LOS ANGELES (Top40 Charts/ CineMedia Promotions) Ahrens and Flaherty's "Nice Fighting You: A 30th Anniversary Celebration Live At 54 BELOW" will be released on June 3rd, 2014. The double CD set is now available for pre-order at https://amzn.com/B00JPWSJOI. This star-studded double album features performances by (in alphabetical order): Lynn Ahrens, Annaleigh Ashford,
Stephanie J. Block, Liz Callaway,
Kevin Chamberlin, Quentin Earl Darrington, Stephen Flaherty, Lewis Grosso,
Julie Halston, Jeremy Jordan, LaChanze, Kecia Lewis, Rebecca Luker, Marin Mazzie, Sean McCourt, Brian Stokes Mitchell,
Jessica Molaskey,
Bobby Steggert and Mary Testa.
The award winning team of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty are currently represented on Broadway with Rocky and are behind numerous other Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals including Ragtime, Once On This Island, Seussical, My Favorite Year, A Man of No Importance as well as the classic animated film, Anastasia.
Nice Fighting You: A 30th Anniversary Celebration Live at 54 BELOW was recorded live over a series 6 performances last September. Winner of Broadway World's NYC Cabaret Award for "Best Revue" of 2013, the concerts featured hits and rarities from across Ahrens and Flaherty's storied career and offered previews of material from new shows as well.
"This double album contains some of the songs we've written along the way, performed by our brilliant friends and ranging from the earliest days of our collaboration until now. I still recall the hours of heated discussion, the caffeine and the enjoyment that has gone into it all," reminisced Lynn Ahrens.
Stephen Flaherty adds, "We've been having a wonderful time for the past thirty years since writing that first song - Broadway, Hollywood, the world stage - a shared life of writing in theaters. It doesn't get better than that."
"One of my most vivid theatrical memories was seeing the utterly brilliant original production of Ragtime on Broadway. It greatly enhanced my perspective on what was possible to do in theater and was a major early inspiration for my own career as a Broadway producer and co-founder of Broadway Records," Van Dean stated. "It's a truly incredible honor to work with two of my idols on this first, but long overdue, retrospective of their integral contribution to musical theater over their first three decades. I can't wait to see what the next 30 years of their career will bring."
The music director for "Nice Fighting You: A 30th Anniversary Celebration Live at 54 BELOW" is Ted Sperling and the recording is produced by Michael J. Moritz, Jr., co-produced by Neil
Douglas Reilly and executive produced by Van Dean. "Nice Fighting You" is the latest in the "Live at 54 BELOW" series that started earlier last year with albums by Patti LuPone, Norbert Leo Butz, Christiane Noll, Andrea McArdle,
Aaron Tveit,
Laura Benanti and the most recently released Jarrod Spector,
Sierra Boggess, Michael Cerveris & Loose Cattle and Bebe Neuwirth. More albums in the series will be announced shortly.
Song List:
At The Beginning/Patter - Lynn Ahrens And Stephen Flaherty
Journey To The Past - Liz Callaway
Waiting For Life - LaChanze
Mama Will Provide - Kecia Lewis
Rain - Quentin Earl Darrington
Love Who You Love -
Jessica Molaskey
The Cuddles Mary Gave - Sean McCourt
The
Streets Of Dublin - Sean McCourt
Rita's Confession - Mary Testa & Stephen Flaherty
Fancy Meeting You Here - Mary Testa
Ballerina -
Stephanie J. Block
Dancing Still - Jeremy Jordan
Raining (Hamburg Version) - Lynn Ahrens
Raining - Liz Callaway
Speaking French - Marin Mazzie
Times Like This -Liz Callaway
The Show Biz -
Kevin Chamberlin & Lewis Grosso
Alone In The Universe -
Kevin Chamberlin & Lewis Grosso
Solla Sollew -
Kevin Chamberlin
Green Eggs & Ham - Kecia Lewis
Never Really Knew The Guy - Liz Callaway
Close But No Cigar - Annaleigh Ashford &
Bobby Steggert
White Milk & Red Blood - Kecia Lewis
Larger Than Life -
Bobby Steggert
Funny/The Joke - Annaleigh Ashford &
Julie Halston
Something Beautiful - Rebecca Luker
Sarah Brown Eyes - Brian Stokes Mitchell & LaChanze
The Night That Goldman Spoke At Union
Square -
Bobby Steggert
Something Of My Own - LaChanze
Wheels Of A
Dream - Brian Stokes Mitchell & LaChanze
Ragtime (Piano Solo) - Stephen Flaherty
Make Them Hear You - Quentin Earl Darrington
Goodbye My Love/Back To Before - Marin Mazzie
I Was Here - Brian Stokes Mitchell
How Lucky We Are - Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty
Ahrens and Flaherty will be returning to 54 BELOW on May 12th at 7:00 pm and 9:30 to celebrate the launch of their new CD. Joining them at the 7:00 pm show will be Liz Callaway, Louis Grosso,
Julie Halston, Brian Michael Hoffman, Kecia Louis, Sean McCourt,
Janet Metz, Mary Testa and Margo Seibert and at the 9:30 pm show, their guests are Liz Callaway, Louis Grosso,
Julie Halston, Brian Michael Hoffman, Kecia Louis, Sean McCourt,
Janet Metz,
Bobby Steggert, Mary Testa, Margo Seibert and Andy Karl. Copies of the album will be available exclusively at 54 BELOW only during the concerts which is three weeks ahead of the general public release date. Tickets are $55 to 65 cover plus a $25 minimum. Please note that guests and ticket prices are subject to change. To purchase tickets, visit www.54Below.com. Tickets on the day of performance after 2:00pm are only available by calling 646-476-3551.
54 BELOW is owned and operated by Tony Award winning producers Tom Viertel, Marc Routh, Richard Frankel, and Steven Baruch.
Lynn Ahrens (Lyrics) and Stephen Flaherty (Music) recently celebrated thirty years of musical collaboration. They won Tony,
Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards and two Grammy nominations for Ragtime, and were nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globes for the animated Twentieth Century Fox feature, Anastasia. Other credits include: Rocky (recently opened on Broadway); Once On This Island (Olivier Award, Best Musical, Tony nominations for score and book); Seussical (Grammy and
Drama Desk nominations, one of the most performed shows in America); My Favorite Year; Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life; Ragtime (2009 Broadway revival); A Man of No Importance (Outer Critics Circle Award, Best Musical); Dessa Rose and The Glorious Ones (both
Drama Desk-nominated); Lucky Stiff. Upcoming:
Little Dancer, Kennedy Center premiere, 2014. Individually, Ms. Ahrens is an Emmy winner and four-time Emmy nominee for her work in network television. Her credits include: A Christmas Carol (ten years at Madison
Square Garden; teleplay adaptation for Hallmark Entertainment Special, NBC-TV); Camp (IFC Films); Lucky Stiff (screenplay); mainstay singer/songwriter, Schoolhouse Rock. Mr. Flaherty's individual credits include: concert premieres at the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall and Boston's Symphony Hall; commissions from the Guggenheim and Carnegie Hall; incidental music, Neil Simon's Proposals (Broadway); Loving Repeating: A Musical Of Gertrude Stein (Jefferson Award, Best New Musical.) Council members, Dramatists Guild of America; co-founders, Dramatists Guild Fellows Program. www.ahrensandflaherty.com
