Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz, from Godspell to Wicked (Applause Books) [Paperback] A marvelous book
Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz, from Godspell to Wicked (Applause Books) [Paperback] book reviews website
A marvelous book Carol de Giere Applause Books; illustrated edition edition (September 1, 2008)
Review
“In Defying Gravity, Carol de Giere pulls back the curtain and gives us a fascinating glimpse into the creative process of one of the musical theater’s greatest wizards.” — Stephen Flaherty, Tony-Award winning composer of Ragtime, Seussical, and Once On This Island“This is a fantastic book, scrapbook, story and photo collection.” — Broadwayworld.com“Defying Gravity, which takes its name from the Act 1 closer in Wicked, is not just a he-did-this-then-he-did-this biography: de Giere reconstructs the collaborative process that brought Schwartz’s works to the Great White Way.” — The Journal News“A wonderful read. And the Wicked section provides a comprehensive account of a thoroughly recondite and even mysterious event: the gestation and birth of a phenomenon.” — Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked (the novel), Son of a Witch, and A Lion Among Men“Trying to reconstruct the writing process of a musical is nearly impossible. Carol de Giere has captured it.” — Winnie Holzman, book writer for Wicked (the musical) “This is a loving, in-depth look at the career and process of one of our most important musical theater writers. I am happy to have it on my shelf.” — Lynn Ahrens, Tony Award-winning lyricist of Ragtime“A must-have for any of the composer’s many fans.” — Theatermania.com
Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz, from Godspell to Wicked (Applause Books) (Paperback)
For decades, I have been fascinated by Broadway musicals and Broadway music, even though my occupation has nothing to do with the field of entertainment. However, it does deal with creativity. I think this is part of the reason I was drawn to the work of such composers and lyricists as Rodgers and Hammerstein, Gershwin, Kern, Porter, Lerner and Loewe, and Sondheim. I have read everything I could get my hands on about this individuals and others. What in their background led them to this occupation? What led them to become so successful?
Stephen Schwartz is a member of the current generation of Broadway composers and lyricists. Probably because there are so few opportunities for individuals with this talent and desire, each generation produces a very small number of successful composers and lyricists. In his case, Schwartz is both a composer and lyricist. Anyone with an interest in show music will have his or her favorite shows and favorite songs. Schwartz is the composer-lyricist of WICKED, my favorite of his shows and an amazing accomplishment. He wrote the lyrics to the songs from Disney’s HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (and the German stage production of it) and to the song “If I Never You” from POCAHONTAS, also bordering on masterpieces in my opinion.
The author of this marvelous book is Carol de Giere. This book is not only extremely interesting to read, the author has capured the story of the steps along the path that led Schwartz from childhood to where he is today. This includes such great successes for someone so very young to great diappointments and how he handled them. We are left with an extraordinarily talented artist who received encouragement when he needed it and possessing an abundance of self-confidence.
There have been many movies in the past about composers (including Rodgers and Hart, Kern, Gershwin, and Porter). As I read this book, I thought: This book would make a good basis for a very interesting movie. For those individuals interested in Broadway, Broadway musicals and the people who create them (and creative people in general), I highly recommend this book and compliment the author.
