The Composer
JASON ROBERT BROWN
The Composer
JASON ROBERT BROWN
The next big thing since Stephen Sondheim and listened to all over the world.
He's written famous musicals such as The Last Five Years, Parade, Songs For a New World, and 13. I appreciate him mainly because of his musical work. My favourite songs being “See, I'm Smiling” and pretty much the majority from Parade.
I am inspired my Jason Robert Brown ever since I saw the recent West End Production of Parade and I still state today it's the best musical I've ever seen. Based on real events in history, the detail of the show, the mixture of characters and songs is absolutely brilliant. It helped by being beautifully directed and performed. The song “Come up to My Office” performed by Bertie Carvel was one of my favourites, merely because of the bass line in the musical score. Choreographically I am desperate to create a solo tap piece to it, it's just a shame it's about pedophilia!
Like Sondheim, a lot of what Brown writes is sung as it would be spoken, which is hard to create but amazing to listen to. In many moments in The Last Five Years the performers easily transfer from singing the lines to speaking, whispering or shouting them. Jason Robert Brown has created quite modern music and even a few years down the line if you heard it today it could have easily have been written yesterday. He has created a new era for musical theatre, one that many aspiring musical theatre performers use to audition with and base work around. Recently I watched an independent joint show of The Last Five Years back to back with another and it proves the enthusiasm to keep Brown;s work alive and ongoing. I really would love him to bring out more songs and musicals for myself and others to enjoy. It's a true art form to be able create such great music and with it tell such great stories..
The video below is Colleen Ballinger performing See, I'm Smiling from Brown's The Last Five Years. Ballinger, also known as Miranda, has since become a youtube star performing as a stange alter ego who cannot sing a note, yet is extremely arrogant with her talents. You can see for yourself that she can sing, yet her online joke has increasingly gained popularity. I even went to see "Miranda Sings" at the West End a few months ago, where she teaches a collection of current West End stars how to sing and sang duets with them. It's become a cult classic.
