Jason Robert Brown, the composer currently represented Off-Broadway with The Last Five Years, is already hard at work on future projects. According to his biography, printed on the Last Five Years website, he is toiling on a new show called The Moneyman. The venture was described in the bio as a “dance-musical,” bringing to mind such past successes as Susan Stroman’s Contact and upcoming shows like Billy Joel and Twyla Tharp’s Movin’ On (though neither of those are big on original music).
The biography also mention an upcoming solo album. Brown has often performed his own compositions at night spots like Joe’s Pub.
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The Last Five Years, which had an acclaimed run in Illinois last year, began a commercial production Off-Broadway on Feb. 12. Norbert Leo Butz, who originated the male role in the two-hander last summer at Northlight Theatre in Skokie, IL, reprises his role in New York.
Aida actress Sherie Rene Scott plays opposite him. Opening is March 3 at the Minetta Lane Theatre. Rehearsals on the production began mid-January 2002. Daisy Prince, who staged Brown's Songs for a New World, directs The Last Five Years, which has sets and costumes by Beowulf Boritt, lighting by Chris Binder and sound by Duncan Edwards.
—By Robert Simonson
