Songs For a New World
A musical revue in 2 acts: Music and Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown. Conceived by Daisy Prince.
W.P.A. (Workshop of the Players Art) Theatre
11 October - 5 November, 1995 )12 perfs plus 15 previews)
Storyline:
At age twenty-five songwriter Jason Robert Brown pulled together sixteen of the songs he had written for various projects (shows, cabaret, concerts) and director Daisy Prince found a common theme to make a show of the pieces. The theme is the moment of decision, the point at which you transition from the old to the new. The change may be geographical, emotional, professional or marital but things are different than they were before. The result is neither musical play nor revue, it is closer to a theatrical song cycle, a very theatrical song cycle.
Brown writes intensely personal, highly dramatic songs. They range from country-ish story songs to gospel tinged wails and from pop coloured romps to solo pieces of either concentrated personal revelation or slightly off beat comedy. There's a pregnant woman's expression of wonder at creation, the story of a would-be basketball star aching to escape the dead-end world of failure, the lament of a couple who broke up only to find their separate ways led nowhere, and even the hopes and fears for the future that weigh heavily on the explorers sailing to find a new world in 1492 and the flagmaker creating the banner for a new nation in 1775. Each song is musically distinctive and dramatically effective.
Musical Numbers include:
The New World
On the Deck of a Spanish Sailing Ship 1492
Just One Step
I'm Not Afraid of Anything
The River Won't Flow
Stars and the Moon
She Cries
The Steam Train
The World Was Dancing
Surabaya , Santa
Christmas Lullaby
King of the World
I'd Give It All For You
Flagmaker 1775
Flying Home
Hear My Song