.www.musicalschwartz.com  > Awards
Search Site

Awards and Nominations: Oscars, Grammys, Drama Desk, Tonys

for Stephen Schwartz musicals

Stephen Schwartz's Awards Details

Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz - Oscars for PocahontasAcademy Awards Photo: Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz receiving Oscars for Pocahontas.

3 OSCARS: Pocahontas (Lyrics by Schwartz) for Best Score and Best Song "Colors of the Wind"; The Prince of Egypt: Best Song "When You Believe"

4 GRAMMYS: Godspell (2 - producer and composer), Pocahontas "Colors of the Wind", Wicked (producer and songwriter for Best Musical Show Album)

4 DRAMA DESK AWARDS: Godspell (Most Promising Composer and Most Promising Lyricist); Working - Director; Wicked - Outstanding Lyrics (also nominated for music)

6 TONY NOMINATIONS: 1973 - Pippin Score

1977 - Godspell - Score

1978 - Two nominations: Working - Book (Musical); Working - Score (shared credit)

1987 - Rags - Score (lyrics)

2004 - Wicked - Score

1 Golden Globe: Best Song written specifically for a Motion Picture or Television -- Winner, 1995 - Colors of the Wind (Pocahontas) - Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz

LONDON: The Laurence Olivier Award - The Baker's Wife nominated was nominated in 1989 for "Musical of the Year

Stephen Schwartz's Broadway Status

He is among the small number of composers whose shows the have played over 1000 performances on Broadway: Wicked, Pippin, The Magic Show

About Grammy recordings, etc.

ALL GRAMMY NOMINATED ALBUMS FOR 2004:

Wicked CD, Original Broadway Cast Recording Wicked CD - Buy it or hear sound clips Original Broadway cast recording for the musical Wicked: $13.49 (List price $18.98). | Read all about the Wicked cast album - feature articles, song history, musical analysis, reviews

Avenue Q, Original Broadway Cast RecordingAvenue Q cast album - Buy it or hear sound clips

Boy from Oz, Original Broadway Cast RecordingBoy from Oz - buy or hear sound clips

Wonderful Town, Original Broadway Cast RecordingWonderful Town - buy or hear sound clips

Assassins cast album - buy or hear sound clips | ipods - new and used

Read all about Wicked

Article - Recordings Review

Written early February:

The 2005 Grammy Awards – Wicked and Avenue Q Face Off Again

by Morgan LaVere

The 47th Annual Grammy awards will be held on February 13, 2005. In the Musical Show category, the five nominated cast albums are: Assassins, Avenue Q, The Boy From Oz, Wicked, & Wonderful Town.

The Grammy Awards are notoriously difficult to predict, as the Grammy voters are an eclectic collection of recording industry professionals. (The only requirement for becoming a voting member of The Recording Academy, the organization that sponsors the Grammy Awards, is having performed, written or produced at least six tracks on any professional recording.) The choices that The Recording Academy members make are occasionally mysterious – in 1996, the award for Musical Show Album of the Year went to Riverdance!

So, with disclaimer in hand, I attempt to make some predictions about this year's winner.

ASSASSINS: The field is exceptionally strong. All five of the nominated recordings are terrific. PS Classics' release of the Roundabout revival of Assassins is arguably the weakest. I find the RCA original cast recording superior in most respects. On the plus side, the new orchestrations and expanded instrumentation give this recording a richer sound than its predecessor. There are fine performances from Michael Cerveris (Booth), Neil Patrick Harris (Balladeer/Lee Harvey Oswald), and Marc Kudisch (Proprietor). It also contains the first recording of the Sondheim song "Something Just Broke," a welcome addition to the score. There is more material on this new cast album than the original, some of it interesting (the Emma Goldman speech), some of it rather grating (Mario Cantone's screechy monologue). But overall, I find the performances on the original RCA recording definitive. Odds: 1-30.

Assassins cast album - buy or hear sound clips

Avenue Q: I don't think there's a better "feel good" listen than the RCA's Original Broadway Cast recording of Avenue Q. From the first couple of notes of "The Avenue Q Theme Song," an irremovable smile inevitably plants itself upon my face. The score is alternately melodic ("Purpose"), catchy ("Schadenfreude"), hysterically funny ("It Sucks To Be Me"), wistful ("Mix Tape") and moving ("There's a Fine, Fine Line"). However, while Avenue Q did manage to snag the Best Musical Tony last year, there's no guaranty that the Grammy voters will feel the same way. In recent years, the award has either been presented to the most popular show (The Producers), or one with high name recognition (last year's award went to Gypsy). Odds: 1-3.

Avenue Q, Original Broadway Cast RecordingAvenue Q cast album - Buy it or hear sound clips

The Boy From Oz: The Boy From Oz is this year's wild card entry. While the show itself was critically derided (Hugh Jackman notwithstanding), the cast album omits the show's biggest problem – a ridiculous, hackneyed book. Divorced from that, this recording is highly listenable, with stand out performances from Jackman, Stephanie J. Block, Isabel Keating, and Beth Fowler, and sizzling orchestrations by Michael Gibson. There is also the Peter Allen factor to be considered – pop musicians who either write Broadway musicals or have their songs shoehorned into Broadway musicals are often rewarded by Grammy voters (Aida and Smokey Joe's Café). Between Jackman and Allen, this recording will likely be more familiar to Grammy voters than Avenue Q. Odds: 1-2.

