my amazing experience with Schwartz and Stillwell

[Eliza0114]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 4:53pm

as many of you know, I go to NYU. on Wednesday, I was reminded exactly why. Stephan Schwartz came to talk to my vocal performance program. it was amazing. even if you don't like him or his shows, I want everyone to know that he is the most down-to-earth and amazing man. he was so very humble. he literally stood in front of us and said, "we changed the ending to Pippin because we realized that our ending was terrible. it sucked. it was total $H!T. we debated forever over whether the line would be 'trapped' or 'trapped but happy' and now we know that the reason why debated it for so long was because they both sucked." to hear him talk about his work and be so humble as to be able to say that it was terrible was...a really good thing. it's good to see.

also, he played several things from Wicked on the piano. now, I'm not the BIGGEST fan of Wicked...I mean, I like it and everything, I just think it's overkill a bit...but to hear the composer play it on the piano RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had.

the same day, in one of my other classes a little later, Haviland Stillwell showed up. she was in the original revival cast of Fiddler. AH-MAY-ZING. she gave a lot of tips on breaking into the industry...and the thing that was amazing about her was the fact that she used to be in my program. I'm in Steinhardt majoring in vocal performance...and so did she! she had all of my same teachers and everything...it was just good to know that I am in such a place that yields such great results.

I just had to share, because it was such an amazing huge day.

by the way, I saw Fiddler last night and, surprisingly, Rosie O'Donnell was not bad at all.

[peach]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 4:58pm

Wow, that's great! I am a Stephen Schwartz fan, the man and his work (particularly Godspell). I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during your class - sounds like an amazing experience!

[Eliza0114]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 5:01pm

it was...he was just SO HUMBLE. :) it was incredible. absolutely incredible.