"The Bridges of Madison County" was a critically-reviled bestseller, then it was a weirdly-dignified Clint Eastwood movie, then it was an ill-fated musical. You can say many things about Jason Robert Brown. One thing you could say is that lazy cliches fill his writing: Love-lorn searchers are always wandering in deserts, stopping in diners, living their lives out on the road. A more charitable thing you could say: JRB writes simply and directly about love, he "risks sentimentality," and he "connects" with many people, with apparent ease, on a regular basis. "It All Fades Away" is a standard JRB ballad. A troubled lover describes how all of life's diversions fade away in the company of love. "It all fades away with you." Like Sondheim, JRB manufactures a neat twist at the end, involving one small word. At the end, "It all fades away BUT you." (*Correction below.) In old age, the Clint Eastwood character will re...