By snoadmin
“Songs for a New World,” written by Tony-Award winning composer Jason Robert Brown, drew a large audience on its opening night at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center, with several memorable songs.
Jason Robert Brown’s show is a collection of songs, tied together with an emotional narrative centering on grim situations. Each song conveyed anger, frustration, sadness, loneliness, pride and happiness. The songs express the theme that people cannot survive alone.
“What I feel to be true is that you need people around you,” said Jason Robert Brown, the multi-award winning composer, in the Oct. 16 issue of the Long Beach Press-Telegram. “You do need to be supported.”
Four singers, Parnia Ayari, Anthony Manough, Brent Schindele and Jennifer Shelton, did an excellent job emotionally conveying the meaning that Brown wanted to share with the audience.
The show portrayed several disastrous situations. For example, “Just One Step” was a break-up song in which Shelton played Jessica, a wife ready to jump off a building. She despised her husband Murray, who spent money on a penthouse instead of buying gifts for her. Jessica threw earrings and her coat off the balcony angrily with exasperation. It was especially funny when Murray caught her coat and wore it.
Ayari took the stage as Andrea, singing “I’m Not Afraid of Anything.” She carried a lot of enthusiasm, singing, “Who would give up what they want without a trial?” Andrea compared herself to her friends, who were afraid of darkness and water. Her father was afraid of babies. However, she courageously sang that she was not afraid of growing old and wanted to face the challenges in life.
After the intermission, the second act began with “The World Was Dancing.” The song’s main character was Brooks, a young man away at college who fell in love with many girls, including Amy, Lisa and Andrea. He would dance with these girls all night long.
The song carries a dark story between the lines, about the difficulties of long-distance relationships. Things went amok when he found out that one of his father’s employees burned down the family store by accident. He leaves his girlfriend, hoping that she will be waiting for him when he returns.
Then the show took a sexy twist with an angry woman, played by Ayari, who plays Santa Claus’s wife. She was humorous when she sang “Surabava-Santa” with sarcasm and anger. She mocked Santa for his laziness and for eating too much. She even shook her belly singing with sarcasm, singing “Have fun with all the little boys along your route/I’ll get the mansion and the factory, to boot!”
The four singers’ vocals were very impressive. With just a microphone, each singer filled up the small auditorium with dramatic intensity and pitch. Songs such as “Surabava-Santa” and “Just One Step” also gave women more representation in an oppressive, male-dominated world.
Ticket prices are $40 to $50 per person at the International City Theater at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. The show runs Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. The last show is on Nov. 15. For more information, visit www.ictlongbeach.org.
