Fresh air and a shot in the arm came to Lyrics & Lyricists as the venerable series moved for one evening from its home on East 92nd Street downtown to Tribeca. It was forty years ago that Maurice Levine created L&L to present lyricists discussing and demonstrating their work. However, in recent years, with so few of the writers of the Great American Songbook left living, the series lost the authenticity and immediacy that accompanied creative people discussing what they do and how they do it. L&L, despite its use of talented singers, dancers and bands, had come to resemble a walk through a musical museum.

In Tribeca, for a single thrilling evening, L&L came alive again as it presented Lynn Ahrens (lyrics) and Stephen Flaherty (music), the team behind Ragtime, Seussical, Once on This Island and other shows. With Flaherty doubling as the evening’s pianist, he and Ahrens chatted with host/interviewer Terrence McNally (who wrote the book to Ragtime and A Man of No Importance) about their twenty-six years as a team, the creation and development of their shows, and the way they work. (FYI, it’s sometimes lyrics first, sometimes music first, sometimes both developed together.) Presenting their songs was a powerhouse foursome: Jason Danieley, Kecia Lewis-Evans from Once on This Island, and, from the recent Ragtime, Christiane Noll and Quentin Earl Darrington. The downtown site itself, set up partly in cabaret style, added to the in-the-moment enjoyment. Notes L&L’s artistic director, Deborah Grace Winer, the Tribeca evening is the first of more to come.

(Photo by Joan Marcus)

Peter Haas
Cabaret Scenes
April 19, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org