Oscar winner confirms Princess Cruises shows

In a world first Princess Cruises have commissioned the Oscar®, Grammy® and Tony® winning composer of Godspell, Pippin and Wicked, Stephen Schwartz, to oversee the creation of four new shows exclusive to the line. CruiseOyster joined Stephen Schwartz for a preview of the first of the new Princess Cruises shows, Magic to Do, onboard the Dawn Princess.

Exclusive Princess Cruises shows

Magic to Do is debuting on Crown Princess with Emerald Princess to come in November 2016. The new production is a whimsical musical revue that weaves a spellbinding story inspired by Schwartz’s lifelong fascination with magic. It showcases some of his most famous songs, including Day by Day from Godspell and Defying Gravity from Wicked, along with some previously unheard compositions.

Brand new music

One such composition is called It’ll Be Me. Schwartz started writing it years ago for a musical based on the life of famed escapologist, Harry Houdini. The musical never made it to the stage, but Schwartz knew his song was perfect for Magic to Do and so he picked up his pen and finished it.

As Schwartz settled behind the piano to play It’ll Be Me, he quipped “It’s so new I need to use sheet music for it!” The song is a magnificent piece – a crowd pleaser that’s sure to be a rise-to-your-feet moment in the new Princess Cruises show.

Stephen Schwartz behind his piano on Dawn Princess.

Schwartz saw his first Broadway musical at the age of seven. “I was bitten by the bug and decided that’s where I wanted to make my life”. He tells of visiting his local library as a child and taking out the scripts of musicals he hadn’t seen and writing his own tunes to them.

Schwartz credits Roger’s & Hammerstein’s The King And I as having the greatest influence on him. “I thought the way the music summoned up that exotic setting was very exciting and I liked that the two characters were both right and both wrong at the same time”, he told CruiseOyster. The influence must have been profound as Schwartz acknowledged the similarities between it and his hit musical Wicked.

In putting together the new Princess Cruises shows, Stephen Schwartz told us he wanted to challenge what people expect from cruise line entertainment. “It’s such an interesting opportunity and I aim for something that’s a bit beyond what one would expect”.

Confirmed: An all-new musical

Schwartz seems to specialise in the unexpected and what happened next was certainly that. “I’m not sure I should be telling you this”, he said with a glint in his eye before boldly confirming he’ll write an all-new musical exclusively for Princess Cruises. “It’s something that will be unheard of [on a cruise line] because it’ll be all new songs. It’ll be a 50-minute, original, book musical”, he revealed.

And in a teaser for things to come Schwartz added, “There are a couple of other shows we’re discussing that are being devised by major, award winning Broadway theatre people too.”

Princess Cruises will progressively rollout the new Stephen Schwartz shows across the entire fleet over the coming years. The ambitious productions raise the bar of cruise ship entertainment, setting a new standard which other lines with no doubt be forced to meet. It’s great news for the cruise loving public.