Christy Altomare, Liz Callaway & More to Take Part in CCM Concert Honoring Stephen Flaherty at Carnegie Hall

Stephen Flaherty, the Tony Award-winning Broadway composer, writing partner to book writer/lyricist Lynn Ahrens, will receive a multimedia, multi-ensemble, all-star tribute entitled “The University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music Honors Alumnus: Stephen Flaherty AT Carnegie Hall! on January 14, 2024 at 7PM for one-night only.

 

For tickets visit:

https://www.carnegiehall.org/Cart/Event-Seating?itemNumber=45956#/

 

Stephen Flaherty AT Carnegie Hall! is a dream insiders’ look at the art of a cherished Broadway veteran, best known for his acclaimed scores for the musicals Ragtime, Once on This Island, My Favorite Year, Anastasia and so many more.

 

Created by fellow Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) alums Jim Semmelman, along with fellow producers Kevin McCollum (Producer), and Elaine M. Cox, as well as Jeffrey Saver (Music Supervisor/Arranger/Director/Conductor), and David Goldsmith (Writer/Curator/Interviewer/ Parody Lyrics),  this celebratory evening is an in-depth exploration of the career and work of the beloved composer from college to Broadway and beyond, with filmed interviews serving to introduce each live performance from many of the stars and friends who have performed in Flaherty’s shows throughout the years, who will be joined by CCM students on stage at Carnegie Hall.

 

The featured alum performers (known as “the Glorious Ones") include Christy Altomare, Ashley Brown, Liz Callaway, Jason Graae, Aaron Lazar, Bryonha Marie, Stephanie Jae Park, Geoff Packard andAlton Fitzgerald White and a few surprises. 

 

The music will be performed by a 50-piece orchestra comprised of CCM musicians; 40+ students from the musical theatre department joined by a prima ballerina from the CCM Dance department.  Stage managers and designers will also be compromised of CCM alums.   The show is directed and choreographed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge.

 

 Musical selections will include never-before-performed selections from Flaherty’s childhood with his own lyrics; the first song by Ahrens & Flaherty; a new song from the upcoming revival of My Favorite Year; songs from new Ahrens & Flaherty shows Little Dancer and Knoxville; the New York premiere of “The Lorax,” the epic sequence cut during the out-of-town tryout of Seussical; as well as favorites from Lucky Stiff, Once On This Island, A Man Of No Importance, and Ragtime.

 

Flaherty discusses the intimate creative, commercial, and personal processes of his storied repertoire. The interviews, with videography furnished by Tyler Milliron Studios, were conducted in and around the Broadway theatre district, and in Flaherty’s New York City home throughout the spring and summer of 2022. The production provides rare, heretofore unknown backstage and onstage anecdotes and insights from one of contemporary music-theatre’s artistic giants, curated by those who have known him the longest, and loved him – and his work – the most.

 

The evening will be a time-capsule performance of an earlier iteration of the event which was produced as an acclaimed benefit concert at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in September of 2022 under the title “Thirty Years of Stephen: The Music of Stephen Flaherty.”

 

Tickets will be available to the general public. Proceeds will support new and ongoing educational programming at CCM, as well as student scholarship opportunities.

 

More about the event:

 

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music will present Stephen Flaherty at Carnegie Hall, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for CCM students to perform at Carnegie Hall alongside veteran Broadway performers under the direction of longtime-Broadway directors, choreographers, and music supervisors.

 

100 students from Musical Theatre and CCM’s Philharmonia will travel to Carnegie Hall for this one-night concert to celebrate the works of Stephen Flaherty, CCM alum and notable Broadway composer of works such as Ragtime, Once On This Island, Seussical and Anastasia.

 

Created by fellow CCM alums Jim Semmelman, Kevin McCollum, Jeffrey Saver, and David Goldsmith, this world premiere performance will celebrate CCM and its place in the Broadway community and raise money for scholarships and educational initiatives at CCM.

 

CCM Students Need Your Support

 As CCM continues to recover from the lingering impacts of COVID, programs like this are essential to provide exceptional opportunities for students. A preeminent institution for the performing and media arts, CCM offers nearly 120 possible majors, along with a wide variety of pre-collegiate and post-graduate programs. The synergy created by housing CCM within a comprehensive public university gives the college its unique character and defines its objective: to educate and inspire the whole artist and scholar for positions on the world stage.

 

CCM asks for support for Stephen Flaherty AT Carnegie Hall! to ensure the next generation of students – the next Stephen Flaherty, even – has the resources they need to change the world.

 

Stephen Flaherty

is a composer for theater, film and the concert hall. With longtime collaborator Lynn Ahrens, he won Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for the Broadway musical Ragtime and was nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globes for the animated feature film Anastasia, which they also adapted for Broadway. Additional Broadway credits include Once on This Island (Tony Award, Best Revival), Seussical, Rocky, My Favorite Year, Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life (original songs) and Neil Simon’s Proposals (incidental music.) Off-Broadway and regional credits include A Man of No Importance, The Glorious Ones and Dessa Rose (all three at Lincoln Center Theatre); Lucky Stiff (Playwrights Horizons), Little Dancer (Kennedy Center and Seattle 5th Avenue), In Your Arms (Old Globe) and Loving Repeating: A Musical Of Gertrude Stein (About Face.) Upcoming: Little Dancer and Knoxville. Film includes Anastasia, After the Storm, Lucky Stiff and Nasrin. Additional awards include London’s Olivier (Best Musical), Chicago’s Joseph Jefferson (Best Musical) and four Grammy nominations. He serves on Council for the Dramatists Guild of America and co-founded the DGF Fellows Program for Emerging Writers with Lynn Ahrens. In 2014 Ahrens and Flaherty received the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement and in 2015 they were inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame. www.AhrensAndFlahertycom