MANILA, Philippines – In Pippin, a young, fresh-faced prince stands before the audience and sings that he’s out to live a life less ordinary. “Rivers belong where they can ramble / Eagles belong where they can fly… Got to find my corner of the sky.”
In Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the disfigured Quasimodo stands atop the Notre Dame Cathedral, gazing down at the crowd that he can never join. “Out there / strolling by the Seine,” he sings. “Taste the morning out there… Just one day and then / I swear, I’ll be content with my share.”
In Wicked, a young, shaken Elphaba stands tall, declaring, “I’m not afraid. It’s the Wizard who should be afraid – of me.” This, before she rises, grips her broomstick, and flies away, singing her warning: “To those who’d ground me / Take a message back from me / Tell them how I am / Defying gravity!”
Elphaba. Quasimodo. Pippin. Other famous characters, spanning everyone from a nameless Leading Player to Jesus Christ himself – the words they sang, and consequently, their voices as we know them to be, are brought to life through the work of esteemed composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, who was recently in Manila to support his hit show Wicked. (READ: ‘Wicked’ 101)
“It’s about an outsider trying to decide how much she’s willing to give up of her own soul to fit in,” Stephen tells Rappler’s G Töngi, about why he was so attracted to the show’s concept. “There are a lot of sort of political and social ramifications and commentary contained in the idea of what the world sees and what’s really going on behind the scenes.”
Watch G Töngi’s exclusive interview with Stephen Schwartz:
In Wicked, the lead Elphaba struggles between her desire to be accepted and admired by society, and her sense of responsibility when she learns that the path to that clashes with what she instinctively knows to be good and true.
(WATCH: ‘Wicked’ exclusive: One-on-one with the cast)
Decades into his musical career, it’s beautiful to see that Stephen has a fondness for those complex underdogs struggling to fit in where they don’t quite belong, and then learning, finally, to let go.
It’s made sweeter (and sometimes, sadder), by the lilting melodies in his now iconic work. “I just loved that format for telling stories. The combination of drama and songs, and choreography, and scenic elements… I think when it works, it’s the most effective way to tell a story and it just stays inside you in your heart and your mind,” he says of musical theater.
From the stage to animation, from comedy to drama, from upbeat and quirky to intense and dark, Stephen has done it all, tweaking the process of writing to accommodate the platform.
“In movies, one has to be aware that the camera’s constantly going to be moving, so you have to come up with something that can be in motion, because they’re motion pictures. Theater can be much more ‘stand and sing,’” explains Stephen. “And then opera, the sort of through-line is much more self-evident and much more present maybe, than a piece that has individual songs.”
Still, the heart of his success appears to be rooted in an uncanny understanding of the characters, heroes or villains they may be (he cites Judge Claude Frollo of The Hunchback of Notre Dame as one of his favorite characters he’s written. He and Alan Menken collaborated on the music for the 1996 Disney film). “They’re all parts of me. I’ll try and find, what do I have inside me that is like this character… I try to get to that so I can write about every character as honestly [as I can.]” – Rappler.com
Catch Wicked playing at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. The Manila run has been extended until March 9. Tickets are available at Ticket World
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