Jason Robert Brown one of musical theatre's brightest young composers made his first New York splash in 1995 with emSongs for a New World/em at the WPA Theatre. It's a revue of 16 of his cabaret and theater songs directed by Daisy Prince (Hal's daughter) and realized by a crack cast of Andrea Burns Jessica Molaskey Brooks Ashmanskas and Ty Taylor (who sang the role on this recording only because cast member Billy Porter had a contractual conflict) with Brown himself leading a small combo from the piano. Soaring melodies and irresistible rhythms mark a wide range of songs that encompass jazz (tJust One Stept) gospel (tThe River Won't Flowt) funk (tSteam Traint) and Kurt Weill (tSurabaya Santat sort of Mrs. Claus's lament as it would be sung by Lotte Lenya). Most memorable are two songs of lost love: the Ashmanskas-Burns duet tI'd Give It All for Yout which perfectly captures romantic yearning and Molaskey's wry yet poignant tStars and the Moont which has become something of a jazzy standard recorded by such luminaries as Audra McDonald and Betty Buckley.
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