Asolo Luminary Award

Tony-winners Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty

By: Jay Handelman - Mar 13, 2026

Aherns Flaherty

Knoxville

Ragtime

Since they first met at a musical theater workshop in 1982, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty have become two of the most important contributors to musical theater. They won Tony Awards in 1998 for their score to “Ragtime,” were nominated for Academy Awards and Golden Globes Awards for the animated film “Anastasia” and have enjoyed success with such shows as “Seussical,” “Once On This Island” and the Broadway version of “Anastasia.” Last fall, their first musical “Lucky Stiff” had a run at Florida Studio Theatre.

They are returning to Sarasota on March 16 to receive the second Luminary Award from Asolo Repertory Theatre, where they wrote the score for the pandemic-delayed 2022 world premiere of “Knoxville,” a musical adapted from James Agee’s “A Death in the Family” with a book and direction by the late Frank Galati.

 Before their visit, Ahrens and Flaherty joined ArtsBeat on a Zoom call to reflect on their careers, “Knoxville” and the sold-out success of a Broadway revival of “Ragtime.”

 Q. What does the Asolo’s luminary award represent to you?

Ahrens: For me, it represents an acknowledgment of our relationship with Asolo Rep. I suppose they’re acknowledging our careers which have been far reaching and long-lasting. But to do a successful and beautiful show like “Knoxville’ at a theater and then be honored by the theater, says to me we have a wonderful relationship at that theater and it’s important for artists to have an artistic home. It’s not about how wonderful we are and all the things we’ve done.

Flaherty: Without a home or home base, it’s hard to be a writer in the world. You need the support of a theater. When we were working on “Knoxville,” both pre-pandemic and post-pandemic, I never felt such a feeling of support, not only from the theater, but from the donors and the whole community. We felt every step of the way that we were supported and able to develop a unique show for a unique theater. The great work is happening in regional theaters. Broadway is just a few blocks in New York. So I can personally applaud Asolo Rep while I’m there.

 Q: Your score for “Knoxville” was set to a book by Frank Galati, who also directed and conceived the production. He died in 2023. You did another production in Knoxville in 2024. How do you move forward with a project like that without Galati?

Ahrens: It’s sort of fallen to me, because I am a book writer. We’re very close with (Galati’s partner, director) Peter Amster, and Josh Rhodes, who took over the direction and choreography. He’s also a wonderful dramaturg. We did have a subsequent production at the Clarence Brown Theatre in Knoxville where we made some significant discoveries about the placement of things, edits and who sings what. We’re feeling good about the show and honoring Frank’s vision and yet taking it forward. He would have been clapping his hands every time we came to one of those little moments of revelation. The good work goes on and I think Frank would be happy.

Q: What does it mean to you to have written a show like “Ragtime” that is being discovered by new audiences and rediscovered and seen in new ways by people who have known it for years?

Ahrens: We’re lucky enough to still be alive and still be working and excited by things and to see it come back again. This is an extraordinary experience. We’ve had successful shows but this is something else. Because of the time we’re in, the show is resonating so deeply. Audiences are in tears, shredded, enraged, thrilled. There’s a new give and take with the actors and the audience. There are lines from the show that Terrence (McNally) wrote, like “What is wrong with this country?” and “Guns were going off everywhere,” resonant lines that are hitting people in new ways.

Flaherty: We first presented the world premiere in 1996 and now here we are in 2026. We’re grateful that work we put out in the world is still vital and seen in different ways. I was at the show last night again, and there was a tremendous reaction from this group of people. Justice Sonya Sotomayor was sitting in front of me and someone she was with must have whispered that the composer was sitting behind them. At intermission, she grabbed my hands, looked me straight in the eyes and said ‘Thank you so much for writing this music. This show means so much to me and everybody who experiences it.’ She went backstage and met with every cast member, and there are more than 30 of them.

Ahrens: In 1998, when it opened on Broadway, “Ragtime” was a period piece, a look at how far we have come. Now it’s another century, but here we are here and looking back with pride. In 2010, when it was revived, Obama was in office and when the little Black child ran out to the arms of Mother, everyone cheered. Now we look at the show, we look at how nothing has changed, how far we still have to go. This is the most emotional time of all three.

Q: The Sarasota arts season began with a production of your first musical “Lucky Stiff” at Florida Studio Theatre. Can you recall what it was like creating that show when you were just starting your own creative process together with no idea of the success and honors that would follow?

Flaherty: We met in the BMI musical theater workshop. “Lucky Stiff” was a show we wrote and had a series of workshops, one at the Dramatists Guild that was very helpful. Nobody knew who we were, but we were helped by people like (librettist) Peter Stone, composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim and lyricist Sheldon Harnick, people who understand what it’s like to be a young writer finding your way. It was not like they were on some pedestal. We were all writers in a room working together. It was really exciting. We had a grant that Playwrights Horizons used to produce our show.

Ahrens: The bottom line was we acquired an artistic home with (artistic director) Andre Bishop, even when he moved from Playwrights to Lincoln Center. And we were discovering how to do stuff, how to solve problems, how to use things we learned in this workshop with that incredible curiosity and joy in the work. It has kept us going all these years. We keep finding new countries to write about, comedies, emotional pieces, memory pieces, historical pieces, fantasy pieces.’

Q: Do you work together every day on something or talk about potential projects? What are you working on now and what’s your routine?

Flaherty: Each project is different. Right now we’re collaborating with a Mexican-American band on a new piece that takes place in Mexico during a specific period of history, but it has very contemporary music. We did a reading of the first draft, which was thrilling. There was so much enthusiasm, even when there was a blizzard outside.

Ahrens: We used to get together every day, then we discovered the fax machine and we’d send work back and forth, and then the internet and e-mail. Our actual sitting in the room time has diminished over the years.

Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty receive the Asolo Repertory Theatre’s Luminary Award at 6:30 p.m. March 16 at the Ora, Sarasota-Manatee Jewish Federation, 578 McIntosh Rd., Sarasota. Tickets are $25, $150 for VIP seating. asolorep.org; 941-351-9010, ext. 4714

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