Jason Robert Brown (Royal Festival Hall)

American composer Jason Robert Brown attracts a seriously devoted following, and they were out in force at the Festival Hall last night to worship at his feet.

I confess I wasn't among those whooping during the overture of Honeymoon in Vegas, or even those who leapt to their feet following Cynthia Erivo's show-stopping rendition of "I Can Do Better Than That" from The Last Five Years. But by the end of this two and a half hour set I found myself standing with the rest to acclaim a composer whose jazz-infused, technically complex brand of musical theatre has proved so influential in recent years.

This was an evening of greatest hits – despite his early banter about not doing songs from the Tony-winning Parade, by the end of the first half he was rattling through a medley sung by the stellar trio of Oliver Tompsett, Laura Pitt-Pulford and Bertie Carvel.

Elsewhere we were treated to a reunion of the NYMT cast of 13, and numbers spanning the recent Bridges of Madison County to Songs from a New World, Brown's 20-year old debut show.

Other stand-out performances included assured teenager Eleanor Worthington-Cox ("What it Means to be a Friend"), former Wicked star Willemijn Verkaik ("I Will Follow") and soon to be Kinky Boots leading man Matt Henry ("It All Fades Away"). A talented 18-strong orchestra under the alternating batons of Brown and his MD Torquil Munro was more than enough to compensate for some uneven mic levels.

Brown's virtuoso piano skills came to the fore in the premiere of a song from his new 70s-set musical, which is still at a very early stage of development. Titled "Melinda", it's a joyous and technically demanding toe-tapper that left me eager to see the full show. His mention of the original plans for the concert – a 60-piece orchestra performance of Songs from a New World – also whetted the appetite. And it all ended with a harmony-filled singalong (this was an audience full of music students, after all) of "Caravan of Angels".

He has his fair share of detractors, and is yet to enjoy widespread commercial success, but on this evidence there are few contemporary theatre composers as accomplished as Jason Robert Brown. And the idea he doesn't write 'tunes' is frankly nonsense. It's just a shame we don't see more of the full-flown productions over here; I for one would now be first in line.