Wicked, The Schwartz & I. Stephen Schwartz was one of the best teachers I ever had. Now let’s talk “Wicked.”Why is Wicked both a masterpiece and a minefield?In the Season 1 finale of Does It Sing?, I break down “The Wizard and I” — the genius, the chaos, the craft, and the lyrical gymnastics that have baffled me for 22 years.Season finale is out now on YouTube, Apple, and Spotify.🎧📺 Search: DoesItSing-WDG#DoesItSing, #DoesItSingPodcast, #WickedTheMusical, #TheWizardAndI, #StephenSchwartz, #MusicalTheatre, #BroadwayPodcast, #SongwritingPodcast, #LyricWriting, #BroadwayNerd, #TheatreTok, #Vampirina, #DisneyMusic, #ChristmasKarma, #MusicalTheatreNerd

In the Season 1 finale of Does It Sing? with David Goldsmith, we do something we haven't done since Episode 1: no guest, just a solo deep dive into the craft of musical theatre — through one very famous song.

In this episode:

• A recap of Season 1 and its guests:

  • Alexandra Silber and her revelatory new book for the upcoming BRIGADOON at Pasadena Playhouse

  • Dick Scanlan and the reimagined THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE workshop (with a cameo mention for my wife, Bryonha Marie)

  • Stephen Flaherty on THE LORAX and the RAGTIME prologue

  • Zina Goldrich on the Broadway-bound EVER AFTER

• What’s coming in Season 2:

  • Lynn Ahrens on reshaping DAMN YANKEES for the 21st century

  • David Javerbaum on parody lyrics, The Daily Show, and why rhyme, meter, and prosody matter even more when you’re trying to be funny

• A few personal updates:

  • Writing “Maybe I’m Falling” for the new Disney series Vampirina: Teenage Vampire (along with some special fan footage and personal demos!)

  • Upcoming film Christmas Karma, written and directed by Gurinder Chadha, with songs I’ve co-written

• And then: a forensic breakdown of “The Wizard and I” from Wicked

  • How the ASCAP/Disney Workshop (with Stephen Schwartz at the helm) shaped my thinking about giving notes

  • Why Wicked is both a towering achievement and a mixed bag of craft

  • The prosody and rhyme gymnastics in “The Wizard and I” — when they work, and when they pull you out of the story

  • The tension between cleverness and clarity

  • How the show brilliantly seeds the “melting” payoff from this I Want song all the way to the final scenes

Along the way we talk about actors rescuing awkward scans, the danger of writing to impress instead of to serve story, and why Wicked still answers the three essential questions: Does it sing? Do I care? Why this show, why now?

🔔 Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube (DoesItSing-WDG) so you don’t miss Season 2.

🎹 Zina Goldrich breaks it all down for you.
In this episode, Zina takes us inside the writing of “Who Needs Love?” — the Cinderella “I Want” song for the Broadway-bound Ever After — and shows how it transformed into a completely different Act 2 number with a brand-new dramatic job.

From there, she sits at the piano to premiere the Prince’s counterpoint, putting the whole puzzle together in real time.

And at the end?
You’ll hear the full demo of “Zina With a Z,” the patter song we wrote together — the one that dares to follow Kander & Ebb.

🎧 Episode 9 is streaming now.
🎹 A rare composer-behind-the-piano masterclass.