MAGGIE GILROY
Editor in Chief
“When I was little, my oldest sister had all these musical CDs, and I remember the first one was ‘RENT’ and then another one that she got was ‘The Last Five Years,’ and that was when it first came out,” said Alanna Henriquez, a senior musical theatre major. “And so I listened to ‘The Last Five Years.’ I could probably sing you that whole CD forwards and backwards word-for-word and not miss a beat.”
Henriquez, along with 10 of her peers, will receive the opportunity to sing for Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown, who lists “The Last Five Years” amongst his Broadway credits.
The two-day residency will be presented by Ethos New Music Society; it will begin with a lecture and master class on May 3 and end with a concert on May 4.
Brown is a composer, lyricist, conductor, arranger, orchestrator, director and performer. According to http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com, he has written the scores for the Off-Broadway musical, “The Last Five Years,” song cycle “Songs for a New World,” and Broadway musical “Parade,” for which he won the 1999 Tony Award for Best Score. Most recently, he has written the scores for the Broadway musical adaptations of “The Bridges of Madison County” and “Honeymoon in Vegas,” starring Tony Danza.
Student participants in the master class and concert will be sophomore Jackie Blasting; juniors Billy Blair, Anna Chicco, Kiernan Matts and Steven Saelzler; and seniors Shannon Cunningham, Henriquez, Alexander Kosmowski, Mark Montondo, Sarah Mullen and Meghan Palmer. While all are participating in the concert, only seniors will be performing in the master class.
The chance to perform in the master class and concert was on an invite-only basis, an opportunity that many students did not take for granted.
“I guess it’s one of those things where if that opportunity comes up, you don’t pass it up,” said Kosmowski.
Brown’s contemporary style has been compared to composer Stephen Sondheim, but tailored to the younger generation — specifically college-age students.
“I saw my middle school’s production of ‘13’ the Musical, but I didn’t know at the time that it was Jason Robert Brown’s music until later,” said Saelzler of his first encounter with Brown’s music.
“13” was Kosmowski’s first encounter with Brown’s music, as well. Kosmowski will sing “It’s Hard to Speak my Heart” from “Parade,” “Finishing the Hat” from “Sunday in the Park with George” and “You are Loved” from “Showboat,” which will be a duet with Cunningham.
“In sixth grade, there was a talent show, and a girl sang ‘I’m not Afraid.’ And she sang it in her little sixth grade voice, but I loved the words,” said Chicco. Chicco will be singing “Stars and the Moon” from “Songs for a New World” at the concert.
Many of the songs that will be sung were written by Brown, giving participants the challenge of not only performing the music well, but performing it correctly — a task Saelzler describes as “daunting.”
Saelzler will be singing “Moving too Fast” from “The Last Five Years” and accompanying Cunningham and Mullen on the piano.
“Today I spent, literally, an hour learning exactly what was on the page for the piano, because he wrote it for a reason, and I know he wants to hear it,” said Saelzler, “and I know he’s probably a stickler because he did write it for a reason.”
After countless hours of listening to his music and practicing it, the performers have thought of several questions they would like to ask Brown.
“I think I would ask him ‘why all the intricacies of the piano part?’” said Saelzler. “I’m just
so curious because if I were to show you the things on the paper, he writes out his own personal piano crazy riffs. And I understand if you were to do that for your own performance live, but I’m curious as to why he wants everyone to do that.”
Chicco’s questions revolve around Brown’s creative process and inspiration for his music.
“You can definitely tell when something is Jason Robert Brown, but I feel like he’s an artist that doesn’t necessarily have the same process every time because all of his products end up being extremely different,” said Chicco.
“I really want to know how his mind works, how he creates music,” said Henriquez. “Does he hear a tune and it comes to him? Does he have a story? Does he play a song on the piano and then think of lyrics? How does it reach him, and how does it affect him?”
Kosmowski’s question is a little more casual.
“I’ll offer to take him out for a beer,” said Kosmowski. “Why not? I’ll have a talk with him.”
Brown will give a lecture on his music and career on Sunday, May 3, at 5 p.m., followed by a master class featuring the senior performers at 8 p.m. Both events are in Diers Recital Hall and are free to the public.
The concert will be on Monday, May 4, at 8 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall. Admission is $8 for students and $12 for the general public.
“My biggest goal in life is to be on Broadway starring in a Jason Robert Brown show,” said Henriquez. “That’s my biggest goal, and this is just a step from meeting him and working with him.”