Songs For A New World Delights the Old World in Freiburg

Thursday January 18 saw the premiere of Jason Robert Brown's "Songs For A New World"  by the Young Opera Company at the E-Werk theatre in Freiburg, Germany. On an opening night when a raging storm ravaged the German countryside, the cast of Martina Muhlpointer, Miriam Lotz, Tobias Weis and Kit Orton raised their own on stage storm of high energy and vocal power, sweetness and dexterity which was superbly complemented by clever and astute staging.

"Songs For A New World" is a collection of songs by Jason Robert Brown, one of the cult gurus of musical theatre in the new millennium, which was devised in collaboration with director Daisy Prince (daughter of Hal Prince, certainly one of the ultimate gurus of musical theatre in the latter part of the last millennium) and was first staged in New York in 1995. The songs are an eclectic mix that attempt to encapsulate that one seminal moment in time when individuals and society face a crossroads of choices, while also reaching out across time so that people and situations are metaphorically connected to each other. They are songs for the new world that Columbus glimpsed in 1492 and songs that examine contemporary American society with all its quirks and faults and all its hopes for the future. But most of all they are a celebration of glorious music and profoundly apposite lyrics. Jason Robert Brown reaches out and asks his audience to "hear my song" - and it is impossible not to listen.

 

JRB's music and lyrics challenge not only the listener but also the performer - and in this production the performers met the challenge with flying colours. Martina Muhlpointer provided the perfect mix of tenderness and powerful emotion required in songs such as "I'm Not Afraid Of Anything". Tobias Weis delivered both charm and pathos in "She Cries". Kit Orton (the only British member of the otherwise all-German cast) showed his substantial acting skills and demonstrated his beautifully controlled and deftly emotional vocal ability in "King Of The World" and "Flying Home" as well as slipping into some acrobatic moves to accompany his vocals in "Steam Train". But even in the midst of this highly talented cast, Miriam Lotz seemed to own the stage each time she stepped onto it - running the gamut of vocal and acting delivery in her 3 solos "Just one Step", "Stars And The Moon" and "The Flagmaker, 1775".

 

Yet, brilliant as each perfectly poised individual performance was, the absolute highlights of the show were when the four voices combined in stunning harmony. "A new world calls across the ocean" says Mr. Brown in his opening number. And until closing night on January 27, a new world will continue to call out loud and clear as audiences in the beautiful cathedral city of Freiburg, rich in history from the old world, embrace the musical world of Jason Robert Brown through the production by this excellent company of young performers.