Excerpt<\/p>\n
Renowned Broadway composer Stephen Schwartz said he loves taking a familiar story or character that his audience already knows and \u201cspinning it\u201d in a new direction.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what he did with the witches in \u201cWizard of Oz\u201d when he turned the classic tale into a Broadway phenomenon. And that\u2019s what he \u2014 and two of his New York colleagues \u2014 did this week as they helped build and transform both the confidence level and on-stage performances of a group of Wright State University\u2019s acting and musical theater students.<\/p>\n
Schwartz came to town as the first Distinguished Visiting Artist for CELIA (Collaborating, Education Leadership & Innovation in the Arts), a new university program that will bring nationally and internationally known artists to campus for short-term residencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to provide as many of our students as possible with a once-in-a-lifetime experience,\u201d said Hank Dahlman, professor and director of CELIA. \u201cForty years from now \u2014 when our students are on Broadway or singing at the Met \u2014 they\u2019ll look back and say they were here and met Stephen Schwartz.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dahlman says the New York composer, who once had three major hits on Broadway at the same time \u2014 \u201cGodspell,\u201d \u201cPippin\u201d and \u201cThe Magic Show\u201d \u2014 was a natural choice for the initial residency.<\/p>\n
Read more at DaytonDailyNews.com<\/a><\/p>\n Watch the video on the Wright State Newsroom<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Excerpt Renowned Broadway composer Stephen Schwartz said he loves taking a familiar story or character that his audience already knows and \u201cspinning it\u201d in a new direction. That\u2019s what he did with the witches in \u201cWizard of Oz\u201d when he … Continue reading