TV Exclusive: Song Stories- Stephen Flaherty Explains the Origin of RAGTIME Anthem, 'Make Them Hear You'

How did some of your favorite songs come to be? BroadwayWorld is getting the story behind the song in exclusive interviews from your favorite Broadway composers. Below, watch as Stephen Flaherty, currently represented on Broadway with Once on This Island and Anastasia, explains how he and collaborator Lynn Ahrens came to write one of the most beloved songs from Ragtime, "Make Them Hear You."

Selections from Ragtime and A Man of No Importance will be performed at Manhattan Concert Productions' Broadway Classics in Concert- Tuesday, February 20 at Carnegie Hall. The evening will be a unique celebration of the past five years of Manhattan Concert Productions' critically acclaimed Broadway Series which has featured award-winning composers, star-studded casts, esteemed creative teams, singers from across the United States, and the outstanding New York City Chamber Orchestra. Other selections performed will include music by Jason Robert Brown, George Gershwin, Alan Menken, Lucy Simon, and Maury Yeston. Click here for tickets.

Flaherty is the composer of the Broadway musicals Ragtime (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards, two Grammy nominations), Once On This Island (Tony nomination, London's Olivier Award, Best Musical), Seussical (Grammy, Drama Desk nominations), Rockyand Anastasia. Additional Broadway credits include Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life (original songs) and Neil Simon's Proposals (incidental music). He composed the scores for four musicals at Lincoln Center Theatre: The Glorious Ones (OCC, Drama Desk nominations), Dessa Rose (OCC, Drama Desk nominations), A Man of No Importance (OCC, Best Musical, Drama Desk nomination) and My Favorite Year. Other theater includes In Your Arms (Old Globe), Little Dancer (Kennedy Center), Lucky Stiff (Playwrights Horizons) and Loving Repeating(Chicago's Jefferson Award, Best New Musical.)