Songs For a New World

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 5/25/04 at 6:06pm

Along with L5Y, I got SFANW. I think it's even better! Any opinions?

[StraightToHeaven]

Posted: 5/25/04 at 6:14pm

I love both. They are both different. I love how we meet so many different character's in Songs For a New World and learn their stories but I also love exploring Cathy and Jaime's relationship in L5Y but I think I like Songs For a New World's music more. I have only seen L5Y, though.

[Broadway Matt]

Posted: 5/25/04 at 7:34pm

I've often been torn between which I like better, they're quite different from each other and totally unique from the majority of musicals you hear. If I had to choose a favorite, it would by L5Y because I enjoyed it more as a staged production than Songs. But I probably listen to Songs For A New World more often and appreciate the music and vocal performances more. I'm a sucker for that complicated harmony!

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 5/25/04 at 7:43pm

The first time I heard the soundtrack I cried. Today, I still get goosebumps. And I got goosebumps again when John Tartaglia and Amyee Garcia sang "I'd Give It All For You" for his Ars Nova Concert. I love that CD. Updated On: 5/26/04 at 07:43 PM

[BudFrump23]

Posted: 5/25/04 at 7:59pm

"A Christmas Song" (is that what its called?) always makes me cry. It became the song that I would listen to over and over again after my friend died. It's very powerful. And then, from L5Y, "Goodbye Until Tomorrow" is a sad one too.

[leomaxfrank]

Posted: 5/26/04 at 12:54am

"I did it all for you" - sounds like a good song, however there's no song like that in SFANW - it's "I'd Give it All for You".

SFANW would have been SO much better if Billy Porter had done the recording. Billy was Man 1 in the original off-broadway production, but because of his record contract he was having issues with recording under a different label, so he decided it wouldn't be a good idea. Apparently Jason gives him crap to this day!

[Broadway Matt]

Posted: 5/26/04 at 1:16am

Wow, I did not know that! I thought both guys on the CD are excellent. Whatever happened to that fella who sang Man 1?

[leomaxfrank]

Posted: 5/26/04 at 1:35am

I don't really know much about Ty Taylor, only that he is not an actor.

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 5/26/04 at 1:44pm

Ep! Thanx leomaxfrank. I'm gonna edit that now
I had no idea about Billy Porter being in the show but I always though it was funny how the CD Booklet has no photos of Man 1. He must have been amazing!

[StraightToHeaven]

Posted: 5/26/04 at 2:14pm

Am I the only one or did anyone else the first time they heard She cries thnk it was Norbert Leo Butz singing? Or am I going deaf?

I think my favorite on the CD is the women who sings Christmas Lullaby and I'm Not Afraid of Anything. I think her name is Andrea Burns.

[JakeB]

Posted: 5/26/04 at 5:02pm

I've seen SFANW, but not seen Last Five Years. However, from both of the recordings I think that L5Y is better, because it's an involving listen. As a show, Songs is interesting because it's totally up to the director on how each song works - for example, in the performance I saw King of the World was about a guy in jail hanging himself. Also, they chose to continue themes in one song in another - so all the couple songs were with the same couple. But no, the SFANW recording stays on my shelf getting dusty.

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 5/26/04 at 7:17pm

I do enjoy listening to L5Y more than SFANW, just because it has a plot. The characters sing the songs, and so you know them by the end. In SFANW, there are different characters each time, so it's harder to comprehend. I also just happen to like shows better than revues anyway.

[BroadwayKate]

Posted: 5/26/04 at 7:22pm

I love Songs For a New World...there is no other musical that I actually really love every song. I have sung Stars and the Moon at so many events...I really should get a new song...:) This is really one of the most beautiful shows ever written...eventhough it does not have a plot!

kate

[Broadway Matt]

Posted: 5/27/04 at 4:55pm

Jake, that's a really cool interpretation of King of the World. In the one I saw the guy is wearing a disheveled business suit and is chained to a chair at the center of the stage.

but as a show it definitely is a much bigger challenge to stage each song so that the piece as a whole stays as interesting as the music. with L5Y you have all that great drama built right into the progression of the musical numbers.

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 5/28/04 at 2:09am

Yes, StraightToHeaven, "She Cries" does indeed remind me of Norbert Leo Butz. In fact, that song really seems like something JRB might have originally written as a Jamie song for "Last 5 Years".

I love "Stars and the Moon". I also find "Just One Step" to be brilliant.

[jesseeinstein]

Posted: 5/28/04 at 3:42am

he actually originally wrote for a piece about a pianist and a singer that had a relationship together, some of the songs would be sung in the act, and some outside of it. Pretty good ideas is it not?

[judy_in_disguise]

Posted: 5/31/04 at 1:08am

Songs for a New World is fantastic, but you can tell it's JRB's first work.
It's entirely thrown together, which gives it a certain uniqueness, but some of the songs really need to be discarded.......
L5Y is solid though, through and through. Anyone see it at Canstage with Tyley Ross and Blythe Wilson?

[jesseeinstein]

Posted: 5/31/04 at 1:29am

Hell yeah! Saw it four times at canstage! It was really well directed!
-jesseeinstein

[feinstein9]

Posted: 5/31/04 at 2:00am

what songs, per se, should be disgarded? i suposse the only one i don't favour is jessica molasky's santa song. but the rest, i think, are bloody brilliant.

[judy_in_disguise]

Posted: 5/31/04 at 9:53am

Surabaya Santa has definately gotta go.....who knows, it could be Molaskey's rendition (although she was fantastic in Parade....).
I find myself skipping over River Won't Flow and Sailing Ship a lot too....matter of personal opinion .
I'd Give it All For You is probably one of my favourite songs in the world, don't get me wrong, I think Jason Robert Brown is an absolute GENIUS.

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 5/31/04 at 11:36am

Just my opinion, but I happen to like Surabaya Santa because it's so different from all the other songs. Some of the songs start to sound similar, but that one just stays in your mind as being unique. Molaskey was fantastic in Parade, but I think she was just as good in SFANW. I also love Just One Step.

[BillyLawlor]

Posted: 5/31/04 at 11:48am

I haven't heard all of "The Last Five Years", but from what I've heard, I like SFANW more. The music is absolutely beautiful; one of the best scores in Musical Theater, in my opinion. I've never seen a live production of either one, but the music from SFANW is just incredible. I wouldn't want to take anything out of the album; I think every song is perfect.

I thought that the guy on the album WAS Norbert Leo Butz---it sounds a lot like him, and I would kill to see him sing that role. And just for the record, Ty Taylor is the highlight of that CD for me. I LOVE his voice so much. He makes that music soar.

[judy_in_disguise]

Posted: 5/31/04 at 2:38pm

Andrea Burns all the way.

[DAME]

Posted: 5/31/04 at 3:26pm

She is a HUSSY!

[krisjoseph]

Posted: 5/31/04 at 3:44pm

"She Cries", on the SFANW recording, is performed by Brooks Ashmanskas... not our dear Norbert.