Broadway Records releases Legacy, the world premiere album of two never-before-heard song cycles by Ragtime and Anastasia writing duo Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, December 11. Announced last month, the album comprises unreleased demo recordings, featuring performances from the late Marin Mazzie, Jason Danieley, Sarah Uriarte Berry, and Steven Pasquale.
Mazzie and Danieley are featured singing in1859: A Farmer's Diary, based on portions of the diary of an upstate New York farmer written over one year. Get a first listen to the pair singing "December: An Unexpected Gift" from the cycle below.
“[The song] musicalizes an actual dramatic/tragic moment in the lives of a farm couple, but ends with acceptance and determination—something we all need right now!" shares Ahrens.
Berry and Pasquale are featured in A Boy With a Camera, inspired by photographs of New York City taken in the '40s and '50s by Ahrens' father.
Legacy is produced by Ahrens, Flaherty, and Michael J. Moritz, Jr. 1859: A Farmer's Diary features Flaherty at the piano, with Steve Marzullo at the keys for A Boy With a Camera.
Ahrens and Flaherty's long writing partnership includes Lucky Stiff, Once On This Island, My Favorite Year, Ragtime, Seussical, A Man of No Importance, Dessa Rose, The Glorious Ones, Rocky the Musical, and Anastasia. The pair are currently working on the Broadway-aimed Marie, Dancing Still, which was produced in 2014 at the Kennedy Center under the title Little Dancer. The team won a 1998 Tony Award for their score to Ragtime.
For more information and to pre-order Legacy, visit BroadwayRecords.com.
