Vaudeville Theatre 12 March 2021 - Songs for a New World | GoComGo.com

Songs for a New World

Vaudeville Theatre, London, Great Britain
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7:30 PM
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Important Info
Type: Musical
City: London, Great Britain
Starts at: 19:30
Acts: 2
Intervals: 1
Duration: 2h 30min

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Overview

It’s about one moment. It’s about hitting the wall and having to make a choice… or take a stand… or turn around and go back. These are the stories and characters of today, the Songs for a New World.

Starring David Hunter (Waitress), Rachel John (Hamilton), Cedric Neal (Motown The Musical) and Rachel Tucker (Come From Away), and Shem Omari James (Songs For a New World) this is the first musical from Tony Award winner, Jason Robert Brown (The Last Five Years, Parade, Bridges of Madison County). This moving collection of powerful songs examines life, love and the choices that we make.

Songs For A New World transports audiences through time and space to meet a startling array of characters – every one of them so different, but all representing our world today and our hopes for a new world… a better world.

Directed by the brilliant Séimí Campbell (Songs For A New World, The London Palladium), with music direction by Josh Winstone, musical supervision by Adam Hoskins, lighting design by Jack Knowles, design consultancy by Madeleine Girling and sound design by Jonny Dickie for Robins Audio, this beautiful song cycle will be brought to life by this incredible cast at the Vaudeville Theatre for a limited five-week run!

History
Premiere of this production: 30 November 1994, Off-Broadway

Songs for a New World is a work of musical theatre written and composed by Jason Robert Brown. This was Jason Robert Brown's first produced show, originally produced Off-Broadway at the WPA Theatre in 1995.

Synopsis

Act I
"Opening Sequence: The New World" – Company
The company sings of the evening's central theme: that even when everything seems stable and certain, there is "one moment" that can upend and change anyone's life.

"On the Deck of a Spanish Sailing Ship, 1492" – Man 1 and Company
On the voyage to an undiscovered country, a ship's Captain prays for the safety of the souls aboard his ship.

"Just One Step" – Woman 2
A wealthy wife climbs out onto the window ledge of her 57th-story apartment in an attempt to get her neglectful husband's attention.

"I'm Not Afraid of Anything" – Woman 1
A young woman reflects on the fears of the people she loves, and comes to realize how they have held her back.

"The River Won't Flow" – Man 1, Man 2, Company
A pair of derelicts swap stories of woe and ill luck, concluding that for some, bad luck is just fate.

"Transition I" – Woman 1
"Stars and the Moon" – Woman 2
Recounting the stories of two poor suitors and the rich man she eventually marries, a woman comes to realize what she has sacrificed in exchange for wealth and comfort.

"She Cries" – Man 2
A man describes the power the woman he is in love with holds over him.

"The Steam Train" – Man 1 and Company
A teenager from a poor neighborhood in New York boasts of his future as a basketball star. His bravado is undercut with a spoken monologue revealing the disadvantages he is determined to overcome.

Act II
"The World Was Dancing" – Man 2, Woman 1 and Company
A man tells the story of how his father bought, then lost, a store, and how the experience influenced his decision to leave his fiancée.

"Surabaya-Santa" – Woman 2
In a parody of the Kurt Weill torch song, Surabaya Johnny, Mrs. Claus sings a scornful, teutonic kiss-off to her neglectful husband.

"Christmas Lullaby" – Woman 1
A woman reacts with wonder and joy to the discovery of her pregnancy, comparing herself to The Virgin Mary.

"King of the World" – Man 1
A man in some form of prison, either literal or metaphorical, demands that he be freed and returned to his rightful place as a leader of men.

"I'd Give It All for You" – Man 2 and Woman 1
A pair of former lovers reunite after attempting to live without each other.

"Transition II" – Man 1
"The Flagmaker, 1775" – Woman 2
A woman, whose husband and son are fighting in the Revolutionary War sews a flag while attempting to keep her hope alive and her house standing.

"Flying Home" – Man 1 and Company
A soldier, who has died in battle, sings as his body is flown home to his mother and he crosses over to another life.

"Final Transition: The New World" – Company
"Hear My Song" – Company
The company, as if singing a lullaby to a child, express their hope that they have gained by experiencing hardship and how they have gained strength from each other.

Venue Info

Vaudeville Theatre - London
Location   404 Strand, Covent Garden

The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on the Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each new building retained elements of the previous structure. The current building opened in 1926, and the capacity is now 690 seats. Rare thunder drum and lightning sheets, together with other early stage mechanisms, survive in the theatre.

First opened in 1870, C. J. Phipps designed the theatre like several others in London, while George Gordon decorated it. They celebrated the grand opening with For Love Or Money, which was a comedy by Andrew Halliday, along with a famous burlesque called Don Carlos.

In 1926, the present theatre building opened. Nimax Theatres Limited owns the 690-seat venue. The theatre is just as magnificent looking inside as it is outside. It has a rectangular shape and elaborate decorations with gold patterns. It highlights an elegant burgundy ceiling with a Georgian touch.

The 1870 frontage of the present structure was originally two simple house fronts and didn't look close to being as attractive as it does now. The owners chose to invest in a better façade two decades later. They also improved the interior of the building. They included a fresh new ceiling while decreasing the tightly set up 1,000 seats to a more spacious 740. However, the Gatti family bought the theatre only a year later.
The Gatti family owned the Vaudeville for a spectacular 77 years and, under their ownership, showed popular revues and comedies. The family made more changes – the old horseshoe-shaped interior changing to a rectangular shape in 1925. The modification also involved reducing the seating capacity by another 100.

In 1968, the Vaudeville Theatre along with several other nearby venues like the Duchess Theatre, Lyceum Theatre, Garrick Theatre and Adelphi Theatre faced a threat when the GLC decided to refurbish them. However, the Musicians' Union, the actors' union Equity, and the owners of the buildings set up the powerful "Save London Theatre Campaign". Thankfully, the campaign shut down the project for good, saving the theatres in the process.

The Gatti family finally sold the theatre in 1969. Bought by Sir Peter Saunders, Peter Rice took up the task of fully renovating the venue's interior in 1970. Two years later, the English Heritage designated the theatre as a Grade II building. Max Weitzenhoffer bought the building in 2003, and in 2005, Nimax Theatres Limited purchased it.

The Vaudeville Theatre has staged numerous shows to date. In the 1950s, the smash-hit musical "Salad Days" began playing at the theatre, putting up 2,288 performances! Later, there was a 1996 revival starring Kit And The Widow, followed by She Knows You by Jean Fergusson, which received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination in 1998. In the same year, Kat And The Kings bagged the Olivier awards for Best Actor in a Musical and Best New Musical. Another long-running show was Caught In The Net, a Ray Cooney farce running for ten months in 2001.

Important Info
Type: Musical
City: London, Great Britain
Starts at: 19:30
Acts: 2
Intervals: 1
Duration: 2h 30min
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