The show doesn’t always go on

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The adage that ‘the show must go on’ isn’t always true -- not, for example, when the show is called ‘Stephen Schwartz and Friends’ and Stephen Schwartz is indisposed.

So it was that a tribute to the Tony- and Oscar-winning composer at Pepperdine University’s Smothers Theatre in Malibu was canceled Sunday. A theater representative said there had been a death in Schwartz’s family.

An aide to Schwartz said today that the composer expects to go ahead with performances of ‘Stephen Schwartz and Friends’ at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, which are scheduled for Thursday through Sunday. The show features Schwartz and a trio of singers performing music from his Broadway hits (‘Godspell,’ ‘Pippin,’ ‘Wicked’) and films (‘Pocahontas,’ ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame,’ ‘The Prince of Egypt,’ ‘Enchanted,’ written with Alan Menken).

The Pepperdine representative said the university is hoping to reschedule ‘Stephen Schwartz and Friends’ for another date, for which tickets for Sunday’s event would be honored. Ticket holders who are unable to attend on the new date would be issued refunds. If a new performance can’t be scheduled, refunds will be issued to all ticket holders.

Meanwhile, Applause Books has just released a biography of Schwartz, ‘Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz, from ‘Godspell’ to ‘Wicked.’’ Author Carol de Giere will be signing books at 7 p.m. Oct. 6 at Barnes & Noble in Costa Mesa, at 7 p.m. Oct. 7 at Barnes & Noble at the Americana Mall in Glendale, and at 7 p.m. Oct. 8 at the Pasadena Public Library.

-- Lee Margulies