Ahrens and Flaherty's The Glorious Ones Premieres in PA, April '07

By: Jan. 30, 2006
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The Glorious Ones, the latest musical by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, will have its world premiere at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre in 2007. It will run from April 19th through May 20th of next year.

They will join forces with director/choreographer Graciela Daniele, with whom they previously worked on Ragtime and Once On This Island. The show, based on the Francine Prose novel of the same title, "chronicles the lives and passions of a troupe of commedia dell'arte actors on a quest for theatrical immortality," according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Alice T. Carter.

"It's a love letter to actors, and I love any story about theater, actors and backstage life in any era. What's exciting is the collaboration between the three of them. It's going to be exciting. And the talent they will attract will be part of what makes it a special event," stated artistic director Ted Pappas on the show, which has not yet been cast.

In addition to Ragtime (for which they won a Tony Award for Best Original Musical Score) and Once On This Island, Ahrens and Flaherty have penned Dessa Rose, A Man of No Importance, Seussical, My Favorite Year and Lucky Stiff. Loving Remembering, Flaherty's collaboration with Frank Galati adapted from the writings of Gertrude Stein, will premiere in Chicago on February 14th.

Ahrens and Flaherty penned a few new songs for Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life, as well. The show is Daniele's latest directing credit. She has also both directed and choreographed Marie Christine, Annie Get Your Gun, and Chronicle of a Death Foretold (in addition to Once On This Island), and has choreographed Ragtime and many other shows.

The Glorious Ones will be one of two world premieres to be presented at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre in the 2006-2007 season; the other is The Secret Letters of Jackie and Marilyn by Mark Hampton and Michael Sharp. "It speculates on what would have happened if two media superstars -- Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy -- had exchanged letters as part of a secret friendship," according to Carter. The show will run from November 9th through December 10th.

Other shows in the theatre's season will include Oedipus The King, directed by Pappas and featuring a W.B. Yeats translation, from September 28th through October 29th, Cabaret, directed by Pappas, from January 25th through February 25th, 2007, and Yasmina Reza's Life x 3, directed by Rob Ruggerio from March 8th through April 8th. A "great American play," unannounced as of yet, will fill the slot from May 31st through July 1st.

For more information, visit www.ppt.org.

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