INTERVIEW: Stephen Schwartz celebrates ‘Wicked’ with new PBS special
Photo: Alex Newell performs “Popular” in Wicked in Concert. Photo courtesy of Elman Studio LLC / Nouveau Productions LLC / Provided by PBS press site with permission.
As Broadway shows gear up for their big return to Midtown Manhattan, anticipation is building from theatergoers. In addition to the slate of new plays set to premiere in the coming weeks, there are also several mainstay musicals returning, hopefully ready to showcase their talented casts to sold-out audiences once again. One of the most beloved shows is Wicked, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by Winnie Holzman, and direction by Joe Mantello.
If audience members can’t wait any longer for in-person performances, there’s a chance to experience the score of this family-friendly musical in a whole new way. PBS is set to air Wicked in Concert: A Musical Celebration of the Iconic Broadway Score, co-hosted by original Broadway stars Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel. The TV special will feature performances by Mario Cantone, Gavin Creel, Ariana DeBose, Cynthia Erivo, Stephanie Hsu, Rita Moreno, Jennifer Nettles, Alex Newell, Isaac Powell, Amber Riley, Gabrielle Ruiz and Ali Stroker. They will be complemented by the American Pops Orchestra, under the baton of Maestro Luke Frazier, and Broadway legend Baayork Lee serves as the director.
Wicked in Concert is set to air Sunday, Aug. 29 at 9 p.m., and many of the beloved tunes from the show, including “Defying Gravity” and “Popular,” will be featured prominently. For newbies, the show, which is based on the book by Gregory Maguire, tells the story of the witches of Oz, including the rivalry between sisters Elphaba and Glinda.
Recently Schwartz, Lee, Newell and Ruiz joined a call with journalists to talk about the impact of this cherished show and what fans can expect from the televised concert.
For Schwartz, the memories of the first performance of Wicked are still vivid, even though it has been nearly 20 years.
“We did a whole lot of workshops and readings leading up to actual performances, but the first performance was the first preview in San Francisco in 2003, when we were doing our out-of-town tryout,” Schwartz said. “We were, of course, terrified. The show was at least a half hour longer than it is now. We didn’t even know if the scenery was going to fall down, but when it started, and Kristin came out in her bubble and said, ‘It’s good to see me, isn’t it,’ and got a wonderful response from the audience, we were a bit relieved.”
Schwartz then remembers Menzel coming out with her big entrance as Elphaba, and she also received entrance applause. He was so impressed that the show had received two sets of entrance applause, and he knew they had something special in their hands. “That’s when all the work of refining and recutting and revising and rewriting came to pass,” he said. “I just know we all breathed a big sigh of relief after that first preview.”
For Lee, who created the role of Connie in A Chorus Line, the task of directing this PBS special was an interesting challenge. For one, these songs were originally meant to be experienced in person on a grand Broadway stage. She needed to capture both that grandeur and intimacy, and ensure it would broadcast well on a television screen.
“I certainly had to use my theater skills because we were in a theater, but I was very aware that I had eight cameras,” Lee said. “So it did change a lot, but never the intention of what the song meant and what they were trying to project.”
Newell, who has appeared on Broadway in Once on This Island and on TV in Glee and Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, could identify with that feeling of having eight cameras stationed around the theater, capturing their every move, and this meant that they needed to project for an audience that was not there in the theater.
“For me, when you have a camera in front of you on a stage, you have to be very confident of the camera and your performance, especially knowing that there are eight cameras around,” Newell said. “You can’t turn your back on one, or have one not see you. … I am very happy that I grew up in theater-in-the-round so that I am always constantly knowing where a camera is all the time.”
For Ruiz, perhaps best known for her performances in several Broadway shows and on The CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, her contribution to the Wicked special includes a duet with Amber Riley. For this song, she needed to rely on her intuition and theater training to create an effective performance.
“I do find that when recording with cameras versus … performing eight shows a week on Broadway, you definitely have a lot more rehearsal time,” she said. “So there’s a lot of instinctual choices that you make for the camera to know where it’s at and to trust each other. So again, with Amber Riley and I, it was so exciting for us to just trust each other immediately the moment after we met. It was such a joy to loathe one another in our duet immediately. … It was such an exciting live moment between her and I.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Wicked in Concert: A Musical Celebration of the Iconic Broadway Score will air Sunday, Aug. 29 at 9 p.m. on PBS. Click here for more information.
