SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD
METRO’s "New World" Shines
By Beverly Creasey (Theatre Mirror)
If Stephen Sondheim weren’t so deliciously cynical, he’d be Jason Robert Brown.—which is the highest
compliment I can pay Mr. Brown. His SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD astonish, amuse and make the spirit soar.
I’ve seen the revue before but Metro Stage’s version literally electrifies the dark, funky Central Square
YMCA theater space. The good news is that they’re playing one more weekend (through June 17). If you’re a
snob, you’ll find Brown’s lyrics as clever as you-know-who’s. If you like to be surprised, his wit turns and tickles
faster than you can anticipate the reversals. If you’re in need of a lift, his “New World” songs speak to the
discovery of a strange new land in 1492 as much as they do for the scary post 9-11 world we’ve inherited from
the warmongers.
If we ever needed help from a higher power, it’s now and Brown articulates our hopes and prayers as well as
any anthem could. James Tallach bravely and beautifully scales the heights (several octaves worth!) under
Karen Gahagan’s deft music direction. The ensemble sings gorgeously. Director Janet Neely’s intelligent
conception of the song cycle is for each singer to simply stand and tell the story—and each song is a world unto
itself. Donald Ray Gregorio’s ingenious choreography never upstages the music: it elegantly punctuates and
frames the material.
Tracy Nygard struts her comic stuff in the hilarious “Just One Step” (off the ledge), then stops the show with
Tallach in “I’d Give it All for You.” Joshua Heggie melts your heart with “She Cries” and then drives the train
home in the powerhouse “The River Won’t Flow.” Grace Sumner channels a naughty Lotte Lenya in the
outrageous Kurt Weill send-up, “Surabaya Santa” and Aaron Velthouse cracks the universe open with his
mighty “King of the World” (cleverly lit by John MacKenzie).
Charles Kircher delivers a poignant, sorrowful “The World Was Dancing” and Kristin Huberdeau sings the
plaintive “regret” ballad, “Stars and the Moon.” Brown’s music does, as the song says, “shine the light” and
even if it’s for a very short time, you do leave the theater feeling promise for the future. How often can you say
that?
By Beverly Creasey (Theatre Mirror)
If Stephen Sondheim weren’t so deliciously cynical, he’d be Jason Robert Brown.—which is the highest
compliment I can pay Mr. Brown. His SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD astonish, amuse and make the spirit soar.
I’ve seen the revue before but Metro Stage’s version literally electrifies the dark, funky Central Square
YMCA theater space. The good news is that they’re playing one more weekend (through June 17). If you’re a
snob, you’ll find Brown’s lyrics as clever as you-know-who’s. If you like to be surprised, his wit turns and tickles
faster than you can anticipate the reversals. If you’re in need of a lift, his “New World” songs speak to the
discovery of a strange new land in 1492 as much as they do for the scary post 9-11 world we’ve inherited from
the warmongers.
If we ever needed help from a higher power, it’s now and Brown articulates our hopes and prayers as well as
any anthem could. James Tallach bravely and beautifully scales the heights (several octaves worth!) under
Karen Gahagan’s deft music direction. The ensemble sings gorgeously. Director Janet Neely’s intelligent
conception of the song cycle is for each singer to simply stand and tell the story—and each song is a world unto
itself. Donald Ray Gregorio’s ingenious choreography never upstages the music: it elegantly punctuates and
frames the material.
Tracy Nygard struts her comic stuff in the hilarious “Just One Step” (off the ledge), then stops the show with
Tallach in “I’d Give it All for You.” Joshua Heggie melts your heart with “She Cries” and then drives the train
home in the powerhouse “The River Won’t Flow.” Grace Sumner channels a naughty Lotte Lenya in the
outrageous Kurt Weill send-up, “Surabaya Santa” and Aaron Velthouse cracks the universe open with his
mighty “King of the World” (cleverly lit by John MacKenzie).
Charles Kircher delivers a poignant, sorrowful “The World Was Dancing” and Kristin Huberdeau sings the
plaintive “regret” ballad, “Stars and the Moon.” Brown’s music does, as the song says, “shine the light” and
even if it’s for a very short time, you do leave the theater feeling promise for the future. How often can you say
that?
SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD
Review by Norm Gross - www.pmpnetwork.com
(Norm Gross reviews plays on a 0-5 scale, 5 being the best. Norm has been a play reviewer for a number of radio
stations. )
At the Cambridge Family YMCA Theatre in Central Square, Cambridge, Mass. Metro Stage Company & She
Productions recently presented their now concluded staging of "Songs For A New World." Originally produced
Off-Broadway in 1995, this was its Boston-area debut. A revue of 16 new songs, all with Music and Lyrics by
Jason Robert Brown, with each tune featuring its own complete and trenchant storyline. Opening with the soaring
title-song "New World" ( come to me, hold me to your promise) exultantly sung by the strong young full voiced and
compelling eight member ensemble, and followed by an imposing succession of equally impressive numbers.
They ranged from an intense song about a couple's impending breakup "Just One Small Step" (and I'll be Free),
passionately sung by Tracy Nygard; then by Grace Sumner's resoundingly moving rendition of "I'm Not Afraid of
Anything" (be it growing old...or going out of style); Joshua William Heggie's vivid "When She Cries," instead of
leaving her (she sighs, she smiles, and you'll stay forever); Chas Kircher's resonant singing of "The World Was
Dancing" (oblivious of personal or familial travails); Aaron Velthouse's vigorous chanting of "I'm King of the World"
and James Tallach's evocative version of "I'd Give It All for You" (to have you by my side) were all quite haunting.
