AN EVENING WITH JASON ROBERT BROWN & BETSY WOLFE, HOSTED BY FRANK DILELLA

JASON ROBERT BROWN is the ultimate multi-hyphenate – an equally skilled composer, lyricist, conductor, arranger, orchestrator, director and performer – best known for his dazzling scores to several of the most renowned musicals of our time, including the generation-defining “The Last Five Years,” his debut song cycle “Songs for a New World,” and the seminal “Parade,” winner of the 1999 Tony Award for Best Score and the 2023 Tony for Best Revival of a Musical.

Jason Robert Brown has been hailed as “one of Broadway’s smartest and most sophisticated songwriters since Stephen Sondheim” (Philadelphia Inquirer), and his “extraordinary, jubilant theater music” (Chicago Tribune) has been heard all over the world, whether in one of the hundreds of productions of his musicals every year or in his own incendiary live performances.  His most recent musical, “The Connector,“ created with Jonathan Marc Sherman and Daisy Prince, just completed a triumphant run at New York’s MCC Theater; and his next show, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” written with Taylor Mac based on John Berendt’s book and directed by Rob Ashford, played its pre-Broadway run at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre last summer. Jason’s score for “The Bridges of Madison County,” a musical adapted with Marsha Norman from the bestselling novel, received two Tony Awards (for Best Score and Orchestrations). “Honeymoon In Vegas,” based on Andrew Bergman’s film, opened on Broadway in 2015 following a triumphant production at Paper Mill Playhouse.  A film version of his epochal Off-Broadway musical “The Last Five Years” was released in 2015, starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan and directed by Richard LaGravenese. His major musicals as composer and lyricist include: “13,” written with Robert Horn and Dan Elish, which opened on Broadway on 2008 and became a celebrated Netflix musical in 2022; “The Last Five Years,” currently running on Broadway in a revival starring Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren, was cited as one of Time Magazine’s 10 Best of 2001 and won Drama Desk Awards for Best Music and Best Lyrics (and was later directed by the composer both in its record-breaking Off-Broadway run at Second Stage Theatre in 2013 and in London’s West End in 2016); “Parade,” written with Alfred Uhry and directed by Harold Prince, which won both the Drama Desk and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards for Best New Musical, as well as garnering Jason the Tony Award for Original Score; and “Songs for a New World,” a theatrical song cycle directed by Daisy Prince, which has since been seen in hundreds of productions around the world since its 1995 Off-Broadway debut, including a celebrated revival at New York’s City Center in the summer of 2018.  “Parade” was also the subject of two major revivals: the first, directed by Rob Ashford, at London’s Donmar Warehouse and then at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles; and the second, Michael Arden’s Tony-winning 2023 Broadway production starring Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond, which is currently on tour throughout the US.  In 2022, Jason collaborated with comedy legend Billy Crystal on a Broadway musical of “Mr. Saturday Night” with lyrics by Amanda Green and a book by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel.  Jason conducted his orchestral adaptation of E.B. White’s novel “The Trumpet of the Swan” with the National Symphony Orchestra, and recorded the score for PS Classics.

Jason is the winner of the 2018 Louis Auchincloss Prize, the 2002 Kleban Award for Outstanding Lyrics and the 1996 Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Foundation Award for Musical Theatre.  Jason’s songs, including the cabaret standard “Stars and the Moon,” have been performed and recorded by Ariana Grande, Jennifer Nettles, Brandi Carlile, Audra McDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, Billy Porter, Betty Buckley, Renée Fleming, Jon Hendricks and many others.

As a soloist or with his band, Jason has performed concerts around the world.  For six years, his monthly sold-out performances at New York’s SubCulture featured many of the music and theater world’s most extraordinary performers, including a sold-out concert at Town Hall with Stephen Sondheim. His newest collection, “Coming From Inside the House,”featuring Ariana Grande and Shoshana Bean, commemorates the final SubCulture concert, recorded remotely during the pandemic. His previous albums, “How We React and How We Recover” and “Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes” are available from Ghostlight/Sh-K-Boom Records. Jason’s 2012 concert with Anika Noni Rose was broadcast on PBS, and he was the featured soloist for an episode of BBC Radio’s long-running “Friday Night Is Music Night,” broadcast live from the London Palladium and featuring the BBC Concert Orchestra.  His collaboration with singer Lauren Kennedy, “Songs of Jason Robert Brown,” is available on PS Classics. Jason is also the composer of the incidental music for the Broadway revival of “You Can’t Take It With You,” David Lindsay-Abaire’s “Kimberly Akimbo” and “Fuddy Meers,” and Kenneth Lonergan’s “The Waverly Gallery,” and he was a Tony Award nominee for his contributions to the score of “Urban Cowboy the Musical.”  He has also contributed music to the hit Nickelodeon television series “The Wonder Pets,” as well as “Sesame Street.”  Jason spent ten years teaching at the USC School of Dramatic Arts, and has also taught at Harvard University, Princeton University and Emerson College.

