Songs for a New World
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| Songs for a New World | |
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| World Premiere Recording | |
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| Music | Jason Robert Brown |
| Lyrics | Jason Robert Brown |
| Book | Jason Robert Brown |
| Productions | 1995 Off-Broadway |
Songs for a New World is a work of musical theater written and composed by Jason Robert Brown. Its original off-Broadway production ran for 28 performances at the WPA Theater in New York City in 1995. The show sits on the boundary between musical and song cycle: it is a series of largely unconnected songs with no plot or characters that continue from song to song, but the songs and the production are theatrical and character-driven.
The original cast consisted of Brooks Ashmanskas, Andréa Burns, Jessica Molaskey, and Billy Porter (Porter's part was sung by Ty Taylor on the original cast recording). The original band consisted of Jason Robert Brown on piano, Randy Landau on bass, Tom Partington on drums, Joe Reina on keyboards, and Warren Smith & Rob McEwan on percussion. Songs for a New World was Jason Robert Brown's first produced show.
[edit] Analysis of the score and script
The show requires four cast members, including two male singers and two female singers, and five musicians. The piano features heavily throughout the show's music. Because of its small cast and orchestra, Songs for a New World has become a favorite small show for colleges and local theatres, despite its vocally demanding score. The music of Songs for a New World is heavily influenced by a broad range of musical genres, including pop, gospel, jazz and classical music. Many of the songs combine elements of two or more of these genres.
Several of the characters are spoofs or vague depictions of well-known historical and fictional characters. Examples include Christopher Columbus, Mrs. Claus, and Betsy Ross.
[edit] Musical numbers
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[edit] External links
- Musical Theatre International's site with links to synopsis and other information
- Official Jason Robert Brown site
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