Finally, Mary O'Donnell's touching and troubled salute to "The Flagmaker," busy preparing banners for soldiers
away at war (one more star, one more stripe, till they come back home) and especially Kristen Huberdeau's wryly
exuberant paean to her former lovers who promised her "The Stars and Moon," instead of offering her the yacht or
the champagne that she really wanted, were both genuinely memorable! It's also noteworthy that the latter song
has also since gone on to become a favorite and witty standard with many well known jazz vocalists. This grandly
provocative and quite stimulating collection of new songs by a fine young composer, performed by a superb
group of youthful talented singers was effectively directed by Janet Neely with stirring musical
accompaniment by a vibrant, onstage quartet conducted by keyboardist Karen Gahagen, with equally notable
choreography by Donald Ray Gregorio. (My Grade: 5)
Review by Norm Gross - www.pmpnetwork.com
(Norm Gross reviews plays on a 0-5 scale, 5 being the best. Norm has been a play reviewer for a number of radio
stations. )
At the Cambridge Family YMCA Theatre in Central Square, Cambridge, Mass. Metro Stage Company & She
Productions recently presented their now concluded staging of "Songs For A New World." Originally produced
Off-Broadway in 1995, this was its Boston-area debut. A revue of 16 new songs, all with Music and Lyrics by
Jason Robert Brown, with each tune featuring its own complete and trenchant storyline. Opening with the soaring
title-song "New World" ( come to me, hold me to your promise) exultantly sung by the strong young full voiced and
compelling eight member ensemble, and followed by an imposing succession of equally impressive numbers.
They ranged from an intense song about a couple's impending breakup "Just One Small Step" (and I'll be Free),
passionately sung by Tracy Nygard; then by Grace Sumner's resoundingly moving rendition of "I'm Not Afraid of
Anything" (be it growing old...or going out of style); Joshua William Heggie's vivid "When She Cries," instead of
leaving her (she sighs, she smiles, and you'll stay forever); Chas Kircher's resonant singing of "The World Was
Dancing" (oblivious of personal or familial travails); Aaron Velthouse's vigorous chanting of "I'm King of the World"
and James Tallach's evocative version of "I'd Give It All for You" (to have you by my side) were all quite haunting.
Finally, Mary O'Donnell's touching and troubled salute to "The Flagmaker," busy preparing banners for soldiers
away at war (one more star, one more stripe, till they come back home) and especially Kristen Huberdeau's wryly
exuberant paean to her former lovers who promised her "The Stars and Moon," instead of offering her the yacht or
the champagne that she really wanted, were both genuinely memorable! It's also noteworthy that the latter song
has also since gone on to become a favorite and witty standard with many well known jazz vocalists. This grandly
provocative and quite stimulating collection of new songs by a fine young composer, performed by a superb
group of youthful talented singers was effectively directed by Janet Neely with stirring musical
accompaniment by a vibrant, onstage quartet conducted by keyboardist Karen Gahagen, with equally notable
choreography by Donald Ray Gregorio. (My Grade: 5)
By Will Stackman - On The Aisle
Almost ten years after its brief run in NYC, Jason Robert Brown's revue, "Songs for a New World" currently being
revived by Metro Stage shows the continued development of this company. At least on par with their successful
"Assassins" a little over a year ago ... Metro is using eight [singers], which adds variety and offers more vocal
color in the group numbers ….
The first real show stopper is the third, "Just One Step" Tracy Nygard's comic suicide attempt …. Kristin
Huberdeau, whose various credits include NSMT, soon gets into "Stars and the Moon," a song which has moved
into the repertoire of some well-known singers. She's also affecting in the "Christmas Lullaby" in the second half
which starts with with Grace Summer … doing a Kurt Weill parody. "Surabaya-Santa". Mary O'Donnell, the most
experienced cast member, repeats the "New World" theme several times starting with the opening, but is most
impressive doing "The Flagmaker 1775," one of the show's two historical numbers, an antiwar piece. "Songs..."
is really a compendium ofmaterial from various early projects by this ambitious songwriter.
Actor/director James Tallach, … who was seen in Metro's "Assassins," has a strong romantic duet with Nygard,
"I'd Give It All for You," one of several numbers foreshadowing Brown's better known show, "The Last Five Years."
Aaron Velthouse … is most impressive doing "King of the World," about a jailed dictator. Joshua Heggie … joins
Chas Kircher in "The River Don't Flow," followed soon after by "She Cries". Kircher closes the first act as the lead
singer in "The World Was Dancing," a bittersweet romance with Huberdeau. Velthouse leads the penultimate
number, "Flying Home."
The distinctive voices of this ensemble are backed up by music director Karen Gahagan at the keyboard, with
Michael Joseph on a second. Kimmerie Jones provided the cast with simple black costumes suited to their
personae, Andrew Haserlat created an effective unit set with a raised podium upstage left, while John MacKenzie
gets effective lighting out of the limited positions available. Choreography, necessarily brief, is by Donald Ray
Gregorio .... The show depends mostly on the presentation of Brown's lyrics in musical context, which this
experienced cast manages consistently under Neely's direction.
revived by Metro Stage shows the continued development of this company. At least on par with their successful
"Assassins" a little over a year ago ... Metro is using eight [singers], which adds variety and offers more vocal
color in the group numbers ….
The first real show stopper is the third, "Just One Step" Tracy Nygard's comic suicide attempt …. Kristin
Huberdeau, whose various credits include NSMT, soon gets into "Stars and the Moon," a song which has moved
into the repertoire of some well-known singers. She's also affecting in the "Christmas Lullaby" in the second half
which starts with with Grace Summer … doing a Kurt Weill parody. "Surabaya-Santa". Mary O'Donnell, the most
experienced cast member, repeats the "New World" theme several times starting with the opening, but is most
impressive doing "The Flagmaker 1775," one of the show's two historical numbers, an antiwar piece. "Songs..."
is really a compendium ofmaterial from various early projects by this ambitious songwriter.
Actor/director James Tallach, … who was seen in Metro's "Assassins," has a strong romantic duet with Nygard,
"I'd Give It All for You," one of several numbers foreshadowing Brown's better known show, "The Last Five Years."
Aaron Velthouse … is most impressive doing "King of the World," about a jailed dictator. Joshua Heggie … joins
Chas Kircher in "The River Don't Flow," followed soon after by "She Cries". Kircher closes the first act as the lead
singer in "The World Was Dancing," a bittersweet romance with Huberdeau. Velthouse leads the penultimate
number, "Flying Home."
