Creative Cauldron Celebrates Stephen Schwartz in Snapshots
Snapshots weaves the music of Stephen Schwartz into a story of marriage, memory, and life’s turning points.
“Creative Cauldron is kind of like an everything bagel,” says Matt Conner. “There literally is something there for everybody — all ages, all incomes. They really, really have a great diverse program.”
A locally beloved, non-traditional theater specializing in musicals and cabarets with a strong educational outreach arm, Creative Cauldron has been a foundational perch for Conner for nearly 25 years. The Helen Hayes Award winner currently serves as associate artistic director and, in addition to writing seven musicals with his partner Stephen Gregory Smith for the company, has directed roughly 30 productions.
His latest foray is Snapshots: A Musical Scrapbook, which weaves the music of iconic Broadway composer Stephen Schwartz into a new tapestry. This is no ordinary revue, however — the songs are stitched together with an original narrative by playwright David I. Stern.
“It is a revue,” says Conner, “but what’s shocking about it is the really detailed book that comes with it. We wanted to do something that highlighted Schwartz’s work because of the last two years of pink and green — Wicked — everywhere. But here you’re not just coming to hear Schwartz’s music, you’re seeing something fresh and new in this hybrid of a revue and a book musical.”
The story, explains Conner, “starts out with a woman reflecting on whether or not she should leave her husband. And then, in the attic, they find photographs of their life. It goes through graduation, it goes through having a child, it goes through sort of dating around with different people. It’s a reflection of one’s life that appeals, I think, to everybody.”
Schwartz has written several popular works, including the Broadway mega-hit Wicked, Pippin, and Godspell. Snapshots draws from each of those while dipping into lesser-known titles, including The Magic Show, The Baker’s Wife, and Children of Eden.
“I think he writes for an actor on stage to really sing about their journey,” Conner says of Schwartz’s songwriting skills. “It’s very personal. He writes for an actor to really express how they’re feeling. ‘Corner of the Sky’ [from Pippin] is a statement in Pippin’s life — the spark of creation is about what this person is going through. ‘With You’ [also from Pippin] is a beautiful love song. Even ‘Lion Tamer’ [from The Magic Show] is an introspective song about figuring out life. It’s almost like a soliloquy at times.”
Conner says “the audience should see themselves” in Snapshots, given the deeply personal nature of the material. The cast is led by Joshua Redford and Jennifer Redford, married in real life, and also features Sally Imbriano, Carl L. Williams, Gretchen Midgley Kaylor, and Ben Ribler as younger versions of the couple.
The director has never personally met Schwartz. “The closest I ever came was I had drinks with his son in Old Town one night after a MetroStage show,” he says. “But I am very, very honored that I got a chance to really work on this piece because I was in Pippin with my husband [Stephen] at the Shenandoah Conservatory back in the 1990s. And it’s nice to revisit that music. Snapshots is a great throwback for anybody who loves musical theater.”
Snapshots: A Musical Scrapbook runs through March 8 at Creative Cauldron, 127 E. Broad St. in Falls Church, Va. Tickets are $40 and $50, with discounts for students and groups. Visit creativecauldron.org.
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