Posted on May 14, 2025 at 1:57 pm

SCOTT BAKULA, HANNAH CRUZ, BEN LEVI ROSS 
AND THE ORIGINAL CAST AND ORCHESTRA OF
THE CONNECTOR
TO REUNITE FOR A ONE-NIGHT ONLY  CONCERT
BENEFITTING THE COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS

BOOK BYJONATHAN MARC SHERMAN
MUSIC AND LYRICS BYJASON ROBERT BROWN
CONCEIVED AND DIRECTED BY DAISY PRINCE

BENEFIT CONCERT TO FEATURE ORIGINAL CAST MEMBERS:

SCOTT BAKULA, JOANNA CARPENTER, MAX MENDOZA CRUMM, HANNAH CRUZ, GEORGE DVORSKY, MYLINDA HULL, DANIEL JENKINS, MARISSA MEDINA, JESSICA MOLASKEY, FERGIE PHILIPPE, ELISEO ROMÁN, BEN LEVI ROSS, ANN SANDERS, AND MICHAEL WINTHER

AND THE ORIGINAL ORCHESTRA, LED BY JASON ROBERT BROWN

MONDAY JUNE 16, 2025 AT 7:30PM

AT WEBSTER HALL

TICKETS GO ON SALE FRIDAY, MAY 16th AT WEBSTERHALL.COM

(May 14, 2025 – New York, NY) Jonathan Marc Sherman, Jason Robert Brown and Daisy Prince are proud to announce a one-night-only reunion concert of The Connector to benefit the Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday June 16, 2025 at 7:30pm at Webster Hall (125 E 11th St, New York, NY 10003). The concert will feature original cast members from the 2024 World Premiere production, including Scott Bakula, Ben Levi Ross, and Hannah Cruz; as well as the original orchestra, led by Jason Robert Brown on piano. Tickets go on-sale beginning Friday, May 16 at 10am at www.websterhall.com.

The Committee to Protect Journalists was founded over 40 years ago as a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with the mission of defending journalists who report the news despite facing tremendous risks. Over the years, their advocacy has helped win dozens of positive legal reforms, convictions in scores of journalist murders, and the release of hundreds of jailed journalists. CPJ has also provided direct assistance to thousands of journalists all over the world. Today, they are recognized as a leader in the global fight to protect press freedom.

“I’ve never had a creative experience that was more fulfilling or more joyful than the process of building The Connector with Daisy and Sherm, and the opportunity to reunite this spectacular cast and orchestra was absolutely irresistible,” said Jason Robert Brown. “The fact that The Connector’s message has only become more urgent in the past twelve months strengthened our determination to do whatever we could to help fight for a free and fair press, and to support and protect the journalists who are doing the hard and necessary work of documenting, probing, and reporting on our communities and our world. I am honored to support the Committee to Protect Journalists, whose mission of awareness, assistance and advocacy is of the utmost importance at this critical time in our country.”

“The idea of a one-night-only reunion concert version of The Connector to support the Committee to Protect Journalists, now that we’re living in 2025, when facts and truth and quality, ethical journalism are more important than ever seems like not only a good idea, but a good time, amid a time which doesn’t always feel that good,” said Jonathan Marc Sherman. “The idea of making a musical exploring the difference between facts and truth and good stories, set in the world of New York City journalism back in a long-gone era, came to Daisy Prince over two decades ago, and thankfully for us, she invited Jason Robert Brown and me to join her in creating it. We premiered the show we wanted to make with an extraordinary cast and crew in 2024 at MCC. I hope the collaboration will be equalled in my future, but I can’t imagine it will be topped.”

“The mission of the Committee to Protect Journalists is more urgent than ever, as the messengers who do the essential work of documenting our world are under ever-increasing dangers from many directions,” said John Weis, Chief Development Officer at the Committee to Protect Journalists. “We’re thrilled to partner with the artists behind The Connector to fight for a free press, and an environment where journalists around the world can report without fear of reprisal. This seminal piece of musical theater shines a light on the challenging, and necessary, work of journalists around the country and the world.” 

Reuniting for the concert are cast members from the 2024 World Premiere MCC Theater production, including Scott Bakula (“Quantum Leap;” “NCIS: New Orleans”), Joanna Carpenter (Sweeney Todd), Max Mendoza Crumm (Emojiland), Hannah Cruz (Suffs), George Dvorsky (Closer Than Ever), Mylinda Hull (Gypsy), Daniel Jenkins (Oslo), Marissa Medina (Jersey Boys),Jessica Molaskey (Floyd Collins), Fergie Philippe (Hamilton),  Eliseo Román (In the Heights), Ben Levi Ross (Ragtime), Ann Sanders (The Music Man),and Michael Winther (Fun Home).

The orchestra will feature the original orchestra from the MCC production, including Jason Robert Brown on the piano, with Randy Landau, Todd Reynolds, Hidayat Honari, Adam Kaufman and Jamie Eblen.

Set in the late 1990s amid a rapidly changing media landscape, The Connector follows a fast-rising journalist, Ethan Dobson, and an assistant copy editor, Robin Martinez, at the revered magazine The Connector. In a world that values the next big sensation, Ethan’s writing prowess and ambition force him to confront how far he’ll go for the ultimate scoop and Robin to consider how far she’ll go to stop him.

The Connector features a book by Jonathan Marc Sherman (Things We Want), music and lyrics by Tony Award® winner Jason Robert Brown (Parade), and was conceived anddirected by Daisy Prince (The Last Five Years). 

Tickets for this one-night only benefit event are priced at $60, with priority seating at $100, and will be available beginning Friday, May 16th at 10am ET. Tickets can be purchased at www.websterhall.com. 

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JONATHAN MARC SHERMAN writes plays when he isn’t acting. His plays include Things We Want; Clive; Knickerbocker; Evolution; Sophistry; Wonderful Time; Veins and Thumbtacks; Serendipity and Serenity; Jesus On The Oil Tank; Sons and Fathers; and Women and Wallace. He’s written the books for The Connector; Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice; and The Forgotten Arm. He’s also co-writing and producing Richard Linklater’s movie adaptation of Merrily We Roll Along for many years to come. He won the Young Playwrights Festival (twice), is a member of LAByrinth Theater Company, and co-founded the Malaparte theater company. His hobby is writing about himself in the third person.

JASON ROBERT BROWN is the Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist of Parade, The Bridges of Madison County, Songs for a New World, The Connector, Honeymoon In Vegas, 13, Mr. Saturday Night and The Last Five Years, which is now playing on Broadway at the Hudson Theater.  He is also a highly-acclaimed singer and songwriter, and his most recent album Jason Robert Brown In Concert with Stephen Sondheim, documenting an all-star event from June 2019, is now available on Concord Theatricals Recordings. Previous albums include Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes, How We React and How We Recover and Coming From Inside the House (with Shoshana Bean and Ariana Grande).

DAISY PRINCE most recently conceived and directed Jason Robert Brown and Jonathan Marc Sherman’s The Connector at MCC (2024 Drama Desk Award nomination and 2024 Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for Outstanding Direction of a Musical ). Daisy’s directing work includes the Original Off-Broadway production of The Last Five Years and the Original Off-Broadway production of Songs for a New World, both by Jason Robert Brown; It’s Only Life: The Songs of John Bucchino at Rubicon Theatre (Los Angeles Ovation Award and Independent Award, Best Direction) Daisy is also a performer. Sheis a graduate of Brown University, has spent 20 years teaching as part of the New York City faculty of Syracuse University’s The Tepper Semester, and is a proud member of the SDC.