This site's been up for over a year now, and in that time, we've been posting lots of songs and snippets for your collective enjoyment. Here's a quick roundup of where you can find all the music we've put online so far:

from Songs for a New World:

Stars and the Moon, Jessica Molaskey (original cast recording, 1996)
She Cries, Jason Robert Brown (live, 2002)
The River Won't Flow, Brian D'arcy James, Billy Porter, Andréa Burns, Amy Ryder (demo, 1994)
King of the World, Billy Porter (demo, 1994)
Surabaya-Santa, Kristine Zbornik (live, 2002)

from Parade:

All The Wasted Time, Brent Carver & Carolee Carmello (original cast recording, 1999)
I Have Something To Say/Special To The New York Herald! (cut from the show) JRB (demo, 1996)
It Goes On And On Evan Pappas (original cast recording outtake, 1999)

from The Last Five Years:

Shiksa Goddess, Norbert Leo Butz (original cast recording, 2002)
Moving Too Fast, Jason Robert Brown (live, 2002)

from Urban Cowboy:

That's How Texas Was Born, Jason Robert Brown (original cast recording, 2003)
Mr. Hopalong Heartbreak, Jenn Colella (original cast recording, 2003)

from "13":

What It Means To Be A Friend, Krista Pioppi (demo, 2004)
"13" Medley: Being A Geek/Brand New You/Thirteen, members of the original Los Angeles cast (radio commercial, 2006)
Being A Geek, Ricky Ashley & Boys (Los Angeles cast recording, 2007)

from The Moneyman:

Coming Home (The Ballad of Michael Milken), Jason Robert Brown, Lauren Mufson (demo, 1996)
The X-Shaped Desk, The Caucasian Rhythm Kings and Orchestra (demo, 1996)
Reborn (The Fallen Angel), Jason Robert Brown (demo, 1996)
Milken On The Floor, The Caucasian Rhythm Kings and Orchestra (demo, 1996)

Assorted other songs:

And I Will Follow, Lauren Kennedy (Songs of Jason Robert Brown, 2003)

Someone To Fall Back On, Jason Robert Brown (Wearing Someone Else's Clothes, 2005)

Chanukah Suite, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Grant Gershon, conductor (live radio broadcast, 2005)

In This Room, Lauren Kennedy & Rozz Morehead (studio recording, 2004)

More Than A Hamburger, Alise Wojciechowski (studio recording, 1998)

Theme from Rose's Dilemma, Jason Robert Brown & The Caucasian Rhythm Kings (studio recording, 2003)

I was having a big night last night. While Lauren Kennedy and I were in New York, rocking Birdland with The Last Five Years, my show "13" was kicking ass all over Los Angeles. Genuinely wonderful news, as reported by Ken Jones here.

L.A. Drama Critics Embrace 13, Stephen Adly Guirgis and Zanna, Don't! in Annual Awards
By Kenneth Jones
18 Mar 2008

Jason Robert Brown's coming-of-age musical, 13, and Stephen Adly Guirgis's In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings were honored by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle during its 39th annual awards March 17.

The awards celebrate excellence in Southern California theatre, including Los Angeles and Orange County.

13 (produced by Center Theatre Group at Mark Taper Forum) and In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings (produced by Elephant Theatre in association with VS. Theatre Company) both won in the Production category.

Composer-lyricist Brown won for Musical Score, and the show snagged an award for Musical Direction (David O) and Ensemble Performance (sharing the plaudit with Zanna, Don't!).

The Guirgis play was honored in the categories of Writing (sharing the award with Jeff Goode for Love Loves a Pornographer), Scenic Design (Joel Daavid) and Lighting Design (Joel Daavid).

13, which has a libretto by nominee Dan Elish, will make its East Coast premiere in May in a staging by Goodspeed Musicals at the Norma Terris Theater. The show features young actors playing angsty high schoolers. The new staging will test major revisions made since the show's Mark Taper Forum staging in Los Angeles.

Jason Graae hosted the L.A.D.C.C. ceremony at North Hollywood's El Portal Theatre. The awards are for work seen in 2007.

