2005-08-12
Times-Picayune
David Cuthbert
So why is Tony Award-winning composer-lyricist Jason Robert Brown hitting the road as a performer?
“Who wouldn’t want to visit New Orleans in August?” he said. “Well, I made a record (‘Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes’), I love my record and I’m dragging my ass all over the country abusing the piano and singing songs from that record to enthuse people to buy it — in bulk to give to friends.”
Brown, best known for the song “The Stars and the Moon” (“We may have a sing-along on that”), won his Tony for “Parade” and is known for the production “Songs for a New World” and the off-Broadway musical “The Last Five Years.”
The new record reflects his status as a new husband, father-to-be and Californian. “Any place is more fun than New York as a place to live and write.” He’s teaching at the University of Southern California and has two new Broadway musicals in the works, both aimed at young people, “who seem to be my audience.”
Songs to listen for: the title number, the funny and angry “Getting Out” and “Grow Old with Me,” which sounds like a swing standard “but was originally written as a dance for the play ‘Kimberly Akimbo.’ ”
Le Chat Noir, Monday night at 7:30, one show only, tickets $31; students with valid ID, $24, includes $5 drink credit. Call (504) 581-5812.
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