Scott Schwartz

Director of Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theatre shows

• Updates on current activities
• Biographical information
• Article: Godspell's Generations: Can Scott Schwartz Update Dad's Show?

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Composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz and his son director Scott Schwartz pose on the set of the national Godspell Tour 2001, which Scott directed.

When Scott Schwartz directed a U.S. national tour of Godspell for Phoenix Productions, followed by a tour in the UK, he hired Alex Lacamoire to do new orchestrations. DRG released the cast recording in 2002. This album's version of "Beautiful City" is particularly satisfying. To hear clips or order the CD from Amazon follow this link Godspell [new browser window]

Scott Schwartz Updates from The Schwartz Scene

Scott will be directing his father's opera Schwartz Opera in a workshop in 2008 and for the full production in 2009

February 2008: I'm currently in Houston directing OTHELLO. In this production, we have stripped the stage at the Alley Theater to a bare open space, putting the story and performers as our primary focus. It is a great play and I am having a wonderful time working with the resident acting company at the Alley to create an exciting and theatrical production. We open March 12 and run through March 30.

Next up after that will by my adaptation of My Antonia at the Rubicon Theater in Ventura, CA. With incidental music by Stephen Schwartz! I've been working on this play with music for over 10 years, and the collaboration with my father has been great fun. We did a successful workshop at the Rubicon two years ago, and much of that cast will be returning for the production. We open May 10 and run through the end of that month.

Finally, I will be directing Rooms, a new two person rock musical by Paul Scot Goodman, at MetroStage in Alexandria, VA, over the summer. Natascia Diaz will be starring in the role of Monica. Exact dates are still pending, but we are looking to open in early August. Rooms too is a piece I've been working on for a few years, including a successful run at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2005. I look forward to bringing the show finally to a full production.

November 2007: I am currently directing a new one woman play starring Cybill Shepard entitled CURVY WIDOW. We are deep in rehearsals now in both New York City and Los Angeles, preparing for the world premiere at the Tony-winning Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, GA right after Thanksgiving. After the run at the Alliance, we are currently scheduled to perform the play at the Post Street Theatre in San Francisco starting in late January.

After CURVY, I return to the Alley in Houston where I am now an Associate Artist to direct OTHELLO. I am so thrilled to be working on this play, as it has always been one of my favorites of Shakespeare's works. We open in mid-March.

July 2007 I just finished directing THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS at Colorado Shakespeare Festival in Boulder. I had a wonderful time and am very happy with a wild and silly production. We run through mid-August in Boulder.

I'm just now working on staging the first act of SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON for the workshop at Seagle Music Colony. It is an exciting process working with my father to begin to bring this wonderful story to life.

And next up is the new play MATTER OF HONOR, starring Michael T. Weiss, which begins performances at Pasadena Playhouse in late August.

April 23, 2007

I just finished the second leg of my production of "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" at Paper Mill Playhouse. Though Paper Mill has been facing some financial difficulties, "Seven Brides" is very successful there and I am quite pleased with it. http://papermill.org/

The next few months are going to be very busy for me. First, I bring this production of "Seven Brides" to Northshore Music Theater in Beverly, Mass, beginning performances at the end of May. Then I am off to Boulder, Colorado to direct "The Servant of Two Masters" at Colorado Shakespeare Festival which begins performances in early July.

After that, I'm off to Seagle Colony to workshop the first act of "Seance on a Wet Afternoon" with my father. [Read about the opera by Stephen Schwartz]

And finally, I will be directing the new play "Matter of Honor" by Michael Chepiga at Pasadena Playhouse, starting performances at the end of August. It's going to be a very busy and very exciting few months!

February 1, 2007

I am directing another reading of MY ANTONIA at Ford's Theater this coming Monday, February 5. I am excited to see the newest draft on its feet and to continue my relationship with Ford's for this project. Then I start on a big revival of SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS. This is a co-production with three great theaters. We start performances first at Theatre Under the Stars in Houston, opening on March 17. Then the show will open at Papermill Playhouse in Milburn, NJ in mid-April where it will run for five weeks. And finally we will open at Northshore Music Theater at the end of May and run for three weeks in June. I will be working with a wonderful cast and a great choreographer, Patti Colombo (who I did LI'L ABNER with last year). I can't wait for this one! And finally, I will be directing A SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS at Colorado Shakespeare Festival in Boulder this summer.

Read about the production: Playbill article with quotes from Scott - While noting that he likes the MGM musical, Schwartz told Playbill he wants to "almost treat this more as a new musical and almost as a play" and to "really delve into the story and the environment in a very loyal way to the period and the world in which it took place...The idea of the physical production was really to make the show a little grittier and a little more real and more honest than an old MGM musical."

December 2006: Scott is directing Seven Brides for Seven Brothers that will run from in Houston's Theatre Under the Stars to the Paper Mill Playhouse and then to North Shore in the Boston area

July 10, 2006: I am just starting rehearsals in New York for a wonderful new play called THE FEARLESS by Etan Frankel. We perform for one week only, July 24th to 30th, at the Kirk Theater on 42nd St. I'm excited about this; I think it's going to be a good one. After that, I will be directing MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at the Alley Theater in Houston, starting performances in early October. I'm really thrilled to be finally working on Shakespeare, which has been a goal of mine for some time. And I have a wonderful team working with me. I am particularly excited to work with Michael Holland, who will be writing an original score for this production, and Matt Williams, who will be choreographing the dances.

