Jason Robert Brown

Posted on September 5, 2024 at 3:27 am

I don’t know about how it works in your house, but in our little corner of show business, the first Tuesday of September feels like someone shot a starter pistol in Times Square and suddenly there’s a guy screaming “BACK TO WORK, YOU WEASELS!” and everyone is running frantically to their desks. I hadn’t heard from my agent or lawyer for months and then at 10 am Tuesday there was a veritable tsunami of emails.

Well, all right, welcome back then. I mean, I’ve been here the whole time, but hi. Here’s some fun stuff!

Last Wednesday night, I was invited by the folks at the Grammy Museum to host an event at National Sawdust in Brooklyn, whereby I got to interview the astronomically brilliant Jacob Collier. I’ve been a Jacobhead since I saw his “Isn’t She Lovely” video in 2012, and it’s been a constant delight to watch his career unfold and explode in such a unique, creative, and intensely personal way. I think the interview is bootlegged on YouTube somewhere, but the Grammy Museum will eventually be releasing a proper version, so I’ll wait to link to it until then. But I’ll attach some photos of the event, which included a gloriously intimate 45-minute performance by Jacob.

One of my favorite parts of the evening was getting to introduce Jacob to my friend and collaborator Charlie Rosen. Putting those two musical psychopaths in a room together will either be my greatest legacy or the end of the world as we know it.

Another very cool thing! This week saw the release of a new album by the legendary Swingles, the group I grew up knowing as The Swingle Singers. Yep, they’re still at it, and they’re still ridiculously good at what they do, and now they’ve decided to do an entire album of theater music! Which, I am deeply honored to say, includes my song “Hear My Song” from Songs for a New World, here in an arrangement by Tom Anderson which is intensely musical and emotional, with a magnificent performance. You can watch their video here, and listen to the whole album (which also includes a heartbreaking version of Adam Guettel’s “Hero and Leander”) by clicking here.

I’m so moved to be part of Aaron Lazar‘s new album, The Impossible Dream. Aaron and I have been circling around each other for decades, always hoping to find a way to work together even though that hasn’t panned out so far. But when he wrote to ask if he could include “I’d Give It All For You” (from Songs for a New World) on his benefit album, in a duet with the utterly luminous Kate Baldwin, I felt like I had been given a gift. These two beautiful singers make magic with my song, and this recording is also special because it’s the first to feature my own symphonic orchestration. (You can watch them sing it in a different arrangement here.) Like everyone else in the theatrical community, I’m rooting hard for Aaron, and I’ve been so inspired by his strength, honesty, and sheer will power. This masterful album was a herculean effort, and it’s a joy to be part of it.

And we’ve got much more news coming about Carnegie Hall, including more special guests – I hope you’ve picked up your tickets, but if not, well, just click here and the fine folks manning the box office will be happy to take care of you! Come see me, my band of maniacal virtuosi, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s under the baton of Georgia Stitt, Ben Platt, Heather Headley … and more!