By Michael Buzzelli
Imagine you’re at a subterranean bar below Bleeker Street in NYC’s NoHo neighborhood, listening to hip, jazzy renditions of popular Broadway songs, sipping an aged, single-barrel bourbon, and you have an evening with Jason Robert Brown. His residency at SubCulture was precisely that.
Brown, whose bio reads like a “Who’s Who on Broadway,” is not just an award-winning composer and lyricist but a sonorous-voiced singer.
He started the late night cabaret (one of two shows, a 7:00 PM and 9:30 PM), with “Hope.” A song he wrote back in 2016, after the presidential election, as he tried to summon up the emotion after a disappointing loss. Sadly, history repeats itself. A reprise. The song evoked several emotions, moving my seat mate to tears.
Note: Brown is not overtly political but made his feelings about which side of the aisle he sits on.
Things liven up by the time he sings, “I love Betsy,” a jaunty tune from “Honeymoon in Vegas.” The song is packed with detail and it’s a joyous rendition.
Following the song’s conclusion, Brown addressed the audience, confessing in an academic tone that he entered the song too late. The self-effacing humor received raucous laughter and a thunder of applause.
He had us in the palm of his hand.
The evening flowed from funny anecdote to gorgeous melody.
He treated the cabaret audience to two songs from his upcoming musical, “Less,” an adaptation of the scintillating satirical novel from Andrew Sean Greer (no relation to the venue).
At one point, he brought the house lights up and answered questions, delivering droll responses. A young woman asked, “I have to write a song for my college class. How do I do it?”
“Don’t. I don’t need the competition.”
It was a hilarious remark, that he immediately contradicted his posture and gave some solid advice, ending with, “Every college kid wants to write a sad, soulful song. Try to write something that brings you joy.”
Just as Brown brought joy to a packed house.
Additional note: The 7:00 PM show was sold-out, but there was a little room left in the 9:30 PM show, but less than you would expect for a Monday night.
Brown was accompanied by two terrific musicians. When Todd Reynolds plays the fiddle, it is exquisite. Reynolds gets a beautiful moment, a violin solo from “Parade.”
Randy Landau is a virtuoso with a martini-dry wit.
Reynolds and Landau could lead cabarets of their own. There was a tremendous amount of talent on the Greer Cabaret stage.
Toward the end of the show, Brown admitted that it had been some time since he had been in Pittsburgh. He was last here over 20 years ago for a production of “Parade.” He said, “I’ll have to come back.”
When he does, get tickets right away.
Next up for the Cabaret Series is Christopher Jackson on Monday, February 10, 2025.
-MB
The Trust Cabaret Series performers can be found at the Greer Cabaret Theater, 655 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, click here.
