Nouveau '66 rare Stephen Schwartz musical - private LP

$

359

Scotch 'N' Soda presents NOUVEAU!

A New Musical! Book and lyrics by Lawrence Stephens [aka Stephen Schwartz], Lawrence Miller, and Iris Ratner. Music by Lawrence Stephens [Stephen Schwartz]

Privately pressed in 1966 by Gateway Records, GPQ 856. Includes original insert with plot synopsis. Cover is VG-, vinyl is VG-. (Some marks/scuffs, plays through OK but with some audible surface noise.)

Incredibly rare, almost undocumented early musical composed by the then-college student Stephen Schwartz, who at that time was 18 (!!!) and using the pseudonymn "Lawrence Stephens". This is the second of three musicals that the budding Schwartz composed while a student at Carnegie-Mellon University in conjunction with the school's "Scotch N Soda" theatre organization. While this soundtrack was released only in miniscule quantites as a vanity pressing with a hand-pasted front cover, and is not listed in Schwartz discographies, he does refer to it briefly in a Q&A on his official webpage.

Schwartz of course went on to compose landmark Broadway productions including Pippin, Godspell, and Working, as well as the current production Wicked, and the music for the Disney animated film Pocahontas. While this low-budget early college production is a long way from his later Broadway glories, it shows a very promising talent with an noticable ear for a good melody. (Further trivia: Nouveau lyricist Iris Ratner later went on to fame herself, as Iris Rainer Dart, writer of the novel Beaches!)

I managed to acquire two original copies of this LP that had been in the hands of a former Scotch N Soda member for many years. I sold the first one last year for over $600. It was in slightly better condition than this one. While this one plays through OK (with some surface noise throughout, probably owing also to a cheap pressing), the cover is a bit smudgey and stained-looking. Nonetheless, odds are that you may never see or hear another copy of this stone-cold rarity again.

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