From Tony Award-winning composer JASON ROBERT BROWN (PARADE) comes a timely new musical about two talented young journalists on increasingly diverging paths. Set in the late 1990s amid a rapidly changing media landscape we meet a fast-rising journalist, Ethan Dobson, and an assistant copy editor, Robin Martinez, at the revered magazine The Connector. In a world that values the next big sensation, Ethan’s writing prowess and ambition force him to confront how far he’ll go for the ultimate scoop and Robin to consider how far she’ll go to stop him.
With a book by JONATHAN MARC SHERMAN, THE CONNECTOR will feature Brown leading the band at each performance and reuniting with THE LAST FIVE YEARS and SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD director DAISY PRINCE.
Brown’s score, one of his best, has a decidedly ’90s groove, from the plaintive “Now What”—in which Conrad muses on the state of the news industry—to the twangy “So I Came to New York,” a duet that allows Robin to slam her home state (“Everyone’s an asshole in Texas…”) and Ethan to trash his (“Everyone’s a scumbag in Jersey…”). Musical numbers led by Fergie Philippe and Max Crumm, as Ethan’s dubious sources, give the musical space to breathe away from the office. And Jessica Molaskey and Mylinda Hull, as fact-checkers on Ethan’s trail, are so good that you wish they had even more to do, perhaps in a two-act version of this intermission-less show. But then again, in deference to their characters, this particular story might best be served by just-the-facts-ma’am brevity.
For the most part, I found “The Connector” (which runs just under two hours without intermission) to be engrossing (particularly during explosive production numbers in which the protagonist narrates his stories, conjuring colorful and offbeat characters played by Max Crumm and Fergie Philippe) and sharp (with ominous warnings about how the internet and corporate overlords would remake journalism). The performances and the production values (with Brown himself on piano and conducting the band) are all first-rate.
2018 | Regional (US) |
Powerhouse Season Workshop Regional (US) |
2024 | Off-Broadway |
MCC Theater Off-Broadway Premiere Production Off-Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Costume Design of a Musical | Márion Talán de la Rosa |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Direction of a Musical | Daisy Prince |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical | Ben Levi Ross |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design of a Musical | Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lyrics | Jason Robert Brown |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Music | Jason Robert Brown |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Musical | The Connector |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Projection and Video Design | Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Book of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | Jonathan Marc Sherman |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Direction of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | Daisy Prince |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical | Jessica Molaskey |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical | Hannah Cruz |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical | Ben Levi Ross |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical | The Connector |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Score (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | Jason Robert Brown |
2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Featured Performer in a Musical | Jessica Molaskey |
2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Projection Design | Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew |
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