Defying Gravity: Updated Second Edition

DEFYING GRAVITY: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz, from Godspell to Wicked, Revised and Updated Second Edition.   Author Carol de Giere takes readers behind the scenes, from Stephen Schwartz’s writing of Godspell’s score at age 23 through the making of the megahit Wicked and beyond. Overall, de Giere draws from more than 100 hours of interviews with Schwartz and his colleagues, friends and family. The book features “Creativity Notes” about Schwartz’s writing process, and it includes rare photographs, many from Schwartz’s private archives. Don’t miss the fascinating stories revealing how Stephen Schwartz wrote his iconic songs like “Defying Gravity,” “For Good,” and so many others. This book was published by Applause Theatre and Cinema Books in 2018 and is still relevant for fans of the new Wicked movies (2024 and 2025). 

Defying Gravity – See Contents Page
Defying Gravity – Read Excerpt, Chapter 16

What’s New in the 2nd Edition of this Stephen Schwartz Biography?

Adding to the 14 chapters about Wicked, readers will now also find

• 30: Wicked Worldwide and the Life-Changing Milestone: Wicked since the Broadway opening; Schwartz’s own changes after Wicked’s success,
• 31: From Movies to Stage Musicals: The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Prince of Egypt, 
• 32: Hollywood Calls Again: The Wicked movie, Disney’s Enchanted, and other movie projects,
• 33: Always More Magic to Do – Schwartz’s array of creative ventures, the lost musical Houdini, and more.

CREATIVITY NOTES: For this 2018 edition, both the author and Stephen Schwartz revisited every chapter, sometimes adding new stories. In Defying Gravity, de Giere also offers additional “Creativity Notes,” a popular feature of the first edition. Schwartz comments about overcoming creative blocks, collaboration, and the artistic life.

FOREWORD BY ALAN MENKEN: Schwartz and Menken recently collaborated on the stage production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. In his Foreword, Alan Menken reveals the inside story of their creative efforts for both the stage and movie versions of Hunchback, and comments on their work for Pocahontas and Enchanted.

What Stephen Schwartz says about this Biography

“I have always appreciated the unique way Carol organized the book, so that instead of a standard biography jumping from career peak to peak, it shows the  struggles, setbacks and daily frustrations of trying to be a professional writer, and it includes creativity ideas from not just me but other talented colleagues, which I think are inspiring to anyone (and remain useful for me to re-read). I have to say that I really like this new version, which is both shorter and more complete at the same time, so kudos to Carol for that.” – Stephen Schwartz in a newsletter, October 2018.