During a press conference for the recording of the musical version of The Prince of Egypt, acclaimed composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz gave his advice for aspiring musical theater writers.
When asked by ComingSoon about what tips and advice he could give people who are trying to enter the field of musical theater, Schwartz explained that learning about the medium is one of the best steps one could take.
“I do a lot of teaching … basically, my advice would be ‘learn.’ If you want to write for musical theater, learn about it,” Schwartz stated. “Take a look at what other people have done before you and see what worked and what didn’t — or at least what works and what doesn’t work for you. Our newer, wonderful writers — such as Lin-Manuel Miranda, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul — are clearly so well informed about the history of musical theater that came before them.
“Then, I think the next thing is pretty simple. It’s ‘write something.’ When I was at Carnegie Mellon, I had the very good fortune of being part of an extracurricular club that put on a new musical every year. So I actually wrote — or more accurately, co-wrote — four original musicals while I was at Carnegie. I learned so much from just creating something from scratch and seeing it in front of an audience and learning what worked and what didn’t work. Musical theater, I think, is something one learns both from studying what went before and then by actually doing it.”
Is The Prince of Egypt: The Musical out?
The Prince of Egypt: The Musical is now available to buy or rent digitally. The musical features music by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Philip LaZebnik, with 10 mew songs from Schwartz. The stage version was directed by Scott Schwartz with choreography by Sean Cheesman.
“Journey through the wonders of Ancient Egypt as two young men, raised together as brothers in a kingdom of privilege, find themselves suddenly divided by a secret past,” reads the musical’s synopsis. “One must rule as Pharaoh, the other must rise up and free his true people; both face a destiny that will change history forever.”
