#Lynn Ahrens

[doyouknowthismusical]

#musical theater #do you know this musical #poll #seussical #stephen flaherty #lynn ahrens #language: english

[bestmusicalworldcup]

#ahrens and flaherty #lynn ahrens #stephen flaherty #musicals #polls

[glimeres]

2024 Broadway Backwards - Alex Newell performs Back To Before from the musical Ragtime

#HELL YEAHHH #alex newell #ragtime #stephen flaherty #lynn ahrens #musical #musicals #broadway #video #posted

[pureanonofficial]

This is to highlight lyricists who pretty much solely did lyrics, not composer-lyricists! If there's another lyricist you love who isn't listed here, please leave that in the tags!

#Musical theater #theater #lyricists #lyrics #polls #tumblr polls #Howard Ashman #Tim Rice #Sheldon Harnick #Tom Jones #Alan Jay Lerner #Oscar Hammerstein II #Oscar Hammerstein #Lynn Ahrens #David Zippel #Ira Gershwin #Lorenz Hart #Betty Comden #Adolph Green #Fred Ebb

[onewordshy]

Alex Newell sings "Back To Before" from Ragtime

Not in love with some of the phrasing choices here but that ending!

#Alex Newell #Ragtime #Lynn Ahrens #Stephen Flaherty #Youtube

[greaterstokesawareness]

Collection: Brian Stokes Mitchell and the original cast reunite for the 25th Anniversary Ragtime Reunion Concert at Minskoff Theater, March 27, 2023

photos and video from Broadway World (x), and from Playbill (x)

review on Playbill.org (x)

short clips from the show on Entertainment Community Fund YouTube (x)

video of curtain call (x)

behind the scenes video at rehearsals (x)

video of Stokes and Audra McDonald performing "Wheels of a Dream" on the Today Show leading up to the concert (x) (x)

clip of "Wheels of a Dream" from the Today Show from Al Roker's Instagram (x)

article "Ragtime Reunion Concert Was Filmed According to Lyricist Lynn Ahrens" on Broadway World (x)

article "On the Wheels of a Dream: The Making of Broadway’s Ragtime" on Playbill.org (x)

article announcing the concert and cast on Broadway World (x)

concert announcement video from Entertainment Community Fund YouTube, December 2022 (x)

video of Stokes discussing the concert on Morning Joe after the show (x)

Stokes interview and video before the show on Broadway World (x)

audio of "Wheels of a Dream" (x)

audio of "New Music" (x)

full show audio (x)

#brian stokes mitchell #ragtime #ragtime reunion concert #greater stokes awareness #greater stokes awareness: ragtime #audra mcdonald #peter friedman #kelli o'hara #mark jacoby #judy kaye #stephen flaherty #lynn ahrens

[musicalrecs]

Today's musical Christmas song is "Nothing To Do With Me (part 2)" from Alan Menken (your Disney childhood) and Lynn Ahren's (Anastasia, Ragtime) A Christmas Carol.

I specifically chose this number as I think it gets to the heart of this production, which is Scrooge starts out by thinking the troubles of the world have nothing to do with him, and therefore why should he do anything about them? Naturally, he changes his mind by the end (spoilers?).

A neat choice that I think comes through even in the audio is that the various characters Scrooge meets here later return as the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future.

"Warning": This is an incredibly earnest version of A Christmas Carol. It's here to tug on your heartstrings and make you cry over Tiny Tim. There are some jokes, but cynics will not have a good time (and should watch A Muppet Christmas Carol instead).

#a christmas carol #alan menken #lynn ahrens #christmas musical songs #musical christmas song #musicals #Youtube

[owlpuddle]

#lucky stiff #lynn ahrens #stephen sondheim #it's a song about a woman who wants her dogs when she's sad #he just loves dogs!

