Cabaret & Concert NewsStephen Sondheim Joins Jason Robert Brown for his 50th SubCulture Residency Concert June 24The maestros will play side-by-side at the Town Hall to benefit the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
By
Ruthie Fierberg
June 24, 2019
Nine-time Tony Award recipient and Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Sondheim will join Tony winner Jason Robert Brown for the latter's 50th SubCulture Residency Concert, to take place June 24 at 8PM at New York City’s Town Hall.
The theatrical giants will play alongside each other in a concert evening of songs from both of their repertoires, featuring new arrangements by Brown of many of Sondheim’s tunes. The duo will be joined by a 16-piece orchestra, as well as Tony winner Katrina Lenk as the evening’s guest vocalist. The concert will also feature Sondheim and Brown in conversation about each other’s work.
The performance also serves as a fundraiser for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, similar to SubCulture's 2016 Town Hall concert staging of Brown’s The Last Five Yearsstarring Cynthia Erivo and Joshua Henry. Brown has continued his support of the Campaign, fundraising at every one of his monthly SubCulture residency concerts.
The SubCulture residency launched in December 2014, and Brown has continued to deliver a concert every month at the downtown music venue, welcoming a guest artist each time. Past performers have included composers Stephen Schwartz and Tom Kitt in a dueling pianos-style performance, as well as singers Shoshana Bean, Norbert Leo Butz, Carolee Carmello, Gavin Creel, Sutton Foster, Christopher Jackson, Mykal Kilgore, Lindsay Mendez, Kelli O’Hara, and Steven Pasquale.
Brown also uses the residency to encourage himself to write new work, typically presenting a new song each concert. His latest album, How We React and How We Recover, was almost entirely written during his SubCulture residency.
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