Songs For A New World - 2018 Encores! Off-Center Cast Recording

Chances are very strong that, if you were (are?) a student in a musical theater program, or a cabaret performer still thriving on the entertainment of fellow musical theater fans in a club, bar, or other dining establishment, that you have a song from Jason Robert Brown's song cycle, "Songs for a New World," in your repertoire. The 1995 revue, Brown's first official taste of success as a composer/pianist, was originally directed by Daisy Prince (Harold's daughter) and became a cult hit, which led to a wonderful cast album featuring Jessica Molaskey and Billy Porter.

Fast forward to last year, when the late composer, Michael Friedman, who was the artistic director of the Encores! Off-Center concert series at the time of his passing contacted Brown about including "Songs..." in the 2018 season's concert offerings. After the successful weekend run, with Kate Whoriskey at the helm this time around, the cast went into the studio to record a new cast album, and it is now available as a 2-CD set and on all streaming and digital media, from Ghostlight Records.

Only a powerhouse cast could warrant a follow-up to the original album, and this group fills the bill handily. Solea Pfeiffer ("Hamilton," 1st National Tour) and Mykal Kilgore ("Motown the Musical") more than hold their own with Brown's complex melodies, and introspective examinations of the human psyche, but add to the cast Shoshana Bean ("Wicked") and "Chicago Med"'s Colin Donnell, and you have an exceeding talented quartet of performers who not only deftly navigate Brown's score, but bring their own fresh interpretations to the material, giving this new recording a hearty reason for existence.

Donnell shines the brightest on this new album. Fans of his television work may not remember his Broadway roles in "Violet" or "Anything Goes," but Donnell's beautiful rendition of "She Cries" and his duet with Pfeiffer on, "I'd Give It All For You," are both gorgeous takes on these selections. Bean, to contrast, is the ultimate character woman, getting all the "quirky" moments in the show. From her psychotic wife-on-a-ledge in "Take One Step," to her take as the North Pole divorcee in "Surabaya Santa," she milks these roles to the hilt. However, she also gets the most popular song from this record, "Stars and the Moon," and not only makes it her own but also creates a gut-wrenching example of the "be careful what you wish for" story, giving us another penultimate recording of this song.

Fans of Brown's work should pick up this new recording of "Songs For a New World," to have in their collection, while newbies to this work should buy it just to relish in the work of these fine performers.

"Songs For a New World" (Encores! Off-Center Cast Recording)
$17.32
CD and digital formats
www.ghostlightrecords.com