After that, the next big one is a new production of the classic musical SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS. This will be a co-production between Theatre Under the Stars in Houston, Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, and North Shore Music Theater near Boston. This is a big show and will be occupying a lot of my time for the rest of this year and early next year. Performances begin in March at our first stop in Houston.

Scott Schwartz update as of January 29, 2006:

In January, I am pleased to report that Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. is hosted a reading of my adaptation of Willa Cather's MY ANTONIA, which I had previously directed at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, CA.

My next production will be a revival of LI'L ABNER at Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut. LI'L ABNER will begin performances in April 21 and run through early July. Also coming up, I will direct WAIT UNTIL DARK at the Alley Theatre in Houston, TX this summer opening July 2.

Scott Schwartz update as of October 5, 2005:

I am currently directing Valerie Harper in the National Tour of GOLDA'S BALCONY. We begin performances October 18 at the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. From there the show travels on to Detroit, and then to many cities around America all the way through May, 2006.

After GOLDA, I will head out to Los Angeles, where I will be directing the West Coast premiere of TICK, TICK... BOOM! at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura. Having recently done the show in London, where it received rave reviews, I am excited to be presenting it in the Los Angeles area.

Finally, at the end of the year, I will be directing the one-woman show, BAD DATES, at Buffalo Studio Arena. BAD DATES stars my friend, the very talented Michelle Ragusa as a yound mother looking for love in New York City. It will be fun to do another one-woman show, this time a comedy! I don't think there will be any prosthetic noses in this one, though!

So I'm busy and happy as ever.

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To stay updated on the activities of Scott and Stephen Schwartz check out the quarterly email newsletter The Schwartz Scene.

Golda's Balcony:

Stephen Schwartz's Wicked opened on Broadway October 30th. With Golda's Balcony also on Broadway, directed by Scott Schwartz, for the first time father and son have hit shows on the Great White Way running simultaneously. On October 3rd, 2004, Golda became the longest-running one-woman show in Broadway history.

In a review of the show, Newsday writer Linda Winer mentions: "Director Scott Schwartz and Feldshuh are scrupulously clear about the complex chronologies and the layers of contradictory emotions." --Newsday

Father & Son

See The Schwartz Scene blog and podcast post about Stephen Schwartz's song "Fathers and Sons" at Fathers and Sons podcast by Stephen Schwartz with references to his son.

My Antonia

MAY 8-JUNE 1: Los Angeles Area - My Antonia

Scott Schwartz's stage adaptation of MY ANTONIA, with incidental music by his dad, Stephen Schwartz, will be performed at Rubicon College as part of a festival of new musicals. For information on this festival, visit their website at Festival of New American Musicals

Scott Schwartz's stage adaptation of My Antonia received a full production at Theatreworks in 2004. The San Francisco Chronicle [new browser window] ran a story about Schwartz and Schwartz working together on the show.

Both Schwartzs comment about it in issue 14 of The Schwartz Scene.

Previous Shows

Scott Schwartz directed GOLDA'S BALCONY at Manhattan Ensemble Theater in the spring of 2003.

Previously Scott directed Bat Boy, which won the Lucille Lortel Award and Outer Critics Circle Award as "Best Off-Broadway Musical." It was nominated for eight Drama Desk Awards (including Best Director). Bat Boy: Original Cast Recording [new browser window] . (Bat Boy rights are now available through Dramatists Play Service 440 Park Ave. South - 11th floor NY, NY 10016 212-683-8960)

He directed Tick, Tick, Boom Off Broadway. Hear clips Tick, Tick... Boom! (2001 Original..(Opens to Amazon.com). [new browser window]

He co-directed Jane Eyre, which ran eight months on Broadway.

DRG released the 3hree cast album. Scott directed Lavender Girl, one of the 3hree musicals in the collective show, with music by John Bucchino. For a non-traditional taste of musical theatre try the 3hree recording. [new browser window

Scott Schwartz Bio - Credits

As of Fall 2005:

SCOTT SCHWARTZ (Director)

Broadway: GOLDA'S BALCONY and JANE EYRE (co-directed with John Caird).

Off-Broadway credits include: BAT BOY: THE MUSICAL (Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle awards, Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical; Drama Desk nomination, Outstanding Director of a Musical), TICK, TICK… BOOM! (OCC Award, Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical; Drama Desk nomination, Outstanding Director of a Musical), THE FOREIGNER starring Matthew Broderick for Roundabout Theatre Company, FRANZ KAFKA'S THE CASTLE (OCC nomination, Outstanding Director of a Play), MISS JULIE, and NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY.

He directed "Lavender Girl" as part of 3HREE, an evening of one-act musicals conceived by Harold Prince, at the Ahmanson Theatre. He received the CT Critics Circle Award as Outstanding Director of a Musical for his production of ME AND MY GIRL at Goodspeed Opera House. Regional theaters include La Jolla Playhouse, Ahmanson Theater, Alley Theatre, ACT, Berkshire Theater Festival, Signature Theater, Prince Theater, Pasadena Playhouse, TheatreWorks, Annenberg Center, Virginia Stage Company, and others. For radio broadcast, Mr. Schwartz directed the Grammy-nominated recording of THE PRISONER OF SECOND AVENUE, starring Richard Dreyfus and Marsha Mason, for L.A. TheatreWorks. He is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers and is a graduate of Harvard University.