The opening line to Jason Robert Brown bio is BOLD!!!!!!- Page 2

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 1/31/23 at 2:33am

The score is beige.  I believe Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal said that.  So look at that, it's not just me!

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 1/31/23 at 3:08am

I don't think it's such a big overstatement. Sure people like Miranda and Larson have had a bigger overall influence on the world of musical theatre, but I'd agree that it's JRB, Tesori, and Ahrens and Flaherty who really shaped the sound of theatre over the past 20-30 years. 

[binau]

Posted: 1/31/23 at 3:40am

I know what you mean when you (was it you?) talk about a generic beige sounding pop score with little magic or melody (especially that kind of generic off Broadway sound in the early 2000s) but I just don’t think Fun Home is a good example of this. For example, “Changing my Major”, “Ring of Keys”, “Days and Days” to me are all top tier melodic and emotional (different emotions of course). I’d say I personally think Tesori hits the mark more often than JRB for me. 

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 1/31/23 at 8:11am

It wasn't me and I actually really like both of them. I'm a big Tesori fan especially. I love her stuff! 

[JasonC3]

Posted: 1/31/23 at 8:28am

Broadway Flash said: "The score is beige. I believe Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal said that. So look at that, it's not just me!"

You remember wrong.  Teachout was generally positive about the show, but was disappointed that "the show's creators have taken a stingingly astringent graphic novel and turned it into a cute, well-crafted musical with an unhappy ending."

And as others have noted, the songs are varied, advance the story in meaningful ways, and several are quite tuneful and memorable: Days and Days, Changing My Major, and Ring of Keys to name a few.

Updated On: 1/31/23 at 08:28 AM

[HogansHero]

Posted: 1/31/23 at 10:03am

The joke in 90% of the above exchanges is that they are premised on the notion that what appeals to the writer is good and what does not appeal to them is bad. Yet we know, from both personal experience and science, that everybody does not like the same thing. This is just another example of the chronic inability of a lot of people on here to accept this even though that failure renders what they say meaningless. Another flaw in this reasoning is that the subject at hand is Brown's influence on composers, not the general public, yet they pivot to discussing the overall reception of various shows. On that metric, Brown is pretty far down the list. Finally, the late Terry Teachout was a noted contrarian within the critical class so citing him is the equivalent of citing the flat-earthers to explain the Tropic of Capricorn.

[Kad]

Posted: 1/31/23 at 10:47am

When I was in performing arts high school from 2004-08, JRB was an extremely popular composer and his work was in heavy rotation in classes and at thespian competitions. And it wasn’t just my high school- it was all the theater clubs and programs in the county. Everybody knew the scores to Last Five Years, Parade, and Songs for a New World inside and out. 
 

Two decades later, those kids have moved into professional careers and leadership positions of their own and have undoubtedly taken that influence with them. Whether or not you’re a fan, if you’re in the millennial age bracket, odds are JRB was a big part of your formative arts education. 

Updated On: 1/31/23 at 10:47 AM

[HogansHero]

Posted: 1/31/23 at 11:38am

Kad said: "When I was in performing arts high school from 2004-08, JRB was an extremely popular composer and his work was in heavy rotation in classes and at thespian competitions. And it wasn’t just my high school- it was all the theater clubs and programs in the county. Everybody knew the scores to Last Five Years, Parade, and Songs for a New World inside and out.


Two decades later, those kids have moved into professional careers and leadership positions of their own and have undoubtedly taken that influence with them. Whether or not you’re a fan, if you’re in the millennial age bracket, odds are JRB was a big part of your formative arts education."

I realize I am trying to make my point to the wrong audience (i.e., here) but I think your point actually underscores mine because you are talking about Brown's influence within a very narrow band of millennials. It certainly cannot be said that that generation as a whole has been drawn to his music.

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 1/31/23 at 12:21pm

I studied musical theatre from 2012 - 2015 and apart from the most obvious composers (Lloyd Webber, Sondheim, R&H, etc) Jason Robert Brown was pretty much always the go for solos to sing, scenes to perform or musicals to produce. 

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 1/31/23 at 2:29pm

Terry Teachout said it was beige on an episode of Theatre Talk.  I didn't come on here to trash Tesori, I love much of her music.  She's definitely a lot better than JRB.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 1/31/23 at 2:29pm

HogansHero said: "Kad said: "When I was in performing arts high school from 2004-08, JRB was an extremely popular composer and his work was in heavy rotation in classes and at thespian competitions. And it wasn’t just my high school- it was all the theater clubs and programs in the county. Everybody knew the scores to Last Five Years, Parade, and Songs for a New World inside and out.


Two decades later, those kids have moved into professional careers and leadership positions of their own and have undoubtedly taken that influence with them. Whether or not you’re a fan, if you’re in the millennial age bracket, odds are JRB was a big part of your formative arts education."

I realize I am trying to make my point to the wrong audience (i.e., here) but I think your point actually underscores mine because you are talking about Brown's influence within a very narrow band of millennials. It certainly cannot be said that that generation as a whole has been drawn to his music. "

Literally no one in this thread is arguing the sentence I've bolded. The discussion is whether the statement made in his bio is accurate. And i think it is. 

Unlike Kad, I'm fully Gen X, and JRB has had a strong presence in the musical theater world since I came to NYC. My off-Broadway debut was at the same theater that debuted Songs for a New World just two years after. The entire reason our show was picked up by that theater was that the powers-that-be felt it was the queer version of SFANW. It didn't turn out that way, but that's the business.

Whether he's achieved financial success on Broadway kind of has nothing to do with the argument. I'd venture to say that a majority of regional, community and college theaters have produced The Last Five Years. Bridges is proving very popular around the country and 13 is being done by school groups all the time. 

I've spent a lot of time teaching theater as well and, 28 years since SFANW premiered, JRB still dominates a great deal of the repertoire being explored by younger actors. Gen X, Millenials and Gen Z have all been influenced by JRB. 

[Kad]

Posted: 1/31/23 at 2:44pm

I think it’s a pretty clean line from JRB to folks like Kitt, Lopez, and LMM. And to say nothing of the glut of musical song cycles that happened in the aughts. The trifecta of Last 5 Years, Songs for a New World, and Parade became deeply influential to folks coming of age in the years immediately after they were produced and recorded, and those people then integrated them into their work and teaching. 
 

While I don’t personally really love any of those works, and think the quality of his work has generally been in steep decline since, I do think it’s tough to argue against his influence in musical theatre.