UConn Magazine: Off Broadway

The recently retired director of student services at UConn Waterbury brings the stage to more than 40,000 listeners a month

Stuart Brown has an encyclopedic knowledge of the Broadway stage.

Stuart Brown has an encyclopedic knowledge of the Broadway stage (Peter Morenus / UConn Photo).

Stuart Brown, the recently retired director of student services at UConn Waterbury, moonlights as a theater critic, podcaster, and creator/host of the online radio broadcast “Sounds of Broadway,” which boasts 40,000 listeners a month. It’s a global audience that includes a Storrs contingent — the program airs on UConn’s WHUS on Tuesdays at 10 a.m.

The show reflects Brown’s encyclopedic knowledge of the Broadway music catalog, along with his creativity in developing themed set lists that might focus on a composer, a production, a subject, or an individual performer. He also takes requests via email and writes back to his listeners, which he believes is especially important.

“How many times do you email someone, or you go to a website and you fill out a web form? You never hear from them,” Brown says. “You hear from me usually within 24 hours. That engagement to me is so key.”

Read on for more.