Jason Robert Brown
Jason Robert Brown
Jason Robert Brownis an American musical theatre composer, lyricist, and playwright. Brown's music sensibility fuses pop-rock stylings with theatrical lyrics. An accomplished pianist, Brown has often served as music director, conductor, orchestrator, and pianist for his own productions. He has won Tony Awards for his work on Parade and The Bridges of Madison County...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMusician
Date of Birth20 June 1970
CountryUnited States of America
billy love musical rock star unfair
When I started out, I wanted to be Billy Joel. The plan was to be a singer-songwriter of that ilk, and, then, I got waylaid - that's probably an unfair way to say it - from being a rock star by the musical theatre stuff, which I love doing.
best capital listen love musician musicians
Being a musician - and I like to think of myself as a musician with a capital M - you need to be an omnivore, and I think the best musicians will listen to anything and love everything, and I do.
constantly left love notes performer stuff supposed work
I love my stuff - you're not supposed to say that. But because I'm performer as well as a writer, I'm constantly interacting with my own work. I always get to find these little secrets that I left for myself, little notes - I find them all over the scores.
anyone arranging assumed conducting love scratch time
I am a muso, and I love doing it. I assumed that would be my career for a long time. I always wanted to be a writer, but I didn't think that anyone could actually be that full-time, so I always go back to conducting and arranging and playing. If you scratch me, I'm a musician.
audience behind crucial love performer sitting
Immediate, simultaneous connection between the audience and a performer is crucial to me. It's why I do what I do. Other things, like recording, are satisfying, but they're not the same. I love the connection I get with the audience when I'm sitting behind that piano.
chemical figure responses sing ways work
There are actors I have very strong chemical responses to, and I strive always to figure out ways to work with them and get them to sing my stuff.
form knowing medium musicals people realizing
You have to understand the medium you're writing for. People jump into writing musicals without realizing how complicated they are. Knowing one form doesn't necessarily mean you know the other. You have to be comfortable with it.
best great people theatre wonderful work
What's great about collaborating is getting to work with wonderful people. That's what theatre is about: other people getting you to give your best, and getting everyone else's best out of them.
begging family musical realized
I don't come from a musical family at all, but I realized early on I was a musician. I started begging for a piano when I was 6 years old.
bit surprised
Personally, I've never been popular, so I'm not surprised that professionally I'm a bit out of step, too.
billy grew mitchell paul stevie stuff
I grew up in the '70s, and I hear in my own stuff a lot of what I grew up listening to, which is to say I hear a lot of Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Stevie Wonder.
formative interests led sondheim spent teenage
Leonard Bernstein was probably the most significant formative influence on me - he was such an encompassing musician. I spent my teenage years absorbing him, and my other interests stemmed off of that. Bernstein led me to Sondheim and to Gershwin, and Sondheim led me to listening to Joni Mitchell.
figure hardest trying
What I aspire to do, and what I try the hardest to do, is write stuff that's very personal in its way. I figure I can only say things the way I say them, so I'm trying to do something that is kind of anti-generic.
life specific
I think that when you write for stars, I think that you have to be very specific about what they do beautifully and let them bring it to life.