Schwartz is the musical brains behind the high school musical staple Godspell and recent Broadway mega-hit Wicked.

The New York City native was just 23 when he wrote the musical Godspell, his gift to community theaters everywhere. Within three years, Schwartz was a bona fide theater phenom and had three of his shows—Godspell, Pippin, and The Magic—running on Broadway at the same time. His success began to wane in the mid-'70s, and his show The Baker's Wife closed after a disastrous out-of-town tryout. Schwartz's 1978 musical version of Studs Terkel's book Working didn't fare much better, shuttering after 24 performances. For much of the '80s and '90s, Schwartz toiled on a handful of small musicals and off-Broadway shows before decamping to Hollywood to revive his career, working with Alan Menken on Disney flicks Hunchback of Notre Dame and Pocahontas, and on Dreamworks' Prince of Egypt. Schwartz made his Broadway comeback in 2003 with Wicked, adapted from Gregory Maguire's novel and directed by Joe Mantello, but didn't stay from Hollywood for long, writing the lyrics for the Disney hit Enchanted.

Although many thought Godspell would end up as his claim to fame (it remains a staple of summer theater camps everywhere), Wicked may very well go down as his biggest hit. Produced by Marc Platt and starring Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth, and Joel Gray, the show was a monster smash. Despite lukewarm reviews—Ben Brantley called it "bloated" and said its score lacked "any glimmer of originality"—audiences swooned. The show earned three Tony awards in 2004 and ended up grossing more than $50 million in its first year alone. [Image via Getty]