EP 6 Stephen Flaherty on “The Lorax” — A Lost Seussical Masterpiece | Does It Sing?

In Episode 6 of Does It Sing?, David Goldsmith sits down with Tony-winning composer Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime, Once On This Island, Anastasia, Seussical).

🎭 This episode covers:

• How Flaherty & Ahrens created and then cut a 10-minute mini-opera of The Lorax from Seussical

• Why the lost number resurfaced at David’s CCM / Carnegie Hall tribute 30 Years of Stephen

• How Doug Besterman expanded the orchestration to 65 players for the concert

• David’s minute-by-minute analysis of the piece’s structure, harmonic language, and motifs

• Eddie Korbich and Jason Graae’s unforgettable performances of The Lorax

• Stephen’s memories of CCM, BMI Workshop, and first meeting Lynn Ahrens

• Why sometimes dialogue—not melody—serves your dramatic moment best

• Early Flaherty song How Do You Leave the Theater and the Village Voice trio

• The power of student orchestras and alumni coming together for a one-night-only event

🎧 This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation with Stephen Flaherty. Next week, Part 2 dives into one of the greatest musical theatre openings ever written: the Ragtime Prologue.

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00:00 Parody intro — “Be Our Guest” welcome
02:15 Setting up the Flaherty tribute at CCM
06:00 Why David chose The Lorax for this episode
09:40 How The Lorax was cut from Seussical and rediscovered
15:00 The minor arpeggios & Seussian scene-setting
20:30 Flashback section — from minor dread to major hope
26:00 The industrial “chop chop” section & dialogue choice
33:00 Bringing back themes for dramatic impact
38:00 Ending Act II: “All is lost” & structural precision
43:00 Hope returns: the seed, the kids of CCM, and the future in their hands
49:30 Stephen Flaherty joins David for the interview
54:00 Meeting Lynn Ahrens at BMI Workshop
1:01:00 Early song How Do You Leave the Theater with Aaron Lazar
1:07:00 On student orchestras & the power of collaboration
1:12:00 Preview of next week’s Ragtime Prologue deep dive

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Stephen Flaherty interview, Seussical The Lorax cut song, Doug Besterman orchestrations, Eddie Korbich Jason Graae performance, Ragtime prologue analysis, Once On This Island composer, Anastasia Broadway, BMI Workshop Lynn Ahrens, David Goldsmith podcast, Virtual Stage Lab, lost Broadway songs, environmental musicals

“The Lorax” was everyone’s favorite number in Seussical but never made it to Broadway.
👇 Do you think Broadway should revive cut songs in concerts — or leave them in the trunk?
Subscribe for Part 2 of my Stephen Flaherty interview: the Ragtime Prologue deep dive.

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