May 22, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

‘Songs’ in Ambler: tired theme, ably performed
by CLARK GROOME

Jason Robert Brown wrote Songs for a New World when he was, he writes, “struggling in a city that didn’t even notice I was there, when I was a lonely and single college dropout living in a studio apartment in Greenwich Village.” He describes it as “a very personal little piece.”

The show, which first appeared in 1995, has been produced all over the country. Currently it is playing at Ambler’s Act II Playhouse through June 1.

As you might imagine from Brown’s comments, the piece, while intending to be filled with hope, is filled with enough angst to keep a whole gaggle of teenagers, and their shrinks, busy for years.

This is a very New York show. The characters, generic to be sure (they’re called Man 1, Man 2, Woman 1, Woman 2), are often good company. As portrayed by the good Act II cast — Jennie Eisenhower, Jonathan Hack, Joanne Javien and Arthur W. Marks — each has moments when he or she is quite good company. They try to band together as a community so they can make their way in the frightening yet alluring “New World” that is New York.

Jason Brown, who later wrote Parade and The Last Five Years, has proven himself to be a good composer and lyricist. In Songs for a New World we get Brown as he begins the career that has developed him into the impressive artist he is now. The songs, some of which are quite good, have a sameness about them that makes the whole affair bland and self-indulgent. In many cases his lyrics are better than his music.

The Act II production is ably performed by the ensemble with Jennie Eisenhower the clear standout among the four. Peter Reynolds directs competently. The physical production is something of a mixed bag. Bill Pollock’s set, Alison Sickora Kleckner and Matthew Aaron’s sound are all fine. Brandon McShaffrey’s choreography is almost non-existent, and Melissa Guyer’s lighting often leaves the performers in shadows that are more puzzling than significant.

Songs for a New World is what it is: a show about struggling New Yorkers filled with anxiety and trying to find some hope on which to hang their lives. It’s not a new theme, nor is it a bad one. It simply has been so much better done elsewhere, as in Company, A Chorus Line, Rent, I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking it on the Road and March of the Falsettos, to name a few.

That said, it is a nice if heavy-handed introduction to an impressive young theater artist who has done better work since and whose future seems very bright indeed.