Princess Cruises announced an industry-first and one of a kind partnership with Stephen Schwartz this week that promised to take “cruise line entertainment to a whole new level”.
Stephen Schwartz has won three Oscars, four Grammys, three Academy Awards for Best Song and Score (The Prince of Egypt and Pocahontas), has been nominated for six Tony Awards, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He is also the only songwriter in Broadway history to have three different shows run more than 1,900 performances. Schwartz is most known for composing the Broadway hits Wicked, Godspell, and Pippin.
This multi-year agreement will have Schwartz overseeing the development of four original new musicals with the first one (Magic to Do) set to debut on the Crown Princess this fall. Magic to Do will combine the art of illusions with some of Schwartz’s most famous songs. Jim Steinmeyer, who has worked with legends David Copperfield and Siegfried & Roy, will create the magic experience.
Cruise Fever had the opportunity to talk with Schwartz this week and get a sneak peek of the entertainment that he will be bringing to Princess Cruises. It promises to be unique and unlike any other entertainment that is currently being offered at sea. The entertainment brought by Schwartz will be a fresh change of pace and promises be a smash hit with cruisers.
Stephen Schwartz gave the following statement about this new partnership with Princess Cruises:
“I’m excited about the possibility of using the enormous resources available with Princess to create new and innovative theatrical entertainment. Their onboard theatres are Broadway-caliber venues with state-of-the-art technical capability, and coupled with their access to first-rate performers, I see it as an extraordinary and almost irresistible opportunity.
I have already received overwhelming and enthusiastic interest from talented colleagues – writers, directors, and designers to whom I have spoken – and I hope together we will create new kinds of cruise ship shows to entertain and inspire Princess guests unlike any other productions at sea.”
Auditions for the first show will begin this month in New York. Following the debut of Magic to Do on the Crown Princess this fall, the show will be rolled out first to Emerald Princess and Ruby Princess and then the entire Princess fleet.
Cruise Fever joined Mike Faust with Cruise Currents and Doug Parker with Cruise Radio in a sit down with Stephen Schwartz and Jill Whelan (Vicki Stubing from the hit TV show The Love Boat) in New York this week and talked about what this new partnership brings to the cruise industry. You can listen to the interview below.
Inside of a week it has been reported that Princess Cruises is now into the Broadway Musical thing,first mentioning “The Sound of Music” and now your article speaks of the cruise line raising the bar with composer Stephen Scwartz,he of “Wicked” and “Pippin.”-Raising the bar??–Who writes these headlines? Princess can sure use some new ideas with its` entertainment but let me remind them that Mr. Schwartz,with all his success is no Richard Rodgers/Please!Raising the bar,indeed….
Having just come off two Princess cruises I can report that there is probably not one Pianist on any Princess ship who has any familiarity with “The Sound of Music”-Oh,maybe they might know “Do-Re-Mi”.but ask them to play the title song.I can tell you that the last five Princess cruises we were on had no such person.Certainly not in what they call their “Crooners Lounge” where you can certainly hear “Great Balls of Fire” and “My Song” by Elton John.But mention “Corner of the Sky” from “Pippin”,or “Climb Every Mountain” from “The Sound of Music” and you`ll get a dumb stare.
Princes ought to spend the money on better Musicians.I can just see their main office scrambling to get on-line copies of the above mentioned songs so the on-board Pianists will have them on their IPads.
I dare them to send copies of the original sheet Music.
The only consistently great Music aboard Princess comes from their Mariachi trios.
Princess is to be commended fro trying something new,but the demographic they go out of their way to attract has no idea who Stephen Schwartz is.Princess sure has many things where they should try to raise the bar.Richard Rodgers!-Who is Richard Rodgers?
Let`s know something about a subject before extolling it with such a headline.Me?I`m sorry I had to mention Mr.Schwartz in the same paragraphs as Rodgers and Hammerstein!