Jason Robert Brown

In the Heights was around...

Jason Robert Brown.

Absolutely.

All of those.

And also a challenge.

And vocally it was really fun.

I did Jason Robert Brown's Parade that was kind of an immersive production that was really cool.

And I remember going in for the audition and I think I was about 26 and they said, oh, how old are you? And I told them I was 26 and they were like, great, you don't look it.

you

know? And at that point I started to discover like more modern, shoot shows and writers like Jason Robert Brown and that kind of thing.

And songs for a new world and last five years.

And I was like, Oh, this, this really talks to me.

Now obviously he's singing lyrics to music.

But what I felt from the first time I watched you on that Jason Robert Brown song was he knows the...

It's like he's almost like a composer kind of discovering the music again in a lyric.

And it's a rare gift.

about

you can't possibly know but you can be like wait I'm in a room with Jason Robert Brown wow

Or

like I met a piano with Andrew Lloyd Webber.

This worked in Stephen Sondheim.

This worked in Jason Robert Brown.

This worked with Jonathan Larson.

This worked with Lin-Manuel Miranda.

So why did you pick this song for why is this so good?

I got pretty into Jason Robert Brown, I want to say last year, and his musicals, especially Parade, Last Five Years in Bridges of Madison County.

I also like Honeymoon in Vegas.

That was one I thought about picking for a musical that no one knows about.

Yeah.

Yes.

Like, this is kind of, like, just a Jason Robert Brown song, like, put...

I mean, they're all Jason Robert Brown songs in Bridges, but this is, like, one of his, like, standalone songs, like, put into this that just thematically works, but feels a little like that.

I've said this in other places too, but it bears repeating.

My favorite thing, and this is why I love Sondheim and Jason Robert Brown.

My favorite thing is when a show tune, so a song that has to be integrated within a story, lyrics have to be sophisticated, but still relatively easy on the ear to be understood by an audience for the first time hearing.

but also says something profound and deep and smart about what it is to be human.

The production's casting and ticket release dates are yet to be announced.

Jason Robert Brown's musical The Last Five Years will premiere in Sydney and Melbourne in 2027, starring Australian performers Friend of the Pod Mackenzie Dunn and Javon King.

The intimate musical explores the five-year relationship between aspiring actress Cathy and rising novelist Jamie, told from opposite timelines.

It's presented by Perryman Theatre Company.

Songs for a New World at the Altona City Theatre.

Music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown.

Performed by Lily Buckley, Rachel Gorman, Aaron Taylor and Ethan Dietering.

$45 book via the Altona City website.