The distinctive voices of this ensemble are backed up by music director Karen Gahagan at the keyboard, with
Michael Joseph on a second. Kimmerie Jones provided the cast with simple black costumes suited to their
personae, Andrew Haserlat created an effective unit set with a raised podium upstage left, while John MacKenzie
gets effective lighting out of the limited positions available. Choreography, necessarily brief, is by Donald Ray
Gregorio .... The show depends mostly on the presentation of Brown's lyrics in musical context, which this
experienced cast manages consistently under Neely's direction.
Press Archives
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METRO STAGE COMPANY
Metro’s BRAIN Trust - By Beverly Creasey (Theatre Mirror)
It’s a no-brainer. William Finn’s delightful musical about love, commitment, good friends, unrelenting mothers,
nasty nurses and frogs is getting a spiffy outing at the Cambridge Y ---but only through next weekend, so
galvanize that grey matter and get a ticket! A NEW BRAIN is funny, smart, a wee bit naughty and chock full of lively
music directed by Jennifer Honen Galea and clever staging by James Tallach.
Jim Fitzpatrick heads up the energetic cast as the songwriter for a domineering frog with a television show for
kids (redeemed by Gary Ryan’s chipper performance). When his brain needs a surgical overhaul, he’s subjected
to the indignities, and the ironies of managed care.
Anne Velthouse gets wonderful laughs in two roles: as a snippy waitress and a steely-eyed nurse. Joe Lanza
introduces himself as “the good nurse” and the aforementioned Florence Nightingale as “the bitchy one.” Lucky
Lanza gets one of the show’s most deliciously outrageous songs. Finn writes hip, caustic little songs just this
side of cynical. Who wouldn’t love ditties that rhyme “herd” with “four letter word.”
Kendra Kachadoorian gets the showstopper as the formidable homeless woman who even has the nerve to
accost the audience for change. “I’m not asking for hugs,” she sings, “Just money to buy more drugs.” She has a
powerhouse voice and acts the heck out of the role, making the character surprisingly sympathetic as well as
comedic.
Peri Chouteau could read the phone book, as they say, and she’d break you up. Here she’s the songwriter’s best
friend and fellow frog employee. Aaron Velthouse and Robert Case are hilarious as the hospital chaplain who
doesn’t seem to understand that the patient is Jewish and the doctor who doesn’t seem to understand that the
situation is serious. Mary O’Donnell gets fabulous mileage out of the controlled hysteria of mothers everywhere
who don’t want to believe their children are in trouble. She gets a grand cleaning/denial song in a slinky black
dress. Nicholas Nunez hits all the right notes as the songwriter’s beau. He delivers the beautiful “Lousy Day in
the Universe” song with poignancy and style.
If laughter is the best medicine, it’s followed closely by musical theater—and you’ll leave A NEW BRAIN feeling
better than you did when you came in. That’s my prognosis.
It’s a no-brainer. William Finn’s delightful musical about love, commitment, good friends, unrelenting mothers,
nasty nurses and frogs is getting a spiffy outing at the Cambridge Y ---but only through next weekend, so
galvanize that grey matter and get a ticket! A NEW BRAIN is funny, smart, a wee bit naughty and chock full of lively
music directed by Jennifer Honen Galea and clever staging by James Tallach.
Jim Fitzpatrick heads up the energetic cast as the songwriter for a domineering frog with a television show for
kids (redeemed by Gary Ryan’s chipper performance). When his brain needs a surgical overhaul, he’s subjected
to the indignities, and the ironies of managed care.
Anne Velthouse gets wonderful laughs in two roles: as a snippy waitress and a steely-eyed nurse. Joe Lanza
introduces himself as “the good nurse” and the aforementioned Florence Nightingale as “the bitchy one.” Lucky
Lanza gets one of the show’s most deliciously outrageous songs. Finn writes hip, caustic little songs just this
side of cynical. Who wouldn’t love ditties that rhyme “herd” with “four letter word.”
Kendra Kachadoorian gets the showstopper as the formidable homeless woman who even has the nerve to
accost the audience for change. “I’m not asking for hugs,” she sings, “Just money to buy more drugs.” She has a
powerhouse voice and acts the heck out of the role, making the character surprisingly sympathetic as well as
comedic.
Peri Chouteau could read the phone book, as they say, and she’d break you up. Here she’s the songwriter’s best
friend and fellow frog employee. Aaron Velthouse and Robert Case are hilarious as the hospital chaplain who
doesn’t seem to understand that the patient is Jewish and the doctor who doesn’t seem to understand that the
situation is serious. Mary O’Donnell gets fabulous mileage out of the controlled hysteria of mothers everywhere
who don’t want to believe their children are in trouble. She gets a grand cleaning/denial song in a slinky black
dress. Nicholas Nunez hits all the right notes as the songwriter’s beau. He delivers the beautiful “Lousy Day in
the Universe” song with poignancy and style.
If laughter is the best medicine, it’s followed closely by musical theater—and you’ll leave A NEW BRAIN feeling
better than you did when you came in. That’s my prognosis.
"A New Brain" - By Larry Stark (Theatre Mirror)
William Finn's "A New Brain" is a very personal musical comedy, since he "did the research" on bleeding in his
own brain, endured nice and vicious nurses, a blandly indifferent doctor, a bumbling minister offering his
Christian Bible to a Jewish patient, and lived to make a musical out of his brush with death. The circle-dances of
friends and family and hospital denizens mirror the show's fresh lyrics, bubbly music and --- in this Metro Stage
production --- an eagerly energetic cast offering, everywhere, cutely crafted tiny details exploding silently all over
the stage.
The hero hopes to pen an epic some day, but writes songs for a kiddie-tv show headed by an irascible frog (Gary
Ryan) --- and the night we went Beverly Creasey and I sat on either side of an innocent composer (who had never
seen the show) who writes the songs for a children's theatre; the howls of recognition must have intoxicated the
cast!
