Press Conference For Stephen Schwartz's New Musical, SCHIKANEDER, Livestreamed May 10th

Billed as "a turbulent love affair," composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz's new musical, SCHIKANEDER, is scheduled to have its world premiere on September 30th at the Raimund Theater in Vienna, Austria. Tomorrow, May 10th, a press conference promoting the production, including a sample of its score sung by leading man Mark Seibert, will be livestreamed on the Internet. Starting time is 11am in Vienna, which is 5am EST.

Click here to connect to the livestream.

The musical is based on the true story of the unconventional marriage between actor, singer, director, writer and stage manager Emanuel Schikaneder and his wife Eleanore. In the late 1700s, Schikaneder was a frequent author of opera libretti, most notably writing the words for Mozart's THE MAGIC FLUTE.

Schwartz is the composer/lyricist of the classic musicals GODSPELL and PIPPIN, as well as the long-running Broadway smash WICKED. He describes SCHIKANEDER as a romantic comedy that tells how the chaotic relationship between Emanuel and Eleanore led to THE MAGIC FLUTE's creation.

The new musical has a book by Christian Struppeck, artistic director of the Raimund Theater and is directed by the renowned Sir Trevor Nunn, whose successes include the original West End and Broadway productions of CATS and LES MISERABLES.

Stephen Schwartz talks of the inspiration for SCHIKANEDER in the video.