Snapshots: A Musical Scrapbook, an original book musical that re-contextualizes songs by Broadway composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to tell the story of a married couple on the verge of divorce, has been released for amateur and professional licensing by Music Theatre International.
Part revue, part traditional book musical, Snapshots was conceived by Michael Scheman and David Stern, who approached Schwartz in the mid-1990s about using his music to tell an original story. Schwartz joined in the development process, rewriting lyrics to several of his songs for the production.
“I entered into an exercise that proved to be both challenging and a lot of fun, especially to a ‘puzzle mind’ like mine: taking existing songs, retaining their titles and the music and for the most part their original structure, but starting from scratch with the lyrics,” Schwartz said in a statement. “Now, literally decades later, we have arrived at Snapshots. To my knowledge, it is a unique form. Is it a book musical? Kind of. Is it a revue? Well, that too. There’s no genre it fits into neatly, so we call it a ‘musical scrapbook’.”
The musical incorporates over two dozen of the Academy Award winner’s songs, culling from Pippin, Godspell, The Baker’s Wife, Rags, The Magic Show, Personals, Working, Children of Eden, Captain Louie, Enchanted, and Wicked—including “Making Good,” which was cut from workshops for the Broadway smash Wicked and later replaced with “The Wizard and I.” Songs written in collaboration with David Crane, Seth Friedman, Marta Kaufman, Alan Menken, and Charles Strouse are also included. Original orchestrations are by Steve Orich.
Snapshots follows Sue and Dan, a suburban couple on the verge of divorce after 30 years of marriage. A hidden suitcase in their attic containing photographs of their life together reconnects them with their past as younger versions of themselves appear and play out “snapshots” from their relationship.
Drew Cohen, President and CEO of MTI, states, “We are thrilled that some of the finest songs from the Stephen Schwartz songbook have been woven together brilliantly by David Stern and Stephen Schwartz to create a fresh, new musical that conveys the emotion, brilliance and joy of each Stephen’s songs while delivering a completely new and exciting experience to the audience. Whether audience members know the songs be heart or are new to Stephen’s work, the response to Snapshots has been the same: pure delight.”
Visit mtishows.com for licensing information.
