Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Jason Robert Brown’s early-career SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD is triumphantly rediscovered via Encores! Off-Center

• By drediman
• June 30, 2018
• No Comments

Shoshana Bean, Mykal Kilgore, Colin Donnell, Solea Pfeiffer lead the Encores! Off-Center revival of Jason Robert Brown’s “Songs for a New World” at New York City Center.

On this sweltering afternoon in the city, I had the privilege of catching a revival of Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for a New World at New York City Center. The production – the first entry (of three) in this summer’s wonderful Encores! Off-Center series – is a triumphant rediscovery of Mr. Brown’s early-career song cycle on the theme of hope for a better tomorrow, despite the difficulties of the present.

The challenges of moving beyond life’s current state (whatever that may be) and discovering and exploring the glorious plane of that titular new world are triumphantly articulated in Mr. Brown’s inspired songs. I had forgotten the glories of his rich, varied score (sensationally led by music director Tom Murray and his awesome onstage band) – as well as the potency of the song cycle format, which mostly dispenses with the oft-problematic book. Growing up, I swooned to the distilled musical scenarios of similarly book scene-less works such as Maltby and Shire’s Starting Here, Starting Now and Closer Than Ever, as well as William Finn’s Elegies and Adam Guettel’s Myths and Hymns. Songs for a New World comfortably resides alongside these accomplished works. According to Mr. Brown, we are all sacred captains of our respective expeditions; it’s empowering to be reminded of this notion.

Director Kate Whoriskey has outdone herself with her emotionally powerful, surprisingly agile semi-concert staging, particularly given the production’s very limited four-day run. Her cast is glorious, giving the piece an urgency I hadn’t previously associated with the piece. Shoshana Bean, Colin Donnell, Mykal Kilgore, and Solea Pfeiffer, backed by a team of evocative dancers (the funk-heavy choreography is by the great Rennie Harris), each have various moments to shine and respectively give magnificent performances straight from the heart. Broadway fans will be familiar with Ms. Bean and Mr. Donnell – both are in tip-top shape here – but I was particularly impressed by the relative newcomers (at least to me) Mr. Kilgore and Ms. Pfeiffer, who each possess knock-out pipes and star presence.  There’s one more remaining performance tonight. If you can, you really shouldn’t miss it.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD
Off-Broadway, Musical
Encores! Off-Center at New York City Center
1 hour, 50 minutes (with one intermission)
Through June 30