It's an exciting time for one of my favorite composers, Stephen Flaherty. The acknowledged masterpiece, Ragtime, which he created in partnership with lyricist Lynn Ahrens and librettist Terrence McNally, is about to have a major revival at the Kennedy Center. And Flaherty has written a brand new piece that will be performed by the New York Pops in a gala concert at Carnegie Hall on Monday, April 27, 2009.
"It's called the "American River Suite," and it was a commission. I had written a song for the Pops for their gala two years ago; it was called 'In Our Children's Eyes,' it had lyrics by Bill Schermerhorn, and it was sung by Anika Noni Rose. The song went over really well, so the Pops commissioned me to write a piece celebrating the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage. The more Bill and I began talking about the piece, the more excited we became about it.
"The suite opens with a song called 'Half Moon,' named after Hudson's ship. That will be sung by Anika. The piece on the whole is like a tone poem that illustrates the different moods and aspects of the river, using all of the orchestral colors that are available within the New York Pops. There's a movement called 'Majestic Valley' that was inspired by the Hudson River school of painting. There's a fiery fiddle section that celebrates the Claremont, the first steamboat to sail down the river. Then the piece goes through several other moods and winds up in the present day with a song called 'American River,' which will be sung by Idina Menzel. We're also using the Harlem Choir Academy, an outgrowth of the Harlem Boys Choir. The piece was actually commissioned to be played for the Macy's fourth of July fireworks, and it will be, but the premiere will happen this month at Carnegie Hall. I should mention that the orchestrations are by an amazingly talented gentleman named David Hamilton, who's Nashville-based."
As for Ragtime in D.C., the show will feature such talents as Ron Bohmer (Father), Christiane Noll (Mother), Bobby Steggert (Younger Brother), and Manoel Felciano (Tateh), under the direction of Marcia Milgrom Dodge.
To hear Flaherty tell it, the production will approach the Broadway version in terms of scale: "We have a cast of about 38. That's fewer than the 52 we had on Broadway, but still pretty large! We're using Bill Brohn's Tony-winning orchestrations. And it's a beautiful physical production. I think it's going to look great in the Eisenhower Theater at the Kennedy Center. They've recently refurbished the theater. It's no longer red; it's blue!"
Sounds like an event that's not to be missed -- and that goes for the "American River Suite" as well. "There's something really liberating about writing instrumental music," says Flaherty, "and I don't often get the opportunity to write for such a large orchestra. I believe it's 65 strong. You're obviously never going to have 65 musicians in a Broadway pit. It's a thrilling sound."
