Coming From Stephen Schwartz: A Musical About an Opera Impresario — in German

With the Broadway hits “Pippin,” and “Wicked” under his belt, Stephen Schwartz tried his hand at opera, to mixed response, with “Séance on a Wet Afternoon’ in 2011. In a new project, he is bringing together the two worlds: composing the score for “Schikaneder,” a German-language musical about the creative and sometimes tempestuous relationship between Emanuel Schikaneder, the 18th- and 19th-century impresario, composer, librettist and singer, and his wife and sometime business partner Eleonore.

The work will have a libretto by Christian Struppeck, the general artistic director of the Raimund and Ronacher Theaters, in Vienna. It is scheduled to have its premiere at one of the theaters during the 2015-16 season, according to a report in the Kurier, a Viennese daily newspaper.

Opera fans will immediately recognize Schikaneder as the librettist of Mozart’s 1791 opera, “The Magic Flute,” who also sang the role of Papageno in the original production. He had, in fact, been a friend of Mozart and his family since 1780, when he met them during a visit to Salzburg, When the young Beethoven moved to Vienna, Schikaneder presented concerts of his music and encouraged him to write the opera that became “Fidelio.”
Eleonore, an actress when Schikaneder met her, became an important impresario as well, both as her husband’s partner and on her own.

Their joint career will give Mr. Schwartz’s work a historical patina, but he told the Kurier that audiences need not be familiar with “Magic Flute” or the early 19th-century theater scene in Vienna to enjoy the piece. Some of it, after all, will be driven by Schikaneder’s serial infidelities and the toll it took on the couple’s marriage.

Whether the show will make its way to New York is an open question. “We’re just thinking about writing it,” Mr. Struppeck told the Kurier.

Michael Hartman, a spokesman for “Houdini,” which had been announced as Mr. Schwartz’s next Broadway venture, said on Tuesday that the Viennese project “won’t interfere” with that musical’s progress. Earlier this year Aaron Sorkin dropped out as the book writer for the show, which has Hugh Jackman attached to star. Mr. Hartman said it was too early to announce new details on a creative team or production schedule for “Houdini.”