Jason Robert Brown @ Au Bar

[NYFINCH2]

Posted: 6/28/05 at 12:57pm

Fans of serious composition in Musical Theatre have had little reason to rejoice in the past ten years with Broadway showcasing musicals with songs that are either little more than charming novelty numbers or recycled pop-hits. The results from this kind of musical can range from admittedly excellent (The Producers) to abysmal (Good Vibrations) but in either case a true musical theatre aficionado is left lamenting the drought of new “serious” (which doesn’t mean unfunny) composition for the theatre; the existence of which has always been it’s real lifeblood. The despair only increased when musical theatre’s greatest young composer chose to leave Broadway behind and high tail it to LA rather than put up with a business that should have been clamoring for his talent but instead chose to ignore it. I am of course talking about Jason Robert Brown, the once theatrical wunderkind and Tony Award Winner for Parade who had achieved more in his career before the age of 30 then most do in a lifetime. Now appearing at Au Bar for a week with his two-piece band, the Caucasian rhythm kings, Mr. Brown is trying on a new guise—Singer/Songwriter. It’s a role that suits him all too well.
Mr. Brown is promoting the release of his first solo album, Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes, and the show at Au Bar is primarily a performance of this new material with some of his past favorites thrown into the mix. What’s most surprising about Brown’s show is the ease and skill he has a performer of his own work. Most composers of musical theatre have an endearing awkwardness when they sing their own material and their voices are notoriously clumsy and/or brazen. This is not Jason Robert Brown’s problem in the slightest. He sings with a strong emotional baritone that doesn’t shy away from the challenging high notes he writes for himself. His work is not vocally undemanding and his adeptness at it is impressive. Even better than his voice is his aggressive, no-holds barred piano accompaniment. In Brown’s capable hands the piano is much more than a mere tool to write songs with, it’s the canvas for him to paint on. JRB (as he mockingly calls himself) can’t help but bounce and gesticulate wildly as he plays, unafraid to hide the music’s impact on him. The solo platform gives him the opportunities for elaborate piano solos that his show do not, for obvious reasons of narrative clarity and theatrical raison d’etre. His piano solos serve to amplify all the emotion, the tenderness and the aggression that his music is replete with.
And what music! As the album is brand new most of the material was fresh to the audience and myself. It was easily as strong as his earlier material and similar in style, a blend of pop and rock with consistently lush piano counterpoints and a theatrical melodic sensibility. His music might owe more to Billy Joel and Elton John than Richard Rogers and Jerry Herman but this fusion of styles and sensibilities is what made him so relevant and powerful in contemporary musical theatre. Last night his “showtunes” blended seamlessly with his solo material, and one would be hard pressed to pick out one from the other if they didn’t already know. This is not surprising, as most of his shows consist of highly personal numbers that could be sung out of context, and indeed, many were last night-to great success. In this sense, he writes songs for musicals in the way the Tin Pan Alley school of composers did, with lyrics that are open enough to have a long life apart from whatever show they might originally be from. It’s telling that no selections from Parade, his most traditional and integrated musical, were played.
As a special guest star he brought on Lauren Kennedy, the original star of the Chicago production of Brown’s latest and most personal show, The Last Five Years. She reminded the audience, with her outstanding vocals, that much of Brown’s best work is made for the woman’s voice. When she busted into the final encore of “I Can Do Better Than That” from the aforementioned show the audience’s excitement was palpable. I think many people, while wishing JRB the best of luck with his new album, secretly were praying for it’s failure seeing as a successful solo album might further discourage him from new theatrical works. Given his performance on Monday night I venture to guess that musical theatre fans everywhere have a lot to worry about.

[Wax Lion]

Posted: 6/28/05 at 1:01pm

Wax Lion enjoyed your review very much, NYFinch2. JRB is amazing.

Love,
Wax Lion