Songs for a New World

Songs for a New World
World Premiere Recording
Music	Jason Robert Brown
Lyrics	Jason Robert Brown
Productions	1995 Off-Broadway 1998 St. Louis, MO

Songs for a New World is a work of musical theatre written and composed by Jason Robert Brown. This was Jason Robert Brown's first produced show, originally produced Off-Broadway at the WPA Theatre in 1995.

Brown and director Daisy Prince put together songs he had written for other venues and events, resulting in "neither musical play nor revue, it is closer to a theatrical song cycle, a very theatrical song cycle."

The show sits on the boundary between musical and song cycle, but it is neither; it is an abstract musical, a series of songs all connected by a theme: "the moment of decision." The show employs four performers who do not literally play the same characters throughout the show but who do have consistently developing character arcs nonetheless. Composer Jason Robert Brown has said 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."

A workshop of the show was produced in Toronto. The original Off-Broadway production ran for a limited three and 1/2-week run, which included two 1/2 weeks of previews at the WPA Theatre in 1995. The original cast consisted of Brooks Ashmanskas, Andrea Burns, Jessica Molaskey, and Billy Porter (due to contractual obligations, Porter was replaced by Ty Taylor on the original cast recording). Daisy Prince directed. 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 and Rob McEwan on percussion. The first regional production was mounted by New Line Theatre in St. Louis, MO in 1998.

The piano features heavily throughout the show's music and 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 and jazz. Many of the songs combine elements of two or more of these genres.