The Cowboy Way

Since joining the creative team of Urban Cowboy for its four-week run at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Florida last month, Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown (Parade, The Last Five Years) has worn even more hats than the show’s title character. In addition to his ten-gallon duties as musical supervisor, arranger, and orchestrator, he has contributed three original songs; plus, he hits the ivories as part of the onstage band at every performance. Now, he even sings the second-act opener: “That’s How Texas Was Born.”

In an interview this past weekend, Brown said that his vocal contribution to the production was added very recently. It’s one of the latest experiments in an ever-evolving show by Aaron Latham and Phillip Oesterman
that workshopped in N.Y.C. and which, it has just been announced, will be returning to the city early in 2003. The Broadway-bound musical is based on the 1980 John Travolta/Debra Winger film about a romance centered in a country western bar. For the toe-tapping rock number “That’s How Texas Was Born,” Brown — decked in black jeans and a black cowboy shirt — leads the honky-tonk band from his seat at the piano, calling to mind Jerry Lee Lewis in his prime. (The number brings down the house.)

Brown took on the challenge of Urban Cowboy late in the rehearsal period when director Lonny Price (A Class Act) called and indicated that the show was in desperate need of Brown’s touch. “Lonny is someone I have always wanted to work with,” says Brown. “When I first heard he was doing Urban Cowboy, I told him to call me if he needed help along the way — and he did. I knew I was comfortable with the style of the show’s music, so I went in and said, ‘Let’s see what happens.'”

According to Brown, much of his work on the show is very technical. “My job is to make sure the music is as clean as possible and that the 26 songs sound as good as they can within the context of the story,” he says. “Country or rock music is not inherently theatrical — and these are actors, not country singers. While Broadway songs take you from one place to another, rock or country songs [such as the show’s ‘Boot Scootin’ Boogie’] sometimes just take you from one place to the same place. That’s the biggest danger of these types of shows, and why some of them fail. You have to avoid being inauthentic and never rob rock or country songs of their actual flavor while making sure the music takes the audience on a journey.”

In the few weeks since he saddled up, Brown has already contributed three original songs to Urban Cowboy. “I looked for points in the show when it felt like this moment or this character needs to say something,” he explains. “Lonny told me, ‘You’re a writer, so why don’t you come up with something?’ The songs I added are all intended to accomplish something dramatically.” Leading man Matt Cavenaugh, as Bud, sings two of the new tunes, the atmospheric “It Don’t Get Better Than This” and the dramatic first act closer “I Take It Back.” The story’s antagonist, Wes (Marcus Chait), sings the third — “That’s How She Rides,” a sexy, foreboding number that sets up a pivotal plotline about the temptation of leading lady Sissy (Jenn Colella).

Aside from bringing his talents as a composer-lyricist to Urban Cowboy, Brown has also deftly arranged and helped to integrate such country hits as “Cowboy, Take Me Away,” “Honey, I’m Home,” and “Lookin’ for Love” into the show. (One of the most rousing numbers, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” is intercut with the famous bucking bronco contest.) The musical has been favorably reviewed by the Florida press, with Brown’s arrangement of the score and his trio of original songs singled out for praise.

His work as musical director and piano player can also be heard on the new CD Philip Quast Live at the Donmar, which includes Brown’s searing new song “Letting You Go.” Fans can also look forward to a forthcoming all-J.R.B. album by Lauren Kennedy (currently playing Fantine in Les Misérables). The recordings of Songs For a New World, Parade, and The Last Five Years have helped gain a strong following for Brown, and his “Stars and the Moon” has become a cabaret and concert standard.

The pre-Broadway run of Urban Cowboy continues through December 1 at the Coconut Grove Playhouse. For more information, visit www.cgplayhouse.com.