I had the good fortune to meet one of the great contemporary composers and lyricists last night at the West End opening for his new musical THE PRINCE OF EGYPT at London’s Dominion Theatre. Winner of three Academy Awards, three Grammys, and nominated for six Tony Awards and an Olivier, Stephen Schwartz added ten new songs to the original five he wrote for the original 1998 DreamWorks Animation feature for the stage adaption, which is directed by his son Scott. He won the Best Original Song Oscar for ‘When We Believe’.

Stephen made his name with GODSPELL in 1971, his hippy-era, communal-clownish presentation of Christ’s parables and now returns to the Good Book with the story of Moses as a once prince of Egypt who leads the children of Israel out of Egypt. It debuted at Mountain View Centre for the Performing Arts in Silicon Valley, California in October 2017 and had its international premiere at The Fredericia Theatre in Denmark in April 2018, followed by a summer season at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen last year.

Stephen’s stage hits include PIPPIN (1972) and WICKED (2003) and his film successes GODSPELL (1973), POCAHONTAS (1995), THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1996) He won a Golden Globe, a Grammy and two Oscars for Original Score and Original Song (‘Colours of the Wind’) for POCAHONTAS.

In 2015 he was the recipient of the Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award.
Luckily I caught Stephen after he did his press interviews at the Dominion Theatre, where he was happy to sign my portrait sketch.