Monthly Archives: March 2016
HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY
3/17/16My yearly tribute to the Irish ladies, whose shamrock milkshakes bring all the boys to the yard. Jason Robert Brown in Concert, with Special Guest Anika Noni Rose Now available for download or streaming! https://vimeo.com/ondemand/28087
SUBCULTURE SET LIST: ANA GASTEYER JOINS THE BAND (3/14/16)
3/15/16A sublime and ridiculous evening at SubCulture with the amazing Ana Gasteyer (whose sensational album I’m Hip is available now on iTunes). Not only did Ana rip our hearts out with her version of 13-year-old teenage angst, she did an amazing Harold Arlen song from her own show, a glorious Buddy Holly/Linda Ronstadt cover, and (egged on by me) basically sight-read the hell out of “Summer in Ohio.” I can’t wait to have Ana come back and do more with that unbelievable voice! A first: not only did I premiere a brand-new song from a brand-new show (The Connector, whichRead More »
WHAT I THINK ABOUT WRITING MUSIC FOR THE THEATER
3/6/16I read an article last year about a middle-aged guy who was learning, for the first time, to drive. His realization was this: Driving is not particularly difficult, it’s just incredibly dangerous. This is more or less what I think about music in the theater. It is actually music’s simplicity that makes it so potent. Music changes the molecular structure of a room completely, and the volume and density of the sound are almost irrelevant. Play a single note quietly on a piano in the middle of a scene, and the air becomes charged instantly, freighted with expectation. That firstRead More »