“Musicals represented mainstream, and this was a very rebellious time,” explains Katz. According to faculty member Leon Katz, musicals were not popular with the instructors. In fact, the only musical staged as part of the traditional curriculum while Schwartz attended was the first act of The Apple Tree, which was his own senior directing project. Stephen was accepted as a playwriting major for the fall semester of 1964, after submitting a play he’d written, and later switched to the directing major.Įven though CMU has a highly reputed musical theater department today, in the 1960s it did not. CIT shortly thereafter merged with Mellon Institute to become Carnegie Mellon University. When Stan Schwartz explained that his drama-loving son was looking for the right college, Mielziner said, “Well, if he’s really interested in the theater, he should check out Carnegie.” The drama department was part of “Carnegie Institute of Technology,” or “Tech” as the students called it. One day, his father was helping with technology for the 1964 World’s Fair in New York and found himself working alongside the renowned Broadway and film scenic designer, Jo Mielziner, who had graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology. Here are a few highlights:Īs Schwartz was finishing high school and applying to colleges, he was rejected by Harvard and Yale (even though he had high test scores and good grades) and wasn’t sure where to turn. The biography, Defying Gravity, reveals how Stephen Schwartz’s youthful experiences contributed to his later career. Stephen Schwartz’s journey to the honorary doctorate from Carnegie Mellon began five decades earlier with a bit of luck, or perhaps a gift of destiny. This club staged original musicals, allowing him to practice and polish his creative skills. ![]() He also emphasizes the essential role of the extracurricular Scotch ‘n’ Soda student club. Schwartz acknowledges the support of his college classroom work in preparing him for writing songs for a musical’s characters, even though there was no musical theater department at CMU at the time he studied there. The drama department benefits from Schwartz’s attention when he travels to the Pittsburgh, PA campus to offer workshops and talks about his craft to drama and musical theater students. As one of the most successful musical theater writers today, with Broadway hits such as Pippin and Wicked among his claims to fame, Schwartz has certainly been a credit to the school. On May 17, 2015, composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz donned a graduation gown and received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from his alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). She and Stephen were friends during their school days at CMU. Also pictured: Paula Wagner, a film producer and film executive. PHOTO: Stephen Schwartz at Carnegie Mellon University receiving an honorary doctorate. The doctor accepted "under the threat of exposing information important to his reputation in the community.Stephen Schwartz’s CMU Education Helped Launch Career The lawsuit also claims that Rebecca told her husband to change his estate plan so that it benefited her rather than his children. About one month before the murder, she hired a document shredding service to dispose of several boxes of paperwork that were "likely relevant to the embezzlement of funds," records state. ![]() ![]() ![]() She was also "caught embezzling funds" from his practice, Main Street Medical in Dunedin. "We're going to hold their feet to the fire."īefore and after his death, Rebecca siphoned "significant sums of money" from Schwartz's accounts. Schwartz has vigorously denied having anything to do with the death of her husband," he said. Her attorney, Denis deVlaming, said he planned to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit and request that Florin show proof of the allegations. Rebecca Schwartz could not be reached for comment Tuesday. "All of the support that (Schwartz) was providing, which was significant, has been terminated by Ms. "Not only did they have the emotional rug pulled out from under them, but they had the financial rug pulled out from under them," he said. Wil Florin, the Palm Harbor attorney representing Schwartz's family, said his death has caused a "tremendous impact" on them.
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