Broadway composer Jason Robert Brown has entwined E. B. White’s beloved tale of a trumpet swan born without a voice with his original music for the world premiere of “The Trumpet of the Swan: A Novel Symphony.”
The celebrated cast boasts Broadway, Hollywood and television personalities, among them Oscar winner Kathy Bates, Emmy winner Gary Griffin, Helen Hayes Award nominee Lauren Kennedy as Serena and Emmy Award nominee Fred Willard of “Everybody Loves Raymond.” Louie the swan is performed by trumpeter Chris Venditti.
Although the Kennedy Center-commissioned symphony and theater event runs only three days, orchestrator Sam Davis predicts it will become a universal favorite comparable with “Peter and The Wolf.”
“Jason has written spectacular music,” he says. “He told me he was inspired by the allegro movement of Randall Thompson’s second symphony and other works of the mid-20th century. There is no singing, but the themes are wonderful and range from beautiful melodies for Serena to jazzy sections featuring the trumpet, along with lots of depictions of animal sounds. This work will have a wide appeal for children and families, and symphony orchestras will want to add it to their repertoire.”
A jack of all musical trades, Davis is composer, conductor, arranger and pianist. Shortly after arriving in New York from the University of Michigan School of Music, he won the 1999 Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award. His Broadway music director credits include “Curtains,” “The Apple Tree,” “Follies” and “Cabaret,” and his orchestrations are in demand by various symphony orchestras for their pops concerts. He leaves shortly for Korea where he is music coordinator for a production of “Dreamgirls.”
Like Davis, Lauren Kennedy has worked with Brown on other projects, among them the Chicago premiere of his musical, “The Last Five Years” which sparked her solo album, “Songs of Jason Robert Brown.”
“I want people to become aware of Jason and his music because he takes chances,” she says. “The theme of this show is that anything is possible if you have gumption and imagination. Jason’s music runs throughout the play, but there are no vocal parts, quite different from anything I’ve done in the past.”
Kennedy comes to “Trumpet of the Swan” from the role of Lady of the Lake in the Broadway cast of “Spamalot,” Earlier, she portrayed Nellie Forbush in the London production of “South Pacific.” The busy performer, who deftly juggles motherhood and marriage to fellow actor Alan Campbell, goes directly into rehearsal for the Broadway opening of “Vanities,” a new musical about three Texas cheerleaders coming of age.
“It promises to be a tour de force,” she says. “In the meantime, I’ll love playing Serena, a typical girl who looks at what is expected and isn’t able at first to see what’s on the inside.”
