Jason Robert Brown’s “Songs for a New World” debuted in 1995 as an off-Broadway musical. To create the song cycle directed by Daisy Prince, daughter of theatrical legend Harold Prince, Brown cobbled together unrelated pieces he had written earlier. So many hearts were touched by its message that it has since been produced several hundred times around the world.
Now it debuts in Washington as a Signature Theatre production with Brown at the piano backed by his five-man ensemble, the Caucasian Rhythm Kings, direct from a week-long gig at New York’s Birdland. Tituss Burgess, Alice Ripley, Laura Griffith and Brian d’Arcy James are the handpicked cast of four.
“It’s exciting to be doing this in such a gorgeous hall,” Brown says, speaking from Los Angeles, where he recently began teaching at the University of Southern California. “I’d always written the part with Brian in mind. Nobody knew either of us at that time. Now the show has a cult following.”
Both Brown and James have soared in the entertainment world over the past decade, James receiving a Tony nomination for his role of Sidney Falco in “Sweet Smell of Success” and Brown winning a Tony in 1999 for the score of “Parade,” in which James also appeared.
Long before Brown’s Tony opened new doors, he was doing his own thing conducting and arranging musicals by Yoko Ono, Andrew Lippa, Charles Strouse and others, as well as acting as musical director of the Tonies, a pop vocal group.
“Songs for a New World” has been reborn many times, always to excellent reviews.
The Signature Theatre collaboration is one more signal that it is ready for a broader audience. While someof its song titles (“On the Deck of a Spanish Sailing Ship, 1492,” “The Flagmaker, 1775,” “The Steam Train” and “The River Won’t Flow”) suggest immigration and the growth of this country, Brown has a deeper explanation.
“It’s about people confronting problems, how we react and how the community lends support when we bump into obstacles,” he says. “Although Eric Schaeffer and I don’t have any specific plans for the show beyond Strathmore, we want to see how it goes.
Tell the audience to just come and enjoy a wonderful show. That, after all, is why you go to the theater in the first place.”
IF YOU GO
Signature Theatre Concert Musical: Jason Robert Brown’s “Songs for a New World.”
» When: 8 p.m. today, Thursday
» Venue: Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda
» Tickets: $21 to $50
» Info: 301-581-5100, www.strathmore.org
