Called “the granddaddy of American songbook programs,” by Blogwaybaby, the 92nd Street Y Lyrics & Lyricists series launched in 1970. And after 40 years, it is now the jumping off point for L&L Downtown at 92YTribeca on Apr 19. BroadwayWorld.com reported:

For L&L’s artistic director Deborah Grace Winer - who also directs L&L Downtown - the new series is a welcome opportunity to generate intimate, informal conversations with songwriters working in today’s musical theater, all in a nightclub setting (complete with full bar).

Winer says, “We’re so excited to start this new venture, and it’s hard to imagine two more fitting artists to launch it than Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. They’re such talented musical theater professionals at the top of their game, who exemplify the American Songbook tradition.” In addition to winning the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Ragtime, Ahrens and Flaherty received Tony nominations for Once on This Island, and Grammy nominations for Ragtime and Seussical, one of the most frequently-performed shows in America. The Kennedy Center revival of Ragtime (which moved to Broadway last fall) just garnered six Helen Hayes Award nominations; and their 2002 musical A Man of No Importance (with book by their Ragtime collaborator Terrence McNally), is set to make its West End debut in London next month. Ahrens and Flaherty are also two-time Academy Award nominees for the movie musical Anastasia.

See TheaterMania.com and Playbill.com for more.

[L&L Downtown – Ahrens and Flaherty]

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