The best musicals have three essential qualities – Brains (intelligence and style), Heart (genuine and believable emotion), and Courage (the guts to do something creative and exciting) and Songs For a New World has bucket loads. On Saturday 11 September an exciting modern musical about life changing and earth shattering discovery opens at the Riverside Theatre, Coleraine.
In a new world in which today’s answers probably won’t apply tomorrow, everyone recognises struggle and the challenge of finding a way to go forward. Those moments of discovery in a new set of circumstances that cannot be expressed with mere words – they must be sung with every fibre of your being. This is what Songs For a New World is all about.
If you ever thought that epic struggle was only ever the preserve of grand opera think again! The real irony is that grand opera was invented by Renaissance Italians who were trying to copy Greek drama, which they mistakenly believed was sung-through. So not only are musicals not descended from opera as a poor relation, but opera is descended from the earliest musicals!
This modern musical, direct from Broadway by Jason Robert Brown, is entirely about the music, the challenging vocals and the emotions of the four characters. Songs for a New World shows the struggle between Fear and Faith, and it asks the question, In the moment of profound discovery what do you do?
“Songs for a New World is more than a show it is an experience of musical energy. The music ranges through pop, gospel, jazz and classical in a non stop performance. We defy anyone to just sit and let the music wash over them. One of the most active parts of the event will be your brain making the connections, running through the consequences and perhaps relating them to your own lives; you have to be quick because the scenes won’t wait for you! said Musical Director Andrew Robinson from the new theatre company Just Tea & Friends.
Tickets £8, concession £6 from the Box Office or online at www.riversidetheatre.org.uk