Review Roundup: SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD at London's St. James Theatre

Celebrating 20 years since its first performance off-Broadway, an all-new London production of triple-Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown's first musical, Songs for a New World is at the St. James Theatre for a strictly limited run of three weeks, directed by Adam Lenson. This special 20th Anniversary production of Songs for a New World features an award-winning cast, including Cynthia Erivo, Jenna Russell, Damian Humbley and Dean-John Wilson, alongside a five piece band.

Songs for a New World weaves characters, locations and time periods together in one extraordinary evening - from the deck of a Spanish sailing ship to the window-ledge of a New York penthouse. Jason Robert Brown's unforgettable songs take us on a vibrant, thrilling and moving journey through life-changing moments that define us.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Matt Trueman, Variety: Too fragmented for a musical, too unified to count as cabaret, Brown's song cycle is absolutely its own thing: sixteen self-contained numbers, threaded together by musical and thematic motifs, each a story in itself. Its numbers manage to be both catchy and complex, but they are all character pieces with ample opportunities for actors. In "Just One Step," for example, a wealthy wife gets her way by threatening to jump from her 57th floor apartment window - and it's left to us to determine which is emptier, her threat or her life. Britain doesn't really have musicals like this. Chamber musicals come around every so often, but they're rarely this arthouse. Brown asks the audience to do the work, never spoon-feeding us or spelling out a story, but letting us find the connections between these people, their songs and their situations for ourselves. The overall diagnoses is left up to us.

Lyn Gardner, Guardian: This is a show that knows that every new beginning also marks an ending, that the person we will be tomorrow is not the person we are today. The show is like a series of accumulated bruises. In the wrong hands it could be mawkish, maybe even self-absorbed. But the simplicity of the staging combined with standout performances ensure this grabs the attention and touches the heart. The quartet are all mesmerising, but Russell is particularly riveting in Stars and Moon as a woman who realises that she has squandered the ultimate prize, and Cynthia Erivo is guaranteed to send shivers down your spine every time she opens her mouth.

Rosie Bannister, Whatsonstage: As with any song cycle or revue, there is a large gap between the best and worst tunes in the show, but using his immense talent for writing songs that tell a story, Brown paints a universal picture of love, loss and longing that ends on a note of hope. Though there are occasional issues with the sound levels, meaning some of the words can get slightly lost, musical director Daniel A. Weiss and his band are magnificent. With influences from pop to R&B and gospel, Brown's music has an incredibly devoted following, and he's even been hailed as the next Sondheim. With the beautiful melodies and intricate lyrics that began his career on full show here, you can see why.

Dom O'Hanlon, London Theatre Guide: You'd be hard pressed to find a better sung production of this show which features three of the finest musical theatre performers currently working in the UK. Cynthia Erivo is on top form throughout, keeping a vocal lid on numbers but always being firmly in control and connected to the material. Damian Humbley, who is in my mind the finest leading man in the West End, has a presence and vocal maturity that commands each song, full of warmth and experience that helps you hear his songs in a fresh and exciting way. Jenna Russell, who is blessed with the most engaging track, puts her comic chops into full gear with the show stopping 'Surabaya Santa', whilst managing to break your heart in 'Stars and the Moon'. Her careful and understated delivery of 'Just One Step' shows exactly why she is one of musical theatre's greatest assets as she juggles the pathos of the song with the exact level of comedy - getting to the core of the lyrics whilst delivering a challenging vocal effortlessly.

Photo Credit: Darren Bell

To post a comment, you must register and login.