Stephen Schwartz is back hosting the ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre Fest.
The event will be held over two days from May 5-6 at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) in Beverly Hills.
“Songs From the Cutting Room Floor” will open the festival and provide a look at the unheard gems that didn’t make it into some of Broadway’s biggest shows. Schwartz, along with Irene Sankoff and David Hein (“Come From Away”), will deliver an evening of intimate performances and stories about songs that had to be sacrificed to create a perfect musical.
Schwartz is no stranger to cutting songs from his musicals. His upcoming Broadway show, “Queen of Versailles,” is currently being worked on. Schwartz tells Variety, “There must be a dozen songs for it, that ultimately we wound up not using.” He adds, “Writing musicals is all about the development process. There are almost no musicals that have not had songs that were written for them during development that ultimately got cut or replaced, and that’s just determined during the process by what’s working and what’s not.”
The evening is presented with support from the Gary Geld Musical Theatre Foundation.
On May 6, Schwartz is set to host the ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre & Librettist Workshop, featuring a unique double bill of new musicals that gives audience members a sneak peek at what could be the next big ticket on Broadway. Composers will present excerpts from their new musicals and following each presentation, Schwartz will host a feedback session with the writers and other masters of the craft.
The Workshop will kick off with the creative team of Roslyn Catracchia and Peter Seibert, who will present an excerpt of their new musical Piney Needlesmith and the Road Less Traveled.
For the second show of the evening, Julian Hornik, Khiyon Hursey and Mark Sonnenblick will present selections from their new musical, “Weekend.”
According to Schwartz, each night will contain “nuggets of enlightenment.” He continues, “You never know where they’re going to come from. Over these years, I’ve learned more from doing a workshop than anyone. They’re always interesting, and they’re always different, because each show different and the mixture of the writers and the panelists is always different. So you never know when someone is going to say something that you know is meaningful or can provide a breakthrough.”
Aside from putting together the workshop, Schwartz is also hard at work on “Wicked: For Good,” the sequel to 2024’s “Wicked.” The composer and lyricist says, “We are trying to keep our heads down and focus because there’s a lot of work to do, but it is exciting, and it’s both encouraging that the first film was so well received and intimidating. We have a lot to live up to.” The film is set to be released on Nov. 21 and chronicles the second act of the long-running Broadway sensation. Schwartz adds, “I can’t deny feeling some pressure because of that, but that’s what they call a good problem to have.”
Previous ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre Workshop alumni include Steven Lutvak (“A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder”), Glenn Slater (“School of Rock”), Matthew Sklar & Chad Beguelin (“The Prom,” “Elf the Musical”), Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich (“Dear Edwina,” “Ever After”) and Khiyon Hursey (“Spirited,” “Sean’s Story”). The evening is supported by the Kenward Elmslie Fund.
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