Songs For A New World is jaw-dropping as a musical – it challenges and innovates as a story line. Well-performed and beautifully sung, it blends musical achievement with powerful underlying drama.

Part musical, part song sequence, the production comprises a set of mostly catchy tunes fraught with meaning, each forming part of a jigsaw of understanding which gradually dawns. From a woman with no fears realising how her relationships have held her back, to the grim reality faced by the wife of Santa Claus, the plot is full of humour and dark twists.

“The production comprises a set of mostly catchy tunes fraught with meaning, each forming part of a jigsaw of understanding which gradually dawns”

The number one reason to see this play is the music. Composed by Jason Robert Brown for an off-Broadway theatre, it is very well-executed by the cast of four in the Robinson Auditorium. With Louise Harris’s deep, powerful voice and Lucia Azzi and Rachel-Marie Weiss’s moving high ones, the solos are excellent. Just as stunning are the harmonies performed in group set pieces. Azzi’s ‘Steam Train,’ a song about a disadvantaged teenager striving to become a basketball star, is backed by vocals from the other three performers.

Equally impressive is the acting. Though the performers have clearly been chosen for their singing abilities, there is nonetheless convincing characterisation throughout, including Azzi’s tenderness as she thinks about the man who once offered her the moon, and Weiss’s religious ecstasy on discovering her pregnancy. 

Yet, most impressive in her command of character is Jodie Russell. She captures the fraught mental position of a neglected wife standing on a ledge to catch her husband’s attention. Later she is the scornful wife of Santa Claus, calling him the familiar name ‘Nick’ and making jokes at his expense. But she is also the desperate but courageous mother, sewing an American flag while her son and husband fight in the war, a role executed with a moving pathos.

With its four-person cast and plain costumes, the show is low-budget and logistically simple, but this does not detract from the show in any way. The four performers work well together, and each has a large enough part that the gradual building of character is observed through their roles. 

Staging is simple and effective. A variety of levels are used to illustrate varying relationships between characters, and bar stools are used to foreground them at points. The stage is effectively lit with red and white spotlights. Occasionally these were not focused on the performers, yet perhaps for intentional effect – illuminating the American flag rather than the woman singing illustrated the greater importance of patriotic duty than the individual.

“How these individual stories fit together is a jigsaw audience members will have to contest with. But perhaps this puzzle is part of the fun”

One criticism is that it is hard at points to link the songs, and an overarching theme isn’t immediately obvious. All confront the problems of a ‘New World,’ specifically America, though the issues can be expanded outwards to fit any human society. This covers ground such as the fragmentation of relationships and their resolution, death and new life, the weighing challenges of New York poverty and the fantasy land of Santa Claus. How these individual stories fit together is a jigsaw audience members will have to contest with. But perhaps this puzzle is part of the fun.

Review: London Road

At times very comic, the tales in the songs have their twist of dark humour. Lurking around the corners of the musical is the stagnation of life as well as hints of suicide, yet the bitterness has its corresponding hope, shifting towards songs of resolution and fulfilment. By the final song, not everyone left the auditorium dry-eyed.

“By the final song, not everyone left the auditorium dry-eyed”

A rousing musical, remarkably performed, Songs For A New World will catch you off-guard with its humour, while leaving you pondering the mysteries of life. Expect to be puzzled as well as delighted, and take away messages which resonate with our society today