Review: SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD Translation at #NAF16 Shifts the Boundaries for South African Musical Theatre

It is certainly interesting to see how Jason Robert Brown's writing has aged in the almost quarter century since SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD premiered in 1995. His growth as a writer since then is evident in his subsequent shows, such as PARADE (1998), THE LAST 5 YEARS (2002), 13 (2007) and THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY (2013). In the projects that followed SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD, Brown refined his capacity for storytelling within the scope of a number. Here, it is fascinating to see him battling with a song that he ultimately just cannot conquer, sacrificing an emotional truth for an intellectualism or generalising stories that need specifics to make the audience care. Still, for every "She Cries", "The River Won't Flow" or "I'd Give it All For You", there is a "Christmas Lullaby", "Surabaya Santa" or "The Flagmaker, 1775". And even if there were nothing else, there is "Stars and the Moon".

Certain parts of Brown's score have been translated for a new South African production of the show, which is currently being performed at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown as a part of both the Student Theatre Festival and the National Lottery Fringe. The intention, as outlined in the programme notes by the director of the production, Harold Mortimer, is to explore possibilities for a greater connection for both the performers and the audience with the text of the show and the themes it communicates. While this is not a new idea by any means, it is an excellent one to explore in a local context. Indeed, local presentations of shows like BLOOD BROTHERS, with David Kramer adapting Willy Russell's book and lyrics, have already been seen in South Africa. But what might the constraints for such a translation be?

When Lin-Manuel Miranda translated some of the lyrics for WEST SIDE STORY, Stephen Sondheim's primary concern was that he preserved the rhyme scheme. I think that is an excellent starting point for the translation of musical theatre lyrics, but I also feel that the scansion of the lyrics should be preserved as far as possible. Given that a change in the number of syllables in a line shifts the rhythm of the music, altering the scansion of a lyric consequently shifts one of the fundamental elements of musical theatre storytelling and therefore deviates from the intention of a composer. Of course, this is not without its challenges, particularly when shifting between languages that make use of different orthographic systems.

The translations for SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD, which were done by the cast members themselves, often manage to maintain Brown's rhyme schemes, with some imperfect rhymes slipping through and - from what I could observe as lyrics in my second and third languages flew past me at lightning speed - the dropping of some rhymes altogether. The scansion of certain lines was noticeably altered from the original lyrics. These inconsistencies point out some of the technical challenges inherent in the process, which can only be addressed through serious grappling with both the lyrics and the languages into which they are translated.

There are other challenges too. One major decision that needs to be made, particularly in a song cycle such as SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD, is whether the translation affects the context of the song, or the audience is simply experiencing the same context through a different language. This question is of particular importance when a song switches between languages, a technique employed in several songs in the show that did not always work here. Matters like diction come into play. It is one thing to change Princeton to Stellies, but does anyone refer to Stellenbosch University as a college?

What about altering the approach of a song? A number like "Surabaya Santa" that is constructed as a monologue loses its efficacy when split between two voices - even though, in this case, the translation was superb. In philosophically focused numbers like "The New World", moving back and forth between languages is not jarring at all.

And then there is the question of how much to translate. Would the shifting of an entire song into a language that is not English alienate members of the audience whose home language is English? Maybe, but perhaps it is time to challenge that convention. Second and third language English speaking audiences are forced to make meaning from English lyrics all the time. Why should this linguistic status quo remain intact? Numbers like "Christmas Lullaby" and "King of the World" worked magnificently in their partial translation; imagine how powerful they could have been were they transformed in their entirety.

As an exercise in experimentation, SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD makes full use of the platform provided by the Student Theatre Festival in an almost exemplary collaboration between the University of Oklahoma and Oakfields College. With the Waterfront Theatre College already having explored, over the past few years, the production of both original and existing musicals on this platform, the idea to grapple in a complex manner with local resonances of an international show is another step in the right direction for the development of musical theatre in South Africa. That it could introduce, simultaneously, the work of a prominent American theatre-maker who writes contemporary musicals to a wider audience in this country is all to the good too.

As a theatre-maker who works in this genre, I left SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD inspired and invigorated. This was a production that challenges all of us who are creating new South African musicals to make work that is complex and meaningful.

SONGFS FOR A NEW WORLD opened at the National Arts Festival's Student Theatre Festival on 1 July and transfers to the National Lottery Fringe today at 21:00. It completes its run tomorrow, with performances at 13:00 and 17:00. Bookings for the show are through the National Arts Festival website. A review that addresses the production itself will follow.

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