Still More Theater Saturday - Broadway Playhouse: Ahrens and Flaherty

We were given free tickets to Broadway Playhouse: Ahrens and Flaherty for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: Broadway Playhouse: Ahrens and Flaherty

Where: Merkin Hall
            Kaufman Music Center

            129 W. 67th St.

           New York, NY

Who: All ages especially kids  5 - 11

When: This event occurred on Sunday March 24 2019

 
 

Me - Broadway Playhouse: Ahrens and Flaherty was good. It was the last Broadway Playhouse of the season and the last one's are usually especially good. In past seasons, the last show has included ones about Andrew Lloyd Webber and Alan Menken. This show was a little different than usual. They usually start with a sing-along, and this time they did the sing-along later. They also sang Schoolhouse Rock Interplanet Janet from Schoolhouse Rock even though it is not a song from a Broadway show because Lynn Ahrens wrote a lot of songs for Schoolhouse Rock.
Instead of having kids in the finale, they had some kids come up and dance with them when they did a song from Once on This Island. Also, in the finale they didn't do a mini musical. They just did a selection of songs from Seussical, but they did not attempt to follow the storyline. It was nice to see them shake things up a bit. Of course, they did most of the usual things like having some kids up on stage to play a game. In this edition's game, they had to form an assembly line and make as many drawings as they could in one minute. Even though this show was equally as good as the other Broadway Playhouse shows we have seen, it felt a little special to me because Ahrens and Flaherty wrote the music for one of my favorite shows of all time, Anastasia. I am super excited to find out what they  are doing next year in Broadway Playhouse!

 

Mom - Broadway Playhouse recently concluded their three (3) show 2019 season with a show about Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. Although all of their shows are good and seem to delight audiences of all ages, the last show of the season always seems to be the most crowd-pleasing one of the season, and this year's was no exception. Ahrens and Flaherty shows include the about to be closed Anastasia, Once on This Island (a revivial of which recently closed as well), and Seussical, a show based on Dr. Seuss books. Lyricist, Lynn Ahrens, is also know for such songs as A Noun is a Person, Place or Thing, Interjections, The Preamble, and Interplanet Janet from the beloved Schoolhouse Rock series of educational short cartoons from the 70s.  It was a nice surprise to have Interplanet Janet included in this version of Broadway Playhouse even though it is not from a Broadway show. Otherwise, the show was preyty standard with skits and songs, a sing-along and a game. There were a few minor changes in the usual format which Aurella talked about more in her post, but mostly it was the same Broadway Playhouse that the audience knows and loves and has come to expect. At the end of the show, they asked the audience who they would be interested in learning about in next year's Broadway Playhouse season although they did not announce who they will be covering just thinking about the possibilities has me really looking forward to finding out more about whom they will be covering then!

 
 

For more about Broadway Playhouse, visit twww.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/series/broadway-playhouse.

And that's our view. Tune in tomorrow for another Talking Topic.