For the musical “Prince of Broadway,” a celebration of the career of his mentor Harold Prince, Jason was the musical supervisor and arranger.  Other New York credits as conductor and arranger include “Urban Cowboy the Musical” on Broadway; “Dinah Was,” off-Broadway and on national tour; “When Pigs Fly” off-Broadway; William Finn’s “A New Brain” at Lincoln Center Theater; the 1992 tribute to Stephen Sondheim at Carnegie Hall (recorded by RCA Victor); Yoko Ono’s “New York Rock,” at the WPA Theatre; and Michael John LaChiusa’s “The Petrified Prince” at the Public Theatre. Jason orchestrated Andrew Lippa’s “john and jen,” Off-Broadway at Lamb’s Theatre.  Additionally, Jason served as the orchestrator and arranger of Charles Strouse and Lee Adams’s score for a proposed musical of “Star Wars.”  Jason has conducted and created arrangements and orchestrations for Liza Minnelli, John Pizzarelli, and Michael Feinstein, among many others.

Jason studied composition at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., with Samuel Adler, Christopher Rouse, and Joseph Schwantner.  He lives with his wife, composer Georgia Stitt, and their daughters in Nyack, New York.  Jason is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and the American Federation of Musicians Local 802.

jasonrobertbrown.com

Photo: Joe Mazza

Betsy Wolfe will soon be starring as Joy, the title role in the highly anticipated new musical Joy this summer in New York City. She most recently wrapped her acclaimed tenure with the hit musical & Juliet as Anne Hathaway where her performance was nominated for the 2023 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

Previously, Wolfe starred as Jenna Hunterson, the title role in the Tony nominated musical Waitress, Cordelia in the Broadway revival of Falsettos, and her critically acclaimed performance as Cathy in the off-Broadway revival of The Last Five Years. She starred in the holiday film Estella Scrooge: A Christmas Carol With A Twist, the indie film First One In, and had a guest starring role on the CBS series Instinct. Other Broadway credits include Ellen in Bullets Over Broadway, Rosa Bud in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, 110 in the Shade, and Everyday Rapture.

Wolfe made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Die Fledermaus. She has been a guest artist for over 60 symphony, pops, and philharmonic orchestras around the world including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The New York Pops and the BBC Orchestra. Wolfe received her BFA in musical theatre from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.

She founded BroadwayEvolved, a groundbreaking musical theatre training program for students currently in its 7th year.

www.broadwayevolved.com www.betsywolfe.com

Frank DiLella is a seasoned journalist with over two decades of experience covering New York City’s vibrant entertainment community. Known for his insightful interviews and comprehensive coverage as the host of ON STAGE on Spectrum News NY1, DiLella has established himself as a prominent voice in New York City’s arts and entertainment scene. Throughout his career, DiLella has conducted interviews with many legendary artists, including Tom Hanks, Vanessa Redgrave, Bono, Nathan Lane, Elton John, Ryan Murphy, Liza Minnelli, Patti LuPone, Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters, Hugh Jackman, Tom Stoppard, Lin-Manuel Miranda, James Earl Jones, Chita Rivera, Alicia Keys, Jane Fonda, Jake Gyllenhaal, Samuel L. Jackson, Jessica Chastain, Angela Lansbury, Judith Light, Kristin Chenoweth, Idina Menzel, Lady Gaga, Tony Kushner, and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

His work has been recognized with numerous awards, including 11 New York Emmy Awards, 8 New York Press Club Awards, and an Edward R. Murrow Award. In 2022, he was honored by the Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists for his Spectrum News Special, "Pride and Perseverance."

Beyond his work at NY1 NEWS, DiLella has contributed to various outlets, including the Tony Awards, the Olivier Awards, Playbill, MANHATTAN Magazine, and Broadway Direct. He regularly appears on MSNBC's "Morning Joe", where he’s been affectionately referred to as “the Broadway guy”. He has also made appearances on The Tamron Hall Show, Andy Cohen's "Watch What Happens Live," the AOL BUILD Series, BBC, CBS, NBC, CTV, and has been heard on The Broadway Podcast Network, iHeart Radio, and Sirius XM.

In January 2022, DiLella executive produced and hosted the documentary "Reopening: The Broadway Revival," featuring Sara Bareilles, Kristin Chenoweth, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and other notable theater artists. This PBS Great Performances special offered a unique glimpse into the challenges and triumphs of the Broadway industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.

DiLella has also made numerous on-screen appearances, including in Ryan Murphy's "The Prom" opposite Meryl Streep, "Smash," "The Little Voice," "Gossip Girl," and "The Forty Year Old Version."

Committed to fostering the next generation of artists, DiLella serves on the selection committee for the annual Clive Barnes Award and Foundation, which honors talented young professionals in dance and theater.

A graduate of Fordham University at Lincoln Center, DiLella returned to his alma mater in 2013 where he currently serves as an adjunct professor – teaching entertainment journalism.

Photo courtesy of the artist.