Host Graae himself was among the pre-announced special honor recipients, receiving the Joel Hirschhorn Award (for outstanding achievement in musical theatre).

Other special awards: The Margaret Harford Award (for sustained excellence in theatre by an individual, company or theatre) was given to Musical Theatre West, and the Polly Warfield Award (for an outstanding single season by a small to mid-sized theatre) to Theater Banshee. Jane Anderson took The Ted Schmitt Award (for outstanding world premiere play in Los Angeles) for The Quality of Life. Leigh Allen earned The Angstrom Award (for career achievement in lighting design).

A special honor went to Jon Maher for his long-term outstanding achievement as an ASL interpreter.

The 2007 nominees and recipients for the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards follow. Winners are indicated in bold with an asterisk:

PRODUCTION
*13, CTG, Mark Taper Forum
dark play or stories for boys, Theater@Boston Court
*In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings, Elephant Theater Company with VS. Theater Company
The Quality of Life, Geffen Playhouse
Trying, Colony Theater Company


REVIVAL
*The Hasty Heart, Pacific Resident Theater Company
Tonight at 8:30, Parts 1 and 2, Antaeus Theater Company at Deaf West Theater
Waiting for Godot, A Noise Within


LEAD PERFORMANCE
Dennis Boutsikaris, The Quality of Life
*Danny Calvert, Zanna, Don't!, West Coast Ensemble
Gregory Itzin, Shipwrecked: An Entertainment, South Coast Repertory
*Matt Letscher, Anatol, Pacific Resident Theater
*Alan Mandell, Trying
*Rebecca Marcotte, Loyal Women, Theater Banshee
*Laurie Metcalf, The Quality of Life
*Gabriel Olds, Tryst, Black Dahlia Theater
Deborah Puette, Tryst
Rex Smith, The Pirates of Penzance, Musical Theater West at Carpenter Performing Arts Center


FEATURED PERFORMANCE
Deanne Bray, Sleeping Beauty Wakes, CTG, Kirk Douglas Theater
Stephen Cell, Small Tragedy, Odyssey Theater Ensemble
*Misty Cotton, A Little Night Music, South Coast Repertory
*Adam Haas Hunter, dark play or stories for boys
Norman Large, The Pirates of Penzance
*Shawn Lee, An Impending Rupture of the Belly, Furious Theater Company at Pasadena Playhouse
Kathleen Rose Perkins, Love Loves a Pornographer, Circle X at [Inside] the Ford
JoBeth Williams, The Quality of Life


ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
*13, Mark Taper Forum
Loyal Women, Theater Banshee
Waiting for Godot, A Noise Within
Winter Wonderettes, El Portal Forum Theater
*Zanna, Don't!, West Coast Ensemble


WRITING Dan Elish, 13
Joanna McClelland Glass, Trying
*Jeff Goode, Love Loves a Pornographer
*Stephen Adly Guirgis, In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings
Carlos Murillo, dark play or stories for boys

ADAPTATION
Martin Crimp, The Misanthrope, Andak Stage Company at New Place Studio Theater
Stephen Sachs, Miss Julie, Fountain Theater
*Matt Walker, Alice In One-Hit Wonderland, Troubadour Theater Company at Falcon Theater

MUSICAL SCORE
Tim Acito and Alexander Dinelaris, Zanna, Don't!
*Jason Robert Brown, 13
Michael John LaChiusa, Little Fish, Blank Theater Company at 2nd Stage Theater

DIRECTION
Jillian Armenante, Love Loves a Pornographer
*Dan Bonnell, Anatol, Pacific Resident Theater
Jeff Calhoun, Sleeping Beauty Wakes
*Nick DeGruccio, Zanna, Don't!
*Michael Michetti, dark play or stories for boys

MUSICAL DIRECTION
Brian Baker, Winter Wonderettes, El Portal Forum Theater
John Glaudini, Altar Boyz, Musical Theater West at Carpenter Performing Arts Center
*David O, 13
*Gerald Sternbach, On Your Toes, Reprise! Broadway's Best at UCLA Freud Playhouse

CHOREOGRAPHY
Christine Lakin & Paul Nygro, Zanna, Don't!
Troy Magino, Altar Boyz
*Lee Martino, On Your Toes
*Janet Miller, Winter Wonderettes

