Songs For A New World

The end of Act One of Jason Robert Brown's now quite legendary song cycle concludes with the words "you don't know me, but you will"—somewhat rather prophetic int the sense of the young performers from all over the world whose careers have been shaped and changed by performing in this glorious night of deeply challenging and engaging material. I would not be surprised if all of the six performers in this Sydney version of the show (there is a Melbourne version about to open as well) find career success in the next few years. The work has catapulted most of the original off Broadway cast to long standing careers and these six should have the same wondrous fate. Each are exemplary talents who serve this show which was written thirty years ago when Brown was a rather precocious talent of 25 years. 

The show itself is an odd beast, one moment it seems we are on board a Spanish sailing ship, the next in an attic, but it is the attic that director Ethan Malacaria has chosen as the main place of reference in this production., The set is backed by a large wall that looks like the peak of an attic and on stage the actors rustle through cardboard boxes , bringing out props and costumes that refer to the memories the songs conjure. Each memory create pivotal moments in the characters each of the actors portray. This production relishes the opportunity to gender swap and play with the framework of the show in a way that endears and enhances the piece with a pulsating rhythm supplied by an invisible live band that floats from way beyond in another part of there Utopia building.

This is great theatre, the young cast drive into the material with such generous commitment and energy that is a joy to watch. Every memory of the various characters they portray are full of yearning and desire, bitterness, regret or exemplary joy. The show itself is a great testament to the author for the fact that its does not date and the clever reworking and gender changing add to give the piece a feeling of the thinking and ideas of young people of this very instant in time.

It is hard to single out too many highlights as everything is a highlight, the cast vocally secure and utterly at one with the material. Georgia Laga'aia sets the tone with her opening of the song "On the Deck of a Sailing Ship1492", but then Nicholas Reese brings us back to today in a gender swapping delight of the song "Just One Step". So it goes from Oli McGavock's passionate "She Cries" to Mikayla Burnham's hilarious "Surabaya Santa", Anaiya Mahony's sharply defined show highlight "I'm Not Afraid of Anything" all building to the climactic "Flying Home" where Luc Pierre Tannous  gets his moment to show the highest range of his remarkable voice.  This is shattering, clever and heartfelt theatre at its best.          

Les Solomon