Jason Robert Brown to Write New Piece Based on HAMLET for Guthrie Theatre

The Guthrie today announced that it has commissioned Tony Award and Drama Desk Award-winning Broadway songwriter and composer Jason Robert Brown to create an original music piece for its 50th-anniversary gala performance BEHOLD. Brown's composition will be based on text excerpts from Shakespeare's Hamlet.

"Jason is remarkable and innovative and we are elated that he is creating this piece for our gala," said Guthrie Director of External Relations and BEHOLD producer Trish Santini. "Pairing his distinctive music with a play that has such profound meaning in our history is another opportunity to showcase our mission in a way that will surprise and delight gala attendees."

Under Brown's direction, a revival of his musical The Last Five Years is now playing at Off-Broadway's Second Stage Theatre through May 18. Beginning August 1, the world premiere of the composer's musical adaptation of The Bridges of Madison County, a collaboration with Marsha Norman (Master Butchers Singing Club) based on the best-selling novel by Robert James Waller, will begin performances at the famed Williamstown Theatre Festival; and Honeymoon In Vegas, a new musical written with Andrew Bergman (The In-Laws) premieres at the award-winning Paper Mill Playhouse on September 26.

Brown, who has been called "one of Broadway's smartest and most sophisticated songwriters since Stephen Sondheim" by the Philadelphia Inquirer, won a Tony Award for Best Original Musical Score for the Broadway musical Parade (directed by Hal Prince, with book by Alfred Uhry), as well as Drama Desk Awards for Best Music and Best Lyrics for The Last Five Years. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his contributions to the score of Urban Cowboy the Musical. His first musical, Songs for a New World, has been produced more than 200 times worldwide. Brown's most recent musical, 13, premiered to rave reviews at Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum before moving to Broadway.

Brown has also worked extensively as a conductor and arranger with credits including Urban Cowboy the Musical on Broadway, Dinah Was at the Gramercy Theatre and on national tour, and A New Brain at Lincoln Center. He was conductor and orchestrator of Yoko Ono's musical New York Rock and conductor and arranger for The Petrified Prince, directed by Harold Prince at The Public Theater. His songs include the cabaret standard "Stars and the Moon," and he has released the solo album Wearing Someone Else's Clothes as well as Songs of Jason Robert Brown, a collaboration with singer Lauren Kennedy.

As previously announced, BEHOLD: A Gala Performance will he co-hosted by Guthrie favorites Greta Oglesby and Sally Wingert, and will feature Olivier Award-winner and Tony Award-nominee Tracie Bennett, and male vocal ensemble Cantus, among others. Peter Flynn-whose extensive credits include directorial work on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in regional theaters and other gala events-will direct. Further information about artists and guests appearing in BEHOLD will be announced in the weeks to come.

A star-studded performance featuring actors, composers and writers with ties to the Guthrie's past and future, BEHOLD: A Gala Performance will be held on June 22, 2013, on the Wurtele Thrust Stage and is a part of the Guthrie's 50th season weekend celebration (June 22-23, 2013). BEHOLD will be presented in conjunction with Anniversary Weekend celebration dinners the Golden Soiree and Fête 50, which will include tickets to the performance and are on sale now through the Guthrie's Anniversary Line at 612.225.6350.

The GUTHRIE THEATER (Joe Dowling, Director) was founded by Sir Tyrone Guthrie in 1963 and is an American center for theater performance, production, education and professional training. The Tony Award-winning Guthrie Theater is dedicated to producing the great works of dramatic literature, developing the work of contemporary playwrights and cultivating the next generation of theater artists. With annual attendance of nearly 500,000 people, the Guthrie Theater presents a mix of classic plays and contemporary work on its three stages. Under the artistic leadership of Joe Dowling since 1995, the Guthrie continues to set a national standard for excellence in theatrical production and performance. In 2006, the Guthrie opened its new home on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, the Guthrie Theater houses three state-of-the-art stages, production facilities, classrooms and dramatic public lobbies. www.guthrietheater.org