Tony-winning Broadway composer Jason Robert Brown performs at Misericordia in Dallas on Feb. 10
From a press release:
Misericordia University in Dallas will present singer and Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown, best known for his work on the Broadway productions of “The Bridges of Madison County” and “Parade,” at its “Celebrating the Stars” concert on Monday, Feb. 10 at 8 p.m. in the Lemmond Theater in Walsh Hall with special guest vocalist Nova Y. Payton, seen in hit shows like “Dreamgirls,” “Hairspray,” and “3 Mo’ Divas.”
Brown will perform songs from his theatrical repertoire as well as songs from his new album, “How We React and How We Recover.”
Tickets, which are $25 for general admission, $30 for premium seating, and free to Misericordia faculty, staff, and students with an ID (limited to two per person), are available at misericordia.edu, the Misericordia box office, and at the door.
Brown is considered an equally skilled composer, lyricist, conductor, arranger, orchestrator, director, and performer. As a solo artist and with his band, the Caucasian Rhythm Kings, Brown has performed at concerts around the world. He has sold out performances at New York’s SubCulture for the past four years, performing alongside some of the music and theater world’s most recognized performers. His newest album, “How We React and How We Recover,” was released in June of 2018 on Ghostlight Records. His previous solo album, “Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes,” was named one of Amazon’s best of 2005.
Brown’s 2012 concerts at the Abrons Arts Center, featuring Anika Noni Rose, were filmed and broadcast on PBS. He was also showcased in a live broadcast from the London Palladium of the BBC’s “Friday Night Is Music Night” with the BBC Concert Orchestra. His collaboration with singer Lauren Kennedy, “Songs of Jason Robert Brown,” is available on PS Classics.
He is nationally known for his scores to several of the most renowned musicals of his generation, including “The Last Five Years,” which was cited as one of Time Magazine’s 10 Best of 2001 and won Drama Desk Awards for Best Music and Best Lyrics; “Songs for a New World,” a theatrical song cycle which played off-Broadway in 1995; “13,” which opened on Broadway in 2008; and the inspiring “Parade,” for which he won the 1999 Tony Award for Best Score.
He has two upcoming new musicals, “The Connector” and “Mr. Saturday Night,” slated to star Billy Crystal.
Brown spent 10 years teaching at the University of Southern California School of Dramatic Arts; he also taught at Harvard and Princeton universities and Emerson College. He lives in New York City with his wife, composer Georgia Stitt, and their two daughters.
Guest artist Nova Y. Payton has performed on television and in theater productions in more than 150 major cities across the U.S. and in countries around the world, including Canada, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. She is well known as the soprano voice in the internationally staged musical “3 Mo’ Divas.” The former American Musical and Dramatic Academy student has a prolific catalog of artist collaborations, and she has shared the stage with Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack, Levi Kreis, and Bobby McFerrin, among others. She has also performed as the opening act for well-known artists, including Ashford and Simpson, Will Downing, Stephanie Mills, Melba Moore, The Chi-Lites, and the Dramatics and Stephanie Mills, who rose to stardom as “Dorothy” in the original Broadway production of “The Wiz.”
For more information about the concert and cultural events at Misericordia, contact the university box office at 570-674-6719.
Founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1924, Misericordia University (301 Lake St., Dallas) is Luzerne County’s first four-year college and offers 56 academic programs on the graduate and undergraduate levels in full and part-time formats. Misericordia ranks in the “National Universities” category of U.S. News and World Report’s 2020 edition of Best Colleges. The Princeton Review recognizes Misericordia as a 2020 “Best Northeastern” college, and Money Magazine includes Misericordia in its 2019-20 “Best Colleges” list. College Consensus and the Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education rank Misericordia among the top colleges and universities nationally.
