Lynn Ahrens

Lynn Ahrens - © Joan Marcus

born on 1/10/1948 in New York City, NY, United States

Lynn Ahrens

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Lynn Ahrens (born October 1, 1948) is an American writer and lyricist for the musical theatre, television and film. She has collaborated with Stephen Flaherty for many years. She won the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award for the Broadway musical Ragtime and was nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards for the animated Twentieth Century Fox film Anastasia. She is a mainstay writer for ABC-TV's Schoolhouse Rock.

Biography

Ahrens was born in New York City, graduated from Neptune High School on the Jersey shore, and graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Journalism and English. She is Jewish.[1]

She then began a career in advertising as a copywriter, but was invited to work on a children's television show, and began writing songs for Schoolhouse Rock.[2] She subsequently worked as a freelance composer and singer of commercial music, and wrote and produced a number of songs for children's television, particularly Captain Kangaroo. She began writing for the musical theater in 1982.

Theatre

Ahrens met Stephen Flaherty at the BMI Workshop in 1982 and they started working together the following year. Their first musical together was Lucky Stiff, which premiered Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in April 1988. Their next musical was Once on This Island, which premiered on Broadway in 1990 and which was nominated for eight Tony Awards. My Favorite Year opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Lincoln Center in October 1992 but ran for only 36 performances.

Ragtime followed, opening on Broadway in January 1998 and running for 834 performances. Ragtime was nominated for twelve Tony Awards and won the Best Original Score, in addition to the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics. Ragtime was revived on Broadway in 2009, and was nominated for seven Tony Awards.

Seussical opened on Broadway on November 2000, and received a Grammy nomination. The musical later ran Off-Broadway in 2007, where it was nominated for the Lucille Lortel Award as Outstanding Revival and the Drama League Award as Distinguished Revival of a Musical. This is one of the most performed musicals in the US.[3] Ahrens and Flaherty's next musicals, A Man of No Importance (2002), Dessa Rose (2005), and The Glorious Ones (2007) were produced at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater in Lincoln Center. They have frequently worked with director and choreographer Graciela Daniele.

They wrote original songs for the Chita Rivera autobiographical show, "Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life," in 2005.[4]

Their musical version of Rocky the Musical premiered in Hamburg, Germany in October 2012. The show is based on the film Rocky and has a book by Thomas Meehan.[5][6] Rocky the Musical is expected to premiere on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre in February 11, 2014 (previews), officially on March 13, 2014. The musical is directed by Alex Timbers, with boxing choreography by Steven Hoggett and choreography by Kelly Devine. The current occupant of the Winter Garden Theatre, the musical Mamma Mia!, will transfer to the Broadhurst Theatre later in 2013.[7] Andy Karl and Margo Seibert are expected to be featured as Rocky Balboa and Adrian.[8]

They have written a dance musical, Little Dancer, with direction and choreography by Susan Stroman, about a ballerina and Edgar Degas, which had a reading in 2010 at Lincoln Center Theater[9] and a developmental lab production in June 2012.[10] Little Dancer is expected to premiere at the Kennedy Center, Eisenhower Theater in October 2014 and will star Rebecca Luker and Boyd Gaines.[11]

Charles Isherwood wrote of Ahrens and Flaherty: "a few composers and lyricists continue to risk irrelevance by pursuing their own lonely paths. Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens are among them. Mr. Flaherty and Ms. Ahrens, best known for their score for "Ragtime," continue to see the humanist potential in the medium. They insist on writing musicals that explore the struggles of men and women, as opposed to the synthetic creatures razzle-dazzling Broadway audiences with their preening vulgarity and self-devouring jokes."[12] On her working relationship with Flaherty, Ahrens has commented, "Our lives have been very different . . . But our sensibilities are very similar."[1]

Film and television

Ahrens and Flaherty also collaborated on songs for the animated movie Anastasia (1997),[13]receiving two Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Song and Best Score. The end title song "At The Beginning" went to Number One, and the soundtrack went Gold.

Ahrens has written music and lyrics for and performed on the animated television series Schoolhouse Rock and Captain Kangaroo since 1973.

Ahrens wrote the teleplay for the 2004 television musical A Christmas Carol, starring Kelsey Grammer, Jane Krakowski and Jason Alexander.[14]

With composer Michael Gore, she contributed two songs, "Here's Where I Stand" and "I Sing For You", to the IFC feature film, Camp (2003).[15]

With Stephen Flaherty, she wrote lyrics for the title song for "After the Storm," the documentary film about young Hurricane Katrina Survivors putting on "Once On This Island."

Other

Ahrens writes short stories which have appeared in The Kenyon Review, Calyx, Glimmer Train Stories and others. Her personal essays have appeared in Narrative Magazine[16] and have been nominated for "Best American Essays" and the "Pushcart Anthology".

Ahrens and Flaherty gave a series of concerts of their work in Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney, Australia from September 4 to 13, 2009.[17]

Ahrens is a lifetime member of the Council of the Dramatists Guild of America, and is a founder and co-chair of the Dramatists Guild Fellows Program for Emerging Writers.

She wrote text for the concert piece "With Voices Raised," (composer, Stephen Flaherty) which was commissioned by the Boston Pops Orchestra in 2000.

She wrote text for the concert piece "The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers," (composer, Peter Boyer), which was commissioned and performed by the Boston Pops in 2009, and narrated by Robert De Niro, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman and Cherry Jones.

She was the original writer and singer of numerous jingles, including the long-running "What Would You Do For A Klondike Bar" and "Bounty, The Quicker Picker Upper."

She wrote lyrics for the choral piece, "The Song I Sing," (composer, Stephen Flaherty), commissioned by the Young People's Chorus of New York, and performed at Carnegie Hall by a chorus of 1000 children.

