Tonight I thought I’d write about a person whom I’ve known for a very long time..and whom I’ve been meaning to speak about on this blog for a VERY long time. He has grown into an established musical theatre composer in NYC today and I am so very proud of him and his accomplishments thus far.
His name is Justin Paul.
I remember my first play I was in, EVER…“Bye Bye Birdie” at my middle school. Justin happened to be playing the role of Albert Peterson…And I was an “Ed Sullivan Chorus Member” and a “Teen Performer” in the song “One Last Kiss.” That cast was LARGE…SO large they double casted the ensemble I was in. This was 5th grade for me , and 7th for Justin… Honestly, he’s never stopped being amazing to this date. And hey, another thing to the ladies, he’s cute! 
So my next play, “Fiddler on the Roof” comes around and he plays the role of Perchik, who ends up being “matched” with the character of Hodel. This was another play I loved, because the cast was SO talented…All of the leads, and the ensemble too… Middle school plays to me, were amazing…Such a great experience. TONS of talent. And once again, Justin Paul stood out to me…
Now we can fast forward a few years to when I entered high school. I remembered Justin not being in several of the plays I was in at Staples. I remembered he was in plays before I got to high school…But I do not remember him being in “The Music Man”, my first high school drama club experience.
But he was in “Into the Woods” as the Baker. He was PERFECT in this role… His musical and acting talents shined particularly in this production playing this role.
His standout role in high school, in my opinion, was the show “Merrily We Roll Along.” This is a Stephen Sondheim musical that explores the lives of three close friends as they travel backwards in their lives to see what truly went wrong in their friendships. You see their struggles and joys. Justin played the main character (Frank), and I KNEW he would be cast in this role….An aspiring composer who takes his claim to fame very much to his head… He actually played piano on stage as he sung the songs his character composed. I must tell you all, not a lot of people can do this…Really.
Speaking of playing piano…Besides singing and acting, Justin has a GIFT of playing piano. Honestly, he’s one of those people where if you tell him a song I feel he could just play it full out without even thinking. I don’t think I’ll ever understand it, but I LOVE IT. Also in his high school career he conducted several of the shows’ orchestras…Which was very cool, and he did a wonderful job.
Fast forward to a few years later… I’m still in high school (or maybe just starting college?)…And I find out Justin wrote this thing called a “song cycle” (I thought to myself, “what’s that?”) with a guy named Benj Pasek (pictured above, left). They both were attending University of Michigan together for their musical theatre program, and wanted to showcase their songs they had worked on…So they came to Westport (my hometown) to this little center within a church, and brought back 4 UMich musical theater people with them as their “cast”. The show is called “EDGES.”
This show blew me away! I had an idea that Justin was probably good at songwriting but I had no idea he was writing song cycles! I play that one CD that he sold of his original work on my radio show to this day. The songs are uplifting, yet powerful at the same time. They’re very universal too, and speak to the audience about keeping up with the way the world works today and how to socially survive. I agree with the intent of their music fully.
So they had this song cycle, and they took it around the country, literally. It was reworked SEVERAL times, and it still is being reworked to this day!! They now apparently have different “versions” of it, as Justin told me, one for colleges and one for a more mature crowd (more general crowd). “EDGES” can now be officially staged anywhere across the country by obtaining the rights through Music Theatre International. This makes me SO proud.
What else have Benj & Justin accomplished since “EDGES”? Well, a TON…They’ve played their new work around several little club places in New York City and even in Los Angeles. Broadway stars have been able to sing their work in these showcases…Which was SO cool to see ((I saw one at Joe’s Pub in NYC a few years ago)). They’re apparently writing some full length book musicals from what I understand. They’ve written songs for several episodes of the Playhouse Disney show “Johnny and the Sprites” starring John Tartaglia. They were the youngest winners EVER to receive the Jonathan Larson award last year.
“EDGES” is now having several professional theatre runs across the country…And I had the pleasure of seeing the production at the Capital Reperatory Theatre in Albany, NY with my brother. It WAS SO COOL, because there was actually a set with costumes and professionals “doing their thing” to Justin & Benj’s work.
I must say, I am still in complete jaw-dropping awe of their acomplishments thus far…And they’re both around my age- I’d say around 22-23.
WOW!
To conclude, I must write that Justin is one of the nicest guys you’ll meet. I’m so happy to say “I know him!” and to be able to write about him on my blog in this manner.
And I KNOW their work is going to get bigger and better from here on out! 
I can’t wait to see what’s next.
If you want to check out more of their work, please check out their website!
And PLEASE check out these awesome videos from their showcase shows:
Here they are singing “Pretty Sweet Day”:
Here’s Shoshana Bean singing “Ready to be Loved”:
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((Pictures courtesy of mtcmainstage.org, wikipedia.com, Broadwayworld.com))
