Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.  Before the cast of Songs for a New World began rehearsals they were asked to listen to the songs and mark the ones that moved them, that they felt passionate about, that they would want to perform solo. Nederland Middle Senior High School Director Liz Evans asked that they put their personal experiences into the song casting.

Eleven actors/singers make up the cast of Songs for a New World, a unique form of musical that does not have a plot that carries along the action; rather, it is the music, the lyrics that are presented in each song that resonate with a life-changing moment that is echoed throughout the melody and theme of the music.

On Monday afternoon, the cast rehearsed the show in the music room while the cast of Shrek, Jr., performed by the NMS, rehearsed on stage.

Most of the performers have been in just about all of the spring musicals and have performed with either the Festival Choir or the Loquations. They have worked together for years but say that this small cast has bound them closer together than ever before.

Songs for a New World, written by Jason Robert Brown and conceived by Daisy Prince, will be presented on Friday, April 8, Saturday, April 9, Friday, April 15 and Saturday, April 16 at 7 p.m.

The cast includes names that have been listed in most NMSHS spring musicals and choir concerts: Natasha Kinczel, Hanna Woods, Tobiah Nagle, Hunter Mayhew, Hattie Bakke, Hayley Turner, Mazie Pancoast, William Culver, Emily Albright, Damon Vigil, and Sasha Godsil.

Each song is about a moment, a moment at the brink of success, close to reaching the top, when the storm rolls in, just when it seems like the sun was going to shine forever. Each song introduces a person reaching a defining moment in his or her life, but outside forces interrupt the forward journey which becomes more and more difficult, requiring a change of course, a redefining of one’s identity, of one’s dreams.

The show opens with “On the Deck of a Spanish Sailing Ship, 1492” an account of an ultimatum of converting to Christianity or being banished to a new world. Many of those who left became slaves, many drowned.

One group of outcasts reach the new world with new rules and freedom.

This becomes the metaphor for the intellectual and physical challenges the outcasts and the characters in the other songs find in their new life. These challenges are the motivator for the rest of the journey which is a necessary ideal to help them prepare for their ultimate destination.

Many of the songs were written for other productions but lent themselves perfectly to this endeavor. God is a major influence in many of the songs, as are mothers as the nurturing parent, except in the cases of the moms who aren’t, who use their children as a means to their own gain.

Song titles include: “I’m Not Afraid of Anything,” “Stars and Moon,” “The Steam Train,” “The World was Dancing,” and “I’d Give it All for You.”

The cast members say they run the gamut of emotions throughout the show. “We took the road to the new world,” they say. “This is incredibly different than what we have been in before. Everyone who sees the show will take away something different. We say the theme of the show is hope.”

Director Josh Lake, says the show is more of a song cycle, like Cats, last year’s smash hit production was. There is no real plot but there is a common theme, and occasionally a common thread of melody, of subject. “Certain songs tie together. Many of the cast sing all the songs.

Hunter Mayhew, in his first year of participating in the music program says, “These are all my best friends now. We all encouraged each other and are enjoying taking the rush. It is a lot of work and really fun and we have become really close.”

Tickets to the show are $8.50, Senior Citizens, 65 and older, are free and are sold at the door or at jilledreves@gmail.com.