Product Description

Composer Jason Robert Brown says of his debut musical, "It's 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. The moment you think you know where you stand, the things that you're sure of slip from your hand, and you're suddenly a stranger in some completely different land." Our songbook features 10 vocal selections from the show: Christmas Lullaby * The Flagmaker, 1775 * Hear My Song * I'd Give It All for You * I'm Not Afraid of Anything * King of the World * The New World * She Cries * Stars and the Moon * Surabaya-Santa. Also includes an introduction by Brown.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25033 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-01
• Released on: 2001-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780634035784
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Customer Reviews

Good selection of the show's music
As a musical theatre musician, I am very happy that the people at Hal Leonard decided to publish this album with JRB's busy accompaniments instead of rearranging them into some dumbed-down "easy-play" version. As a word of caution, they might be too busy for a timid accompanist and I am in agreement with the reviewer below who states that you will need a good pianist to read these songs with you (and suggest that if you don't have one you go find one...and pay him/her well...now). This collection provides sheet music for about 2/3rds of the music in the show; each is presented in its full context. Are they overdone? Are they instant classics? Probably not for me to decide.

Like much of Mr. Brown's music, the songs provide a good study in rock pianism.

Every Musical Theatre Performer Should Own This Book
"Songs for a New World" is one of those shows that is a musical theatre performer's dream. Although the music can be incredibly demanding, the satisfaction that comes from successfully performing any of the songs in this book cannot be beat. Not only does the music really offer a chance to showcase vocal pyrotechnics, but each and every song offers (no, requires) strong acting choices. These would be perfect audition songs if the accompanment wasn't so difficult. But if you know you'll have an accompanist who can cite read some of the most difficult piano pieces in all of musical theatre, than by all means go for it.

This book gives you 10 of the 16 songs found in the show. The only problem is, the score for "Songs" is so strong that some stellar numbers inevitably got overlooked. However, the omission of "Just One Step" is unforgivable, and coupled with the lack of music for "The Steam Train" (my personal favorites) is responsible for the four star rating instead of five. Still, this book is well worth the investment.

deserves nothing lower than 5-stars
Please realize that the ONLY reason people are giving this work anything below five stars is NOT because of a lack of music quality; it's merely because not all the songs were included!

And it is this way with EVERY musical theatre score released to the public; composers are NEVER ALLOWED publish all of the songs from the show, because of legalities and technicalities [every show is owned by a publishing company, and performers have to pay publishing companies to do the show. If all songs from a show are included in publicly-released piano/vocal scores, anyone could go out and do an illegal production of the material].

I agree, 'just one step' IS amazing, but if you really want to sing that song, it IS PUBLISHED in jason robert brown's newest compilation [the orange one].

Jason Robert Brown is today's best contemporary music-theatre composer.
Songs for a New World is his best work [tied with Parade].

Unlike most other "must-own" songbooks, however, "Songs for a New World," is a song-cycle; that is, it's not a full story which follows a plot. It's a combination of songs that speak to one central theme. Because of this, a variety of characters and musical styles are present in this piece, and there is quite literally a song for everyone here.

Seriously - the four singers on the cast recording are a soprano, an alto, a tenor, and a bass. No matter what your voice type - belter or legit - there's something beautiful for you here.

Even if two songs are omitted, this is STILL a must-have! Get your hands on this music!