Stephen Flaherty tribute musical to play Carnegie Hall
Stephen Flaherty, the Tony™ Award-Winning Broadway composer, writing partner to bookwriter/lyricist Lynn Ahrens, will receive a multimedia, multi-ensemble, all-star tribute entitled “The University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music Honors Its Own: STEPHEN FLAHERTY AT CARNEGIE HALL!” on January 14, 2024, for one-night only.
Created by fellow alums Kevin McCollum (Executive Producer), Jim Semmelman (Producer/Conceiver), Jeffrey Saver (Music Supervisor/Arranger/Director/Conductor), and David Goldsmith (Writer/Curator/Interviewer/Parody Lyrics), the evening will be a time-capsule performance of an earlier iteration of the event which was produced as a benefit concert at the Corbett Auditorium on the UC/CCM campus in September of 2022 to great acclaim under the title “Thirty Years Of Stephen: The Music of Stephen Flaherty.”
Expected to reprise their performances at Carnegie Hall will be CCM Alums/Flaherty-Ahrens Broadway Veterans Christy Altomare, Ashley Brown, Jason Graae, Aaron Lazar, Bryonha Marie, Stephanie Jae Park, and Alton Fitzgerald White. Returning as Director/Choreographer for the entire production will be Marcia-Milgrom Dodge. Alumnae Sarah Mizelle Miller and Elaine M. Cox will again serve as Managing Producers.
This core ensemble will be rejoined by CCM musical theatre/dance students in various ensembles and small roles, and accompanied by the full CCM student orchestra, under the baton of Mr. Saver.
The evening provides an in-depth exploration of the career and work of the composer from college to Broadway and beyond, with filmed interviews serving to introduce each live performance. 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.
Musical selections will include never-before-performed selections from Flaherty’s childhood with his own lyrics; the first song of 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.
Tickets will be available to the general public. Proceeds will support new and ongoing educational programming at CCM, as well as student scholarship opportunities.