DLOC Expands Its 2007-08 Season with a Third Show

Songs for a New World, a show with a broad range of musical genres, will be presented in April by DLOC as part of an expanded 2008-09 season.

The musical is about one moment—or rather, isolated moments—in the lives of many characters in a variety of eras with a score that includes pop, gospel, jazz and classical music.

Several characters in the show are spoofs or vague depictions of well-known historical and fictional characters, including Christopher Columbus, Mrs. Claus, and Betsy Ross.

The show, first performed in 1995, was composed by Jason Robert Brown and has been performed hundreds of times throughout the world. Stars and the Moon, its centerpiece song, has been recorded by many Broadway stars including Audra McDonald, Karen Akers and Betty Buckley. Brown’s other shows include Parade, Urban Cowboy, The Last 5 Years, and 13.

Kevin T. Morales, Town Hall Theatre’s artistic director, will direct the DLOC show. Greg Zema is music director.

Performances:

• 8 p.m. April 3, 4 & 5, April 10, 11 & 12
  2 p.m. April 6 & 13 at the Town Hall Theatre, 3535 School Street at Moraga Road in Lafayette. Call (925) 283-1557 for tickets
  
  
• 8 p.m. on April 26th at the El Campanil Theatre, 602 West Second Street in Antioch. Call (925) 757-9500 for tickets

Jason Robert Brown – Composer and Lyricist

Jason Robert Brown wrote of his show, “it’s about one moment. It’s about hitting the wall and having to make a choice, or take a stand, or turn around and go back.” Newcomer Jason Robert Brown, who us also the composer-lyricist of the recent critical smash ‘Parade’, has the whole theatre community talking about his blend of savvy showmanship and exciting contemporary sound.

Brown transports his audience from the deck of a 1492 Spanish sailing ship to a ledge 57 stories above Fifth Avenue to meet a startling array of characters ranging from a young man who has determined that basket-ball is his ticket out of the ghetto to a woman whose dream of marrying rich nabs her the man of her dreams and a soulless marriage. These are the stories and characters of today, the songs for a new world.

Using a small, powerhouse, cast and a driving, exquisitely crafted score running the gamut of today’s popular music, Songs for a New World is a great way to bring the next generation into the theatre. It’s a remarkable achievement from a remarkable new voice.

Soaring melodies and irresistible rhythms mark a wide range of songs that encompass jazz ("Just One Step"), gospel ("The River Won't Flow"), funk ("Steam Train"), plus "Surabaya Santa," sort of Mrs. Claus's lament.. Most memorable are two songs of lost love: the duet "I'd Give It All for You," which perfectly captures romantic yearning, and the wry yet poignant "Stars and the Moon," which has become something of a jazzy standard, recorded by such luminaries as Audra McDonald and Betty Buckley.           

Some people have been lamenting the supposed "death" of American musical theater since the 1960s. While such eulogies have always been overblown, the fact remains that producing a new musical has become increasingly expensive, discouraging producers from taking the risks necessary to produce great art.

Songs for a New World, an off-Broadway revue, introduced the world to musical theater's greatest new hope, composer/lyricist Jason Robert Brown. From the first bars of the opening number, Brown boldly declares, "Time to fly!" The music soars, enhanced by four talented actor-singers, a five-piece band, and one neophyte director (Daisy Prince, Hal's daughter) to bring joy to the flight.

THE MESSAGE:

The opening number describes "A New World." What this world may be is subject to multiple interpretations: the transformations of individuals in challenging moments, the risks faced by innovators throughout the history of the western hemisphere ("The New World"), and perhaps Brown's and Prince's talents bursting forth into the musical theater world. Whatever else this world may be, it is bold. It's "crash[ing] down like thunder," "charging through the air," and "shattering the silence."

While each remaining song is a self-contained story, each portrays characters that inhabit this new world, facing their challenges with a variety of emotions: humor, angst, determination, and joy. There are the unnamed contemporary people, including the woman who finds her invulnerability to be the source of pain, the confident man inexplicably scared of commitment, and the former couple re-uniting after time of personal discovery. There are also the "historical" people: Christopher Columbus -- here a surprisingly apropro soulful African-American -- facing doubts amidst his trans-Atlantic journey, and Betsy Ross, struggling to find a way to support her husband and child during the Revolutionary War.

THE LYRICS:

Brown's perfect lyrics for these characters speak our vernacular no matter how different their situation is from our own. The athlete driven to basketball stardom sees it as his only ticket out of the ghetto. (What else can he do? 10 of the 11 guys in his fifth grade class are now in jail or dead, and "Gordon Connors works at Twin Donut on 125th Street.") The latest Mrs. Claus questions her marriage to an overweight immortal who spends his time with reindeer. ("Oh yes, it's so easy to judge, isn't it? Deciding who's naughty and who's nice?") However, one angry character -- the desperate housewife threatening to jump from a skyscraper -- is cruder than I think she needs to be.

THE MUSIC:

Brown's music features deceptively complex rhythms and some occasionally funky chords, often giving his pieces an appealing, high-octane driving beat, such as in "On the Deck of a Spanish Sailing Ship," "The River Won't Flow," and "Steam Train," to name a few. But what distinguishes Brown from his contemporaries is his gift for melody, and this gift is the key to Brown's ability to push the envelope on musical theater conventions. For example, the tune of "Stars and the Moon" (perhaps the best song of the show) is so beautiful that the listener fails to notice how difficult the accompaniment is, nor to expect the surprise ending of the song's story. The simple melody of "Christmas Lullaby" allows Brown to sneak in a fairly overt religious idea without offending the most secular elements of the audience. (Producers take note: this is the key to simultaneous commercial and artistic success: make the music pretty, even if it's unconventional!)

One character sings: "A new world holds me to a promise." May the new world of musical theater promised by Jason Robert Brown continue to call across the sky for years to come!