RECENT NOTES - JRB AT BIRDLAND, SHAKESPEARE MARATHON
I must admit that my initial fondness of contemporary musical theater songwriter Jason Robert Brown comes from the fact that we both attended the same theater camp growing up, though of course we added quite a few years apart. Still, what keeps me going to his cabaret concerts, even as he continues to do the same pack of songs over and over - SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD, LAST 5 YEARS, PARADE, THIRTEEN, URBAN COWBOY, HONEYMOON IN VEGAS, SOMEONE ELSE'S CLOTHES - is how wonderfully dynamic he is as a piano-bar player-singer, alternating between high energy piano punching, hitting high notes and providing improv comedy for the audience. He spent Passover week doing 8 shows over 4 days at Birdland. I attended his final late show on Saturday night at 11pm. His guest for the evening was Jenn Colella, veteran of URBAN COWBOY and the fall's flop Broadway musical HIGH FIDELITY. Colella provided a simply amazing performance of "I'm Not Afraid" from SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD, and dynamic "Mr. Hopalong Heartbreak," from the little heard, unrecorded score of URBAN COWBOY.
As for the Shakespeare Marathon, I stayed for just under two hours of the three and a half hour set. It opened with Lee Wilkoff and Richard Kind serending "Brush Up Your Shakespeare." Cute, but a rather awkward way to begin the festivities. After all, all these Shakespeare connoiseurs in the audience have obviously heard the song before and are unlikely to still laugh at Cole Poter's jokes. The real highlight for me was seeing Michael Cerveris play Leontes in a scene from THE WINTER'S TALE, and a 10 minute preview from the upcoming HBO film of AS YOU LIKE IT, with Kevin Kline as Jacques.
