WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Stephen Schwartz, the Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist behind Broadway hits including "Wicked," "Godspell" and "Pippin," visited William & Mary to mentor student performers ahead of their production of "Godspell."
Schwartz's visit to campus began Thursday evening with 'An Evening with Stephen Schwartz,' during which students performed solos of his songs and he spoke about writing for Broadway. The visit was arranged by Tiffany Haas, a Yorktown native and William & Mary musical theater voice teacher who directed and choreographed the student production. Haas developed a friendship with Schwartz during her decade performing as Glinda in "Wicked" on Broadway and in the national tour.
"When we were deciding on Godspell, I thought who better to reach out to and see if he will come than Stephen Schwartz, the writer," Haas said.
The student production of "Godspell" serves as a graded final class project for Haas's performing arts students.
"Basically our performance this Saturday is like their final thesis project," Haas said.
Schwartz led a master class Friday, offering the students critiques and sharing his perspective on the meaning behind "Godspell."
"If you really, really break it down—it is about–the message of it is very simple. Which is something that Jesus said, which is essentially, always treat other people how they would treat you," Schwartz said.
Junior performing arts student Conor Farah, who plays Jesus in the production, said that message resonated with him after hearing it directly from the composer.
"To have him just say it in front of us, like if the world, if the world, followed the 'treat others as you would have them treat you,' that would instantly make the country a completely different place," Farah said.
Schwartz said mentoring young performers is something he genuinely values.
"I just have always liked working with young people. I like their intelligence. I like their energy," Schwartz said.
Haas and her students said they plan to bring that energy to the stage for Saturday night's performance.
"It feel very full circle. Being that this is my hometown. Not only did I play Glinda on Broadway, but I also toured the country playing Glinda and there was nothing like coming home. There's no place like home....it's kind of full circle to kind of reconnect with the community in this way, with bringing Stephen here," Haas said.
You can catch the William & Mary student performance of "Godspell" in the Glenn Close Theatre on William & Mary's campus at 7:30pm Saturday, May 2.
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