If you haven't yet entered in Pataphysical Science's contest for free Godspell tickets, you still have until 6pm today to do so. But if you're not the winner, here's another shot at winning a free pair of tickets to any Tuesday, Thursday, or Sunday night performance between now and May 1st. I particularly suggest going for one of the Tuesday nights, as they just began their Tuesday Night Talkbacks series.
To enter the Broadway Abridged Free Godspell Tickets contest:
- Be following @BWayAbridged on Twitter
- Retweet this tweet (or any of the other tweets I make about the contest).
(Alternately, Like us on Facebook and share this post) - Comment on this post a little bit about the first time you were introduced to Stephen Schwartz's music. Was it hist later success in Wicked (like, I assume, the vast majority of America)? Was it his early success in Pippin? Or something in between, film or stage? Make sure to sign your comment with your twitter handle.
Contest ends Friday, February 3rd at 7PM, and I'll choose a winner totally at random. You can only enter once.
So the first time I was introduced to Stephen Schwartz? I didn't get to know his music from Pippin or Children of Eden or Working or even Godspell; I'm pretty sure the first time I heard anything by him was Pocahontas. Not even the actual Pocahontas movie, but the preview for it on the Lion King VHS. It was basically the entire Colors of The Wind scene from the film, end to end, and it was pretty damn impressive as a preview of Disney's follow-up to Lion King.
I never saw Pocahontas in theaters due to word-of-mouth. But years later I was working on something for Disney that required I be intimately familiar with the majority of Disney's feature animated films, so I finally watched Pocahontas. The film was god-awful despite a good score. Colors of the Wind was the same wonderful montage song from the preview that showed nature and friendship blossoming, a perfect compliment to Schwartz's song. But at the very end of the film, when John Smith and Pocahontas share a tearful goodbye, the movie cuts to a flashback montage of all the wonderful times they'd had, and most of it is comprised of the scenes from the Colors of the Wind montage!
On a positive note, my favorite Stephen Schwartz music? Possibly the stuff he did for Prince of Egypt. Practically forgotten and, sadly, often underrated.