From NYU Tisch to the Emerald City: Celebrating 20 Years of Wicked
Join us for a spellbinding celebration of Wicked's 20th anniversary with the NYU Tisch visionaries who started it all!
Tune in for a virtual panel with original Elphaba, Idina Menzel '93 (BFA, Drama), writer, Winnie Holzman ‘83 (MFA, Graduate Musical Theatre Writing), composer and lyricist, Stephen Schwartz (former Adjunct Professor, Graduate Musical Theatre Writing), casting director, Bernie Telsey ‘82 (BFA, Drama), and costume designer, Susan Hilferty (Professor and former Chair, Design for Stage & Film), moderated by Co-Associate Dean of Faculty, Fred Carl ‘91 (MFA, Graduate Musical Theatre Writing).
Dive into the enchanting world of Oz, discover the untold stories, and gain insights into the creative process that brought this beloved production to life. Whether you're a die-hard fan or a newcomer to the Emerald City, this event promises something for everyone.
Wednesday, November 8, 2023
4 PM PT/7 PM ET
Idina Menzel is a Tony Award-winning, powerhouse multi-hyphenate: a singer, an actress in film and TV, a songwriter, a Broadway star, and a philanthropist.
She rose to fame for her role as ‘Maureen’ in the popular Broadway musical Rent, and her career took off when she won a Tony Award for her role as ‘Elphaba,’ the Wicked Witch of the West, in the smash musical Wicked. Her voice can be heard as ‘Elsa’ in Disney’s Oscar® winning Frozen, the second highest grossing animated films of all time, with more than $1.2 billion in worldwide box office revenue. The film’s song “Let It Go”, voiced by Menzel, became an instant international phenomenon, winning the Oscar® for Best Original Song – where Menzel performed it at the ceremony – and the Grammy® Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media. The track reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Menzel the first artist with both a Billboard Top 10 hit and a Tony Award for acting.
Menzel is consistently lauded for her strong yet emotional live performances. Accompanied by world-renowned symphony orchestras, Menzel has played to sold-out audiences and demonstrated why she is one of the great performers of her time. The Denver Post dubbed her “The Streisand of her generation,” while The New York Times praised Menzel as “an entertainer with a phenomenal voice… Diana Ross with ten times the stamina and lung power.”
WINNIE HOLZMAN (Book) Winnie received a Tony nomination and a Drama Desk Award for Wicked. She got her start writing for the acclaimed television drama thirtysomething, and went on to create another memorable series: My So-Called Life, which starred Claire Danes. Other television credits include Once and Again, Huge (with her daughter, Savannah Dooley) and Roadies (with Cameron Crowe.) Theatre work includes the musical Birds of Paradise, written with composer David Evans, and a ten minute, oft-performed play called Post-its: Notes on a Marriage, written with her husband, actor Paul Dooley. Also an actress, Ms. Holzman appeared in Jerry Maguire and as Larry David’s wife’s therapist on Curb Your Enthusiasm. She recently completed both screenplays for the film adaptation of Wicked, and her play Choice will be produced at the McCarter Theatre in the spring of ’24. She is a graduate of Princeton University, the NYU Musical Theatre Program, and a proud member of the Writers Guild of America.
Stephen Schwartz wrote the music and lyrics for the current Broadway hit WICKED, and has also contributed music and/or lyrics to GODSPELL, PIPPIN, THE MAGIC SHOW, THE BAKER’S WIFE, WORKING (which he also adapted and directed), RAGS, and CHILDREN OF EDEN. He collaborated with Leonard Bernstein on the English texts for Bernstein’s MASS and wrote the title song for the play and movie BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE. For children, he has written songs for two musicals, CAPTAIN LOUIE and MY SON PINOCCHIO. He has also worked in film, collaborating with Alan Menken on the songs for Disney’s ENCHANTED as well as the animated features POCAHONTAS and THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, and writing the songs for the DreamWorks animated feature THE PRINCE OF EGYPT. His first opera, SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON, was produced at Opera Santa Barbara and New York City Opera. A book about his career, “Defying Gravity,” has been released by Applause Books. Mr. Schwartz has been inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and has been given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . Awards include three Academy Awards, four Grammy Awards, and a tiny handful of tennis trophies. http://www.stephenschwartz.com.
Bernard Telsey graduated from New York University in 1981 with a degree in Theater Administration and Acting. Soon after, he co-founded MCC Theater with Robert LuPone. Simultaneously, Telsey began working at Meg Simon and Fran Kumin’s office as an assistant for six years, and then as a casting director at Risa Bramon & Billy Hopkins Casting. He opened his own casting office in 1988. Since then, he, along with his staff of casting directors, associates, and assistants, have cast such Broadway shows as Rent, Wicked, Hamilton, Hairspray, In the Heights, The Color Purple. Recent productions include Kimberly Akimbo, Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, Parade, Some Like it Hot, and the upcoming Cabaret and, The Notebook, including countless national tours, Off-Broadway productions, and regional theater productions across the country. Film credits include the upcoming film adaptation of Wicked, The Color Purple and Mean Girls: the Musical. Other films include Theater Camp, The Little Mermaid, Tik, Tik…Boom, Theater Camp, Mary Poppins Returns, In the Heights, The Greatest Showman, Into the Woods, A Most Violent Year, Pieces of April, Margin Call, Sex and the City 1 & 2, Rachel Getting Married, Across the Universe. Telsey’s current television projects include “And Just Like That”, “Only Murders in the Building”, “Schmigadoon” and “The Gilded Age”. Previous credits include “Fosse/Verdon”, “This Is Us”, “We Crashed” “Jesus Christ Superstar Live”, “Smash” and “The Big C”. Telsey won an Emmy Award for casting the pilot of “Ugly Betty” and was nominated for “Only Murders in the Building”, “Fosse/Verdon,” “This Is Us,” “Grease! Live”, “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “The Big C.” He won an Independent Spirit Award for casting Margin Call and was the 2016 recipient of the Casting Society of America’s Hoyt Bowers Award for his contributions to the profession. His staff has cumulatively won over 20 Artios Awards for excellence in casting. Telsey served as the New York Vice President of the Casting Society of America and sat on the Board of Governors for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He remains one of the Artistic Directors of MCC Theater with William Cantler.
