Songs For A New World

A WORLD APART FROM TYPICAL FRINGE FARE Like a breath of fresh air, Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for a New World far exceeded my expectations of both the Fringe and Brown’s uneven song cycle. This is an early work from the Tony-winner for Parade and Bridges of Madison County. “It’s about one moment,” Brown said. “It’s about hitting the wall and having to make a choice, or take a stand, or turn around and go back.” Um, not really. It’s a 1995 collection of trunk songs he cobbled together with Harold Prince’s daughter, Daisy, which means the plot-free entertainment is only as good as the last song. Some of them are forgettable, generic cabaret tunes from the 1980s Maltby & Shire school of “hitting the wall and having to make a choice,” and the... full review

Rare is the Hollywood Fringe Festival entry that combines proven material, a brilliant cast, and superb direction to make for a production that rivals the best of what L.A. 99-seat theater has to offer. A Cuppa Tea Theatre Company’s blackbox production of Songs For A New World, Jason Robert Brown’s glorious 1995 song cycle, is such a rarity. Each of the archetypes brought to life by Cuppa Tea’s supremely talented cast is facing the new world that unexpected life changes can generate, whether it’s Keith Montanez’s sailor on a journey to find a “promised land” in “On The Deck Of A Spanish Sailing Ship, 1492” or Sherry Mandujano’s angry wife taunting her philandering husband by threatening to take “Just One Step” off the ledge of their fi... full review