SCENIC DESIGN
*Joel Daavid, In Arabia We'd All Be Kings
Robert G. Smith, Bug, Lost Angels Theater Company at Coast Playhouse
Gary Smoot, Love Loves A Pornographer

LIGHTING DESIGN
*Joel Daavid, In Arabia We'd All be Kings
Jeremy Pivnick, Calling Aphrodite, International City Theater
Steven Young, Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings, Theater@Boston Court

COSTUME DESIGN
*Shon LeBlanc, The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore
Maggie Morgan, Sleeping Beauty Wakes
Paul Spadone, Love Loves a Pornographer

SOUND DESIGN
*Lindsay Jones, Bug
Cricket Myers, dark play or stories for boys
Eric Snodgrass, Sleeping Beauty Wakes

PUPPET DESIGN
*Rick Lyon, Avenue Q, CTG, Ahmanson Theater

For further information, visit ladramacriticscircle.com.

My beloved readers and those interested in getting cast in my show:

This posting is all of the information I can disclose about auditions for the forthcoming Broadway production of "13". I can't respond to any further questions about it, so please read carefully.

Auditions for "13" are ongoing. Currently, we are conducting auditions in New York City, but it is possible we will be going to additional cities later in the year. If you wish to be considered for an audition, send a résumé and picture to:

Mark Simon Casting
240 West 44 Street
New York, New York 10036

Include your name, phone number and grade in school on your résumé. Also, list any musicals you have done professionally or at camp or school. Send us a head shot if you have one; otherwise, a recent picture is fine. Please do not send DVDs or CDs, they will not be looked at or listened to.

Feel free to check back on this website for any additional casting information, but right now, that's all I know! Thanks so much!

J.

The Mark Taper Forum's production of "13" and the Donmar Warehouse production of Parade were both recognized with an avalanche of nominations today, honored respectively by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle and the prestigious Laurence Olivier Awards.

"13", which ran at Los Angeles's Mark Taper Forum last winter, received five nominations for the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle's 39th Annual Awards. The show, which will be opening at Goodspeed Musicals later this spring prior to a Broadway bow, was nominated for Best Production, Best Writing (Dan Elish), Best Musical Score (Jason Robert Brown), Best Musical Direction (David O), and Best Ensemble Performance. The 39th Annual Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards ceremony will take place on Monday, March 17 at the El Portal Theatre, thanks to the generous donation of El Portal's management. The theatre is located at 5269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. Tickets are $35. The doors open at 6:30 p.m. for a catered reception (with no-host bar) and silent auction. The show commences at 7:30 p.m. Tickets to the Awards show can be reserved from the LADCC's website.

Meanwhile, in London, Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown's Parade received seven nominations for the 2008 Laurence Olivier Awards. The show is in competition for Best New Musical, Best Actress In A Musical (Lara Pulver), Best Actor In A Musical (Bertie Carvel), Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical (Shaun Escoffery), Best Director (Rob Ashford), Best Theatre Choreographer (Rob Ashford), and Best Sound Design (Terry Jardine and Nick Lidster for Autograph). The winners of the 2008 Laurence Olivier Awards will be announced at a glamorous ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel on 9 March, where the West End’s leading actors, directors, producers and practitioners will come together to celebrate 2007’s record-breaking year of London theatre. More details are available on the Official London Theatre Guide website.

Congratulations to all!

So saith Kenneth Jones here.

Hormonal, But Not Atonal: Goodspeed Will Present Jason Robert Brown and Dan Elish's 13
By Kenneth Jones
30 Jan 2008

Tickets go on sale Feb. 24 for the spring East Coast premiere of 13, the new Jason Robert Brown-Dan Elish musical that will play Goodspeed Musicals' Norma Terris Theatre.

Performances will begin May 9 at the intimate Chester, CT, venue where Goodspeed incubates new works. The design team for the project was announced Jan. 28. Casting of the teen-age band members and performers is ongoing.

13, as the title suggests, concerns "coming of age, teen traumas and middle school survival."

The design team includes the current Sunday in the Park with George's David Farley (sets and costumes) and Tony Award winner Brian MacDevitt (lighting).

