Ahrens and Flaherty

Ahrens and Flaherty, songwriting team. Lynn Ahrens (b. 1948), the lyricist and librettist member of the duo, was born in New York and studied journalism at Syracuse University. She wrote television commercials and for children's shows before meeting composer Stephen Flaherty (b. 1960) at a BMI Musical Theatre Workshop in 1983. He was born in Pittsburgh and studied music at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. The team's first effort was the musical farce Lucky Stiff (1988), followed by the Caribbean fable Once on This Island (1990) and My Favorite Year (1992), about the early days of television. Ahrens provided lyrics only for Alan Menken's music in A Christmas Carol (1994), then reteamed with Flaherty for Ragtime (1998), Seussical (2000), and A Man of No Importance (2002). The songwriting team is known for their acute sense of pastiche, strong melodic lines, and polished integrated scores.