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"I knocked around like many other aspiring composers,' he 0 or just a "bunch of songs" said, "working in piano bars, giv- written for "various aban- ing music lessons, doing any- doned pieces" that were thing to help pay the rent. I like then "put up at a cabaret," living in New York because the musical revue Songs for a New Jewish people just fit in better in World didn't come out too badly for show business here. I love the young Jewish composer Jason . cultural aspect of Jewish life in Robert Brown. New York. That's how Brown himself "Then I got involved in Songs describes his first musical, finished for a New World, which seemed in 1995 after several years of hard to take on a life of its own. The work. It premiered Off-Broadway at show is a pretty good summation the old WPA Theatre for 28 per- of the first part of my life, espe- formances, a standard run there, cially my early years in New York and has been in 60 different pro- City. I just got caught up in the ductions around the United States flow. You trust the moment, hold since then. your breath and sail away." Songs for a New World will make Brown had trouble putting the its Michigan premiere Friday, Feb. show together until he met Daisy 16, at the Stagecrafters' Baldwin Prince in a piano bar where he Theatre in Royal Oak, and run was working. She's the daughter through March 4. The 45-year-old of famed Broadway producer- community theater, with 3,000-sea- director Harold Prince, who later son-ticket subscribers, performs directed Parade. musicals and dramas throughout the "She saw the show as it was year at the Baldwin, an old vaude- then and liked it, and she agreed ville house renovated in the 1980s. to be the director," Brown said. Brown is probably best known for "There are times when my intu- his music and lyrics for Parade, a ition about things is strong, and dark musical about a 1913 Atlanta I was lucky in this case. She's a murder case. Parade won him a very talented and phenomenal Tony Award in 1999 for Best collaborator." Original Score, plus New York Brown and Prince worked on Drama Critics Outer Circle and the show for three more years at Drama Desk awards for Best New that point, and it took on a Musical. He also is an arranger, Jason Robert Brown: "Sometimes I still want strange new shape," according orchestrator and musical director. to be Billy Joel," says the composer, who com- to Brown. "She and I were pow- Brown, 30 and single, is the product bined his interests in music and acting into a erless to control it. Songs that of a "typical Jewish household" in a career writing for musical theater. seemed perfect on their own sud- heavily Orthodox community in denly became awkward in the con- Rockland County, N.Y., about 40 text of the show and were dropped. miles north of Manhattan. There was no musical back- Songs written years apart seemed to make more sense ground in the family — his mother is a teacher, his father together and were added. We discarded piles of songs that a hardware salesman - — but Brown "demanded" piano les- weren't right anymore." sons at the age of 7. He started using his middle name to Most difficult was creating an opening number, the title distinguish himself from two other Jason Browns in high song, which Brown finally put together while playing the school. piano in a rehearsal hall at 1:30 in the morning. After He attended the prestigious Eastman School of Music in more fine-tuning, the show opened af the WPA Theatre Rochester, N.Y., but dropped out after two years because — named after the old Works Projects Administration he "just disliked academia." After a brief stint as a music from the Depression era — with four performers and a teacher in Florida, he returned to New York, determined five-piece band. For this show, Brown was given the 1996 `;' F 21st YEAR 2/16 2001 Jason Robert Brown is the young Jewish composer behind a new Stagecrafters revue that seamlessly weaves together a range of musical styles. Special to the .3Jewish News Coupon good at either PRIYA restaurant through 03/01/01 $10 OFF DINNER FOR TWO I Lunch buffet & take-out excluded DETROIT JEWISH NEWS `New World' On Parade "