Jason Robert Brown

Of course, having said all that, it's awfully nice to read this.

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. I don’t know anything about the reviews for this show, and at this moment, 10:50 PM on Sunday night, January 7, 2007, unless you’re one of the critics, neither do you. So in that void of received opinion, I’m going to cast out my thoughts on 13 and the opening performance this afternoon. It was awesome. IRead More »

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. I just got back to L.A. after a week in Seattle conducting the Seattle Symphony for John Pizzarelli‘s Christmas show. It was truly thrilling just to be asked, but the thing about being a guest conductor is that the first hour of rehearsal is always weird. Maybe not for Kurt Masur or Michael Tilson Thomas, but for someone like me who the orchestra doesn’t know andRead More »

It’s official, y’all: The full cast and creative team has been announced for the world premiere of “13”, a new musical by Jason Robert Brown and Dan Elish, which will play the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, December 22-February 18. The show, to be directed by Todd Graff, will open officially on January 7. “13” is the story of Evan, a nice Jewish boy from the Upper West Side who moves to Appleton, Indiana in the midst of his parents’ tempestuous divorce. Once in Appleton, Evan has four weeks to convince all the cool kids in the school toRead More »

This week marks the first time since May of 2001 that I’ve had a new show go into rehearsal for a production. In the five and a half years since Norbert and Lauren started working on “The Last Five Years,” I’ve been through a lot: professionally, I did “Urban Cowboy,” released a solo album, performed about a hundred concerts, conducted orchestras all over the world, wrote a piano sonata, and started teaching at USC; and personally, I got married, had a beautiful baby girl, moved to Italy, moved again to Los Angeles, and, just three weeks ago, I lost myRead More »