Susan Hilferty has designed set and costumes for over 400 productions across the globe. Recent designs include Parade (Broadway), Funny Girl (Broadway), Swept Away (Berkeley Rep), Hamlet (St. Anne’s Warehouse and Gate Theatre, Dublin), Richard Nelson’s What Happened?: The Michaels Abroad (Loewe Theatre), and A Bright Room Called Day, (Public Theatre). Her many Broadway designs include Wicked (Tony, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama Desk awards and Olivier nomination), August Wilson’s Radio Golf, Present Laughter (Tony nomination), Hands on a Hardbody, Spring Awakening (Tony nomination), Lestat (Tony nomination), Annie (2013 Revival), Into the Woods (Tony and Drama Desk nominations; Hewes Award), and Frank Wildhorn’s Wonderland. Her designs for opera include Rigoletto, La Traviata, and the upcoming Aida for the Metropolitan Opera and Manon at LA Opera and Berlin Staatsoper. Hilferty has designed over a hundred off-Broadway productions including Richard Nelson’s Apple Family Plays, August Wilson’s Jitney and Athol Fugard’s Boesman and Lena. She works with such well-known directors as Athol Fugard (the South African writer with whom she works as set and costume designer and often as co-director on over 45 productions since 1980), Yaël Farber, JoAnne Akalaitis, Laurie Anderson, Arin Arbus, Christopher Ashley, Anne Bogart, Jonathan Butterell, Oskar Eustis, Robert Falls, Frank Galati, Garry Hynes, David Jones, Selina Cartmell, Moisés Kaufman, Tony Kushner, Mark Lamos, James Lapine, Michael Longhurst, Richard Nelson, Des McAnuff, Marion McClinton, James MacDonald, Emily Mann, Joe Mantello, Michael Mayer, Neil Pepe, Bartlett Sher, Rebecca Taichman, Robert Woodruff, Doug Wright, and the late Garland Wright. Hilferty also designs for Film, Dance (Alvin Ailey), the Circus (Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey) and Concerts (Taylor Swift SPEAK NOW World Tour). Hilferty’s many awards include the USITT Lifetime Achievement Award, Irene Sharaff Award for Lifetime Achievement, an OBIE for Sustained Excellence in Design, the Lilly Award and the Ruth Morley Design Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women. Hilferty is also on faculty in the Department of Design for Stage and Film at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, having served as chair for 25 years.
In 2003 Fred composed music for Sparrow Village, a short film directed by Christine Choy for the Zigen Fund. In 2005 his revised score for Suzen Murakoshi’s play Slippery When Wet was produced at St. Paul’s Penumbra Theater; the piece had previous productions at LaMaMa E.T.C. and the 1996 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. His jazz theatre collaborations with writer hattie gossett (Alum, Cycle 5), including pussy and cash; in the waitingroom of the 21st century and the immigrant suite: hey zenophobe who you calling a foreigner? have been performed at the New School, the Public Theater, the Whitney Museum, Here Arts Center, the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, the Vision Festival and the National Black Arts Festival. He musical directed Kirsten Childs’s The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin from its beginnings at Dixon Place and Musical Theatre Works thru its multiple award-winning 2000 Playwrights Horizons run; he received the 2000 Audelco Award for Best Musical Direction. In 2005 he musical directed Childs’s The Miracle Brothers at NY’s Vineyard Theatre. In 2007 he musical directed the first recording of The Bubbly Black Girl… for Sh-K-Boom Records. Between 2002 and 2008 he arranged, composed for and musical directed LaChanze’s cabaret performances at Lincoln Center and Joe’s Pub. Between 1999-2017 he designed and co-led (with GMTWP colleague Robert Lee) a summer musical theatre-writing workshop at London’s Theatre Royal Stratford East training hip-hop and contemporary music and word artists to write for the musical theatre stage; a version of the summer workshop was featured in the 2005 BBC Channel Four documentary, Rappin’ at the Royal. From 1999-2017 Fred was an Artistic Associate of Stratford East and a member of the theater’s Musical Theatre Advisory Committee. In 2011 he and writer Ed DuRanté (Alum, Cycle 7) were commissioned to create a musical theatre adaptation of Anthony Burgess’s 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange for Theatre Royal Stratford East. In 2012 Fred musical directed, composed songs and incidental music for, arranged, conducted, and orchestrated the score for the 10th anniversary revised version of Regina Taylor’s piece Crowns at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. From 2015-2017 Fred was chair of the NYU Continuing Contract Faculty Senators Council, a constituent part of the NYU University Senate. From June 2018 to 2020 Fred and GMTWP colleague Deborah Brevoort began working with the NBO Musical Theatre Initiative writing workshop in Nairobi, Keny