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Princess Cruises Premieres “Magic to Do” from Award-Winning Composer of Wicked Stephen Schwartz
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (October 10, 2015) –PrincessCruisesraised the curtain on a new musical revue titled Magic to Do, from theOscar, Grammy and Tony award-winning composer of Wicked, Pippin and Godspell StephenSchwartz. The show, a cruise industry first, premiered today aboard CrownPrincess to rave reviews at a special event with Schwartz and theshow’s creative team at the Port of Los Angeles.
Magic to Do, Schwartz’s first productionfor a cruise line, celebrates his lifelong fascination with magic and combinesthrilling illusions with some of his most famous songs, such as Magic to Do from Pippin and Defying Gravity from Wicked. The show alsoincludes a brand new song written exclusively for Princess called A Little Magic. Brought tolife by a vibrant cast, imaginative costumes and make-up, stunning scenicdesigns and baffling illusions Magicto Do is now running in the Princess Theater aboard Crown Princess and debutsaboard RubyPrincess and EmeraldPrincess in late fall.
This new relationship with such a major creative talent fromBroadway and Hollywood includes a multi-year collaboration to oversee thecreative development of a total of four new musicals to debut across the fleetover the next several years. This adds to the cruise line’s “come back new” brandpromise, designed to elevate the onboard guest experience resulting in moretransformative moments, lifetime memories and meaningful stories to share froma cruise vacation.
“Workingwith Stephen and his creative team on this brand new show for Princess Cruiseshas been an incredible honor and such a collaborative effort with ourentertainment team,” said Adrian Fischer, vice president, entertainmentexperience for Princess Cruises. “Magicto Do can only be seen on a Princess cruise and we’re thrilled tooffer our guests this exclusive, musical, magical experience created by anaward-winning team.”
During his 40-year entertainment career, Schwartz has wonfour Grammys, three Academy Awards for “Best Song” and “Best Score” for Pocahontas and “Best Song”for The Prince of Egyptand last year received the Isabelle Stevenson special Tony Award. He is theonly songwriter in Broadway history ever to have three shows run more than1,900 performances.
“Watchingthe vision of Magic to Dodevelop over the last several months into a unique theatrical experience hasbeen both great fun and enormously gratifying for me. I’ve been waiting for along time for a first-rate revue of my work, and I think this clevercombination of my songs with virtually all the great magic illusions in historycould finally be it,” said Stephen Schwartz. “My collaboration with thetalented and highly professional team at Princess has achieved something Ithink is special and I hope guests join me in falling under its spell.”
Schwartzbrought together a cadre of Broadway and Hollywood talent to support theproduction through direction and design, including: <?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>
- Don Frantz, associate producer of The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast on Broadway, among many other Broadway and international accomplishments.
- Gabriel Barre, internationally acclaimed director whose credits include the national tour of Pippin and the current Broadway musical, Amazing Grace.
- Jeremy Railton, four-time Emmy winner whose extensive background in theatre, film, television and multi-media design includes the 2002 Winter Olympics opening and closing ceremonies and the Academy Awards.
- Ken Billington, Tony award-winning lighting designer with nearly 100 Broadway show credits to his name, including Sweeney Todd and the current production of Chicago. He was recently inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame.
- Mark Hartman, award-winning music director with numerous Broadway credits including Sondheim on Sondheim, Avenue Q and the national tour of Pippin.
- Jennifer Paulson-Lee, choreographer with credits including Enter Laughing, the Musical, A Rockin’ Midsummer Night’s Dream, 101 Dalmatians and Seussical.
- Alex M. Calle, art director on Warner Brothers Theme UAE, Galaxy Entertainment Macau and award-winning Crane Dance project in Singapore.
- Dominique Lemieux, costume designer to Cirque du Soleil including Mystère, Alegría and A New Day with Celine Dion. She also designed the costumes for Pippin on Broadway.
- Danny Fiandaca, sound design, having worked on various tours and productions, including Come Fly Away (Broadway), Catch Me If You Can (First National Tour) and Lonesome Traveler (Los Angeles). He’s also been associated with Princess Cruises for more than 10 years.
- George Johnsen, media design and Grammy and Emmy award-winning developer of technologies for entertainment industry giants like Song and IBM, he also co-produced the hit sci-fi TV series Babylon 5.
Inaddition, Jim Steinmeyer,the mastermind behind many of the great magic illusions over the last 25 years,created the magic experience in Magicto Do. Steinmeyer has worked with some of the greatest magicians ofall time including Doug Henning, Siegfried & Roy and David Copperfield.
TheaterProducer Jayson Raittwill be working closely with Schwartz and consulting on the creativedevelopment of the three additional shows.
Watch Magicto Do trailer here: # face="Times New Roman">
Additionalinformation about Princess’ new partnership with Stephen Schwartz can be foundat # style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>.
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About PrincessCruises:One of the best-knownnames in cruising, Princess Cruises is a global cruise line and tour companyoperating a fleet of 18 modern cruise ships renowned for their innovativedesign and wide array of choices in dining, entertainment and amenities, allprovided with the experience of exceptional customer service. A recognizedleader in worldwide cruising, Princess carries 1.7 million guests each year tomore than 360 destinations around the globe on more than 150 itinerariesranging in length from three to 111 days. The company is part of CarnivalCorporation & plc (NYSE/LSE:CCL; NYSE:CUK).
About StephenSchwartz:
Stephen Schwartzwrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway hits Wicked, Pippin,Godspell and TheMagic Show. For film, he wrote the songs for the DreamWorksanimated feature, The Princeof Egypt, and collaborated with composer Alan Menken on the songsfor Disney’s Enchanted,as well as the animated features Pocahontasand The Hunchback of NotreDame. Hecollaborated with Leonard Bernstein on the English texts for Bernstein’s Mass, and his first opera,Séance on a Wet Afternoon,was produced at Opera Santa Barbara and New York City Opera. Mr. Schwartz hasbeen inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, andhas been given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. More information can befound at #
Newsroom:
Additional mediainformation is available at princess.com/news.
For furtherinformation contact:
Karen Candy, kcandy@princesscruises.com, 661-753-1540
Brian O’Connor, boconnor@princesscruises.com, 661-753-1530
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