Casting is by Mark Simon Casting. Rehearsals begin April 7. The casting call is seeking "young performers ages 12-15, any ethnicity, to play 13-year-olds."

Music and lyrics are by Tony Award winner Brown (Parade), with a book by Elish (known for his youth fiction).

Goodspeed performances will play May 9-June 8. Broadway producer Bob Boyett is in the wings to take to the show to a wider commercial life.

Here's how Goodspeed bills it: "With a blast of high voltage energy, an all teen cast navigates the ups and downs of turning 13. Fresh from New York City, the new kid in town is desperate to fit in, survive middle school and get all the 'cool kids' to attend his impending bar mitzvah. Every day he faces a new teen trauma: cell phones and rumors, first dates and first kisses, cliques, clashes and crushes."

The "brightly infectious score" include such song titles as "Being a Geek," "Brand New You" and "What It Means to Be a Friend."

Jeremy Sams (who directed Broadway's recent Noises Off and penned the books to Amour and Chitty Chitty Bang-Bang) will direct 13.

Choreography is by Christopher Gattelli (Altar Boyz and the current Sunday in the Park With George).

*

13 was originally commissioned and produced (in January 2007) by the Center Theatre Group, at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.

Commercial producer Boyett, who was involved in the L.A. production, previously told Bloomberg.com that the musical is Broadway-bound.

"I'm very excited," Boyett said in early 2007. "It's one of the freshest and most fun shows to come along. It's a coming-of-age story that everyone can relate to."

The eventual Broadway production pricetag is $6-$7 million. Todd Graff directed the Mark Taper run.

Composer Brown is also at work on Honeymoon in Vegas, a new musical with a book by Andrew Bergman that is based on Bergman's 1992 movie of the same name. A revised version of his and Alfred Uhry's Parade opened in London in 2007 and was embraced by critics and subsequently recorded on CD. For more information, call the Goodspeed box office at (860) 873-8668 or visit www.goodspeed.org.

*

Dedicated to "the preservation and advancement of musical theatre, Goodspeed Musicals produces three musicals each season at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, CT, and additional productions at The Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, CT, which was opened in 1984 for the development of new musicals."

It is the only regional theatre to receive two Tony Awards (for outstanding achievement). Goodspeed also maintains The Scherer Library of Musical Theatre and The Max Showalter Center for Education in the Musical Theater.

Michael P. Price is executive director of Goodspeed Musicals.

Steven Suskin's review here.

PARADE [First Night CASTCD 99]

Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry's Parade is the latest failed Broadway musical to find its way to a smaller, simpler and more economical version. Rob Ashford, the Southern-born director-choreographer who served as Pat Birch's assistant on the original production in December 1998, seems to have personally shepherded the piece to the estimable Donmar Warehouse. Smaller, simpler and more economical this production was; a company of 51 actors and musicians was reduced to a mere 24. The scenic production at the intimate Donmar was, necessarily, a fragment of the grand pageant Hal Prince put on the stage at Lincoln Center. The severe doubling caused a certain amount of rethinking, with a not insignificant amount of rewriting by the Messrs. Brown and Uhry. All told, this was a considerably different Parade.

The results, at least insofar as they are presented (complete with dialogue) on the new cast recording, indicate that Brown, Uhry and Ashford have improved and strengthened the piece. Parade, despite its inarguably impressive score, has been in virtually-unproduceable limbo for nine years. The changes necessitated by the Donmar experience have not necessarily improved it; I suppose that champions of the original production might still hold on to the majestic (if slow-moving) musical epic that it was. But this new version — again, judged from a recording but not an in-theatre visit — has an impact that the 1998 production lacked.

The phrase "failed Broadway musical" warrants a bit of an explanation. Parade opened to downbeat reviews and a less-than-enthusiastic audience response. (The show, mind you, relays the real-life tale of the murder of a child and the lynching of the apparently innocent defendant.) Produced as an offering of Lincoln Center Theater, it ran through its scheduled run and closed after a mere 84 official performances. That said, the show might have turned the proverbial corner had there been a financial cushion sufficient to keep things going until April, when Parade garnered a bouquet of nominations (nine Tony, 13 Drama Desk). At this very moment, though, Livent — which was billed with LCT above the title — began to show signs of the financial turmoil that would soon scuttle that gargantuan enterprise. With no guarantee of additional funds, the non-profit LCT had no choice but to close the show, with the Parade passing by on the final day of February.

