Songs for a New World at Pacific Theatre
Jason Robert Brown's song cycle gets new look in Vancouver
Aug 14, 2009
It's difficult to explain a song cycle, as it's not a traditional book musical. Instead of one story over one night, we hear a story in every song, linked to a common thread or theme.
In Songs for a New World, as the directors Sara-Jeanne Hosie and Shane Snow so eloquently put it in the director's notes, is about a "moment". The composer Jason Robert Brown has crafted sixteen songs that deal with people on the verge of a choice, or a single moment that will change everything for them.
Brown, better known for his shows Parade and The Last Five Years, wrote the music and lyrics to this show which premiered in New York in 1995 starring relative unknowns Norbert Leo Butz and Andrea Burns. The show has grown in popularity in regional and high school productions every since, not only because of the simplicity of it all, but because of the glorious music it has.
The cast is small, with just four actors and a band of three carrying the show. The amazing thing about this production is what the cast and directors have been able to do with so little. The confines of Pacific Theatre, with the audience racked on opposite sides of a small stage may not be the ideal location for the show, but they make it work as best they can. Hosie and Snow have directed and choreographed each song to give the audience something to watch and look at at all times, save for two numbers in act two when a curtain is lowered to divide the stage almost in two.
The performers are a "who's who" of Vancouver theatre, including Alison MacDonald, Jennifer Neumann and Jonathan Winsby who all just finished over one hundred performances of Les Misérables at the Arts Club Theatre Company, and Daren Herbert, who is a recent arrival on the Vancouver theatre scene. Each of them brings something fresh and unique to their individual songs, and each has more than one moment to show not only their vocal chops, but their acting ability as well.
Whether it's MacDonald's hilarious portrayal of a wife upset at her husband as she stands on a ledge threatening to jump in "Just One Step", Neumann's "Christmas Lullaby" where she is pregnant and scared about the impending birth of her child who would change the future of the world, Winsby's heartbreaking duet with Neumann about a couple leaving each other and realizing they still love each other in "I'd Give It All For You" or Herbert's "Steam Train" where he sings about being the next big thing in basketball and his troubled childhood, the show truly doesn't have a dull moment. At a very quick 90 minutes (including intermission), the show moves along at a quite a pace, and all it does is make you long for more.
Sara-Jeanne Hosie and Shane Snow have pulled off what this show is all about, and the best part is is that they have kept it simple with innovative staging in the small space as well as inventive and thoughtful choreography to keep the show's momentum building.
The band, led by musical director Sean Bayntun with bass player Hugh Macdonald and Sam Hutchison on drums may be too loud in some parts and drown out the singers, but they are a tight knit group who are a joy to listen to.
Songs for a New World is a musical that you may never have heard of - but like Herbert's character says in "Steam Train" - you will.
Do yourself a huge favour and get a ticket to one of the best shows of the year. You won't regret it.
Songs for a New World is at the Pacific Theatre until August 29. For ticket and show information, click here.
**** 1/2 (out of five)
