Jason Robert Brown with Norm Lewis and Katie Thompson

A concert series curated by the renowned Tony Award-winning composer, lyricist, conductor, and director, Jason Robert Brown. Each unique performance will incorporate an eclectic mix of material, featuring music from throughout his acclaimed career, along with new works in development.  

Special guests in past performances from this series have included Kelli O’Hara, Steve Pasquale, Norbert Leo Butz, Tom Kitt, Tony Danza, Laura Benanti, Cynthia Erivo, Tituss Burgess, Lena Hall, Ana Gasteyer, LaChanze, Shaina Taub, Megan Hilty, and more! This performance features special guest Norm Lewis*

JASON ROBERT BROWN is the ultimate multi-hyphenate – composer, lyricist, conductor, arranger, orchestrator, director and performer – best known for his dazzling scores to several of the most renowned musicals of his generation, including The Bridges of Madison County, for which Jason received the 2014 Tony Awards for Best Score and Best Orchestrations; the seminal chamber musical The Last Five Years, now a feature film starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan; his debut song cycle Songs for a New World; and Parade, winner of the 1999 Best Score Tony. 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 other musicals include Honeymoon In Vegas and 13, a film version of which is currently in development.  His “novel symphony” The Trumpet of the Swan has been performed by the National Symphony Orchestra and around the world. Jason conducted Parade at Avery Fisher Hall in an all-star concert performance in February, 2015, and he is in the midst of recording a followup to his solo album, Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes. His sold-out series of concerts at the Abrons Arts Center in 2012 yielded a television special and accompanying album, Jason Robert Brown In Concert With Anika Noni Rose.

Jason studied composition at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., with Samuel Adler, Christopher Rouse, and Joseph Schwantner.  He lives with his wife, composer Georgia Stitt, and their daughters in New York City.  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.

In May of 2014, NORM LEWIS made history as The Phantom of the Opera’s first African American Phantom on Broadway.

He has been seen on PBS in the Live From Lincoln Center productions of Showboat with Vanessa Williams, Norm Lewis: Who Am I?, and New Year’s Eve: A Gershwin Celebration with Diane Reeves, as well as American Voices with Renée Fleming and the PBS Special First You Dream – The Music of Kander & Ebb. His additional television credits include Chicago Med, Gotham, The Blacklist, and Blue Bloods, as well as in his recurring role as Senator Edison Davis on the hit drama Scandal.

Mr. Lewis received Tony, Drama Desk, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle award nominations for his performance as Porgy in the Broadway production of The Gershwins’ Porgy & Bess. Other Broadway credits include Sondheim on Sondheim, The Little Mermaid, Les Misérables, Chicago, Amour, The Wild Party, Side Show, Miss Saigon, and The Who’s Tommy. In London’s West End he has appeared as Javert in Les Misérables and Les Misérables: The 25th Anniversary Concert, which aired on PBS.

Off-Broadway Mr. Lewis has performed in Dessa Rose (Drama Desk nomination, AUDELCO Award), Shakespeare in the Park’s The Tempest, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Drama League nomination), Captains Courageous, and A New Brain. His regional credits include Porgy in The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (A.R.T.), Ragtime, Dreamgirls (with Jennifer Holliday), First You Dream, Sweeney Todd, and The Fantasticks.

On film Mr. Lewis has appeared in Winter’s Tale, Sex and the City 2, Confidences, Preaching to the Choir, and the upcoming film, Magnum Opus.

KATIE THOMPSON was last seen as Rhetta Cup in New York City Center’s “Pump Boys & Dinettes”, The Witch in the Oriental Theatre’s “Big Fish” in Chicago, and Vashti Hake in “Giant” at The Public in NYC. In addition to her work as an actress, Katie’s original music has been featured on “So You Think You Can Dance” America, Canada, and the U.K. Her first musical “R.R.R.E.D. a Secret Musical” was nominated for 3 LA Weekly Ovation Awards, and was featured at the New York Musical Festival.

Katie has been featured in Playbill’s “The Contemporary Musical Theater Songwriter’s You Should Know”, and “It’s Revving Up –The Next Generation of Female Songwriters…” columns, and in Lincoln Center’s “New Contemporary Songbook” series featuring her work from “R.R.R.E.D…”, her new work in progress “Haunted”, as well as her original pop music. In addition to her original solo albums: “Private Page”, “KT LIVE”, and “What I’ve Done Right”, she is featured on several contemporary composer’s albums including: “Dreaming Wide Awake” by Scott Alan, “Here for You” by Jonathan Reid Gealt, and “Our First Mistake” by Kerrigan & Lowdermilk. Her favorite experiences include playing cards in the green room at The Public Theatre in New York, and singing for First Lady Michelle Obama. 

*Guests are subject to change