Jason Robert Brown News

Located in the heart of Downtown Kalamazoo, Farmers Alley Theatre is bursting at the seams to  open their doors and welcome live audiences into their space for the first time since March of 2020. 

Jason Robert Brown's Songs For A New World will stream online August 5-15 with show times at 4pm and 7pm Pacific. Songs For A New World was filmed at On Stage Playhouse in Chula Vista.

Today's top stories: Broadway-bound The Notebook musical sets its world premiere dates, Sutton Foster returns to Anything Goes, Six confirms casting, and more!

Jason Robert Brown's Songs For A New World is available to rent for 48 hours on your computer or mobile device. Once you purchase your tickets, you will be sent a unique code to access the production and will have 48 hours to view from the time you start watching.

Live theatre is back! Here's a critics choice list of the top 20 venues in the area with information on upcoming productions for the 2021-2022 Season, how to buy tickets, and more!

She appeared in the original Broadway cast of Jason Robert Brown's 13: The Musical and played Penny Pingleton in the 2016 NBC live telecast of Hairspray. 

“A new world calls across the ocean,” is the first line of Jason Robert Brown’s SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD. It’s a familiar feeling in 2021, as we all try to navigate what our world looks like now as we move out of quarantine and into a new stage of the pandemic.

GHOSTLIGHT RECORDS will release Little Shop of Horrors – The New Cast Album on CD online and in stores Tuesday, September 21, the same day the acclaimed, Off-Broadway revival resumes performances at the Westside Theatre.

This production is the world premiere of a brand new updated version of the show by Andrew Lippa and Tom Greenwald, with orchestrations by Jason Robert Brown & Andrew Lippa.

Krystina Alabado is playing Woman 1 in North Carolina Theatre’s SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD. This sung-through show by Jason Robert Brown explores themes of new beginnings and evolutions. Alabado was last seen onstage in Broadway’s MEAN GIRLS, playing Gretchen Wieners.

Songs for a New World is set to receive a New York production that reimagines each song to speak directly to our current cultural climate. As its premiere production following a rebranding, renaming, and relocation, New City Music Theatre—formerly Cleveland Musical Theatre—celebrates its new home in New York City by paying tribute to the thriving communities who have seen and been through it all in the last year and a half.

Flint Repertory Theatre is presenting Songs for a New World by Jason Robert Brown starring Broadway’s Bonnie Milligan, Emily Padgett, Cory Shorter, and Josh Young. The outdoor concert is taking place July 23rd and July 24th. BWW Detroit had a chance to speak with Director Bill Fennelly and Milligan about it and the importance of live theatre.

The company is searching for disabled actors aged 12-17 to play the role of Archie,  a 13-year-old boy with muscular dystrophy. The company would love to consider young artists with this condition, wheelchair users or other actors of disability.

In many ways, Jason Robert Brown’s show focused on the metaphorical prison we are all just emerging from as we slowly return to something resembling our former lives. As he pointed out, as much as we try to put the pieces back in place, there are simply things that have gone away, maybe for good. Maybe not. No one can really be sure. His lyrics have always been a glimpse inside a mind that obsesses on the big questions. But in light of the traumatic year the world has been through, they seem ripe with new meanings about where we’ve been and where we’re heading.

This show is a wonderful reminder that, even in times when we feel isolated and alone in our struggles, we all face times of uncertainty and difficult decisions. This show will bring audience a feeling of strength and hope that is sorely needed these days.

Next week, FEINSTEIN’S/54 BELOW, Broadway’s Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond.

What do you get when you combine the pianistic finesse of Michael Feinstein, the smooth phrasing of Tony Bennett, and the bawdy wit of Bette Midler? You get Michael McAssey, who for 40 years has reigned as the clown prince of New York cabaret, and has enchanted as one of its most talented troubadours. He calls what he does 'schtick.' But that's undervaluing his unique blend of beautiful ballad singing and standup, or rather 'sit down' comedy.

Rep Stage will return to in-person staged productions with its 2021–2022 season. Jason Robert Brown’s  “Songs for a New World” will launch the season September 30–October 17, 2021, followed by the world premiere of Dane Figueroa Edidi’s “Ghost/Writer” February 17–March 6, 2022.

SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD is directed by Bill Fennelly (Frankenstein), Choreographed by Valerie Salgado, Music Direction by Brian Buckner and features Lighting Design by Chelsie McPhilimy, Costume Design by Kate Nelson and Sound Design by Matthew Tibbs.

Monumental Theatre Company’s production of 'Songs for a New World' comes at a unique time in our society, and expertly capitalizes on this. With its strong cast and creative team, this adaptation rises to our moment and taps into our emotionality. It brings us the emotional connection and comfort that many of us have missed in the last year, and helps us take our next steps with the knowledge that we’ll be fine.