Stephen Schwartz News

The company of the first North American tour of WICKED welcomes Alli Mauzey as Glinda and Andy Kelso as Fiyero on Friday, February 24 in Tempe, AZ.

Brent Barrett, Jenn Harris and the entire cast of SILENCE! The Musical are set to take the stage at the Upper East Side Barnes & Noble next Thursday, February 23rd at 5 PM to perform selections from the hit parody of the classic film The Silence of the Lambs.

Notre Dame of Maryland University has announced it will be presenting GODSPELL in memory of Julie Kline Rybczynski. This production will have musical direction by Stephen Holmes & Tiffany Underwood Holmes, direction from Gene Farrington, and choreography by Candace Sumner. It will run from Feb 24 to March 4.

Caldwell Theatre Company is set to launch the revamped, updated, and contemporized musical Working, featuring the music of Tony winners, Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Godspell),Lin Manuel Miranda (In the Heights) and Grammy winner James Taylor. The original source material for this unabashedly American musical is based on the novel Working by Studs Terkel.

On Thursday, February 16, 2012, the company of Broadway's revival of Stephen Schwartz's rock musical GODSPELL will welcome the musical director and conductor of the original Broadway production -- 'Late Show with David Letterman' musical director Paul Shaffer -- in a special cameo appearance.

Broadway's new revival of Stephen Schwartz's legendary rock musical GODSPELL will be featured on Lifetime Television's acclaimed reality competition 'Project Runway All Stars.'

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. 'Show Boat' and 'South Pacific' in the Loop, the Grammys, Whitney Houston's showtune connections, 'Charlie Brown,' 'Pippin' and more....

SILENCE! The Musical, the unauthorized parody of The Silence of the Lambs, will add Sunday evenings to the new spring playing schedule beginning March 4th at The 9th Space Theatre at Performance Space 122, 150 First Avenue (at 9th St.)

Carole Demas, Broadway's original "Sandy" (Grease), and Star of TV's The Magic Garden is celebrating the 40th Birthdays of both GREASE and The Magic Garden at the Laurie Beechman Theatre inside the West Bank Cafe (407 West 42nd Street at Ninth Avenue; 212-695-6909; www.beechmantheatre.com)

The American Repertory Theater announced today the theme and honorees of the A.R.T.'s second annual Valentine's Gala - A.R.T. EVER AFTER, to be held at the Plaza Castle, 130 Columbus Avenue, Boston.

After breaking box office records and selling out in record time in 2009, WICKED, Broadway's biggest blockbuster, will return to Salt Lake City's Capitol Theatre July 18-August 26. Tickets for the return engagement go on sale Friday, May 11 at 10am. Part of Zions Bank Broadway Across America - Utah.

The new, highly provocative TV commercial for this season's smash hit, SILENCE! The Musical, is set to being airing today on most major networks. SILENCE! The Musical, the unauthorized parody of The Silence of the Lambs, with book by Hunter Bell, music & lyrics by Jon and Al Kaplan, and direction & choreography by Christopher Gattelli, opened July 9, 2011 to unanimous rave reviews. The show immediately became a sold-out phenomenon and was recently selected by Time Magazine as one of the year's Top 5 Musicals.

At last night's Grammy Awards, musicians and singers marked the loss of one of the music industry's greatest entertainers of all time, Whitney Houston, who died Saturday night in her hotel room at the Beverly Hills Hilton. One of the evening's most stirring moments came as Jennifer Hudson, who has called the late singer an inspiration and one of her biggest idols, performed Houston's signature song, 'I Will Always Love You.'

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, February 12, 2012 - Sunday, February 12, 2012.

In 1998, composer Stephen Schwartz wrote 'When You Believe,' performed by Houston and Mariah Carey for the DreamWorks animated film The Prince of Egypt. The song was awarded the Academy Award for Best Original Song in March 1999. 'Stephen Schwartz is a genius,' Houston said in an interview that year. 'Just a beautiful song.'

The entire entertainment world is reeling. We have lost one of our most iconic pop, R&B and soundtrack performers this evening - as well as a formidable movie star in her own right - Whitney Houston was just reported dead at the age of 48. Having had one of the most successful and most multimedia of careers of any multi-hyphenate star in recent memory, Houston scored multiple Grammys and racked up countless nominations over the course of her multi-decade recording career, yet her most notable contributions to the world of music reside in her outstanding soundtrack work - most of all, the songs for the film in which she made the transition into feature film leading lady, 1992's THE BODYGUARD. The biggest hit from THE BODYGUARD's blockbuster soundtrack was undoubtedly Houston's rendition of a Dolly Parton song originally recorded in 1974 and later made famous by Parton in the feature film version of the Broadway hit THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS, "I Will Always Love You". In addition to Houston's sensational work on that mega-selling soundtrack - one of the Top 5 best-selling soundtracks of all time - she also provided her dramatic and vocal skills to the multi-platinum soundtracks to THE PREACHER'S WIFE and WAITING TO EXHALE, both films which she also starred in to much box office success. An Oscar-winning duet with Mariah Carey, "When You Believe" by WICKED's Stephen Schwartz from THE PRINCE OF EGYPT is yet another diadem in Houston's triple crown of accomplishments in the realms of music, film and television - having dominated all. Theatre fans may know Houston best for her incomparable portrayal of the Fairy Godmother in the incredibly successful 1997 ABC TV adaptation of Rodgers & Hammerstein's CINDERELLA starring Brandy and produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. In addition to Houston's contributions to THE BODYGUARD, THE PREACHER'S WIFE, WAITING TO EXHALE, THE PRINCE OF EGYPT and CINDERELLA, Houston also rose to fame early in her career for her rendition of "Home" from THE WIZ on THE Merv Griffin SHOW, as well as made a mark with a Cissy Houston duet on the CHESS international smash, "I Know Him So Well" on her second hit album. The last project Houston was working on prior to her death on Saturday night was the feature film musical SPARKLE, co-starring AMERICAN IDOL winner and Broadway standout Jordin Sparks. SPARKLE reportedly completed production of principal photography and soundtrack sessions, though it is not clear when the musical remake will now be released in light of Houston's unexpected death. No matter the circumstances of her life and death, Whitney Houston most surely left a legacy that will never be forgotten by those that adored her for her vast multitude of talents and many notable accomplishments in all areas of entertainment.

Worldwide smash musical Wicked is set to open at Austin's Bass Concert Hall on January 25, and its Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Don Amendolia, took the time to answer a few questions for BroadwayWorld.

Alice Lidelle is a high school senior who loves the band 'The Red Queen' and dislikes a homework assignment from her teacher, Miss Turtle. She attends the concert and meets the band's manager and is sent spiraling down, down, down into a topsy-turvy world.