Hey there...Nicki & I saw wicked on broadway two days ago...It was incredible. For all those in the NY area...it's really worth the ticket price. Amazing when I think about how much a Sting ticket is versus a broadway show. This was 30 people and 30 musicians for 1/4 of the price of a single ticket to Sting at the Borgata. Anyway, the related part of this is a quote I found about the composer of Wicked: When Stephen and I discussed Wicked, <http://www.musicalschwartz.com/wicked.htm> particularly the song "What is This Feeling," he suggested an amalgamation of influences, possibly from singer-songwriter Sting and from the musical Chess - music by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson (of ABBA) and lyrics by Tim Rice. Carol de Giere: ...You've talked about the "mishmash" of influences. Stephen Schwartz: All this stuff is around in your head, and I never know how it's all going to reconstitute and come out. Sting album cover <http://www.musicalschwartz.com/recordings/img-nonschwartzcds/sting.jpg> ...I'm a huge fan of Sting and he was very very influential in many ways on my writing. "Stranger to the Rain" in Children of Eden is so influenced by Sting. There's a song by Sting he does with the Police (The Very Best of... Sting <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000060KB6/musicalschwar-20> & the Police - Amazon.com link) [new browser window] called "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic." But again it's not like he ever used those chord changes or that particular rhythm but it's the sensibility.
