Biography

This season, "Musicals Tonight!" featured a triple serving of Selby Brown! Selby starred in three of the company’s revivals. He started with the role of Horace Lane in Croswell’s and Pockriss’ Ernest in Love. The show was written in the 1960s, a musical version of The Importance of Being Ernest. Broadway World called Selby’s performance "utterly charming" and referred to his Act II duet, shared with Katherine McClain, as "the best number in the show."

Next Selby was featured in Irene as Ozzy Babson, ne’er do well cousin to the leading man. TheaterScene called his performance "colorful." This was a revival of a 1973 Debbie Reynolds vehicle.

Last, but not least, Selby was Florenz, moody manservant to the governor in Naughty Marietta. This show was written in 1910 and is a very well-known operetta.

Prior to that, Selby re-visited the Pulse Ensemble Theatre. He was an apprentice there in 2001/2002 right after moving to New York City. They invited Selby back for their outdoor production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. He played the role of Paris and shot himself (for it was a modern-day setting) 8 times a week in the 90 degree weather.

Selby was in the staged reading of The Man in the Iron Mask. The reading was performed at Lamb's Theatre. He performed multiple roles in the What Makes Sammy Run? revival at the West End Theatre on 86th St. He toured the U.S. for 5 months with the Theatreworks/USA production of Phantom of the Opera. In Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Selby pouted through "Those Canaan Days" at the Tarrytown Music Hall.

He was in the original cast of the Off-Broadway production of A Stoop on Orchard Street as Lipschitz, then revisited the production later in the run as Sam, the tailor. During summer 2004, Selby was seen as Eduoard Schwarz in the Fringe Festival and NYMF productions of Lulu: A New Musical. Then, Selby originated the role of Draycott Deyo in the reading of Bernice Bobs Her Mullet by Joe Major. He spent the previous spring singing women’s songs from a man’s perspective in Man Wanted! The Ultimate Diva Revue. Of that performance, John Kenrick of Musicals101 said, "Selby Brown has a classic ‘boy next door’ quality, and knows how to make the most of it, whether radiating frustration ("I Resolve" from She Loves Me) or vulnerability ("Colored Lights" from The Rink.)" Just prior to that Selby was featured in Hidden Voices, a performance created by the New York Academy of Theatrical Arts under the direction of Terrence Mann at the Minetta Lane Theatre. He also performed the role of Frederic in a World Trade Center Benefit of The Pirates of Penzance and toured as Sosia in The Amphitruo. Selby is a graduate of Arkansas State University, where he was the inaugural recipient of the Outstanding Theatre Student Award. He’s completed additional training as a founding member of the New York Academy of Theatrical Art, as an acting apprentice with Pulse Ensemble Theatre, as an independent artist with the Eugene O’Neill Studio, and in Musical Theatre at the Basement Space. His recent mentors and teachers include Mark Simon, Terrence Mann, Michele Pawk, Carol Fox Prescott, Eddie Strauss. Selby is a grateful member of Actors' Equity Association.