Though Jason Robert Brown鈥檚 artistic residency at downtown鈥檚 SubCulture has been put on hold due to shutdowns from coronavirus concerns, the Tony Award-winning composer-lyricist, along with SubCulture co-founder Marc Kaplan, will present the April engagement as a free virtual concert April 27 at 8PM ET. Brown will welcome (from their homes) his longtime band, plus special guests Ariana Grande and Shoshana Bean.
Grande and Brown have been close ever since Grande made her Broadway debut in Brown鈥檚 musical 13 (prior to her pop stardom). Over the years, the pair have maintained a friendship; Brown when she was named one of Time鈥檚 100 Most Influential People in 2016. Bean, whose first concert with Brown at SubCulture inspired the idea for the ongoing residency, returns for the fifth time.
The digital event marks the 58th concert of the residency, which has also included the special fundraiser presentations of The Last Five Years starring Joshua Henry and Cynthia Erivo and Jason Robert Brown with Stephen Sondheim鈥攂oth at Town Hall and both fundraisers for the Brady Campaign to end gun violence.
The April 27 concert is free and available on as well as , but Brown encourages to sustain the venue, its staff, and musicians through the shutdown.
鈥淲hat I have missed and mourned the most over these last extraordinary weeks has been my ability to connect with music鈥攖o play and sing with other musicians, and to feel the audience responding,鈥� Brown said in a statement. 鈥淓very month for the past five years, I鈥檝e been able to do just that at SubCulture, working with the best musicians and singers I know to make music together for a smart, involved and joyful audience in a place that鈥檚 come to feel like a second home.
鈥淪itting here watching the news go by, I had to do something; I had to figure out some way to let these notes and words in my head come out and be shared with my collaborators and my audience, and so, here we are. All of us in our homes, making music however and whenever we can, with an amazing team to help pull it all together, and two of the greatest singers on the planet Earth: the patron saint of the SubCulture Residency, Shoshana Bean, and Grammy-winner, icon, and total theatre nerd Ariana Grande. We鈥檝e put together a show about what we鈥檝e lost, what we鈥檝e discovered and what we鈥檙e grateful for, and I can鈥檛 wait to share it with you.鈥�
to donate to the SubCulture Relief Fund.
