A journey to the 'New World' in 16 songs

There's a truly exhilarating moment at the very beginning of "Songs for a New World," the musical staged this weekend in the Matthews Acting Studio by the Princeton University Players (PUP). When the lights come up, the audience is transported to the bow of a ship. We are alone and plunging forward when a sweet voice sings out from the distance telling us that a new world calls, that it's time to fly. This moment readies the audience for an adventure --- an adventure that this production, after an inspired opening, ultimately fails to deliver.

"Songs for a New World" is not your traditional musical. Written by cult-favorite composer-lyricist Jason Robert Brown, the show features 16 songs that each tell a separate, self-contained story. The adventure is the journey through these stories, meeting everyday men and women facing timeless struggles and uncertainties.

After the opening number, we are taken to a Spanish sailing ship in 1492, where a distraught captain doubts his ability to lead and prays for the Lord to have mercy on his suffering crew. We then fast-forward to a modern day New York penthouse, where a spoiled housewife threatens suicide to get her cheating husband's attention. Along the way, we also meet the mother of a soldier desperately trying to stay sane while she waits at home for news.

Billy Hepfinger '10, Adam Hyndman '12, Miyuki Miyagi '12 and Meredith Wren '10 form the quartet of performers faced with the challenge of seamlessly embodying the diverse characters, a task they sometimes achieve. It must be noted that the production seen for this review was not a finalized version of the show, but a dress rehearsal. This does not, however, explain the fundamental problem of staging and character. With an abstract musical like this, there is a certain freedom in interpretation, and it can be successful in many different ways. Yet the unimaginative staging from directors Andrea Grody '11 and Clare-Marine Sarner '10 lacks specificity, making it hard for both actors and viewers to make the necessary emotional connections.

In "Just One Step," a wonderfully comedic number with show-stopping potential, Miyagi, as the desperate New York housewife, is placed up on the catwalk to literally convey she is on the building's roof and threatening to jump. This choice was a big mistake. While it could have worked in a smaller, more intimate studio theater, here she is placed too high and taken too far from the audience. Not only did Miyagi's generally strong voice have trouble overpowering the band and making it across the room, the physical distance wiped out all closeness with the character.

This moment sums up well what's lacking in PUP's production. It's difficult to connect to because the directors often neglected to make strong choices about who exactly these people are. In his text, Brown has deftly woven together more than a dozen character studies into one cohesive 90-minute musical. But in the dress rehearsal, much of the emotional energy was lost from Brown's well-crafted series of vignettes.

We need to engage with the housewife's desperation and the boat captain's guilt-ridden uncertainty. We need to feel the anger of the wartime mother as she fiercely sews an American flag, unsure of her relationship to it. We need to feel these things, the poignancy, fear, hope and regret. But most of the time, we don't.

The directors did succeed in staging "King of the World," in which we see a riveting, fully realized character share his story. In this number, Hyndman fiercely portrays a man who believes he has been wrongfully incarcerated. He becomes increasingly frenzied as he tries to convince us, and himself, that he was "not challenging the system" but "working for the people." The scene fluidly switches between the present in his cold prison cell and an almost dreamlike sequence in which he recalls his father promising him as boy that he will do great things. The number utilizes creative staging that many others lack. Here we are pulled into this man's story. We see him, understand him and journey with him.

Another moment of successful staging is "The World Was Dancing." Hepfinger plays a young man afraid to commit to his fiancee, played by Wren. In a lovely moment, the couple waltzes about the stage in bliss, but Hepfinger loses her. She continues to dance alone, still in step, with her arms embracing the empty air, as he follows behind desperately trying to catch up. This is an example of lively, creative choreography that engages the audience in the moment and allows the actors to reach an emotional height.

At the end of the show, the audience is taken back to the ship from the opening. We're supposed to feel that we've been through something with these characters, that we are perhaps one and the same. The quartet sings to the audience, assuring us that everything is all right, that despite the uncertainties in life, the trials we just faced and those that are still to come, we'll be fine. Had the journey been less underdeveloped, perhaps the audience would believe them.

Pros | Appealing cast of talented singers. Excellent musical score.

Cons | Unimaginative staging. Overall lack of energy and strong character choices.