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December 15, 2007
A NEW ‘PARADE’ RECORDING

It hadn’t occurred to me that anyone would offer to do another cast album for Parade.

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December 15, 2007
Essays
October 7, 2007
REVIVAL

To compare the ecstatic critical reception of the Donmar production of Parade that just opened to the considerably more reserved response nine years ago.

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October 7, 2007
Essays
October 1, 2007
CONCERT REVIEW: “JASON ROBERT BROWN SUPERSTAR…”

Though Andrew Lloyd Webber and Boublil and Schonberg may be commanding bigger worldwide audiences for their shows.

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October 1, 2007
Reviews
August 25, 2007
NOTES FROM LONDON

An interviewer actually chided me the other day for not updating my blog more often.

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August 25, 2007
Essays
July 25, 2007
DROPPING IN

Sometimes on long flights, the person sitting next to me will notice that I’m editing music on my computer and ask what sort of music I write or something like that.

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July 25, 2007
Essays
May 18, 2007
PLAYING THE BIG ROOM

I’ve played a couple of really cool places in my time.

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May 18, 2007
Essays
May 18, 2007
REVIEW: EXHILARATING “SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD”

The siren call of possibility echoed from the stage at Strathmore on Wednesday, when Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for a New World received a glitzy concert staging, co-produced by Signature Theatre.

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May 18, 2007
Reviews
May 14, 2007
CORAM BOY

I saw three shows this week while I was in New York.

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May 14, 2007
Essays
May 1, 2007
ASK JRB 2007

The title of this entry is based on an entirely unjustified optimism that I’ll do one of these every month. Wagers are being taken.

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May 1, 2007
Essays
April 23, 2007
REVIEW: JRB AT THE ALLEN ROOM

There are few more inviting places on a cold winter night than the Allen Room at Frederick P. Rose Hall: its sweeping views of Central Park South capture, to paraphrase WALTER WINCHELL, New York at its New Yorkiest.

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April 23, 2007
Reviews
April 11, 2007
THIS ORDINARY THURSDAY

I got an email on December 11, 1999.

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April 11, 2007
Essays
April 7, 2007
JRB BRINGS TIN PAN ALLEY TO MIDTOWN JAZZ BASTION

At Birdland last night, composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown had the crowd doing something many of his fans might find surprising: laughing.

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April 7, 2007
Reviews
March 9, 2007
A BAD NIGHT

A ticket to a Broadway show costs over a hundred dollars. I think for that amount of money, you should be guaranteed a flawless performance with the entire original company.

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March 9, 2007
Essays
February 14, 2007
AMERICAN THEATRE MAGAZINE INTERVIEW: “GETTING OVER IT”

Everyone knows Jason Robert Brown is a wildly talented songwriter. His personal reputation is a different story.

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February 14, 2007
Interviews
February 14, 2007
NEXTBOOK.ORG INTERVIEW: “POPULARITY CONTESTS”

Composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown hasn’t always had an easy time fitting in. Neither have his characters.

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February 14, 2007
Interviews
February 12, 2007
A COMPOSER SELLS HIS SONGS AND HIMSELF (NYT, 2/12/07)

It was a very emotional and draining concert. Benanti sang gorgeously, and Rozz was unbelievable at bringing “Stars and the Moon” and “Mr. Hopalong Heartbreak” to life in a very new way.

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February 12, 2007
Reviews
January 7, 2007
OPENING NIGHT

Here’s what you have to know: there were about forty critics in the house today, as best as I can tell. I didn’t look at them, I didn’t talk to them, I haven’t heard anything about what they may or may not write.

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January 7, 2007
Essays
December 13, 2006
REHEARSAL TALK

I’m sitting in the middle of tech rehearsal at the Taper. They’re lighting the section of “Being A Geek” where Evan goes into the audience. Oh, wait, I’m giving things away. Ignore that sentence.

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December 13, 2006
Essays
October 17, 2006
CONCERT REVIEW: “MANY SHADES OF BROWN, ALL DELIGHT” (TORONTO STAR, 10/17/06)

The phrase “triple threat” has become so overused in show-business circles that it’s great to encounter someone who truly deserves it.

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October 17, 2006
Reviews
September 2, 2006
A WEEK OF AUDITIONS

So far, every aspect of casting “13” has come with a phalanx of caveats.

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September 2, 2006
Essays
April 13, 2006
THE JRB COLLECTION

This folio commemorates the tenth anniversary of my professional debut as a songwriter for the musical theater. It’s been an exhilarating, intense and unpredictable ten years, and all the songs in this book are part of that story.

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April 13, 2006
Essays
March 22, 2006
ASK JRB 2006

Hey y’all! Eventually, we’ll be able to post these directly to the “ASK JRB!” page, but while we’re busy setting up the rest of the site, I thought I’d just send these out now! You asked some really great questions, and I had a lot of fun writing subtly evasive answers.

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March 22, 2006
Essays
December 11, 2005
MUSICAL THEATRE HEAVEN….

It’s what you always hope for but so rarely get: pure, unmediated theatrical ecstasy.

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December 11, 2005
Reviews
December 1, 2005
TEN SONGS

The following is from a programme note, written by JRB for his 2005 Christmas engagement at the New Players’ Theatre in London.

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December 1, 2005
Essays
March 24, 2005
BROADWAY’S BROADWAY, BUT L.A.’S INVIGORATING

“It goes song, song, song, song, intermission, song, song, song, lynch,” quipped Jason Robert Brown at a recent one-night-only singer-songwriter concert of his work at North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre.

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March 24, 2005
Interviews