October Broadway gala to honor Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz

As part of the third annual Broadway Cabaret Festival, held at New York’s Town Hall, a New York gala will be held Oct. 19 as part of opening ceremonies in tribute to composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, who is known for producing some of the most prominent musicals of his time, such as Godspell, Pippin, The Magic Show, Working and most recently Wicked. The musicial mastermind has won four Grammy, three Oscars and countless theatre awards for his work and will be present at the gala to witness the performance of many of his musical pieces performed by cast members in ultimate praise of his previous endeavors, according to an article published Friday, Sept. 21 by BroadwayWorld.com. Some of the msot talented Broadway stars, such as Lari White, Liz Callaway and Judy Kuhn, will also be on hand that evening to perform many of the musical numbers. The famed Tony-award-winning Betty Buckley, whose name and voice have become synonymous with Broadway, will grace Town Hall’s stage for the first time to perform some of the hits from the musical Pippen, of which she was a star.

Earlier this month, the composer was honored in Los Angeles’ West Hollywood during a similar tribute celebration in which Broadway actors Bets Malone, Meloney Collins, Jeffrey Landman and Shelley Goldstein sang nubmers from several of Schwartz’s pieces including Pippen and The Magic Show. The show’s host, Ryan Black said this of Schwartz: “What a night! Very few times in one’s lifetime do we get to share the room with a living legend, such as Stephen Schwartz -to be in a club and see George Gershwin or Cole Porter, or Rogers and Hammerstein - well, here we are in a room, with a man of this stature, and 50 years from now, we’ll say the same thing about Stephen. Thank you for gifting us- Broadway has changed for good, with the phenomenon of Wicked.”

To get Wicked tickets, visit Stubhub.com.

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