Posted on February 27, 2007 at 10:06 pm

[You know, you can get this delivered directly to your home e-mail. Just type your address into that little white box on the home page! Or you can just read it here, I guess, if you think that’s fun. Whatever, it’s your life.]

Welcome back to the fold, believers. Below: a very special event in Los Angeles on March 11, a week of concerts in New York April 4-8, and other fun news!

To begin with: All right, 13 is over, back to the old grind (and the old grand). For those of you who didn’t get to see it, I can’t even begin to tell you what a tremendous experience it was to watch those kids come screaming to life every night. Sure, they drove me up a wall, but they also brought my music alive in ways I never imagined. I am forever indebted to them.

Lots of folks have asked if there will be a cast recording for 13, and the answer is: Kind of. We did actually go into the studio this weekend and record the entire show with the original cast and band (and it was totally awesome), and we are going to mix that down and make an album. But… we’re not planning to sell it at the moment. There are numerous changes Dan and I want to make in the show, and we want the first commercially available recording to reflect all of those changes. So we’re going to use the record we just made for promotions, for advertising, for raising money, all so we can bring the show to its next incarnation, wherever that may be. And once it opens in that new mysterious incarnation, we’ll do a brand spanking new recording featuring whatever new songs, new cast members and new ideas we come up with. But I’ll probably start posting some of the material from this weekend’s sessions on my website over the next several months, so keep checking that blog.

Now, I get an email every other day asking when I’m going to do another concert in Los Angeles. While I don’t have a full-blown concert to announce just yet, I can tell you all about a very special afternoon in North Hollywood. The Academy for New Musical Theatre asked me to host a salon for their members, and I asked them if we could open it up to you beautiful people. Here’s what’s happening: On March 11, Sunday afternoon at 2:30 pm (less than two weeks away), I’ll be singing a lot of songs from my shows, analyzing a couple of them and explaining how they got written and showing some earlier drafts, and then doing a long-form question and answer with the audience. Because we wanted this to be an intimate experience, we’re only accepting 80 reservations, and then we’re not taking any more. So if you’re interested, and you’ve got fifty samoleons to throw at this groovy organization, then you can be part of a rare event. It should be a real nuts-and-bolts explanation of the kind of work I do and the kind of work I’m most excited about. Check my website for more info.

Next up: I had such an amazing time performing in New York a couple of weeks ago that I’m coming back for more. That’s right, me and the legendary Caucasian Rhythm Kings are coming back to Manhattan for a full week of concerts at Birdland. Wednesday, April 4 through Saturday, April 8, we’re doing two shows a night, at 9 pm and 11 pm. As always, there’ll be guest singers, new songs, and all the old favorites that keep you up at night crying. Every time I do a show at Birdland, it sells out and I get two hundred emails asking, “OMG, i didnt book my tiket in time but i realy realy realy realy realy wanna go but your all sold out, OMG, OMG, pleeeeeease help me im your bigest fan!!!!!” So listen, don’t let that be you. (You know how to spell, after all.) Go make the reservation now: call 212-581-3080 or go here and get yourself a seat at the Jazz Corner of the World.

Other than that, I hope to have some exciting casting news to share with you soon about the Songs for a New World concert in May, and if you check out my website, you’ll find out all the news about the forthcoming production of Parade this fall in London!

Oh, I’m exhausted from all that news. Thanks for reading! More madness to come!

Rock on, people.
Jason Robert Brown