Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown (Parade, 13, The Last Five Years, Songs for a New World) and Tony Award-winning stage and screen star Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls) and The Caucasian Rhythm Kings begin a special three-night concert engagement tonight at the Henry Street Settlement - Abrons Arts Center (466 Grand at Pitt). The concerts will also be filmed for future broadcast on PBS.
Performances will take place April 28-30 at 8pm at the Henry Street Settlement. All tickets are $35 and can be purchased by phone at 212-352-3101.
Following a sold out London engagement and a hugely successful run at the legendary jazz club Birdland,
Jason Robert Brown brings his explosive solo show downtown to Henry Street Settlement featuring special guest
Anika Noni Rose and an eight-piece band. This high-energy and passion-filled performance will include songs from Jason's acclaimed musicals as well as his solo albums and upcoming projects, such as Honeymoon In Vegas, The Bridges of Madison County, The Trumpet of the Swan, and his forthcoming solo album.
Jason Robert Brown has been hailed as "one of Broadway's smartest and most sophisticated songwriters since
Stephen Sondheim" (Philadelphia Inquirer), and his "extraordinary, jubilant theater music" (Chicago Tribune) has been heard all over the world, whether in one of the hundreds of productions of his musicals every year or in his own incendiary live performances. The New York Times refers to Jason as "a leading member of a new generation of composers who embody high hopes for the American musical." His four major musicals as composer and lyricist include: 13, a musical written with
Robert Horn and
Dan Elish, winner of the LA Drama Critics Circle Award in 2008; The Last Five Years, which was cited as one of Time Magazine's 10 Best of 2001 and won Drama Desk Awards for Best Music and Best Lyrics; Parade, a musical written with
Alfred Uhry and directed by
Harold Prince, which premiered at Lincoln Center Theatre in 1998, and subsequently garnered Jason the Tony Award for Original Score; and Songs for a New World, a theatrical song cycle directed by
Daisy Prince, which played Off-Broadway in 1995. In the wings: Honeymoon In Vegas, a musical adaptation of the 1992 film, written with
Andrew Bergman; The Bridges of Madison County, a musical adapted with
Marsha Norman from the bestselling novel; and The Connector, a new chamber musical opening in 2012. Jason's orchestral adaptation of
E.B. White's novel The Trumpet of the Swan will be released on PS Classics this summer. His songs, including the cabaret standard "Stars and the Moon," have been recorded by
Audra McDonald,
Betty Buckley,
Karen Akers, Renée Fleming,
Jon Hendricks and many others, and his song "Someone To Fall Back On" was featured in the Walden Media film, Bandslam.
Jason's first solo album, "Wearing Someone Else's Clothes", featuring his band The Caucasian Rhythm Kings, was named one of Amazon.com's best of 2005, and is available from Sh-K-Boom Records. His collaboration with singer
Lauren Kennedy, "Songs of
Jason Robert Brown", is available on PS Classics. He was a Tony Award nominee for his contributions to the score of Urban Cowboy the Musical, and he has also contributed music to the Nickelodeon television series, "The Wonder Pets." Jason currently teaches musical theater performance and composition at USC. He lives with his wife and daughters in Los Angeles, California. Jason is a proud member of the
Dramatists Guild and the American Federation of Musicians Local 802 & 47. Visit him on the web at
www.jasonrobertbrown.com and on Twitter @MrJasonRBrown.
Anika Noni Rose won the Tony,
Lucille Lortel, Theater World, and
Clarence Derwent awards and received a Drama Desk nomination for her portrayal of ‘Emmie Thibodeaux' in
Tony Kushner's Caroline, or Change. She also starred in the West Coast premiere of the production, and won both The Los Angeles Critics' Circle Award and an Ovation Award. Most recently, Anika earned an NAACP Image Awards nomination for "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture" for her role in
Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls, alongside co-stars
Kimberly Elise,
Phylicia Rashad and
Whoopi Goldberg. Anika starred as ‘Lorrell Robinson' in the feature-film adaptation of Dreamgirls. The film received an AFI ensemble award, as well as a SAG award nomination. Anika herself received a nomination for an NAACP award and both the soundtrack and the song "Patience" were nominated for Oscars. In 2010, Anika starred as the voice of ‘Princess Tiana' in Disney's The Princess & The Frog, leading the film to three Oscar nominations, including Best Animated Feature and two Best Songs. On television, Anika has been seen as Assistant District Attorney ‘Wendy Scott-Carr', on CBS's The Good Wife and starred in The No. 1 Ladies Detective agency, which aired on both HBO and the BBC. It also received the prestigious Peabody Award in 2010. Anika's additional theatre roles include Footloose, off-Broadway's Eli's Comin' (Obie Award), and starring as ‘Maggie' in
Deborah Allen's acclaimed production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof on Broadway. Anika has sung all over the world, including the The Vatican,
Carnegie Hall, and at the 79th Annual Academy Awards. In early 2011, she made her solo cabaret debut in NY as part of Lincoln Center's American Songbook Series. She also recently performed a solo concert at the Fairmont Hotel's Venetian room in San Fransisco, CA. In addition,
Anika Noni Rose, alongside
Orlando Bloom and
Malcolm McDowell, has given the works of
William Shakespeare a new spin in Los Angeles, joining conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic for a new classical experience of 'The Bard'. The three movie stars recited selections from Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet and The Tempest, as Dudamel and his orchestra performed pieces from Tchaikovsky, inspired by the plays. The performance took place on March 11, 2011, and was transmitted live on March 13th to movie theaters across the United States and Canada. Anika has also received an honorary PhD. from Florida A&M University.