Then there's big-voiced Kendra Kachadoorian panhandling in the aisles as a relentlessly honest homeless lady,
lightning costume-changes (some on stage), a sort of MRI-gavotte, and the hero's lover (Joe Lanza) who'd rather
be sailing --- or showering with his beloved to celebrate a successful operation! (Or is that, like other things in the
show, just a fantasy of an old brain on the fritz?)
The hero's agent (Peri Chouteau) and his mother (Mary O'Donnell) are his understanding feminine help-meets.
During a several-part choral number late in the show, the two of them can be seen, lunching, conversing, and
bonding over to stage-left. And are that vicious nurse and the doctor falling in love over their surgical equipment?
It's neat details like these --- and was it Finn, Stage Director James Tallach, or the actors themselves who put
them in? --- that make this medical send-up sing. And, conducting a five-piece totally electronic band, Music
Director Jennifer Honen Galea demonstrates how to make an electric piano cook!
But this is a two-wekend show.
You know what to do, don't you?
Love,
===Anon.
William Finn's "A New Brain" is a very personal musical comedy, since he "did the research" on bleeding in his
own brain, endured nice and vicious nurses, a blandly indifferent doctor, a bumbling minister offering his
Christian Bible to a Jewish patient, and lived to make a musical out of his brush with death. The circle-dances of
friends and family and hospital denizens mirror the show's fresh lyrics, bubbly music and --- in this Metro Stage
production --- an eagerly energetic cast offering, everywhere, cutely crafted tiny details exploding silently all over
the stage.
The hero hopes to pen an epic some day, but writes songs for a kiddie-tv show headed by an irascible frog (Gary
Ryan) --- and the night we went Beverly Creasey and I sat on either side of an innocent composer (who had never
seen the show) who writes the songs for a children's theatre; the howls of recognition must have intoxicated the
cast!
Then there's big-voiced Kendra Kachadoorian panhandling in the aisles as a relentlessly honest homeless lady,
lightning costume-changes (some on stage), a sort of MRI-gavotte, and the hero's lover (Joe Lanza) who'd rather
be sailing --- or showering with his beloved to celebrate a successful operation! (Or is that, like other things in the
show, just a fantasy of an old brain on the fritz?)
The hero's agent (Peri Chouteau) and his mother (Mary O'Donnell) are his understanding feminine help-meets.
During a several-part choral number late in the show, the two of them can be seen, lunching, conversing, and
bonding over to stage-left. And are that vicious nurse and the doctor falling in love over their surgical equipment?
It's neat details like these --- and was it Finn, Stage Director James Tallach, or the actors themselves who put
them in? --- that make this medical send-up sing. And, conducting a five-piece totally electronic band, Music
Director Jennifer Honen Galea demonstrates how to make an electric piano cook!
But this is a two-wekend show.
You know what to do, don't you?
Love,
===Anon.
Quicktake on "A New Brain" - By Will Stackman (Theatre Mirror)
When William Finn, then best known for his "Falsettos" shows, came close to dying from an inherited brain
condition, his quirky sensibilitiesnaturally turned his experience into a musical—with the help of sometime
Sondheim collaborator, director James Lapine. "A New Brain" has had several Boston-area productions since its
NY run at Lincoln Center, but Metro Stage's current brief run in Cambridge may come closest to realizing its
potential. Directed by Turtle Lane regular James Tallach with music direction by IRNE winner Jennifer Honen
Galea, the show boasts an ensemble cast of well-trained and experienced local singers, who've been seen in
various area productions recently. Community theatre veteran Jim Fitzpatrick takes the main role of Gordon
Michael Schwinn. His mother Mimi is played by another area veteran, Mary O'Donnell, who was part of Metro's
production of Jason Robert Brown's "Songs for a New World" last spring. Brown did the vocal arrangements for "A
New Brain".
Kendra Kachadoorian, trained in opera, here plays Lisa, the homeless woman whose harsh world view balances
Schwinn's self-pity. Also in "Songs..." she was last seen at TLP as the brash gun-toting New Jerseyite in Ahrens
& Flaherty's early musical, "Lucky Stiff." Schwinn's other nemesis, Mr.Bungee, the frogee star of the children's
show for which he writes songs, is Gary Ryan, TLP's "Pippin" last season and Sr. Leo in Metro's "Nunsense A-
Men" last fall. On the more sympathetic side, another community theatre veteran, Peri Chouteau, plays Rhoda,
Schwinn's agent, and gets to show her comic flair as Gordon's ventriloquist dummy in a dream sequence. She'll
next play Little Sally in Vokes upcoming "Urinetown."
Metro's artistic director, versatile Robert Case, who with Tallach designed the simple but effective set, plays the
Doctor, while conservatory-trained Anne Velthouse plays his nurse Nancy. Her husband Aaron, an NEC opera
student last seen as Sky Masterson at TLP plays the hospital chaplain. Nicholas Nunez, a senior music major at
BosCon, plays Roger Della-Bovi, a wealthy sailor and Gordon's life partner. Recent BU grad Joe Lanza is
Richard, the nice nurse, who feels trapped in his hospital career. This ensemble should be enough to alert in-
town music theatre fans to the wealth of talent in various suburban producing groups. We can only hope that
Metro, whose work has steadily improved, can somehow afford longer intown runs for future efforts.
When William Finn, then best known for his "Falsettos" shows, came close to dying from an inherited brain
condition, his quirky sensibilitiesnaturally turned his experience into a musical—with the help of sometime
Sondheim collaborator, director James Lapine. "A New Brain" has had several Boston-area productions since its
NY run at Lincoln Center, but Metro Stage's current brief run in Cambridge may come closest to realizing its
potential. Directed by Turtle Lane regular James Tallach with music direction by IRNE winner Jennifer Honen
Galea, the show boasts an ensemble cast of well-trained and experienced local singers, who've been seen in
various area productions recently. Community theatre veteran Jim Fitzpatrick takes the main role of Gordon
Michael Schwinn. His mother Mimi is played by another area veteran, Mary O'Donnell, who was part of Metro's
production of Jason Robert Brown's "Songs for a New World" last spring. Brown did the vocal arrangements for "A
New Brain".
