Schwartz to London with the notion of developing the show in a workshop at the Royal Shakespeare Company -- something that Cairn had done successfully with the smash hits "Nicholas Nickleby" and "Les Miserables". But budget cuts under then-Prime Minister Thatcher cancelled most of the RSC's season, including its entire developmental funding, so the show went straight to the West End.
"It was like staging a first draft," Schwartz admits ruefully. "There were things we hadn't figured out yet, and things we figured out that were too late to change. We just weren't ready for a commercial production." The reviews were, at best, mixed, and the show closed after 100 performances.
Instead of licking his wounds and mourning the Broadway invitation that wasn't coming, Schwartz got busy with small theatre productions of "Children of Eden" all over the U.S. -- watching, persistently tweaking and tuning, in front of regional audiences. First there was an important 1991 production at Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke, Virginia, where some major changes were made. "We did eight productions since London, one by one; from an evangelical music college in Quincy, Massachusetts to a community theatre in Wichita, and more," says Schwartz. "Now it's a much better show."
[The Jewish Community Center's Eugene S. & Blanche R. Halle Theatre presents an Ohio premiere, "Children of Eden". Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by John Caird. Opening November 1 at 3505 Mayfield Rd., Cleveland Heights. Call 382-4000 X274 for reservations and tickets.]
Originally published in the Plain Dealer, October 1997.
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