ONE OF THE GREATEST musical theatre teams fo the modern theatre,
Lynn Ahrens and
Stephen Flaherty, have amassed a hug canon of songs and shows knownt he world over. They drop by to talk to us about their new show, The Glorious Ones, now playing at Lincoln Center at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. We hear selections form their past musicals, My Favorite Year, A Man of No Importance, as well as a performance by Marin Mazie of a song form their new show, The Glorious Ones. The team informs us of where they get their ideas, how they write, and the hardest hitting question: who comes first... Ahrens or Flaherty?
For information and tickets to The Glorious Ones visit: www.lincolncenter.com or www.ticketmaster.com
You can listen to this interview and many other great features for free on Broadway Bullet Volume 133 . Subscribe for free so you don't miss an episode.
or MP3 Feed with XML
Broadway Bullet
Interview:
Ahrens and
Flaherty
Broadway Bullet: Ahrens and Flaherty are possibly the last -- hopefully not the last, but at the moment -- the last of the great duos that are working on Broadway, consistently. And they've got a new show at Lincoln Center called The Glorious Ones, which is actually their fourth Lincoln Center show, and their sixth with --
Lynn Ahrens: Andre Bishop.
BB: Andre Bishop. And they are in the studio today to chat about their new show and their career and a lot of stuff going on, and Lynn Flaherty, Stephen -- Lynn Ahrens (laughter) and Stephen Flaherty.
Stephen Flaherty: That's correct. (laughter) Thanks, thanks for having us Michael.
LA: Thank you. Everybody gets us confused.
SF: That's right. We're interchangable.
BB: No, you are not. (laughter)
SF: You'd be surprised. There are certain days when I'm thinking, What should I wear today, and I'll just happen to put on a blue shirt. And then we'll go to an interview, or a session, or whatever, and Lynn will be wearing the identical color of blue, so it's a little creepy.
LA: It happens very often. (laughter) It's making us nervous.
SF: I know.
BB: I hope the mess-up doesn't continue. I'm trying not to be starstruck here. You definitely are one of my favorite composition teams; I've enjoyed your music for a very long time.
LA: Thank you.
BB: I got a chance to do Once on This Island, obviously it was a White cast. (laughter)
LA: That's all right.
BB: And we had a country piano player, who couldn't quite do the island rhythms, but it was a lot of fun. (laughter)
LA: It's a new interpretation.
SF: So, I guess the Antilles [the island that is the setting of Once On This Island] via Nashville is what it must have been. (laughter)
BB: So, before we get into your career, maybe we'll start off -- before people forget -- and tell us a little bit about your new musical, The Glorious Ones, which is currently in previews, and opening shortly at Lincoln Center.
LA: Yes, we just started previews last Thursday, and we open on November 5th. It's a crazy show. It's very hard to describe. It's set in the world of Commedia dell'arte. And the minute you say that, everybody goes, "Oh, I don't know what that is," or, "I don't care about that world," but it's actually a show of comedy, some of it very physical and vulgar. And it's also a show of these high emotions, that become universal by the end of the show. It's a really, really interesting, and kind of wonderful show. We're having a great time. We have the cast from heaven. They are phenomenal.
SF: Yeah. Actually, we're very fortunate that a lot of our cast has actually been living and breathing the show for about a year now, because we had our first New York workshop, which was a three-week workshop, last November. And then, we had a Pittsburgh tryout -- my hometown of Pittsburgh -- at the Pittsburgh Public Theater, which was a stand-alone engagement this past April and May. And, so, a lot of these actors have been really living and breathing the characters. And not only have they informed the writing, but these are very strong personalities -- these actors -- so a lot of the writing has been tailored towards their special talents.
LA: To their specialties. And each one is just amazing. Every night -- I've never laughed so much on any show that we've ever done. I've been hysterical for about eight months now. (laughter) Just laughing constantly, it's great.
SF: The funny thing is, with every production, there's usually one cut-up in the cast. You know, one jokester, and on The Glorious Ones, every one of the seven actors happens to be a jokester. So it's been very lively during rehearsals, I have to say. (laughter)
BB: So, definitely having a lot of fun with that?
LA: Oh, yeah.
BB: Who came up with the concept for this show? Did they approach you? Did you find it yourselves?
LA: We found it ourselves. It's based on a novel by a terrific novelist, named Francine Prose. And a friend of mine introduced me to the novel a number of years ago, and I always thought it would make a terrific musical. And I brought it to Stephen, and we've been working on it together for a while. It's finally coming to fruition. It's a wonderful novel, but very difficult to figure out how to do it, so it took us a while, but I think we've finally done it to our own satisfaction, anyway. And that's how it gestated. And Lincoln Center has been involved in its development for over several years. They did a workshop for us, originally, and now they are producing it. So, we're thrilled to be there.
BB: Well, now, I understand there isn't a cast recording yet, of course, but one of the songs was recorded by Marin Mazzie --
