Stephen Schwartz

The Dramatist Guild held its first “annual” West Coast membership meeting yesterday at Theatre West on Cahuenga.

I put “annual” in quotes because you can’t really have a “first” annual because annual events only become annual when you have a “second” annual.

Go figure.

Anyway, Stephen Schwartz was the special guest and, as he is a member of the Dramatist Guild board, the discussion was mostly around the mission of the DG, assistance they can offer to playwrights, composers, et al, and some of the current issues facing dramatists.

About a hundred members and guests attended the meeting.

As a musical theatre composer, I felt a little outnumbered — most of the attendees were obviously non-musical playwrights who asked about copyright, copyright infringement and submission policies. I figured many of them would be able to sing “Day By Day,” but was confident that only two or three of us actually knew the lyrics to “Lion Tamer.”

I didn’t get around to asking Stephen whether he writes lyrics or music first or both at the same time.

I kinda wanted to know that.

I also wanted to ask him about “Meadowlark” (from “The Baker’s Wife”) and how it came to be at such a young age that he composed what is easily one of the greatest musical soliloquies for a woman in the theatre — next to, of course, his newest greatest musical soliloquy for a woman in the theatre, “The Wizard and I.”

And then I wanted to ask him where is the male counterpart to “Meadowlark” and “The Wizard and I.”

Of course, afterwards, I didn’t ask him any of those questions because I had a more important mission.

I wanted to get his autograph for my daughter Julia Rose (who could sing the “Wicked” score backwards and forwards at the age of five).

For those of you with five year olds running around, you KNOW how much they like to listen to their favorite music in the car….over and over and over and over….

I saw it this way: getting Stephen’s autograph for my daughter (now seven) would have been like my dad getting me Richard Rodgers’ autograph or Cole Porter’s or Willie Mays, Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax. I wouldn’t have cared if my dad had talked to any of those guys (he was a bartender in Santa Monica in the early 60’s, I’m sure he talked to plenty of athletes and artists) — that wouldn’t have been a big deal.

But what’s thrilling to a child is a person of achievement or celebrity taking a moment — albeit an incredibly quick moment — to recognize them.

Upon my request, Stephen immediately obliged and signed his name on a lined sheet of paper in my notebinder.

And when I brought it home to Julia

and told her that I met the guy who wrote all the music for “Wicked,”

and that I got his autograph for her,

her eyes got big as she read the lined piece of paper

“To Julia Rose, Defy gravity! Stephen Schwartz”

Then she laughed and jumped up and down and cheered “Oh, wow!”

It’s now in a frame on the family piano.

Yup.

Daddy did the right thing!