‘Songs For A New World’ opens at Cutting Hall

Award-winning Theatre Nebula will present the musical revue “Songs For A New World” by composer Jason Robert Brown for a limited three-weekend run, March 2-18, at Cutting Hall Performing Arts Center, 150 E. Wood St., Palatine.

Theatre Nebula, the recent recipient of the Illinois Theatre Association’s Excellence in Theatre award, produced last year’s sellout hit “Jesus Christ Superstar” and the Midwest premiere of “Dracula, the Musical.”

Composer Brown says “Songs” is about one moment. “It’s about hitting the wall and having to make a choice, or take a stand, or turn around and go back,” he said.

The musical transports the audience from the deck of a 1492 Spanish sailing ship to a ledge 57 stories above Fifth Avenue, where we meet an array of characters ranging from a young man who has determined that basketball is his ticket out of the ghetto to a woman whose dream of marrying rich nabs her the man of her dreams and a soulless marriage.

“Songs For A New World” has a small cast, each playing multiple roles, and a driving score running the gamut of today’s popular music.

“I couldn’t image a more outstanding cast. Steve Lugovsky, Colette Todd, April Martinez, and Corey Keane have some of the most beautiful and powerful voices I have ever heard,” said Artistic Director and Executive Producer, J. Spencer Greene.

Director Kevin Wiczer said the show is about one moment in time “that changes our lives drastically, and how we choose to deal with those situations presented to us.”

Each song is one person’s story, he said, and each story is connected by the same theme.

“Everything doesn’t always come out the way you had planned, but it’s how we pick ourselves back up and begin to move forward that shows our true character,” Wiczer said.

The veteran production team includes music directors Ken McMullin and Mollie Vanderlaan, Scenic Designer J. Spencer Greene, Lighting Designer Steve Nickerson, and Choreographer Becky Lugovsky.