I feel like the point of being an artist is to have your own voice: to do it the way you would do it and not the way anyone else would do it. If you’re a strong enough writer, then that voice is going to come out all the time, and I can’t stop it from coming out, no matter what I do. Jason Robert Brown Read Quote
I try to get underneath the skin of all kinds of music, and I never know what’s going to inspire me and what makes me crazy. Jason Robert Brown Read Quote
Comedy is drama. I think that if your characters are feeling something that is very real, then they have to respond in a way that feels real to them, and some situations, the only response you could possibly have is to respond in a way that’s so extreme that people are going to laugh. Jason Robert Brown Read Quote
I love my stuff – you’re not supposed to say that. But because I’m performer as well as a writer, I’m constantly interacting with my own work. I always get to find these little secrets that I left for myself, little notes – I find them all over the scores. Jason Robert Brown Read Quote
I did musicals in high school, certainly. And then I just kept wanting to do them. I felt at home in the theater, in that way that, you know, you’re supposed to if that’s the kind of person you are. Jason Robert Brown Read Quote
I don’t come from a musical family at all, but I realized early on I was a musician. I started begging for a piano when I was 6 years old. Jason Robert Brown Read Quote
Leonard Bernstein was probably the most significant formative influence on me – he was such an encompassing musician. I spent my teenage years absorbing him, and my other interests stemmed off of that. Bernstein led me to Sondheim and to Gershwin, and Sondheim led me to listening to Joni Mitchell. Jason Robert Brown Read Quote
You have to understand the medium you’re writing for. People jump into writing musicals without realizing how complicated they are. Knowing one form doesn’t necessarily mean you know the other. You have to be comfortable with it. Jason Robert Brown Read Quote