Kendra Kachadoorian, trained in opera, here plays Lisa, the homeless woman whose harsh world view balances
Schwinn's self-pity. Also in "Songs..." she was last seen at TLP as the brash gun-toting New Jerseyite in Ahrens
& Flaherty's early musical, "Lucky Stiff." Schwinn's other nemesis, Mr.Bungee, the frogee star of the children's
show for which he writes songs, is Gary Ryan, TLP's "Pippin" last season and Sr. Leo in Metro's "Nunsense A-
Men" last fall. On the more sympathetic side, another community theatre veteran, Peri Chouteau, plays Rhoda,
Schwinn's agent, and gets to show her comic flair as Gordon's ventriloquist dummy in a dream sequence. She'll
next play Little Sally in Vokes upcoming "Urinetown."
Metro's artistic director, versatile Robert Case, who with Tallach designed the simple but effective set, plays the
Doctor, while conservatory-trained Anne Velthouse plays his nurse Nancy. Her husband Aaron, an NEC opera
student last seen as Sky Masterson at TLP plays the hospital chaplain. Nicholas Nunez, a senior music major at
BosCon, plays Roger Della-Bovi, a wealthy sailor and Gordon's life partner. Recent BU grad Joe Lanza is
Richard, the nice nurse, who feels trapped in his hospital career. This ensemble should be enough to alert in-
town music theatre fans to the wealth of talent in various suburban producing groups. We can only hope that
Metro, whose work has steadily improved, can somehow afford longer intown runs for future efforts.
Metro Stage Scores with Closer Than Ever
- Robin Chamberlain, New England Entertainment Digest
Metro Stage Company closes its 3rd season with a rich, varied, and vocally astounding rendition of Maltby and
Shire’s Closer Than Ever. Closer Than Ever’s songs, each its own little story focuses on growing up from young
adulthood through middle age, and on accepting the changes that come with physical and emotional maturation.
The revue format and Maltby’s uncommon ability to tell these little stories with resonance, wit, and depth make
Closer Than Ever a rich exploration, food for the soul. It’s not a surprising choice of material for this company,
which also performed Jason Robert Brown’s similar but less-perfected Songs for New World in this same slot
last season.
The vocally gifted cast consists of, in alphabetical order: Robert Case, Abigail Cordell, Will Larche, Paula
Marcowicz, Tracy Nygard, Mary O’Donnell, James Tallach, and Aaron Velthouse. Each individually sells their
songs well, but when they sing as a whole they are unstoppable – Shire’s complex harmonizations come to life
with a sumptuousness that leaves you feeling breathless.
Special mentions for a few numbers; Tracy Nygard’s passionate yet amusing patter during “You Wanna Be My
Friend” – a lament on a bad breakup, Abigail Cordell’s hysterical “Miss Byrd” (I’m not giving the secret away), and
Paula Marcowicz and Will Larche’s comic take on traditional musical theatre ballads with “Another Wedding
Song”.
Ably backed by Joshua Finstein’s trio and Rob Case’s simple but elegant set centered by a revolving door, the
show is a feast for eyes and ears. You shouldn’t miss it!
- Robin Chamberlain, New England Entertainment Digest
Metro Stage Company closes its 3rd season with a rich, varied, and vocally astounding rendition of Maltby and
Shire’s Closer Than Ever. Closer Than Ever’s songs, each its own little story focuses on growing up from young
adulthood through middle age, and on accepting the changes that come with physical and emotional maturation.
The revue format and Maltby’s uncommon ability to tell these little stories with resonance, wit, and depth make
Closer Than Ever a rich exploration, food for the soul. It’s not a surprising choice of material for this company,
which also performed Jason Robert Brown’s similar but less-perfected Songs for New World in this same slot
last season.
The vocally gifted cast consists of, in alphabetical order: Robert Case, Abigail Cordell, Will Larche, Paula
Marcowicz, Tracy Nygard, Mary O’Donnell, James Tallach, and Aaron Velthouse. Each individually sells their
songs well, but when they sing as a whole they are unstoppable – Shire’s complex harmonizations come to life
with a sumptuousness that leaves you feeling breathless.
Special mentions for a few numbers; Tracy Nygard’s passionate yet amusing patter during “You Wanna Be My
Friend” – a lament on a bad breakup, Abigail Cordell’s hysterical “Miss Byrd” (I’m not giving the secret away), and
Paula Marcowicz and Will Larche’s comic take on traditional musical theatre ballads with “Another Wedding
Song”.
Ably backed by Joshua Finstein’s trio and Rob Case’s simple but elegant set centered by a revolving door, the
show is a feast for eyes and ears. You shouldn’t miss it!
Closer Than Ever
Better than ever
By Beverly Creasey (Theater Mirror)
If you haven’t seen a Metro Stage production, you’re missing out—and you have only two more weekends to see
this one. Metro does musicals: simply, elegantly and usually with the same company actors (who are also
consummate singers).
What makes a musical like CLOSER THAN EVER more than just a revue? The songs by Richard Maltby and
David Shire are connected by their style and wit---Who else would rhyme ‘second’ and ‘fecund’ so cleverly--- but
there’s no story to pull them together. Metro makes the characters connect and these characters make the songs
sizzle. Each song becomes a scene and each scene becomes a showstopper. That translates to two dozen
surprising and delightful moments.
The Metro cast acts the heck out of every song: Some are ensemble numbers, like “There’s Nothing Like It,”
deliciously choreographed by Linda Sughrue. Some are hilarious turnarounds like Robert Case’s coda to Abigail
Cordell and Aaron Velthouse’s “She Loves Me Not.” Some are comic tour de forces like Paula Markowicz’ tongue
in cheek paean to creatures female, “The Bear, The Tiger, The Hamster and The Mole.” Some, like Tracy Nygard’
s sexy, jazzy, scat-filled “Back On Base” are brilliant gems. Sugrue and James Tallach co-directed and the
collaboration shows in the tight, dramatic flow of the numbers, with subtle touches like Case’s revolving door for
songs which fade gently away in John MacKenzie’s soft light. Music director Joshua Finstein gets a gorgeous
sound from the band, especially from Dirk Hillyer on “Back on Base” and Steven Prouty on “The Sound of Muzak.”
