Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty

Born on 1 October 1948 in New York, USA, Lynn Ahrens functions as lyricist, librettist, and composer, while Stephen Flaherty, born 18 September 1960 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, concentrates on composition; their paths first crossed in 1982 at the Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) Musical Theatre Workshop. Ahrens spent most of her childhood in Neptune, New Jersey, before earning a journalism degree from Syracuse University in 1970. After relocating to New York she entered advertising, then became part of the creative staff behind Schoolhouse Rock (1973), the animated educational children’s series. In 1978 she established her own production company, which created energetic, fact-filled shows for young viewers, among them the Emmy Award-winning H.E.L.P. Flaherty, by contrast, had dreamed of writing for the musical stage since his early teens and completed his first score at age 14. During studies at the Cincinnati College Conservatory he received guidance from Lehman Engel, director of the BMI Workshop’s composer-lyricist sessions. Following graduation he joined the workshop soon after Engel’s death in August 1982. The pair started collaborating the next year on assorted projects, one of which was a stage version of the 1967 Peter Cook–Dudley Moore film Bedazzled. Their first full production, however, did not arrive until 1988, when Lucky Stiff (‘A Dead Funny Musical’) opened at Playwrights Horizons off-Broadway. The farce, drawn from Michael Butterworth’s novel The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo, featured Ahrens’s book and lyrics alongside Flaherty’s music; its score included such witty numbers as ‘Nice’, ‘Welcome Back, Mr. Witherspoon’, ‘Fancy Meeting You Here’, and ‘Speaking French’. Despite a short run, the show captured Helen Hayes and Richard Rodgers Awards. The Caribbean-style Once On This Island (1990) enjoyed greater success, charming Broadway audiences across 469 performances. When the production transferred to London’s West End in 1994 the Royalty Theatre was temporarily renamed the Island Theatre, and Once On This Island received the 1995 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical. My Favorite Year (1992–3) met a cooler response; although it marked the Lincoln Center’s first original musical, the run lasted only a month. Seeking an authentically American sound, Flaherty and Ahrens auditioned four songs for Ragtime, the musical adaptation of E.L. Doctorow’s turn-of-the-century novel. Three of those pieces—‘Till We Reach That Day’, ‘Gliding’, and the syncopated title song—entered the score that premiered at New York’s newly opened Ford Center for the Performing Arts in January 1998. The production became a major hit, earning Ahrens and Flaherty Tony Awards plus Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle citations for Best Musical. Before that shared success the collaborators also pursued individual assignments. Ahrens supplied book (with Mike Ockrent) and lyrics to Alan Menken’s score for the holiday favorite A Christmas Carol, which debuted at Madison Square Garden in 1994 and has been revived annually. Flaherty wrote incidental music for Neil Simon’s Proposals (1997) and created the concert works ‘Ragtime Symphonic Suite’ and ‘Anastasia Suite’, both introduced by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. The Anastasia material originated with the 20th Century-Fox animated feature for which Ahrens and Flaherty furnished songs and score.