Brown and Uhry did, indeed, win their Tonys; they deserved them, too, even if the competition was laughably inferior. (Best Score competition: Footloose and The Civil War.) Had the show been running when the voters came to town, though, Parade might have picked up even more awards and gone on to a healthy run. Which is pretty much what happened with Lincoln Center's Light in the Piazza, which got off to a similarly nervous start.

The Donmar Parade is headed by Bertie Carvel and Lara Pulver as Leo and Lucille Frank, with noticeably strong support (on the CD, anyway) from Gary Milner as Governor Slaton. Thomas Murray conducts from a new, especially strong nine-piece orchestration by David Cullen. The cast album is produced by Jeffrey Lesser, who served the same capacity on the similarly excellent Broadway recording [RCA 09026-63378]. The two-CD package is accompanied by a DVD [viewable on U.S. DVD players] entitled "Behind the Parade," which consists of interviews with Brown, Uhry, Ashford, Donmar artistic director Michael Grandage and designer Christopher Oram. While these things are often self-congratulatory promo pieces, this one contains some rather interesting discussion of the changes in the piece (including a major new song in the second act, "The Glory," sung by Judge Roan and Dorsey at a rural fishing hole).

Mr. Brown has not returned to Broadway since Parade in 1998. (We expunge from the record some interpolations into one of those lame screen-to-stage efforts, which shall go unnamed here). Listening to this new recording of Parade, one can only hope that this versatile and talented songwriter returns to these environs, and soon.

More information about Lauren and her brand new album is available on LaurenKennedy.com!

To purchase Lauren's album, click here and now!

Firstly, Steven Suskin's full article here.

Lauren Kennedy: Here and Now [PS-752]
Review by Steven Suskin, Playbill.com, 11 November 2007

If Ms. Clark's album is introspective, Lauren Kennedy's "Here and Now" is bright and lively. "Here I Am" (from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) sets the tone, and the pace never lets up. Kennedy is lesser known than Clark; her big Broadway break was as one of the stars of The Rhythm Club, which didn't make it to Broadway. That she is capable has long been apparent, at least to those who saw one of her numerous performances as standby to Emily Skinner in Side Show. Kennedy's starring roles include Trevor Nunn's West End production of South Pacific and the Illinois world premiere of Jason Robert Brown's Off-Broadway hit, The Last Five Years.

All that is rather beside the point, once you start listening to "Here and Now." Kennedy's performance is pure delight. What's more, she has assembled a collection of songs by the so-called younger generation of theatre writers. Some songs have been heard in lesser-known musicals, others are non-production numbers; all reflect especially well on their authors. Show tunes include Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin's "Pretending That I'm Somebody Else," one of Kennedy's songs (and a good one) from The Rhythm Club; Joshua Salzman and Ryan Cunningham's "Just Not Now," from I Love You Because; Brown's "Mr. Hopalong Heartbreak," from Urban Cowboy of all things; Jeff Blumenkrantz and Libby Saines' "I'm Free," from Precious Little Jewel; and Adam Guettel's "Through the Mountain" from Floyd Collins. Numbers that are apparently not from theatre scores — and which are each highlights of the disc — include Andrew Lippa's "Spread a Little Joy"; Georgia Stitt's "My Lifelong Love"; Marcy Heisler & Zina Goldrich's "Apathetic Man"; and Dan Lipton's "You'll Want Me to Shine." And last but not least is "Easy," from an upcoming musical by Frank Wildhorn & Jack Murphy.

A quarter of the orchestrations come from Mr. Brown, with others from Ms. Stitt, Larry Hochman, Don Sebesky, Michael Starobin, Kim Scharnberg, Lynne Shankel, and Fred Lassen (who also conducts half the tracks). Lauren Kennedy is "Here and Now," and hopefully soon on Broadway with a chance in the spotlight.