Musicals

  • Lucky Stiff (1988) (Book and Lyrics)
  • Once on This Island (1990) (Book and Lyrics)
  • My Favorite Year (1992) (Lyrics)
  • A Christmas Carol (1994-2004) (Co-Book and Lyrics) (produced as a TV film in 2004) (Teleplay)
  • Ragtime (1998) (Lyrics)
  • Seussical (2000) (Book and Lyrics)
  • A Man of No Importance (2002) (Lyrics)
  • Dessa Rose (2005) (Book and Lyrics)
  • Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life (2005) (Lyricsspecial material)
  • The Glorious Ones (2007) (Book and Lyrics)
  • Rocky the Musical (2012) (Book and Lyrics)
  • Little Dancer (2012) (Book and Lyrics)

Contributions

  • "I Eat", contribution to The Seven Deadly Sins: A Song Cycle for Audra McDonald[18]
  • Music and lyrics for "Interplanet Janet", "No More Kings", "The Preamble", "The Great American Melting Pot", "A Noun is a Person, Place or Thing", and many others, contributions to Schoolhouse Rock!
  • Songs for Captain Kangaroo, notably "There's So Much To Do" and the 1982-85 theme song, "Here Comes Captain Kangaroo"

Awards and nominations

  • Emmy Award Best Informational Daytime Program "H.E.L.P" - (winner)
  • Tony Award Best Book of a Musical (1991) Once on This Island - (nominee)
  • Tony Award Best Original Score (1991) Once on This Island - (nominee)
  • Olivier Award, London West End - "Once On This Island"- Best Musical (1995) - (winner)
  • Academy Award, Anastasia (1998) - Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score and Best Original Song (with Stephen Flaherty)-two nominations
  • Golden Globes, Anastasia (1998) - Best Original Song - Motion Picture (for "Journey To The Past" and "Once Upon A December") (with Stephen Flaherty) - two nominations
  • Tony Award Best Original Musical Score (1998) Ragtime (winner)
  • Grammy nomination - "Songs from Ragtime" Concept album
  • Grammy nomination - "Ragtime" Original Broadway Cast Recording
  • Drama Desk Award Outstanding Lyrics (1998) Ragtime (winner)
  • Grammy nomination - "Seussical" Original Broadway Cast Recording
  • Drama Desk, Outstanding Lyrics - A Man of No Importance (2003) - (nomination)
  • Outer Critics Circle Award - "A Man of No Importance" (2003) Best Musical, (winner)
  • Drama Desk, Outstanding Musical and Outstanding Lyrics, The Glorious Ones (2008) - (nomination)
  • Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical (2008) "The Glorious Ones"- (nomination)
  • Lucille Lortel Award, Outstanding Revival-"Seussical" (2008) - (nomination)

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Stephen Holden, "Striving for What's Hummable", New York Times, May 24, 1990. ("'Our lives have been very different,' Ms. Ahrens said the other day at the offices of Playwrights Horizons. '[Flaherty is] from Pittsburgh, and I'm from New Jersey. He's Catholic, and I'm Jewish. And I'm older than he is. But our sensibilities are very similar.'")
  2. ProfileVariety, accessed January 27, 2010
  3. Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty official website ahrensandflaherty.com, accessed January 27, 2010
  4. Brantley, Ben."You Just Can't Keep a Good Broadway Diva Down",The New York Times, December 12, 2005
  5. Jones, Kenneth. " 'Rocky the Musical' Makes World Premiere in Germany Nov. 18; American Drew Sarich Stars" playbill.com, November 18, 2012
  6. Orlando, Nick. "INTERVIEW: Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty Continue to Journey On" theatermania.com, April 23, 2012
  7. Hetrick, Adam. " 'Rocky the Musical' Sets Broadway Opening Night at the Winter Garden Theatre" playbill.com, August 26, 2013
  8. Hetrick, Adam. "Andy Karl and Margo Seibert Will Star in 'Rocky' Musical on Broadway" playbill.com, September 9, 2013
  9. Hetrick, Adam. "EXCLUSIVE: Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty Team with Susan Stroman for New Dance Musical" playbill.com, February 25, 2011
  10. Sheward, David."Broadway Shuffle" backstage.com, May 4, 2012
  11. Gans, Andrew. "Boyd Gaines, Rebecca Luker and Tiler Peck Cast in World Premiere of New Musical 'Little Dancer' " playbill.com, September 5, 2013
  12. Isherwood, Charles.Worlds Apart in the Deep South but Forming a Bond",The New York Times, March 22, 2005
  13. Ku, Andrew. Ragtime Team's Anastasia Film Opens Nationally Nov. 21" playbill.com, November 21, 1997
  14. Hernandez, Ernio."Alan Menken and Lynn Ahrens' 'A Christmas Carol' TV Musical Plays on NBC Once More, Dec. 24" playbill.com, December 24, 2004
  15. Gans, Andrew. " 'Camp' Soundtrackwith Songs by Sondheim and AhrensNow in Stores" playbill.com, August 18, 2003
  16. Ahrens stories/essays narrativemagazine.com, accessed January 27, 2010
  17. "Broadway to Australia in concert", broadwaytoaustralia.com, accessed January 27, 2010
  18. Gans, Andrew."Audra McDonald Premieres The Seven Deadly Sins June 2 at Zankel Hall", playbill.com, June 2, 2004

External links

  • Lynn Ahrens at the Internet Movie Database
  • Lynn Ahrens at the Internet Broadway Database
  • Lynn Ahrens at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
  • Official website of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty
  • Interview, 2003 at talkinbroadway.com
  • Interview, 2009, Time Out New York

This page was last modified 15.03.2014 21:31:52

This article uses material from the article Lynn Ahrens from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.