There are no words to describe what an honor it is to have Lynn Ahrens participate in our Music Magic Q&A Series, and support Women of the Wings: A Celebration of Female Musical Theatre Writers. She is a legend, and she is gracious, and she is giving, and I’m so happy to have her be a part of this series.
Write Teacher(s) Readers, meet the great Lynn Ahrens.
MM: First things first, when did you realize you wanted to be a songwriter?
LA: I think the seeds were planted when I was about 3 ½, and set my own lyric to “Frosty the Snowman.” I’ve been writing songs professionally ever since becoming one of the mainstay writers for Schoolhouse Rock.
MM: What drew you to writing for musical theatre?
LA: The first Broadway show I ever saw was Fiddler on the Roof, and the idea of using songs to tell a story captivated me. Once I joined the BMI Musical Theater Workshop and started studying the craft, I became enamored with this kind of writing.
MM: Of all the songs you’ve been a part of creating, is there one in particular that’s closest to your heart?
LA: I love a number of them, but if I absolutely had to pick a favorite, I might choose “Love Who You Love” from A Man of No Importance, which says the truest thing in the simplest way..
MM: When one walks into your home, what books are permanently on your bookshelf?
LA: Joyce Carol Oates, Alice Munroe, The Clement Wood’s Rhyming Dictionary, Alice in Wonderland, Mary Poppins and Winnie the Pooh (editions given to me by my parents as a little girl), Min Jin Lee, E.L. Doctorow, Colette…I could go on and on.
MM: If you were stranded on a desert island, what television shows and/or movies would you want available to you, (assuming of course you have a television and Internet connection?)
LA: A few things I could watch over and over–Downton Abbey, The Omen, The Wizard of Oz, The Hours, The Godfather 1 and 2, Singin’ In the Rain, anything starring Frances McDormand.
MM: What’s the best piece of advice you’d want to offer aspiring lyricists (and composers)?
LA: Study the masters of musical theater and analyze how they did it.
MM: What sound do you love? What sound do you hate?
LA: I love the sound of radiators when the heat starts coming up for the first time in the season; I hate the sound of a lonely dog yelping behind a closed door.
MM: What literary or musical theatre character is most like your personality? Least like your personality.
LA: I’m a sort of combo platter of Mrs. Lovett (desperately sunny, with a mad streak) and Tevye (always praying that the wheel won’t fall off the cart.)
MM: Time for shameless self promotion! Tell our readers what you want to brag about, what you’re excited about in your career at the moment.
LA: I’m pretty thrilled that I have two hits on Broadway at the same time—Once On This Island and Anastasia. That rarely happens to anyone. (And both were in this year’s Macy’s Parade. I’m told that’s a first.)
MM: In today’s economic state, arts education programs are being cut. What reasons would you give to a school board or politician for preserving arts education programming in schools?
LA: The arts teach more than any other single subject. Through the arts, we connect to other cultures and ideas; we learn to communicate; we experience our profound differences and likenesses. We learn how to collaborate and how to make things together. Without the arts, we would be deprived of important bonds between the past and the future.
MM: Who is/was your greatest teacher? (Can absolutely be more than one)
LA: I’ve been mentored by some of the greats in musical theater—Stephen Sondheim, Sheldon Harnick, John Kander and Ed Kleban to name a few. I can still recall their advice word for word, and I’m ever grateful for their early encouragement.
Thank you, Lynn!
Live, Love, Learn,