[dweemeister]

January 31, 2023

By James Poniewozik

(The New York Times) -- When I was in second grade, my teacher held a contest: The first students to memorize their multiplication tables would get dinner at McDonald’s. I was one of them. I’d like to credit hard work or the motivation of those golden fries, but in truth it was easy. I learned it from “Schoolhouse Rock.”

It was not the last time that watching too much TV would pay off for me, but it was perhaps the sweetest.

If you were an American kid around when I was (nineteen-seventy-cough), you probably have “Schoolhouse Rock” hard-wired into your brain too. The musical shorts, which began airing on ABC in 1973, taught Generation X multiplication, grammar, history and, eventually, nostalgia...

... But whatever its limits, “Schoolhouse Rock” at least told us we were equal: We counted with the same numbers, our hearts pumped the same blood, we were entitled to the same inalienable rights.

And it operated in a period when people saw the same media and accepted the same facts. Months after its premiere, the Watergate hearings also aired on national TV. They were able eventually to turn even many Republicans against President Nixon, in part because Americans watched the same story together, without a partisan cable and internet ecosystem to spin the investigation as a witch hunt.

It’s tempting to say that you couldn’t make “Schoolhouse Rock” again today. But I’m sure you could, even if it would be slightly different. Current kids’ shows like Netflix’s “We the People” are in a way exactly that. What you couldn’t create again today is the mass audience, or the context in which we assembled, one nation, sitting cross-legged in front of our cathode-ray teacher.

Us ‘90s kids (late Milennials and early Gen Z) as well!

#Schoolhouse Rock #Bob Dorough #Lynn Ahrens #Jack Sheldon #Blossom Dearie #I too have to sing the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution to this day #New York Times #We the people [of the United States] in order to form a more perfect union... #establish justice ensure domestic tranquility provide for the common defense promote the general welfare and #secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and posterity do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America

[outoftowninac]

LUCKY STIFF

1988

Lucky Stiff is a musical by Stephen Flaherty with book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens based upon the 1983 book The Man Who Broke the Bank in Monte Carlo by Michael Butterworth. 

It was the first produced collaboration between Flaherty and Ahrens, who went on to great success with Ragtime (1998), Once on This Island (1990), Seussical (2000) and other hit shows. 

The musical takes place in England, Atlantic City and Monte Carlo. The time is now, or very recently.

Downtrodden English shoe salesman Harry receives the unexpected news that he has inherited a fortune from his late Uncle Anthony, on the condition that he takes Anthony’s dead body on a special trip to Monte Carlo. If Harry fails, the money will go to the Universal Dog Home of Brooklyn. However, also hot on the tail of Uncle Anthony’s money is Rita, Anthony’s lover with whom he embezzled $6 million behind her husband’s back. And hot on Rita’s trail is her brother Vinnie, who has been blamed for the crime.

‘LUCKY’ PRODUCTION HISTORY

Lucky Stiff was created and first performed off-Broadway Playwrights Horizons  in April 1988, winning the Richard Rodgers Award. The show starred Stephen Stout, Julie White, Stuart Zagnit and Mary Testa.

The musical was next produced at Maryland’s Olney Theatre in May 1989, starring Evan Pappas, winning the 1990 Helen Hayes Award for Best Musical. 

A 1994 studio cast recording included Pappas, Judy Blazer, Testa, Jason Graae, Debbie Shapiro Gravitte, Paul Kandel and Patrick Quinn.

In 1994, the musical had its British debut in the midlands, and in 1997 it had a West End production starring Frances Ruffelle, Paul Baker, and Tracie Bennett.

In October 2003, it was presented as part of York Theatre's Musicals in Mufti concert series, starring Zagnit, Testa, Malcolm Gets, and Janet Metz.

A feature film version of Lucky Stiff premiered at the 2014 Montreal World Film Festival. It stars Dominic Marsh, Don Amendolia, Nikki M. James, Jason Alexande, Mary Birdsong, and Dennis Farina. 

