Jason Robert Brown is an American musical theater composer, playwright, and lyricist. He was born in New York City in 1970 and spent his college years at the Eastman School of Music, Rochdale, NY. Although he had ambitions to be in a rock band and imitate his hero Billy Joel, watching Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Sunday in the Park with George convinced him to follow the musical theater path.
Beginning his career as a pianist and arranger in New York City, he soon met Daisy Prince, working with her on the off-Broadway revue, Songs for a New World. Through her, Brown met Daisy’s father, Hal Prince, and he was hired to write the songs for Parade (1999) for which he won the Tony Award for Best Original Score.
Brown went on to work with Daisy Prince again on The Last Five Years, which was made into a 2015 film, starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan. His most recent musical, The Bridges of Madison County premiered on Broadway in February 2014 for a four-month run, winning the Tony Award for Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations.
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