Jason Danieley to Headline A Tree Grows in Brooklyn at Encores!
"At the first Broadway Bash concert in 2001, I sang a number from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, 'Mine Til' Monday,'" Danieley told Broadway.com. "That was the first time I had heard any of the music from the show. I thought the music was beautiful and that the lyrics were great in that they were very specific to telling the tale."
Danieley has appeared on Broadway in Candide for which he received a Theatre World Award and The Full Monty. His off-Broadway credits include The Trojan Women: A Love Story, Hit the Lights!, Dream True, Floyd Collins and the Encores! mounting of Strike Up the Band. In 2004, he performed concerts with wife Marin Mazzie and also appeared with her in the Reprise! mounting of Brigadoon.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn tells the story of the Nolan clan, a Brooklyn working-class family at the turn of the century, comprised of Johnny Danieley, who finds relief in a bottle, his wife Katie and two daughters--Francie who idolizes her father and Cissy who has a string of affairs. The show features music by Arthur Schwartz, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and a book by George Abbott and Betty Smith who wrote the novel on which the musical is based.
"I had seen the movie of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn many years before and--with my interest piqued after the concert--watched it again," Danieley explained. "I was fascinated and deeply moved. I have been a fan of the story and have in exploring the score recently become a fan of the musical."