Will Stephen Schwartz ever win a Tony? — Page 3

I can think of past winners who deserve it less.

Schwartz seems to be the whipping boy because Wicked is so commercially successful in the mainstream.

But surely, Broadway is commercial mainstream.

I guess if he continues working, he has as much chance as any other established writer.

One needn't be accomplished in something to be able to critique it.

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He really does not need a tony. It would be nice for him and his fans I'm sure...but the fact his...he has written some scores that whether or not people on here like to admit, has reached out to MANY people...something that a lot of "favorite composers" of these boards fail to do.
And where are these rumors coming out of him being gay? Seriously? Is that actually a main discussion point here? What happened to privacy? Or respect? If he was giving off major indications that he was then I could so some argument (not a strong one) but I have not seen one shred of evidence to support that he is gay. Love how contrived these boards can be.

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Schwartz has produced some beautiful music (much of Pippin and Godspell), and some wonderful lyrics (Rags is full of superb lyric ideas and elegant wordplay), but almost never at the same time. First thinking his lyric weakness was a product of his youth back in the 70's, it was sad to hear the convolutions he came up with for Wicked 30 years later. Sadder still is to read "Defying Gravity" to learn how basic his work process is that resulted in that score. (In a nutshell, write 5 songs or song ideas for every slot in the show, poll your co-writers as to their favorite title, write 5 musical themes based on said title, poll your co-writers again, cram a lyric onto the winning tune, keep the last song standing, repeat as necessary.)

I agree with the poster that says he could win for a Hunchback or other score for which he has only contributed lyrics.

By the way, "On The Willows" is the one song in Godspell he apparently did not write. Sad because that's one of my all time favorites. Poor Stephen.

Wicked's score is much better than the show itself - there's a reason every theatre kid on earth knows the lyrics. It may not be to the liking of bitter show queens, but the world at large loves it. Schwartz should have won the Tony, and I think he knew that. Avenue Q, funny as it was, had an incredibly derivative score - completely undeserving of the Tony it got.

Reggie, I can assure you that the score to Wicked is criticized by more than just "bitter show queens." It's just not very good, on the whole (but with a few nice bits here and there).

Or would you prefer that I take your method of argument and say that it's only liked by immature listeners who just don't know much about music and lyrics? (I don't believe that, by the way, but wonder if you really believe that only "bitter show queens" don't like it).

According to the info in this thread, maybe he's already had a Tony.

I distinctly remember an interview in which Schwartz said with some venom that he mainly thanked God for Wicked because it meant he would never have to write for Broadway again. But if he's got something in development with collaborators, perhaps his attitude has softened. But I still don't think he'll ever win a competetive Tony. This is coming from someone who would have voted for Wicked for Best Book and Best Musical, but Avenue Q for Best Score. Wicked has some wonderful numbers for the leading ladies, but the songs for the other characters and the company numbers are serviceable at best. To me, that means the property wasn't entirely musicalized--only individual moments were.

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Carolinaguy, can you explain how Wicked isn't "entirely musicalized?" It seems as much like a musical as a musical can be, even if the quality of the music is inconsistent.

To suggest either withholding or giving someone a Tony because they are out or closeted is stupid. It has nothing to do with anything.

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By the way, "On The Willows" is the one song in Godspell he apparently did not write. Sad because that's one of my all time favorites. Poor Stephen.

Wrong song. He did write "On the Willows." The one song in the score not by him is "By My Side" (lyrics by Jay Hamburger, music by original cast member Peggy Gordon). As Schwartz put it, he could have written another song for that slot, but liked it too much to let it go. (Granted, "Beautiful City" in its new version replaced that song in Godspell Junior, so it's not like he lacks alternatives; I think at this point letting it stay is a formality on his part, that and it's become such a recognizable and well-loved part of the score.)

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Updated On: 8/16/11 at 10:23 PM

Meh, I liked the first four measures of Wicked better when they were the first four measures of Pippin

Gosh this thread has taken a pretty sordid turn