Generational Voices artists rehearse for “Broadway and Beyond: The Music of Jason Robert Brown” Monday in McKnight Hall.
LAYLA VINSON
Staff Writer
Embodying the innate values of storytelling and versatility, The Denyce Graves Foundation will present its first performance, “Broadway and Beyond: The Music of Jason Robert Brown,” as part of the Generational Voices program. Celebrating the 1999 Tony Award winner for Best Score and 2023 Tony winner for Best Revival of a Musical, Jason Robert Brown’s multi-hyphenate artistry and illustrious musical scores will be brought to life by the artists of Generational Voices as a $20 ticketed event at 6 p.m. today in Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall.
“The stories and how [Brown’s] music supports the story — They’re always so … singable. The lyrics, the writing of those lyrics, is really, really incredible work and I think it’s natural,” Symone Harcum, artistic engagement coordinator at The Denyce Graves Foundation and soprano, said. Harcum first met Denyce Graves during her graduate studies at the Peabody Institute at John Hopkins in Baltimore. About Brown’s work, she said, “It’s not overdone, it’s not pushed; it’s really natural and allows a singer a lot of space to interpret and a lot of space to communicate with the audience, which is one of my favorite things to do.”
Entering opera later in her career at the tail end of her undergraduate studies, Harcum said she considers musical theater the site of her early beginnings as a singer. Exposed to prominent singers such as Audra McDonald at an early age, Harcum first encountered Brown’s work through a McDonald cover of “Stars and the Moon.”
“I fell in love with it, and from there, I fell in love with all of his music,” Harcum said, recalling her first encounter with the narrative cabaret from the 1995 song cycle, Songs for A New World. “It’s so, so wonderful. There’s Sondheim and there’s Jason Robert Brown for me, like neck and neck. Right there, right there together.”
Generational Voices artists Henrique Carvalho, baritone, and Audrianna Hughes, mezzo-soprano, rehearse.
Harcum acknowledged opera’s communicative challenges, such as language barriers, but she said she finds the “expansiveness of opera as an art form as what fills in the blanks of that emotional arc.” She said the open nature of opera allows for expression and personality, and she particularly admires the storytelling element of Brown’s work.
“Sondheim’s music — emotionally, I think the writing is operatic,” Harcum said. “Jason Robert Brown is the same.”
Emphasizing versatility across genres ranging from musical theater to opera, Brown’s work mirrors the dynamic industry Harcum and countless young artists within the Generational Voice Program and beyond navigate. This rising need for singers to be stylistically agile has become increasingly necessary to break into the field of opera.
“The last few orchestral concerts or contracts that I’ve gotten, they’ve asked me to sing hardcore opera, musical theater and jazz in the same program,” Harcum said. “Which was not heard of — you do one thing. [But] that’s not the case anymore. And being versatile is a sure way to be marketable now. And to encourage that is something that [The Denyce Graves Foundation] is doing.”
Harcum said the Generational Voices artists’ showcase of Brown’s catalog is an ideal setting for that kind of versatility. Set to feature selections spanning Brown’s career from beloved Broadway favorites and powerful ballads to lesser-known gems, the concert will reflect the evolving essence of the performance industry and offer audiences a glimpse into the breadth of artistry required of today’s emerging performers.
