PR: Ahrens & Flaherty 54 Below recording

[cinemediapromo]

Posted: 5/28/14 at 7:03pm

For Immediate Release

AHRENS AND FLAHERTY
SET TO RELEASE LIVE AT 54 BELOW DOUBLE ALBUM

Nice Fighting You: A 30th Anniversary Celebration
Features 19 Top Broadway Stars

(May 27, 2014 – New York, NY) – 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 http://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

BROADWAY RECORDS is a label dedicated to Broadway and Off Broadway-related recordings. Broadway Records releases include the Original Broadway Cast Recordings of Matilda The Musical (Grammy Award® nominated), Big Fish, A Night With Janis Joplin, Bonnie & Clyde and Lysistrata Jones, “Nick Jonas: Songs from How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying”, “Laura Osnes: Dream A Little Dream – Live at the Café Carlyle” and Jekyll & Hyde 2012 Concept Recording and its new series of “Live at 54 BELOW” recordings including artists such as Patti LuPone, Sierra Boggess, Aaron Tveit, Norbert Leo Butz, Laura Benanti, Jarrod Spector, Bebe Neuwirth and more. Broadway Records was co-founded by Tony Award® winning Broadway producer Van Dean whose producing credits include Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, The Velocity of Autumn, Big Fish, Chinglish, Bonnie & Clyde, Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, Evita (2012) and Catch Me If You Can. Van also co-conceived From Broadway With Love: A Benefit Concert for Sandy Hook which aired on NY area PBS stations last summer and will soon be released on DVD, BluRay and CD. Van co-executive produced the Grammy® nominated 2011 Broadway Cast Recording of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying with Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette. Rob Hinderliter and Dominick LaRuffa, Jr. are general managers and Yvette Kojic is the social media director for Broadway Records.
www.BroadwayRecords.com

54 BELOW, Broadway’s Supper Club, is the new performance venue in the grand tradition of New York City nightlife. A few blocks from the heart of Times Square and just below the legendary Studio 54, 54 BELOW is a classically designed state-of-the art nightclub in the theatre district that hosts audiences with warmth and style. The venue provides a food and beverage menu from early evening through the wee hours of the morning that is worthy of the world-class entertainment on the stage. In their description of 54 BELOW, The New York Times writes “the club has the intimacy of a large living room with unimpeded views and impeccable sound; there is not a bad seat. Its sultry after-hours ambience is enhanced by brocade-patterned wall panels planted with orange-shaded lanterns. And the atmosphere is warmer and sexier than in Manhattan’s other major supper clubs.” Located at 254 West 54th Street, 54 BELOW features up to three shows nightly with cover charges ranging from $15-$95. Tickets and information are available at www.54Below.com.

For more information on Broadway Records or the album series, contact: [e-mail], or @cinemediapromo on Twitter

[tazber]

Posted: 6/7/14 at 8:16am

Anyone else hear this?

The quality is excellent for a live recording. The assembled singers are all great, the selection is expansive, and they don't combine numbers into medleys or mash-ups so each song (of which there are over 40) gets a full rendition.

My only quibble is that Dessa Rose and The Glorious Ones are under-represented (no Twelve Children? Especially since La Chanze was already performing).

But if your a A&F fan this is a must. If you're unfamiliar with them, this is a great place to start.

[DramaTeach]

Posted: 6/7/14 at 8:20am

No Once Upon a December? One of the most hauntingly beautiful songs they've written.

[tazber]

Posted: 6/7/14 at 8:25am

Yes, that was another odd omission, but with so many songs to squeeze in something had to go I guess.

The song Ballerina was previewed from their new musical opening at Kennedy Center in October is absolutely beautiful. One of their best.