Based on the classic DreamWorks Animation film the classic story has been brought to life by Stephen Schwartz’s “miraculous music,” including Academy Award®-winning song When You Believe. This epic, critically acclaimed production tells an inspiring tale of resilience and hope. Now The Prince of Egypt: The Musical comes from stage to screen.
Filmed live at the West End’s Dominion Theatre, London, the show features a cast and orchestra of 60 performers, making it one of the biggest musicals ever staged. 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. One must rule as Pharaoh, the other must rise up and free his true people; both face a destiny that will change history forever.
Schwartz son, Scott directs so we love the family connection and talk with the multi-Grammy and Oscar-winner about family, the music and lyrics he composed for not only The Prince of Egypt but for Wicked too. Schwartz even shares the latest about the movie version of Wicked still slated for 2024 release.
Interviewed for Family Entourage
Family Entourage: I’m so excited to chat with you. I’ve seen a number of films and stage shows that you’ve been a part of, and I love that you wrote the music and lyrics for DreamWorks Original, the Prince of Egypt, but it is a huge family animated hit for our household. So to see it then come full circle and have the production beyond the West End, and then that being captured and brought to audiences through into their homes, through this medium and the theaters. Talk to me a little bit about just what it means.
Stephen Schwartz: Well, it’s so exciting to me, this sort of new form really with the new technology of being able to film a live stage show. Because if you think of it, I can think of so many legendary performances from the theater that I’ve heard about and never got to see. And so the fact that now cameras can come in and actually film the experience of the stage show is so exciting to me and what I love about, first of all, I think they did a beautiful job. I think it looks great. I think it sounds amazing, but I think it both captures the feeling of being in the audience and you see the big amazing stage pictures and the sound is very good, but also then the camera moves around and it’s like you could run up on stage and be right next to one of the actors with the closeups or the camera angles as if you climbed up into the flies and are looking down at the stage. So the addition of that I think just makes it so cool as an experience.
FE: I couldn’t agree with you more. I’ve had the privilege of seeing Wicked on stage. I’ve seen Hamilton on stage, but then to be able to see it and through fresh eyes in a different perspective when they’re brought to the screen in this way, if any way makes me more curious and want to see it more as if I was at a live sporting event versus watching the sporting event on tv.
SS: Obviously being in the live experience of theater and particularly musical theater, you can’t really match that thrill because of the audience around you and the sound and everybody applauding. And that whole group experience to me is the most thrilling thing. And you’re just not going to match that completely in film capture. But as I say, then other things come into it because you have perspectives and closeups and you can hear everything very well. So there are some things that you get from this that you don’t get get from the live experience.
FE: And I always feel like whatever I’m watching, so much of the success, especially emotionally of a picture or a show, is the music, is the lyrics, is what carries me from scene to scene. And so much of that it has been in your hands, When You Believe went on to become a huge success for Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston and won an Oscar with those original lyrics, and then even Defying Gravity or Popular. I mean, I can remember where I was when I heard these, and you of course had powerhouse vocals of Kristin and Idina. Talk to me about what does your process look like? How do you continue to just deliver time and time again?
SS: Well, thank you for saying that. I mean, I’m with my collaborators using music and lyrics just to try and tell the story and illuminate the character. And I try to become the character, see through his or her eyes, and feel what they’re feeling. And then what does that sound like? If you interpreted that as music, what would that be? And I kind of sit at the keyboard or occasionally with a guitar and how does that translate into music? Yeah. So that remains, it’s what I’d love to do all my life. I’ve been lucky that this thing that I love to do as a kid, I am allowed to do and I get paid for it. So it doesn’t get better than that.
FE: Absolutely. And you definitely have a gift, and I love that at the core of The Prince of Egypt, when you strip everything back, it’s about family. It’s about these two brothers. It’s about all of that. And so then I love that this is an opportunity where you got to work with your son, which as a parent, any opportunity I get to be around my kids, I just flow with pride. So I can’t imagine for you to finally have some of your work life cross over kind of what that look like for you. What are these dinner conversations like?
SS: Scott is one of my favorite directors. He’s a great director. He was well-established as a director of other people’s work and creating new plays and musicals with other people. Before first he did Hunchback of Notre Dame quite brilliantly, and therefore he was DreamWorks top choice when they wanted to do The Prince of Egypt. I mean, obviously we have very similar sensibilities as members of the same family, but also we have quite different skill sets, and we come from different generations, obviously in different point of view. And so that combination, I think strengthens the work. We don’t always agree about everything as you never would, but it’s a very good working relationship. But it’s definitely a professional relationship. He’s definitely the director. I’m definitely the writer, and there’s no, that’s how it is when we’re working in the room.
FE: I love that. I love that you’re able to work together and still have very clear boundaries, is probably what makes it so successful in the end too. One of the things that I always find with biblical stories is that they hit you right where you’re at regardless of the time, the era, what else is going on in the world. However, it’s not lost on me that I feel like it’s perfectly placed that we would get this film at a time that we’re experiencing as a country and as the world. Talk to me a little bit about that.
SS: I wish you could go and say like, oh, well thank goodness that doesn’t happen anymore. Thank goodness there aren’t these tribes who hate each other and try to kill each other and refuse to understand where the other is coming from. And it’s happening right in the same part of the world. In some ways, it’s extremely discouraging that this violence and tribalism and hatred continues now. And The Prince of Egypt, of course, is all about trying to see the other’s point of view and to try and solve legitimate problems through love and compassion and understanding instead of, we’ll just kill everybody who doesn’t agree with us. And it’s disappointing that we still have to write stories about that.
FE: You’ve gotten to do so much at such a high level. Is there something in the back of your head or that continues to nag at you that you’re like, man, I would love an opportunity to do this, or I would love to be able to create music and lyrics around this. What do the next steps even look like for you? What do you dream about?
SS: Well, I continue to be given the opportunity to tell stories that I’m interested in with characters that I respond to and themes that I want to explore. And that’s through the medium of music and theater and storytelling, whether it is a live show or for film or through dance. I mean, this is what I’ve always wanted to do. And I’m quite a bit older than when I started, and they’re still letting me do it. So what can I tell you? They haven’t stopped me yet.
FE: I love it. I’m glad the strike ended. I’m glad that we can move forward and forward. There’s also this little thing coming out next year, still slated for next year, Wicked, what can you tell us about that part one anyway…
SS: I mean, it’s obviously in the process of being edited, there’s a little bit of shooting left to do that had to be stopped when the act strike happens. So they’ll do some pickups stuff and then there’s a lot of recording and mixing and orchestra playing and stuff to do. But yeah, I mean, presumably we are on track for that around this time next year. There should be movie number one out there in the world.
FE: Stephen, thank you so much for taking the time. I have loved everything that you’ve touched so far. So I just can’t wait for you to continue making art. And thank you for the time today.
The Prince of Egypt: The Musical becomes available to buy or rent on digital starting December 5.
