Photo Coverage: Broadway Dreams Gala Honors Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty
By: Jennifer Broski Nov. 22, 2016
Broadway Dreams just held its annual Night of Dreams Gala, honoring Tony Award-winning lyricist and composer Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty with the inaugural Arts Advancement Award. Point Park University was the leading education sponsor of the event.
Since its inception, Broadway Dreams has inspired more than 10,000 students and awarded over one million dollars in needs-based scholarships nationally in such cities as New York, Los Angeles, Aspen, Atlanta, Charlotte, Omaha, Park City, Philadelphia, and Sacramento - and internationally in Fortaleza, Brazil; Moscow, Russia; Toronto, Canada; and beyond. In doing so, a passionate and energized global community has grown, defined by the personal integrity, skilled craftsmanship, and joy that serve as the collective hallmark of a Broadway Dreams education. Broadway Dreams could not continue these efforts without the success of the annual Night of Dreams Gala, which also celebrates those who further the organization's mission.
Directed by Stafford Arima, the evening included cocktails, dinner, and tribute performances honoring the recipients of the 2016 Arts Advancement Award. Christy Altomare and Derek Klena performed "In a Crowd of Thousands" from the much-anticipated new Ahrens / Flaherty musical, Anastasia, set to open on Broadway on April 24, 2017. Broadway stars and Broadway Dreams teaching artists Quentin Earl Darrington (CATS) and recording artist Morgan James (Godspell) also performed.
Longtime collaborators Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty are recipients of the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement, and were inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2015. For Broadway's Ragtime, they won Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards and received two Grammy nominations. They were also nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globes for the score of Twentieth Century Fox's animated feature Anastasia. They're thrilled to be bringing Anastasia to the stage with collaborator Terrence McNally. Selected theater credits include Once On This Island; Seussical; Rocky; Little Dancer; Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life; Lucky Stiff; the Broadway revival of Ragtime; and Lincoln Center Theater's Dessa Rose, A Man of No Importance, My Favorite Year and The Glorious Ones. Individually, Ms. Ahrens is an Emmy Award winner, a mainstay writer for Schoolhouse Rock, and wrote book and lyrics for Madison Square Garden's A Christmas Carol. Mr. Flaherty wrote the score for the new dance musical In Your Arms at The Old Globe, and incidental musical for Neil Simon's Broadway play Proposals. They are council members of the Dramatists Guild of America, and co- founded the Dramatists Guild Fellows Program for emerging writers. For more, visit www.ahrensandflaherty.com.
Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski
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