Book Group: Carol de Giere's "Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz, from Godspell to Wicked"

Connecticut authors Evan I. Schwartz and Carol de Giere present "Secrets of Oz: From Baum's Oz Classics to WickedStories from Behind the Curtain. They will share their research about the inventive geniuses who brought the land of Oz to life in novels, stage and screen. This free event held at the Case Memorial Library in Orange, CT on November 12, 7:30 pm also features multimedia presentations and a Musical Oz Revue.Evan Schwartz will discuss his book Finding Oz: How L. Frank Baum Discovered the Great American Story and show slides of photos from Baums life. Carol de Giere, author of Defying Gravity: the Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz, from Godspell to Wicked, will explore the making of the hit musical Wicked, a prequel to The Wizard of Oz from the days before Dorothy dropped in. She will play video clips for a behind-the-scenes look at the Broadway production.The Oz-themed evening sponsored by Friends of the Case Memorial Library concludes with a "Musical Oz Revue" featuring selections from The Wizard of Oz, The Wiz, and Wicked. Vocalists Carole Demas (the original "Sandy" in Grease on Broadway and co-star of TV's The Magic Garden) and Lara Janine, (who starred as "Elphaba" in Wicked at Universal Studios in Japan) will perform. Jeffrey Lodin accompanies on piano.Finding Oz and Defying Gravity will be for sale at the event and a booksigning will follow the musical portion of the evening. The authors websites offer more information about the books: www.FindingOz.com and www.DefyingGravityTheBook.com