Stephen Schwartz to perform songs from Wicked at Oz-Stravaganza!
Award-winning composer/lyricist will sing selections from his score during free-to-the-public appearance at Chittenango High School June 2
It was confirmed this week that Stephen Schwartz, composer/lyricist of Wicked, has added music to his personal appearance at the annual Oz-Stravaganza! Wizard of Oz Festival in Chittenango Saturday, June 2. His on-stage, free-to-the-public interview was announced earlier this month, but Schwartz has now offered to perform songs from the score of Wicked during that presentation. Schwartz, a three-time Oscar and four-time Grammy Award-winner, will appear as the headliner of the 6:30 p.m. event at Chittenango High School, 150 Genesee St. (Doors open at 6:15 p.m.)
Wicked is one of Broadway’s all-time, record-breaking musical productions and celebrates its 15th anniversary this year.
Two of the Broadway stars of Wicked, Tiffany Haas (“Glinda”) and Michael McCorry Rose (“Fiyero”), will also take part in the June 2 program. They’ll be interviewed together about their Ozian theatrical experiences and later appear with Schwartz, as well. Emmy Award-winning producer, best-selling author and Oz historian John Fricke moderates the Saturday evening showcase.
Schwartz will also offer a meet-and-greet/autograph session Sunday, June 3, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Chittenango’s All Things Oz Museum & Gift Shop, 219 Genesee St., (315) 333-2286. The public is encouraged to arrive early, as space is limited, and the session time cannot be extended.
Haas and McCorry will be available for autographs and photographs at Chittenango’s Oz Park Friday and Saturday afternoon from 3 to 5:30 p.m. They will also appear in the annual Oz Parade, which travels Genesee Street and kicks off at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Oz-Stravaganza! 2018 runs from Friday morning, June 1, through Sunday afternoon, June 3. Oz Park will be open from 1 to 9 p.m. Friday, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
This is the 41st annual Oz-Stravaganza! in Chittenango; it is the largest, best-attended and longest-running Oz Festival in the world. The village itself is the birthplace of L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz – the book that inspired the motion picture starring Judy Garland. Baum wrote 13 additional Oz stories and, after his passing in 1919, the series was continued by six other writers until there were 40 official “Oz Books” in all.
Other special guests at Oz-Stravaganza! 2018 include Baum’s great-granddaughter Gita Dorothy Morena, a transpersonal psychotherapist and lecturer from San Diego, Calif., and author of The Wisdom of Oz; Broadway composer, orchestrator and symphonic arranger Steve Margoshes, who wrote the songs for Fame – The Musical, and who is now penning Oz-related material, as well; costume designer Shawn Ryan, who will premiere at Oz-Stravaganza! his wardrobe recreations heralding Wicked, The Wiz, the original 1902-03 Wizard of Oz stage musical, and the more recent Andrew Lloyd-Webber incarnation of Baum’s story; and Gabriel Gale, conceptualizer and coauthor of the new book trilogy for children and young adults, Ages of Oz, published by Simon & Schuster.
Oz-Stravaganza! will launch volume two of that series, A Dark Descent, which was officially published May 15 – the birthday anniversary of L. Frank Baum.
All four of these guests will appear “in interview” with John Fricke during the Friday Oz-Stravaganza! presentation at 6 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church; the entrance to the fellowship hall is adjacent to the west edge of Oz Park, just off Genesee Street. They’ll also be available in the park itself during the Friday/Saturday/Sunday afternoon hours throughout the weekend.
For more information about Oz-Stravaganza! 2018, visit oz-stravaganza.com.