Mary O’Donnell nails heartbreaking songs like “Life Story” and Will Larche captures the desperation of a jilted
lover in “What Am I Doin?” If you miss Metro’s CLOSER THAN EVER, you’ll be wondering what were you doing?
Better than ever
By Beverly Creasey (Theater Mirror)
If you haven’t seen a Metro Stage production, you’re missing out—and you have only two more weekends to see
this one. Metro does musicals: simply, elegantly and usually with the same company actors (who are also
consummate singers).
What makes a musical like CLOSER THAN EVER more than just a revue? The songs by Richard Maltby and
David Shire are connected by their style and wit---Who else would rhyme ‘second’ and ‘fecund’ so cleverly--- but
there’s no story to pull them together. Metro makes the characters connect and these characters make the songs
sizzle. Each song becomes a scene and each scene becomes a showstopper. That translates to two dozen
surprising and delightful moments.
The Metro cast acts the heck out of every song: Some are ensemble numbers, like “There’s Nothing Like It,”
deliciously choreographed by Linda Sughrue. Some are hilarious turnarounds like Robert Case’s coda to Abigail
Cordell and Aaron Velthouse’s “She Loves Me Not.” Some are comic tour de forces like Paula Markowicz’ tongue
in cheek paean to creatures female, “The Bear, The Tiger, The Hamster and The Mole.” Some, like Tracy Nygard’
s sexy, jazzy, scat-filled “Back On Base” are brilliant gems. Sugrue and James Tallach co-directed and the
collaboration shows in the tight, dramatic flow of the numbers, with subtle touches like Case’s revolving door for
songs which fade gently away in John MacKenzie’s soft light. Music director Joshua Finstein gets a gorgeous
sound from the band, especially from Dirk Hillyer on “Back on Base” and Steven Prouty on “The Sound of Muzak.”
Mary O’Donnell nails heartbreaking songs like “Life Story” and Will Larche captures the desperation of a jilted
lover in “What Am I Doin?” If you miss Metro’s CLOSER THAN EVER, you’ll be wondering what were you doing?
"Cabaret" - By Larry Stark (Theatre Mirror)
Fen you go to the Cambridge YMCA's Durrell Hall, MeDamen und Herren [TRANS: Ladiess und Chentlemen],
leaf your preconceptions Outside! Forget Liza's movie, forget Lotte Lenya, forget every happy-time
"Cabaret" you have effer seen. In here, all is Zerious! The characters are Zerious. Effen the Zex, is Zerious.
You don't be-leaf me? Just ask Herr Tallach the Director! And if you don't zink these Girls are zerious ---
Chust ask ze Boys!!!
In here, it is Berlin, the 1930s are beginning, and the world is falling apart. Nazis are winning elections, and a
man who wrote a book in prison is standing on soap-boxes trying to make his fiction a reality. In the
Kit-Kat-Club maybe all is glitter and giggling and girls and songs dropped in so Kander & Ebb can let Joe
Masteroff's (and Christopher Isherwood's) people express their hopes for the candle of love in tornadoes of
time.
Two different couples get engaged here. (Maybe two and a fraction; It's true that Meredith Stypinski's
Fraulein Kost may never marry a sailor, though she does "get engaged" to several --- every evening!) Two of
them are born in Germany but unmarried for years --- but would Fraulein Schneider (a self-proclaimed
"survivor") actually marry a Jew at this time? Love, and pineapples, are one thing, but....
And then there's that English girl, singing in her scanties at the Kit-Kat-Club and keeping an American
novellist from his typewriter. They may not have planned to marry, or to start a family, but she's been living
in his one-bed room longer than she has with anyone else (except maybe Elsie), and it Is the early '30s and
love and sex seem to start at different times these days. But they'd probably have to leave Berlin, wouldn't
they, and she'd have to leave the Kit-Kat-Club almost certainly...
James Tallach --- he's that director, remember? --- has made these, and others, people you can Care about.
Mary O'Donnell's Fraulein Schneider and Harry Rothman's Herr Shultz make a hesitantly hoping couple,
Adam Riccio in Ernst Ludwig's long-lapelled suit (Thank you Kimmerlie H.O. Jones!) seems a serious,
prosperous, busily smuggling businessman, till the swastika appears. And they aren't singers who act
occasionally; these are actors who continue to act when they sing. It makes a difference. (And there are lots
of quick cameo-roles. Gary Ryan in quick new costumes must play three of them in the first five minutes of
the show!) And choristers of either sex are sizzlingly wicked in Linda Sughrue's dances.
Much of the acting centers on three people. First, Robert Case as the novelist is point-of-view character ---
new to the city, ready to be swept along with the bubbly good-time crowd his singer/girlfriend introduces him
to. However he has the moral center for the play, he's the only one aware that to ignore the Nazis is to join
them. His arguments with Sally, his growing contempt for Ernst Ludwig, grow more heated throughout the
play.
Then there is the bouncy, wickedly witty Encee, played by Michael Letch in breakaway trousers and (sorry
for the pun) lecherous face-paint. He is not just an Emcee, but what was called in the American Katskills
about that time a "tummler" --- a person paid to create tumult, to shake everything up and make things
happen, a pied-piper of fun. [Danny Kaye started as a tummler. Honest!] His songs and jokes and comments
pepper the action with sardonic glee, and whoever his follow-spot operator is certainly has talent.
Lighting is by John MacKenzie i.e., flawless; and Waker von Berg has designed a set that opens like a book
of memories --- on stage-left to make a cramped bedroom, on stage-right to make a living-room, on both
sides to make a party, and folded up to make The Kit-Kat-Club!
