Brown & Kennedy Sing 'The Last Five Years' at Birdland March 17

Composer and performer Jason Robert Brown and Lauren Kennedy will present a special one-night-only concert version of The Last Five Years, Brown's 2002 musical that won the Drama Desk Award for Best Music and Best Lyrics, with the original Off-Broadway orchestra, Monday, March 17, 2008 at 7PM, as part of the long-running, critically-heralded and popular concert series Broadway at Birdland.

"Written by Jason Robert Brown, The Last Five Years is an intensely personal look at the relationship between a writer and an actress told from both points of view," describe press notes. After her astonishing performance as Cathy in the world premiere of The Last Five Years in Chicago in 2001, Lauren Kennedy collaborated with Jason Robert Brown on his album the "Songs of Jason Robert Brown." Kennedy's most recent Broadway credits include The Lady of the Lake in Monty Python's Spamalot, Les Misérables as Fantine, Sunset Boulevard, Side Show and Cinderella at The New York City Opera.

Jason Robert Brown has been heard all over the world, in both his acclaimed musicals and his live concert performances. Brown is the composer and lyricist of the musical The Last Five Years, which won Drama Desk Awards for Best Music and Best Lyrics.  In 1999, Brown won a Tony Award for his score to Parade, a musical written with Alfred Uhry and directed by Harold Prince. Parade premiered at Lincoln Center Theatre in December 1998, and subsequently won both the Drama Desk and New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for Best New Musical.  In 2000, Parade was also presented on a national tour, which Brown conducted. His first musical, Songs for a New World, a theatrical song cycle, played Off-Broadway at the WPA Theatre in the fall of 1995, and has since been seen in more than 200 productions around the world.

Brown's first solo album, "Wearing Someone Else's Clothes," featuring The Caucasian Rhythm Kings and special guest singer Lillias White, was released in 2005 on Sh-K-Boom Records. His songs, including the cabaret standard "Stars and the Moon," have been performed and recorded by Audra McDonald, Betty Buckley, Renée Fleming, and many others. His most recent theater project, 13, a musical comedy written with Dan Elish, was developed for the Los Angeles Center Theatre Group.

Jason Robert Brown and Lauren Kennedy will present The Last Five Years on Monday, March 17, 2008, at 7PM at Birdland (315 West 44th Street, between 8th & 9th Aves).

Tickets: $35.00 + $10.00 Food/Drink Minimum (Per Person). VIP tickets are available for $50.00 + $10.00 Food/Drink Minimum (Per Person). Tickets can be purchased Online: www.BirdlandJazz.com or by Telephone: 212.581.3080.

Jason Robert Brown and Lauren Kennedy (photo by Mark Rupp)