Broadway Stories Revolution! The History Behind The Modern Pop-eretta
Greg Brown, lecturer
As Broadway stretched its span to ever more global dimensions in the 1970s and 1980s, the musicals themselves needed to be bigger as well. Explore how shows like Les Miserables, Sweeney Todd, Phantom of the Opera and Miss Saigon borrowed from the forms and traditions of 19th century opera to create musicals on an epic scale, stirring audiences to ever greater emotional heights.
It wasn’t just the size of the musicals that changed, however. Broadway began embracing elements of pop, hip hop and other musical genres, took a new direction in storytelling with diverse narratives focusing on marginalized communities and looked to technology to help advance storytelling. Don’t miss this insightful look behind Broadway’s curtain.
This presentation is part of Greg Brown's Broadway Stories series.
Greg Brown
Greg Brown
As music director and musician, Greg Brown’s work in musical theater includes The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Broadway, Chicago), Monty Python's Spamalot (first national tour), The Boy Friend directed by Julie Andrews (international tour), Manhattan Theatre Club, The Atlantic Theater, Theatreworks USA, New York Musical Theatre Festival, National Alliance For Musical Theatre Festival of New Musicals, North Shore Music Theater, Two River Theater, CAP 21, Weston Playhouse, The Music Theatre Company, The Adrienne Arsht Center, Capitol Repertory Theater, and Goodspeed Musicals, among others. He has played more than 40 touring Broadway productions, including Wicked, Evita, Kinky Boots, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, Something Rotten!, and many others.
Brown served on faculty of the Theatre Arts Department at the University of Miami for 11 years, helping to shepherd in new and developing works along with creating curriculum in musical theater history, performance and applied music theory. He has acted as vocal coach for the Miami City Ballet's West Side Story Suite. His arrangement and concert work includes collaborations with Lea Salonga, Tommy Tune, Stephen Schwartz and Il Divo. His roles in entertainment on land and at sea have included Lead, Talent Casting for Royal Caribbean Productions; vice president, talent casting and recruitment for RWS Entertainment Group; and his current position as manager, guest entertainers for Princess Cruises.
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