I would welcome a sequel to 'Songs for a New World' with open arms

Andrea Burns, Brooks Ashmanskas, Jessica Molaskey and Billy Porter in ‘Songs for a New World’ in 1995

by Valerie Caniglia, Guest Editorial

If you went to high school or college in the 2000s and were involved in musical theater, odds are you either heard or performed Jason Robert Brown’s musical revue Songs for a New World.

Honestly, you never forget your first time (hearing his music). Me? I was sitting in Wally, our blue Honda Neon, driving with my sister Michelle to our summer jobs at the local country club when Ms. Andréa Burns came on the iPod:

“Jenny’s afraid of water, I mean she swims so well but still she’s afraid of water…”

Ever encounter a piece of art- any piece of art- where it just strikes you right in the gut, like a lightning bolt? That was me. I became immediately invested. Who was this woman? What was her motivation for moving on? And the orchestration! That piano instrumentation! It built to a crescendo and soared until Ms. Burns sang those last brave and bold lines, daring anyone to challenge her in her journey.

“Not a soul alive can get behind this wall (piano)

So let them call (piano)

And watch them fall (piano)

‘Cause after all…(piano)

I’m not afraid.”

As a fifteen-year-old misfit, you can only imagine how empowering those lyrics were to someone like me. Cue the constant repeat on the iPod shuffle for years to come (said iPod is broken now due to wear and tear. Sad).

And now, seventeen years later (including a pandemic, a change in career, some questionable haircuts, and, apparently, the discovery of aliens), I find myself revisiting Mr. Brown’s Songs for A New World.

Because the reality of it is that we ARE living in a new world. This post-Covid-era where industries are still failing their people while some industries are booming. Social media created pariahs while social justice created stronger communities.

Work-life balance is at the forefront of career conversations and it’s almost impossible to buy a house. Friendships are replacing relationships. The whales are getting wiped out. Walkmans are displayed in museums. It's certainly a different world since I was fifteen.

But throughout it all, throughout every single piece of history, we find ourselves in (because historical events are happening every other week now), humans will always be humans navigating a new world. And that’s why I found myself revisiting Mr. Brown’s Songs for A New World about two weeks ago. I really hadn’t listened to it in quite some time and then, out of the blue, when my sister, niece and I took a drive to visit my grandmother, I heard Stars and the Moon interpreted magnificently by Ms. Shoshana Bean (again, a huge round of applause to the Encores! recording).

And that bolt of lightning hit my gut again. I love musicals.

Now here’s the question this author poses: What if Jason Robert Brown wrote Songs for A New World: Part Two?

Think about it. The overarching theme of the song cycle is a new world. Each character has their own throughline: Betsy Ross, a needy housewife, an imprisoned King (or whoever you interpret is singing King of the World; pardon me, I MUST shout out Mr. Mykal Kilgore from the Encores! recording for his interpretation), Mrs. Claus, ex-lovers, and a new mother.

What characters would we see this time? What historical figures would he use? What would he talk about? What worlds would we explore? And what about Love? Sickness? Death? Hope?

“The sky starts to change and the wind starts to blow….”

What’s this new world through Jason Robert Brown’s eyes?