Ah, but of course it's Fraulein Sally Bowles everyone reall comes to see, and hear, isn't it? Tracy Nygard can
make you forget every Sally Bowles you've ever seen. She's not as young an agile as the Kit-Kat Cuties, but
her Sally is clinging to the only life that has ever made her happy --- even, as the narration points out, as the
world is falling apart all around it, and around her. The finale-number "Come to the Cabaret!" in this
production is not a joyous paean of praise for triumphant glitter and tinsel, but a trembling admission that, for
all its hollowness, she has nothing else.
It's hard to believe that anyone could kick the beJesus out of this old warhorse and make it new again, but
that's exactly what The Metro Stage Company has done. There are only two week-ends for you to get
tickets, but they'll go fast --- and you can't sit in half the balcony because Juri Panda Jones put the damn
BAND up there, where its rhythms are insidious! Get your order in now, before this whole damned Weimar
world falls to flinders.
Love,
===Anon.
( a k a larry stark)
Fen you go to the Cambridge YMCA's Durrell Hall, MeDamen und Herren [TRANS: Ladiess und Chentlemen],
leaf your preconceptions Outside! Forget Liza's movie, forget Lotte Lenya, forget every happy-time
"Cabaret" you have effer seen. In here, all is Zerious! The characters are Zerious. Effen the Zex, is Zerious.
You don't be-leaf me? Just ask Herr Tallach the Director! And if you don't zink these Girls are zerious ---
Chust ask ze Boys!!!
In here, it is Berlin, the 1930s are beginning, and the world is falling apart. Nazis are winning elections, and a
man who wrote a book in prison is standing on soap-boxes trying to make his fiction a reality. In the
Kit-Kat-Club maybe all is glitter and giggling and girls and songs dropped in so Kander & Ebb can let Joe
Masteroff's (and Christopher Isherwood's) people express their hopes for the candle of love in tornadoes of
time.
Two different couples get engaged here. (Maybe two and a fraction; It's true that Meredith Stypinski's
Fraulein Kost may never marry a sailor, though she does "get engaged" to several --- every evening!) Two of
them are born in Germany but unmarried for years --- but would Fraulein Schneider (a self-proclaimed
"survivor") actually marry a Jew at this time? Love, and pineapples, are one thing, but....
And then there's that English girl, singing in her scanties at the Kit-Kat-Club and keeping an American
novellist from his typewriter. They may not have planned to marry, or to start a family, but she's been living
in his one-bed room longer than she has with anyone else (except maybe Elsie), and it Is the early '30s and
love and sex seem to start at different times these days. But they'd probably have to leave Berlin, wouldn't
they, and she'd have to leave the Kit-Kat-Club almost certainly...
James Tallach --- he's that director, remember? --- has made these, and others, people you can Care about.
Mary O'Donnell's Fraulein Schneider and Harry Rothman's Herr Shultz make a hesitantly hoping couple,
Adam Riccio in Ernst Ludwig's long-lapelled suit (Thank you Kimmerlie H.O. Jones!) seems a serious,
prosperous, busily smuggling businessman, till the swastika appears. And they aren't singers who act
occasionally; these are actors who continue to act when they sing. It makes a difference. (And there are lots
of quick cameo-roles. Gary Ryan in quick new costumes must play three of them in the first five minutes of
the show!) And choristers of either sex are sizzlingly wicked in Linda Sughrue's dances.
Much of the acting centers on three people. First, Robert Case as the novelist is point-of-view character ---
new to the city, ready to be swept along with the bubbly good-time crowd his singer/girlfriend introduces him
to. However he has the moral center for the play, he's the only one aware that to ignore the Nazis is to join
them. His arguments with Sally, his growing contempt for Ernst Ludwig, grow more heated throughout the
play.
Then there is the bouncy, wickedly witty Encee, played by Michael Letch in breakaway trousers and (sorry
for the pun) lecherous face-paint. He is not just an Emcee, but what was called in the American Katskills
about that time a "tummler" --- a person paid to create tumult, to shake everything up and make things
happen, a pied-piper of fun. [Danny Kaye started as a tummler. Honest!] His songs and jokes and comments
pepper the action with sardonic glee, and whoever his follow-spot operator is certainly has talent.
Lighting is by John MacKenzie i.e., flawless; and Waker von Berg has designed a set that opens like a book
of memories --- on stage-left to make a cramped bedroom, on stage-right to make a living-room, on both
sides to make a party, and folded up to make The Kit-Kat-Club!
Ah, but of course it's Fraulein Sally Bowles everyone reall comes to see, and hear, isn't it? Tracy Nygard can
make you forget every Sally Bowles you've ever seen. She's not as young an agile as the Kit-Kat Cuties, but
her Sally is clinging to the only life that has ever made her happy --- even, as the narration points out, as the
world is falling apart all around it, and around her. The finale-number "Come to the Cabaret!" in this
production is not a joyous paean of praise for triumphant glitter and tinsel, but a trembling admission that, for
all its hollowness, she has nothing else.
It's hard to believe that anyone could kick the beJesus out of this old warhorse and make it new again, but
that's exactly what The Metro Stage Company has done. There are only two week-ends for you to get
tickets, but they'll go fast --- and you can't sit in half the balcony because Juri Panda Jones put the damn
BAND up there, where its rhythms are insidious! Get your order in now, before this whole damned Weimar
world falls to flinders.
Love,
===Anon.
( a k a larry stark)
METRO Makes CABARET Sting
By Beverly Creasey
So here comes another revival of Kander and Ebb’s CABARET. It’s a striking musical, of course, but you might
think its anti-Nazi message a bit dated. You’d be wrong and if you were a minority citizen of Berlin today, you might
be dead wrong. The DISCOVERY Channel just aired a report of present day, unified Germany and the rise of the
new “National” Party. The new Nazis have been winning the support of the lower and middle classes, not only the
skinheads who target immigrants for taking away jobs from the “real” Germans.
The Metro Stage Company’s surprising production nails the singing and the sexy, decadent choreography---but
director James Tallach delivers a definite chill along with the smart and sassy songs. He places the (faux) Nazi
anthem center stage and you will never hear a more gorgeous rendition of “Tomorrow Belongs to Me.” You will be
stunned by how moving it is and just in case you’re not horrified enough at how beautiful evil can be, they do it
twice.
