Instead, She spent many years in advertising, working her way up from copy secretary to senior vice president at McCaffrey and McCall where "Schoolhouse Rock" was developed. In 1978, she formed her own production company and created a series of educational programs for children. In 1982, on a whim, she auditioned for the BMI Musical Theater Workshop, where she met Stephen. They began working together thefollowing year.
Stephen was born in Pittsburgh on September 18, 1960, and graduated from the Cincinnati College Conservatory in 1982. Unlike Lynn, he knew from age 12 that he wanted to write musicals, and composed his first score at age 14. His mentor was Lehman Engel, founder of the BMI Workshop. Stephen entered the workshop right after graduation, and the rest is "history."
Some of the early projects Lynn and Stephen worked on included a musical version of the film "Bedazzled" and a one hour musical version of "The Emperor's New Clothes".
The following short biography is excerpted from the Ahrens & Flaherty Songbook:
Lynn Ahrens (lyrics) and Stephen Flaherty (music) have been collaborators in the musical theatre since 1983. Their work has been heard on Broadway, in film, on the concert stage and in theatres across the country and internationally. Their most recent musical, Seussical (based on the works of Dr. Seuss) premiered on Broadway in 2000.
In 1998, they won the Tony® Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for their score of Ragtime (based on the E.L. Doctorow novel, with book by Terrence McNally); they received two Grammy® nominations for "Songs from Ragtime" and "Ragtime: Original Broadway Cast Recording." Also in 1998, Ahrens and Flaherty received two Academy Award® nominations and two Golden Globe nominations for the songs and score of ANASTASIA, 20th Century Fox's first animation feature.
They are the co-creators of the hit Broadway musical Once on this Island, which was awarded London's 1995 Olivier Award as Best Musical and received eight Tony nominations, including Best Score and Best Book. Also for Broadway, they wrote the score for My Favorite Year, the first original musical produced by Lincoln Center. Their musical farce Lucky Stiff, first produced off Broadway by Playwrights Horizons, won the Richard Rodgers Award and Washington's 1990 Helen Hayes Award as Best Musical.
In 1999, Ahrens and Flaherty wrote "With Voices Raised," a concert piece for orchestra, mixed chorus, tenor soloist and speakers, which was commisioned by Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Orchestra, and has been performed at Boston's Symphony Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York.
Individually, Ms. Ahrens is the lyricist and co-book writer for A Christmas Carol, Madison Square Garden's annual holiday musical. For her work in network televison, as a songwriter, creator and producer, Ms. Ahrens has received the Emmy® Award and four Emmy nominations, and her songs are a mainstay of the renowned animated series "Schoolhouse Rock."
Mr. Flaherty wrote the incidental music for Neil Simon's play Proposals on Broadway. His "Ragtime Symphonic Suite" premiered at the Hollywood Bowl under the direction of John Maucieri, and his musical themes from ANASTASIA were also featured at the Bowl in a "Tribute to the Music of Twentieth Century Fox." He is a founding member of the scclaimed theatre company Drama Dept.
Cast recordings and soundtracks of Ahrens and Flaherty shows are available on Decca Broadway, RCA Victor, Atlantic, Sony, Varese Sarabande and TER, and their music is published by Warner/Chappell. They are members of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild, where both serve on the Dramatists Guild Council.
Nominated for Achievement in Music (Original Musical Comedy Score) ANASTASIA (Song score - Music & Lyric; Orchestral Score by David Newman)
Nominated for Achievement in Music (Original Song) ANASTASIA "Journey to the Past" - Music & Lyric
2 nominations each