By Kristen Weyer.
Live theatre is back!
Gateway Playhouse opens after 16 months with the 1st show of their new season: Songs for a New World. Originally written in 1995 by Jason Robert Brown, it has been re-imagined here for today’s current events by the directors Michael Baker and Danny Loftus George.
It is always a risk employing current themes in theatre, and it has the tendency of creating drastically opposite opinions from audiences. Included here, to help facilitate any potential gap of understanding, is a statement from the directors about the show:
“A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTORS of Songs for a New World
It is great to be back on stage.
This production is a show of the heart in response to the last year and a half; as well as a reminder of where we have been before and how we have always overcome. It is about how we decide to deal with the unforeseen circumstances that come our way – be it unexpected job loss, illness, economic disaster, new life, or even death. We have one moment to decide how to move forward. We must move on as we learn to exist and celebrate our existence in this New World.
This show has no script or set. It is a moving collection of songs by Jason Robert Brown. We chose to set the first act in contemporary times. We go back a few months during the pandemic which recently shook us all. Images of stretchers in hallways, masks, and “thank you” notes to the front line workers; as well as memories of isolation and quarantine are all still fresh, but what’s more, is that we made it through. There was pain and suffering but also hope to celebrate the light at the end of the tunnel. We celebrate the journey while respecting those lost along the way. Family, connection, love, and hope are a through-line of Act One that ushers us into Act Two where we take a step back in time.
The media often compares the recent months to the Spanish Flu and other pandemic times of long ago, but our concept lands a bit more recently. In Act Two, we highlight the 1980s during the difficult times of the AIDS crisis. It became an exploration of a perspective that is seldom discussed but existed only a short time ago and is still going on today. Images of the AIDS quilt and truthful, raw newspaper headlines were as common then as the COVID-19 rates on our current news networks today.
We hope you leave the theater with some sort of catharsis – whether it be the reminder of something you have overcome personally or something you are grateful to have only experienced through the eyes of someone else. We remind you that time moves on. We’ve been here before and we will get through it again. All we can do is continue to move forward and hopefully become a better person because of it – be it a better neighbor, friend, spouse, or colleague. The theater is alive again, and we hope it moves you, as you being here in our audience, has moved us.”
The cast of this production is fabulous. Stunning voices abound with spot-on pitch and goose bump inducing harmonies. They showcase their many talents portraying multiple different types of characters throughout the varying songs. Comprised of Christian Douglas, Jordan Goodsell, Caleb Mitchell, Mary Kate Moore, Morgan Billings Smith, and Alyssa Wray, they display real affecting emotions. Together with the incredible live band they bring Songs for a New World to vivid life.
As stated above, the themes and images of this show are raw, real and intense. As it is dealing in a subject matter so currently and closely related to us all, it will naturally affect us all differently. For some it may be too much too soon, for others it may be cathartic. The choice is yours.
Running Time: Approximately 1 ½ hours, including one 15 minute intermission.
Advisory: Realistic and symbolic portrayals of the Covid-19 pandemic and Aids crisis. Includes disease, death & dying.
Songs for a New World will be running until July 31st at the Gateway Playhouse. The theater is located at 215 S. Country Rd. Bellport, NY. For tickets click here.