‘Songs For A New World’ At Black Box Theatre, This Weekend And Next

Jason A. Coombs is directing the musical revue Songs for a New World, the current offering by The Black Box Theatre of Newtown.

The Black Box Theatre, LLC is a nonprofit theatre at 117 Mt Pleasant Road, next to Dance Etc. The intimate 50-seat house will be the home of future productions including cabarets, open mic nights, plays, original works, university productions, and student showcases.

Songs for a New World is a work of musical theater written and composed by Jason Robert Brown. Its original off-Broadway production ran for 28 performances at the WPA Theater in New York City in 1995. The show sits on the boundary between musical and song cycle, but it is neither; it is an abstract musical, a series of songs all connected by theme rather than narrative.

“[We] are taking a huge step with producing Songs for a New World, which is one of the most popular song cycles of today,” said Mr Coombs.

The show features a cast of 13 singers and dancers, with musical direction by Laura Schultz and choreography by Chelsea Pinero.

Performances opened Thursday, June 9, and will continue June 10-11 and 16-18, with curtain on Thursdays at 7:30 and Friday and Saturday at 8 pm.

Tickets are $10, general admission, and because seating is so limited reservations are strongly suggested. Call 203-426-8717 or send e-mail to BlackBoxTix@gmail.com. Additional information is available at BlackBoxNewtown.org.

This season marks the third summer of high quality community theater for Black Box. Previous shows have included the dark comedy Murder At The Awards Show, directed by Shelby Davis; Speech and Debate, directed by Amelia Kreski; an original production, Let’s Talk About Love: A Musical Cabaret, directed by Mr Coombs in 2009, followed last year by an updated, revamped Let’s Talk About Love, Again, also directed by Mr Coombs.

The company debuted in June 25 with All That Jazz: A Kander/Ebb Musical Revue, with direction and choreography by Jen Turey. The season also included All That Jazz: A Kander/Ebb Musical Revue, directed by Kate Katcher; and the aforementioned Let’s Talk About Love: A Musical Cabaret.