As a one night only special, the Umbrella Arts Center brought a group from the Front Porch theater in Cambridge to perform Jason Robert Brown's Songs for a New World. The group did a tremendous job bringing this show to Concord, and I hope we see more of them more regularly. The mission of the group is to highlight people of color, especially performers-and this piece benefited heavily from having a fresh take on its standard love song material.
This is one of those shows that can really show off your Broadway/cabaret cred. Audra Mcdonald has recorded Stars and the Moon, and another song from the cycle, I'm Not Afraid, has become an audition song in some circles.
The cast of 5 singers (down from 6, one had gotten sick just this morning) were each incredible and there are enough amazing character songs to go around. The ensemble pieces are a kaleidoscope of sound; the singers did especially amazing work with the songs-to the point where the audience felt lost in the emotion of the music, beyond what JRB initially imagined.
As with most song cycles, there is the narrative thread missing that truly links each of the songs together. JRB made a valiant effort, but the more I hear the whole piece together, the less I am brought in by the connective tissue that is meant to link the songs together. The thing that stood out to me this time were the strong songs sung by women-because they were about men. All the character songs (the 2 above, plus Surabaya Santa and Murray) are about women creating their characters in response to the men-so the men are present as the major reflection of the song. Hmm.
This is one of those shows that can really show off your Broadway/cabaret cred. Audra Mcdonald has recorded Stars and the Moon, and another song from the cycle, I'm Not Afraid, has become an audition song in some circles.
The cast of 5 singers (down from 6, one had gotten sick just this morning) were each incredible and there are enough amazing character songs to go around. The ensemble pieces are a kaleidoscope of sound; the singers did especially amazing work with the songs-to the point where the audience felt lost in the emotion of the music, beyond what JRB initially imagined.
As with most song cycles, there is the narrative thread missing that truly links each of the songs together. JRB made a valiant effort, but the more I hear the whole piece together, the less I am brought in by the connective tissue that is meant to link the songs together. The thing that stood out to me this time were the strong songs sung by women-because they were about men. All the character songs (the 2 above, plus Surabaya Santa and Murray) are about women creating their characters in response to the men-so the men are present as the major reflection of the song. Hmm.
