“Well, animation is the closest of the film media, or genres if you will, to stage because it's very artificial. Let's face it, it's drawings. And theater is an artificial medium that requires the audience to suspend its disbelief because you can see that you're not really in Egypt, and those aren't really camels or whatever.”

American musical theatre composer and lyricist

Stephen Schwartz is an American musical theatre composer and lyricist whose career has spanned more than five decades. He is known for writing stage musicals such as Godspell, Pippin, and Wicked. Schwartz has also written lyrics for films, including Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Prince of Egypt, Enchanted, Disenchanted, and the two-part adaptation of Wicked. His work moves between stage and screen, with songs and shows that have reached broad audiences over many years.