Chipmunk-cheeked keyboard artist alert!
Creating a better 'Eden' this timeBy Jayne Blanchard
SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published March 26, 2004
(excerpts)
Whoever said, "In life, there are no do-overs" never met Stephen Schwartz. The composer of the musicals "Pippin," "Godspell," "The Baker's Wife" and "Wicked" has made a career of returning to shows for either a tweak or a major overhaul. Mr. Schwartz considers reworking one of the perks of being a Tony Award-winning lyricist and composer.
"It's a great opportunity to improve something you know can be fixed," said Mr. Schwartz during a recent phone interview from his home in Connecticut. "Shows take a long time to do and are an enormous investment, and often it is wise to return to certain musicals so that all that time and money do not go to waste."
Reworking a show is like clinging to the baby in the family you just can't let go of. Mr. Schwartz says his particular "baby" was "Children of Eden," the 1991 musical (with a book by John Caird) about the original first family: Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel.
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In its spiffed-up form, the show opened at Ford's Theatre yesterday for a run that ends June 6. "When I saw a revival of it at Kent State a while back, I was reminded how dearly I hold this show," says Mr. Schwartz, who was also responsible for the musicals "Rags" and "Working," as well as music and lyrics for the animated films "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "Pocahontas" and "The Prince of Egypt." The latter two films earned Academy Awards for Mr. Schwartz.
Significant changes were made on "Children of Eden" shortly after a production in London in the early 1990s. First, Mr. Schwartz did a crazy thing. He read his reviews.
"John [Caird] and I decided to learn from the London production, so we got hold of all 40 reviews and read them in a lump," he recounts. "I never read my reviews, so it was quite a raw experience for me. Out of all of them, it became clear where we weren't communicating our intentions directly to the audience."
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This revisiting process is par for the course for Mr. Schwartz. "It was very similar with 'Working,' " the musical based on Studs Turkel's book, he said. "It was not very successful at all when first done in New York in the 1980s. But then there was interest from regional theaters and universities, so I got the chance to improve the piece, and it has gone on to great success all over the country."
The same thing happened to 1976's "The Baker's Wife," which closed after a calamitous out-of-town tryout tour. A cast album was made, however, which attained cult status. Director Trevor Nunn headed a London revival in 1988, allowing the show a second life. "Trevor was instrumental in seeing what changes could be made," says Mr. Schwartz. "It is great when someone can step in from the outside and see the flaws not just as flaws, but as challenges that could be overcome."
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WHAT: "Children of Eden" by Stephen Schwartz and John Caird.
WHERE: Ford's Theatre, 511 Tenth St., NW.
WHEN: Now through June 6.
TICKETS: Individual tickets can be purchased in person at the box office, by telephone at 703/218-6500 or 800/955-5566 or online at
www.Tickets.com.
der Brucer (guessing his next extravagence is a trip to DC, camera in hand, trying to get pictures of a gay madcap sprite in a pit)