I grew up listening to the cast albums of Broadway musicals. Years later when I attended shows, it was my childhood experience that shaped my expectations: all I wanted was one terrific tune after the next, deeply affecting my emotions with just the right combination of melody and lyric. I was, I’m sorry to say, often disappointed. For every “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina,” for every “Send in the Clowns,” there were six clunkers I never wanted to hear again. I still come upon some surprises — for example, many of the songs of Billy Elliot — but for the most part I’ve had to accept it: they don’t write show tunes like they used to. And apparently couldn’t if they tried.
I say all this in order to explain my response to Songs for a New World, the musical revue by Tony Award-winning composer Jason Robert Brown that’s currently showing at the New American Theater in St. Petersburg. This is a moderately interesting show featuring slightly interesting melodies and vaguely interesting lyrics, with somewhat entertaining results. And as such, it’s exceedingly appropriate for this Time of Deprivation. The songs of New World aren’t worse than most of their contemporaries — they’re right up there with the whole (middling) group of them. And the performers in the show — Heather Baird, Jared Acuff, Heather Spillane and Kevin R. Rose — don’t hold anything back in their presentations: they act and sing with great sincerity, and throw themselves into each new arrangement as if each word and note were golden. True, Baird, Spillane and Rose all have trouble in the highest registers, but when not aiming for the stars, these singers can produce some lovely tones.
The problem is the songs themselves, only three of which I’d be willing to hear again: “The New World” (rousing music), “Surabaya Santa” (clever lyrics) and “Christmas Lullaby” (poignancy and gravitas). The rest — well, the rest are just the sort of McMelodies I’ve come to expect in these hard-up years. You’ll get more of a charge listening to Top 40 radio.
You want examples? Well, here’s one (remember, I called all these songs moderately successful): “The World Was Dancing,” about a young love: “And then I met this girl named Amy/With a smile as bright as day/And while the Pirates beat the Orioles/We fell in love and danced the night away.” Here’s “On the Deck of a Spanish Sailing Ship, 1492”: “So I’m begging you, Lord/You gotta stop, take a look/At your children who believe in this promised land/Have mercy, Lord/Stop their suffering and their woe/Stop, shine your light on these children/Who have faith in your guiding hand.” Or here’s “King of the World,” a prisoner’s lament: “I’m king of the world/Chief of the sea/High in the wind/At least I used to be.” The music is about the same as the lyrics: earnest, impassioned, but familiar to a fault. Whatever there is here is nothing new.
The show is directed by NAT artistic director Brian M. Becker, and he does a fine job of creating different tableaux for each song, with lighting effects to suggest physical context. There’s next to no set — just a bare stage and a few platforms that get moved around as the anthems demand. All the performers are dressed in black — the program credits Ann Kelly and the cast — and it should be noted that all singers wear mics in a theater so small their unassisted voices could easily carry to the back row. Since this was my first visit to NAT’s new digs at St. Pete’s Baywalk, I should also mention that the space, if worryingly compact, is nicely clean, modern and attractive. Put top-flight voices and a first-rate show in this environment, and the result could be wonderful.
Unfortunately, that’s not Songs for a New World. But new worlds take time to build. I’ll be back to watch the progress.
This article appears in Apr 7-13, 2011.