I never realized it before, but the star-crossed older lovers, Fraulein Schneider (Mary O’Donnell) and her Jewish
intended (Harry Rothman) get a lot more songs than Sally Bowles (Tracy Nygard) and Clifford Bradshaw (Robert
Case). In Metro’s powerful, dangerous take on the story, the older couple’s troubles seem more substantial. Herr
Schultz, who thinks “governments come and governments go,” will be amazed when he’s carted off to a
concentration camp after Clifford and Sally’s brief love affair, and the musical, ends. O’Donnell and Rothman
make their urgency and heart break as important as Clifford and Sally’s.
Michael Letch as the creepy, cynical Kit Kat Club Emcee creates a riveting spokesperson for “the end of the
world.” Tallach and choreographer Linda Sugrue get extra laughs by introducing Gary Ryan as one of Letch’s
“Two Ladies.” Meredith Stypinski brings a lovely vulnerability to the philandering Fraulein Kost and Adam Riccio
will make your blood run cold in the second “Tomorrow” (exquisitely arranged and conducted by Juri Panda
Jones).
John Farchione and Donald Gregorio dance the pants off their roles (not really, but almost) and Julie Ann
Silverman, Monica Stein, Kimberly Suskind, Rydia Q. Vielehr, Kerri Nichole Wilson and LaurenHall make each Kit
Kat girl unique.
Prosit, Metro, for a timely, chilling CABARET.
By Beverly Creasey
So here comes another revival of Kander and Ebb’s CABARET. It’s a striking musical, of course, but you might
think its anti-Nazi message a bit dated. You’d be wrong and if you were a minority citizen of Berlin today, you might
be dead wrong. The DISCOVERY Channel just aired a report of present day, unified Germany and the rise of the
new “National” Party. The new Nazis have been winning the support of the lower and middle classes, not only the
skinheads who target immigrants for taking away jobs from the “real” Germans.
The Metro Stage Company’s surprising production nails the singing and the sexy, decadent choreography---but
director James Tallach delivers a definite chill along with the smart and sassy songs. He places the (faux) Nazi
anthem center stage and you will never hear a more gorgeous rendition of “Tomorrow Belongs to Me.” You will be
stunned by how moving it is and just in case you’re not horrified enough at how beautiful evil can be, they do it
twice.
I never realized it before, but the star-crossed older lovers, Fraulein Schneider (Mary O’Donnell) and her Jewish
intended (Harry Rothman) get a lot more songs than Sally Bowles (Tracy Nygard) and Clifford Bradshaw (Robert
Case). In Metro’s powerful, dangerous take on the story, the older couple’s troubles seem more substantial. Herr
Schultz, who thinks “governments come and governments go,” will be amazed when he’s carted off to a
concentration camp after Clifford and Sally’s brief love affair, and the musical, ends. O’Donnell and Rothman
make their urgency and heart break as important as Clifford and Sally’s.
Michael Letch as the creepy, cynical Kit Kat Club Emcee creates a riveting spokesperson for “the end of the
world.” Tallach and choreographer Linda Sugrue get extra laughs by introducing Gary Ryan as one of Letch’s
“Two Ladies.” Meredith Stypinski brings a lovely vulnerability to the philandering Fraulein Kost and Adam Riccio
will make your blood run cold in the second “Tomorrow” (exquisitely arranged and conducted by Juri Panda
Jones).
John Farchione and Donald Gregorio dance the pants off their roles (not really, but almost) and Julie Ann
Silverman, Monica Stein, Kimberly Suskind, Rydia Q. Vielehr, Kerri Nichole Wilson and LaurenHall make each Kit
Kat girl unique.
Prosit, Metro, for a timely, chilling CABARET.
Laughing all the way to the stage
Kasia Pilat
Metro Boston News
For the Metro Stage Company, the most ruthless part about working on the play called “Ruthless!” was the laughter. According to director and
Metro Stage co-founder Robert Case, the gig-gles nearly hampered the productivity of the cast.
“Ruthless!” follows the story of Tina Denmark, an incredibly talented prepubescent performer, as she goes to extreme lengths to secure the
starring role in her school play. The rest of the cast is an assortment of eccentricity, including a split-personality mother, a schoolteacher trying to
get off meds; and talent agent Sylvia St. Croix, who was the main culprit for the laughter.
“Sylvia St Croix is played by a man in our production, Christopher Hagberg. This character who is very much like Joan Crawford in a day care
center, is kind of asking for trouble a little bit, but she’s very eccentric and very over-the-top. He has just been a riot,” says Case. “We’ve had such
a good time at rehearsals. It’s been a challenge to focus on what we’re doing and keep from laughing so much.”
Chris Teague, who founded Metro Stage with Case four years ago says the whole play lends itself to hilarity.
“This is not Rodgers & Hammerstein,” he says, “not even close.”
Kasia Pilat
Metro Boston News
For the Metro Stage Company, the most ruthless part about working on the play called “Ruthless!” was the laughter. According to director and
Metro Stage co-founder Robert Case, the gig-gles nearly hampered the productivity of the cast.
“Ruthless!” follows the story of Tina Denmark, an incredibly talented prepubescent performer, as she goes to extreme lengths to secure the
starring role in her school play. The rest of the cast is an assortment of eccentricity, including a split-personality mother, a schoolteacher trying to
get off meds; and talent agent Sylvia St. Croix, who was the main culprit for the laughter.
“Sylvia St Croix is played by a man in our production, Christopher Hagberg. This character who is very much like Joan Crawford in a day care
center, is kind of asking for trouble a little bit, but she’s very eccentric and very over-the-top. He has just been a riot,” says Case. “We’ve had such
a good time at rehearsals. It’s been a challenge to focus on what we’re doing and keep from laughing so much.”
Chris Teague, who founded Metro Stage with Case four years ago says the whole play lends itself to hilarity.
“This is not Rodgers & Hammerstein,” he says, “not even close.”
RUTHLESS! The Musical