The all-star concert will be held May 1 at 4 PM at Symphony Space's Peter Jay Sharp Theatre. The benefit for, and performed by, the Bergen Youth Orchestras' Symphony will feature a 90-piece orchestra as well as the talents of composer Brown and Michael Arden, Brooks Ashmanskas, Andrea Burns, Darius de Haas, Krissy Fraelich, Keith Byron Kirk, Anthony Manough, Jessica Molaskey, Michele Pawk, Emily Skinner and John Tartaglia. Songs for a New World is a series of tunes loosely focused on change, newness and discovery. "Stars and the Moon" — which has been recorded by Audra McDonald and Betty Buckley — was the break-out hit of the show. The song cycle also features comic numbers — the frantic and dark "Just One Step" and the Christmas parody "Surabaya-Santa" — as well as quiet ballads like "The World Was Dancing" and "I'd Give It All for You."
Jason Robert Brown, who was the musical director and arranger for the musical Urban Cowboy, won the Tony Award for Best Score for his Broadway debut, Parade. His two-person musical, The Last Five Years, played a brief run at Off-Broadway's Minetta Lane Theatre, and was preserved on Sh-K-Boom Records. Brown also composed the score for Songs for a New World and wrote incidental music for Fuddy Meers, Kimberly Akimbo, The Waverly Gallery and the Irish Repertory Theatre's production of Long Day's Journey Into Night.
Tickets are priced $55, $50 (members) and $35 (students/seniors/children) and are available by calling (212) 864-5400. Visit www.symphonyspace.org for more information.