Schwartz Presses On Despite Snub

Stephen Schwartz seemed to finally do it with Wicked.  Sure, he had created other incredible scores in the past like Pippin and Rags that had been incredibly overlooked by the Tony Awards, but Wicked look like it could do no wrong.  The audience loved it, the music was fantastic and shows were selling like crazy.  Then the 2004 Tonys rolled around and the award for best musical was given to the puppet show Avenue Q instead.  Speaking to the lack of foresight in the judging, Avenue Q theaters are on average 20% empty during shows whereas Wicked routinely sells out.

For a musical that boasts hit songs like “Popular,” “Defying Gravity” and “For Good,” it is surprising that Schwartz was not given a Tony for his work.  The music also helped launch the career of Idina Menzel.  Without the music, some of the magic of this incredible story would be lost.  Wicked is about Oz before Dorothy arrives.  The Wicked Witch of the West is only known as Elphaba at the beginning of Wicked, and she is not the evil character she is made out to be in The Wizard of Oz. See and hear the musical that audiences are raving about and get Wicked tickets from StubHub.com.

Posted in Uncategorized on August 19, 2008

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