And here's John Simon's more-than-a-little-oogy review, which is available in full here.

Victoria Clark: Fifteen Seconds of Grace
Lauren Kennedy: Here and Now
PS Classics, available now

Pop singers come basically in two kinds, as illustrated by new solo CDs from a pair of popular theatrical leading ladies: Lauren Kennedy's here and now (no caps) and Victoria Clark's FIFTEEN SECONDS OF GRACE (all caps). The lower case and block capitals reinforce my point: Lauren Kennedy is all girlishness; Victoria Clark is sheer womanliness. Otherwise put, Kennedy is the epitome of the charming college co-ed, Clark the personification of the elegant young matron.

Don't assume that I prefer the one to the other; I think the twin triumphs of creation are the Girl and the Woman. [NOTE FROM JRB: Those with weak stomachs who don't wish to imagine John Simon in any state of arousal are advised to just jump past these next two paragraphs.] Accordingly, I respond equally to Kennedy's rapt girlishness and complementary youthful brashness as to Clark's sophisticated modulations and deeper emotions. It would be a sad world if the youthful lark and the riper thrush (nightingales exist only in opera coloratura) were to go missing.

Now if there is anything even better than a girl or a woman, it is a girl who at the right time turns womanly, and a woman who knows the moment when to revert to girlishness. And I am happy to report that that is exactly what these two remarkable songstresses can do. Note that I don't call them songbirds, which would be too disembodied. Look at the pictures that come with the albums, and you'll see two highly desirable females.

Victoria Clark, who has always looked a bit older than her actual age, comes across as the warm, experience-ripened, sexy wife any man would give both his eyeteeth for. Lauren Kennedy looks like the precocious teenager easily the mistress of any older man's fantasies. [NOTE FROM JRB: Yuck! Yuck! I have to go throw up now.] If I dwell on their pictures it is precisely because these looks translate so grippingly into their singing.

Both artists have fine, flexible voices; both do more than merely render a song—they live it. With the choices in Clark's dozen and Kennedy's baker's dozen numbers you will not wholly agree; both contain some cold potatoes I dropped as eagerly as if they were hot ones. But then there are those winning others.

Take Clark's rendition of the wonderful "Someone to Cook For" by Jessica Molaskey and John Pizzarelli, which exudes the sweetness of molasses and the tartness of pizza. Never did eats sound sexier, the sure way to a man's heart through his stomach—or, more accurately, through Clark's mellow sounds good enough to eat. In her three repetitions of "Maybe I'll cook for you" at the end of the song, each is more amorously sensual, and the last sheer erotic deliquescence.

On the next track, Clark gives a rib-tickling and heaven-storming rendition of Johnny Mercer's "Something's Gotta Give," followed by a heart-meltingly seductive "Right as the Rain" by Arlen and Harburg. And what a climax the concluding Irving Berlin "I Got Lost in His Arms," the most loving surrender you'll ever hear on a disc or in your dreams.

Now take Lauren Kennedy. She can make you schoolboyishly or girlishly laugh along with Jason Robert Brown's rollicking "Mr. Hopalong Heartbreak," and, on the next track, redeem Frank Wildhorn and Jack Murphy's simplistic "Easy" by conjuring up the sincerest sentiment of your never-forgotten first love.

Next, she offers the clever Marcy Heisler-Zina Goldrich tango, "Apathetic Man," adorable ingenuousness growing up before our very ears into cynical resignation as Kennedy bittersweetly laments: "Is there anything more sexy than an apathetic man …any drug more potent than an apathetic man?"

And, on track twelve, what a rousing hymn to feminine liberation in the Jeff Blumenkrantz-Libby Saines "I'm Free," brilliantly proclaiming a young woman's emancipation in body and soul.

These are two treasurable CDs. What would make them better yet would be booklets that reproduced the lyrics. Soprano voices cannot help making their higher notes muffle the words; for a perfect singalong such as both singers entice us to, it would be heaven to have the texts in hand.

Obviously, John Simon had something else in hand while typing this review. Bleugh. Anyway, enjoy Lauren's album, and go pick up Andréa Burns's new album (A Deeper Shade Of Red)as well!