Have you ever fallen in love with a piece written by a specific musical theatre songwriter or songwriting team and wished you knew more of their music? If so, this blog post series is for you. From time to time here at Musical Theatre Resource, I will delve into the work of an individual musical theatre songwriter or songwriting team from the past and present and offer up ten great audition songs written by that person/team.
The first songwriting team I would like to shine a spotlight on is Stephen Flaherty & Lynn Ahrens. Their most well-known musicals include Ragtime, Seussical, Once On this Island, and the animated film musical Anastasia, but the team has scored many other lesser-known shows over the past 30+ years as well. Some of these musicals haven’t been commercial hits, but a few have found new life in community and collegiate theatres. I’m a big fan of Ahrens & Flaherty’s ability to cater their songwriting style to specific musical genres and time periods. Below, I have included five audition songs for men and five songs for women written by this talented songwriting team. Enjoy!
P.S. Need help finding musical theatre songs to sing? Check out my professional repertoire guides here.
1. “The Streets of Dublin” from A Man of No Importance (2002)
Performed by Steven Pasquale
Sheet Music: MusicNotes
2. “Back to Before” from Ragtime (1998)
Performed by Marin Mazzie
Sheet Music: MusicNotes
3. “I Was Here” from The Glorious Ones (2007)
Performed by Mark Kurdisch
Sheet Music: MusicNotes
4. “Times Like This” from Lucky Stiff (1988)
Performed by Nikki M. James (original actress: Julie White)
Sheet Music: MusicNotes
5. “Larger Than Life” from My Favorite Year (1992)
Performed by Even Pappas
Sheet Music: MusicNotes
6. “Waiting for Life” from Once On this Island (1990)
Performed by LaChanze
Sheet Music: MusicNotes
7. “Solla Sollew” from Seussical (2000)
Performed by Kevin Chamberlin
Sheet Music: MusicNotes
8. “Once Upon a December” from Anastasia (1997)
Performed by Liz Callaway
Sheet Music: MusicNotes
9. “Fight from the Heart” from Rocky (2014)
Performed by Andy Karl
Sheet Music: MusicNotes
10. “Something Beautiful” from Legacy
Performed by Stephanie J. Block
Sheet Music: MusicNotes