- "Someone to Fall Back On", Jason Robert Brown

Ahhh, JRB.  My sister and I drool over the mere mention of him.  I found him two years ago, when Nashville debuted his senior show (written and produced by, and starring himself).  It was about a relationship (very rocky) with the love of his life.. a girl with short, curly hair named Sarah.  Sound familiar?  But it was amazing.  It was so surreal.  Wow.  I still get all giggly thinking about it.  There is nothing like watching someone you felt so incredibly deeply for singing to "you" and kissing "you" and loving "you" right back on stage.  Anyway, I told you that story to tell you this one.. at the climax of the show, Nashville asked Sarah to spend the rest of his life with him with the song "
The Next Ten Minutes", from The Last 5 Years.  It was so incredibly moving.  Jesus.  And of course, after they sang this powerful and deeply touching song to each other, she inevitably pulled a "Sarah" and used ONE OF MY QUOTES.. Jonathan says, "But Sarah, I love you."

Sarah looks him dead in the eye, cups his cheek in her hand, and says quietly, "Sometimes, in real life, love isn’t enough."

He even got my moves down.  Bastard.

Anyway, on the way back, I asked Barry where the song came from.  He popped in the CD, and we listened to it the entire way home from Nashville.  We both cried.  I bawled.  Wow, I thought.. what an amazing writer.  He turned usable dialogue into music.  It was witty, it was lyrical, it was poetry in motion.  Forget "Rent", guys.. this is the real deal here.

So I went home and bought the CD.  OHMYDEARLORD, I told Delle, you have to hear this musical.

And the rage began.

But one thing I noticed.. EVERYONE associated with the show had three names.  Jamie was played by Norbert Leo Butz.  Kathy was played by Sherie Rene Scott.  It was written by Jason Robert Brown.

I wanted to play.  I appeared in my last show as Sarah Lena Brown.

And when I thought back to it, the program for Nashville’s show read as Jonathan Gregg McDaniel.

So be cool.  Have three names.