Book and Lyrics LEE GOLDSMITH

Music ROGER ANDERSON

Orchestrations Greg Anthony Rassen

Making of ABE Read Composer’s Blog

Abe is a new and mature musical about the early life of Abraham Lincoln. The show explores his youth as a flatboat pilot on the Mississippi, his early love for Ann Rutledge, his troubled marriage to the difficult and mentally fragile Mary Todd, and his attempt to be a good father to his sons. The story follows Abe from his earliest attempts at self-improvement through the 1860 election that made him the 16th President of an already fractured United States. It can be produced fully staged or as a concert performance.

Written in the Rodgers & Hammerstein tradition, the score is fully orchestrated and uses bold, melodic and traditional musical theatre styles that embrace the story's period and Americana roots. The play features a large cast and requires strong singers: baritone, soprano, mezzo-soprano, 3 adult male singing roles, 3 male children singing roles, male/female chorus with many speaking roles.