Composer Stephen Schwartz built a career of widespread appeal through stage works both on and away from Broadway as well as through film projects that paired him with Disney on multiple successful animated musicals. Born March 6, 1948, in New York City, he trained in piano and composition at Juilliard while still in high school. After receiving his drama degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 1968, where he created several musicals staged by fellow students, he joined RCA Records as a producer and A&R executive. In his two-year tenure there, Schwartz scored his first significant breakthrough with the title song for the play Butterflies Are Free. Once he departed the label, he was asked to supply music and fresh lyrics for what became Godspell, a major 1971 success that earned him two Grammys. Later that same year he supplied lyrics for Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, and in 1972 he unveiled a reworked version of Pippin, a project begun during college. Under Bob Fosse’s direction, the show succeeded and enjoyed a five-year Broadway engagement.
The 1974 premiere of The Magic Show, featuring Doug Henning, made Schwartz the first composer to have three productions running concurrently on Broadway. His run of hits appeared to conclude with the 1976 off-Broadway opening of The Baker’s Wife, which met weak reviews and ticket sales; nevertheless the work developed a devoted following and returned in a 1988 London production directed by Trevor Nunn. Schwartz reappeared on Broadway in 1978 with Working, his adaptation of Studs Terkel’s book, for which he wrote the book and songs while also directing. After that production closed, he stepped back from Broadway stages; the material reached television audiences via a PBS presentation that he directed, after which he composed the one-act children’s musical The Trip.
He concluded his Broadway absence with Rags in 1986, supplying lyrics to Charles Strouse’s score. The show drew limited attention during its initial run yet later thrived through cast albums and regional revivals. Following the London success of The Baker’s Wife in 1988, Schwartz relocated to England for a period and finished Children of Eden in 1991. Two years afterward, Disney commissioned him to write lyrics for Alan Menken’s “Cold Enough to Snow,” featured in Life With Mikey, marking the start of a sustained collaboration after the death of Menken’s prior partner Howard Ashman. Functioning solely as lyricist, Schwartz shared an Oscar-winning score for 1995’s Pocahontas and its theme song “Colors of the Wind,” which secured both a Grammy and an Academy Award. Their subsequent score for 1996’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame also received an Oscar nomination. In 1997 Schwartz issued his debut solo album, Reluctant Pilgrim, consisting of original songs presented from his personal perspective rather than through stage characters. He composed both music and lyrics for the 1999 DreamWorks animated feature The Prince of Egypt, earning another Oscar for the song “When You Believe.” His second solo collection, Uncharted Territory, appeared in 2001, and his newest musical, Wicked, was scheduled to open on Broadway in 2003.