THE ATLANTIC CITY CONNECTION

In a prologue, the chorus sets the scene in a song titled “Something Funny’s Going On”:

ALL (sung): Something funny’s going on And it isn’t very pretty.  This is how it all began, With the murder of a man.  Bang! RITA shoots HARRY (spoken): Oops! ALL (sung): In Atlantic City, New Jersey.

After opening scenes set in England, the action shifts to Atlantic City, New Jersey, home of Rita LaPorta, whose late husband was manager of an (unnamed) Atlantic City casino. 

SOLICITOR to HARRY: “Due to an unfortunate accident, your Uncle, Mr. Tony Hendon of Atlantic City, New Jersey, has passed on. Apparently, casino managers do quite well in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In US dollars, Mr.  Witherspoon, a currency I find highly distasteful, your Uncle left you...six millions dollars!” 

Rita is presented as the typical New Jersey Italian-American mob wife in the style of Carmella Soprano in “The Sopranos” or Angela DeMarco in Married to the Mob. Rita is extremely nearsighted, but luckily, her brother Vinny Di Ruzzio is an optometrist at Atlantic City Optometry. 

VINNIE to a PATIENT: “Is this your first visit to Atlantic City Optometry, Mr. Loomis?”

A production at University of Southern Oregon included a poster for the business. The poster gives the address as Baltic Avenue in Atlantic City. The real road was immortalized in the game Monopoly! Since it is the cheapest property on the board, we can assume Vinny’s practice is not exactly catering to an upscale cliental. 

Rita barges into her brother’s office brandishing a newspaper. In the film version, the newspaper masthead reads Atlantic City Bugle. This is a fictional newspaper. Atlantic City Press was (and is) the newspaper of record in the shore town. 

Rita enlists her brother’s help in tracking down the heart-shaped box of diamonds she stole.  Off they go to the south of France, leaving Atlantic City behind. The city by the sea is mentioned again during the play’s climactic ending. 

RITA, pointing a gun at ANNABEL: “Where is that heart-shaped box?” ANNABEL: “It’s...it’s in Atlantic City!” 

DEAD UNCLE TONY, confessing: “I knew that bullet that killed Luigi was meant for me. I owed the guy. So I came up with a plan, fast. I planted my own obituary in the Atlantic City papers so people would think I was dead.” 

‘LUCKY’ / AC NJ TRIVIA

Atlantic City was not included in the original book, which is set exclusively in Europe. It was the innovation of Lynn Ahrens to ground the show in the United States before moving the action to the Continent. Las Vegas being further afield, Atlantic City it was!  

Flaherty and Ahrens returned to Atlantic City as a setting in Ragtime. Click here to read about it!  

The film cast includes several prominent actors from New Jersey: Jason Alexander (Livingston) and Nikki James (Summit), as well as Don Amendolia (Woodbury), Mary Birdsong (Long Beach Island), and Wesley Taylor (Elizabeth). Stage performers from New Jersey include Stuart Zagnit (New Brunswick) and Judy Blazer (Dover). 

Although Lucky Stiff has not to date been performed on Broadway, it has had several New Jersey community, college, and high school productions. 

The first time the musical was heard at the Dramatists Guild workshop, the authors were told to start again from scratch. The original piece wasn't funny enough or silly enough. Stephen Flaherty says that there are basically two completely different scores for for the show; before, and after the workshop. Annie Golden played Annabelle in the workshop. 

Ahrens found her copy of Butterworth's novel at sale of old books from the Pierpont Morgan Library. Interestingly, the Morgan Library figures prominently in the climax of Ragtime, another F&A musical. 

The character of Annabelle Glick was originally named Annabelle Smith.  

The song "Times Like This" was written to replace another song called "I Wouldn't Waste My Time" that was deemed too sad. The song "Times Like This" is featured on Christiane Noll's album A Broadway Love Story.

#Lucky Stiff #atlantiic city #Lynn Ahrens #Flaherty and Ahrens #Musical #Off-Broadway #Nikki James #jason alexander #monte carlo #New Jersey

[alethianightsong]

This is my comfort song.