Boy from Oz, Original Broadway Cast RecordingBoy from Oz - buy or hear sound clips

Wicked: Decca Broadway's recording of Wicked is likewise a contender, containing wonderful performances from Tony-winner Idina Menzel, Hollywood's new sweetheart, Kristin Chenoweth, and fine supporting performances by Joel Grey, Carole Shelley and Norbert Leo Butz. Personally, I was disappointed in the decision to truncate the score. While I understand the producer's desire to not reveal Wicked's many delicious and surprising plot twists, the near absence of Michelle Federer on the recording is unfortunate, and I would have personally preferred a more complete document of the show. As far as the Grammy Awards are concerned, Wicked may hold an advantage, in that it was the top selling musical cast album of last year, and everyone seems to love anything Oz-related. Odds: 1-2. [Read all about the Wicked score: feature articles, song history, musical analysis, reviews]

Wicked, Original Broadway Cast RecordingOriginal Broadway cast recording for the musical Wicked: $13.49 (List price $18.98). Amazon.com - Wicked CD [new browser window]

Wonderful Town: Which leaves us with DRG's release of the revival of Wonderful Town. This new recording of the classic Bernstein/Comden/Green score has much to commend it, starting with Donna Murphy's delightful performance (it's a pleasure to hear these songs in the hands of brilliant vocalist for a change), and Rob Fisher's snappy orchestra. Still, it is far from perfect. While Jennifer Westfeldt made a charming and winning Eileen on stage, her performance was marred by pitch difficulties, a problem that carries over to this recording. Odds: 1-20.

Wonderful Town, Original Broadway Cast RecordingWonderful Town - buy or hear sound clips

__________

All in all, it was a terrific year for Original Broadway Cast recordings. Who will win the Grammy award? Only time will tell. As the Tony awards showed us this year, it ain't over until the green lady sings.

Wicked Music links

2004 Awards for Wicked Cast, Creative Team, and the Musical

Tony Winners

Wicked - Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical - Idina Menzel
Wicked - Best Costume Design - Susan Hilferty
Wicked - Best Scene Design - Eugene Lee.

Following the Tony Awards, the producers of Wicked added an eight-week block of tickets and subsequently sold more than $1 million in tickets by noon. "We're going to be here for a long time," says producer David Stone.

Tony Nominations

Wicked topped the nominations counts for all Broadway shows with a total of 10, including nominations for:

  • BEST MUSICAL
  • Best Original Score - Stephen Schwartz
  • Best Book of a musical -Winnie Holzman
  • Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical - Kristin Chenoweth
  • Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical - Idina Menzel
  • Best Costume Design - Susan Hilferty
  • Best Scenic Design - Eugene Lee
  • Best Lighting Design - Kenneth Posner
  • Best Choreography - Wayne Cilento
  • Best Orchestrations - William David Brohn

The Tonys are given by the American Theater Wing for Broadway shows only, and are considered the most prestigious of the awards. Tony voters are a mix of professionals from all areas of theater and include all Dramatist Guild Council Members (including Stephen Schwartz).

Drama Desk

Drama Desk Awards. The Drama Desk is an organization of theatre critics, editors and reporters. A commitee nominates candidates and shows from both On and Off-Broadway productions. The winners are determined by the 140 voting members of the Drama Desk. See www.dramadesk.com.

Wicked garnered the most nominations and awards of any show this season.

Wicked's final awards announced May 16:

  • Oustanding Musical - Wicked,
  • Outstanding Lyrics - Stephen Schwartz,
  • Outstanding Book - Winnie Holzman,
  • Oustanding Costume Design - Susan Hilferty,
  • Oustanding Set Design of a musical - Eugene Lee -
  • Oustanding Director of a Musical - Joe Mantello (According to Playbill.com, Mantello's award is a correction released on 5-17-04.)

Nominations included:

Outer Critics

Outer Critics Circle Awards are given for both On and Off-Broadway productions by critics and writers from outside New York. Wicked received 10 nominations and took four awards, leading all other shows. Wicked won for Outstanding Broadway Musical, Outstanding direction of a musical - Joe Mantello, Outstanding set design - Eugene Lee, and Oustanding costume design, Susan Hilferty. Playbill article on winners [new browser window]

Playbill.com article about nominations

The Drama League

The Drama League includes Broadway and Off Broadway but only awards productions and performers - no design, or writing awards. This is an organization you can join. Visit Dramaleague.org [new browser window]. Only one performer, whether from a musical or play, is honored each year. Nominations for Wicked 2004 include

  • Outstanding Production of a Musical
  • Distinguished Performance: Kristin Chenoweth
  • Distinguished Performance: Idina Menzel

Eddy Award

The prestigious EDDYs [new browser window] pay tribute to those whose work has made an impact in the entertainment industry. The editors of Entertainment Design select the winners with an eye toward true excellence in technical and design-related fields.

Susan Hilferty and the entire costume team won the Eddy Award - for Wicked's Costumes. Entertainment Design [new browser window]

 

cover for Stephen Schwartz songbookBest sellers at MusicalSchwartz.com include Wicked Piano Vocal Selections (sheet music); The Stephen Schwartz Songbook, the Wicked cast album and Gregory Maguire's novel Wicked (see Wicked page), Children of Eden CDs, Godspell CDs and DVD and the Working DVD.


Back to the main Wicked index