#schoolhouse rock #science #planets #solar system #astronomy #animation #70s animation #1970s #lynn ahrens #music #educational #kids educational #vhs tapes #70s cartoons #Youtube

[doyouknowthismusical]

#musical theater #do you know this musical #poll #anastasia #anastasia the musical #stephen flaherty #lynn ahrens #terrence mcnally #language: english

[caroleditosti]

'A Man of No Importance' at CSC a Superb Revival

‘A Man of No Importance’ at CSC a Superb Revival

Jim Parsons (center) and the Company of A Man of No Importance (courtesy of Julieta Cervantes) In its second Off Broadway go-round (Lincoln Center in 2002) Terrence McNally’s book and Stephen Flaherty’s music with Lynn Ahrens’ lyrics of A Man of No Importance directed and designed by John Doyle, is currently at CSC until 18 of December. The production is Doyle’s unaffecting and warm goodbye as…

View On WordPress

#A Man of No Importance #A.J. Shively #Jim Parsons #John Doyle #Lynn Ahrens #Mare Winningham #Nathaniel Stampley #Stephen Flaherty #Terrence McNally

[glimeres]

2002, Rosie O'Donnell Show - LaChanze performs Waiting For Life from the musical Once On This Island

#her voice is like butter #lachanze #once on this island #stephen flaherty #lynn ahrens #musical #broadway #video #posted

[musicaltranslations]

My Petersburg - GERMAN

Show: Anastasia Authors: Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty Original title: My Petersburg Language: German Translator: Wolfgang Adenberg

---

Mein Petersburg

Ich wuchs auf, ganz allein in der Gosse und dem Dreck von Petersburg. Lebte mich sehr schnell ein und nichts kriegte mich hier klein, in Petersburg. Ich schlief an Straßenecken, klaute mir mein Brot und mir half mein Köpfchen aus jeder Not. Denn wenn du hier nicht schlau bist, bist du garantiert bald tot. So ist das! Viele hier kommen durch, viele nicht. Vielen bläst kalter Wind ins Gesicht. Doch nicht mir, das ist hier mein Petersburg. (Komm Anja!) Sieh dich um, meilenweit von den Türmen zu den Piers von Petersburg. Ich stand oft dort am Kai mit gestohl‘nen Souvenirs aus Petersburg. Die Schlösser auf dem Berg die Gassen um mich her irgendwann erdrückt dich die Stadt nicht mehr. Du kannst sie noch so hassen und du liebst sie doch so sehr. Denn alles was ich weiß, was ich hab fing hier an und das Kind wurde hier zu dem Mann, der ich bin und sein kann. Ja, wir können im Leben auf and’re vertrau’n doch ich lernte von Vater nach vorne zu schau’n Nichts kann mich hier halten, nichts wird hier vermisst, seltsam wie bereit du bist wenn dir deine Stadt sagt, dass es Zeit zum fortgeh’n ist. Und darum wissen wir, unser Weg ist noch weit du und ich brechen auf, es ist Zeit. Doch heut Nacht zieht der Blick uns in den Bann Mein Petersburg, schau es dir an.

---    Listen here

#Mein Petersburg #Anastasia #Lynn Ahrens #Stephen Flaherty #My Petersburg #German #Wolfgang Adenberg #Deutsch #Anastasia das Musical #Anastasia Stuttgart #Dmitry Anastasia

[onewordshy]

I have not seen a single other person mention it in the ten years since its release but I thought the movie version of Lucky Stiff was pretty okay. This song was definitely the best scene though, "Nice" is one of my favorite Flaherty and Ahrens songs and these two sound great on it. They never released the soundtrack so I'm ripping it and posting it here for easier access.

#Nikki M. James #Dominic Marsh #Lucky Stiff #Flaherty & Ahrens #Stephen Flaherty #Lynn Ahrens