A New World for UCC Students | Annie Hoey

UCC is widely known for its talent in the theatre world. UCC students have produced first rate productions time and time again, garnering accolade both here and afar. But now UCC students are taking on a new theatrical medium: musical theatre. This is not to say that no UCC student has even undertaken a musical production before. Rather, this is the first time one of UCC’s newest societies, Musical Society, will be taking to the stage with their first full length production, Songs for  A New World.What if you do not like musical theatre? Well, that ought not matter in this case. Lauren Ronan, Auditor of the Musical Society, says that Songs for  A New World is not like other types of musicals that we have become over-saturated with of late. Rather it is “a musical that everyone can relate to. There are moments in it that every single person in the audience will be able to identify with”. According to the writer, Jason Robert Brown, "neither musical play nor revue, it is closer to a theatrical song cycle”. For those of us not in the know, a song cycle is a series of songs designed to be performed in sequence. In this production there will be no massive dance-acrobatic-girls-a-swinging-men-a-hopping moments. This is a musical that has been pared back from the stereotypical musical notions that we have come to expect. Good singing, strong acting and a relatable story arc is what this musical has on offer for us.     Songs for a New World tells the audience a collection of stories. There are four main actors and a chorus of fourteen. The cast will take the audience on a journey, transporting everyone from the deck of a Spanish sailing ship to the 57th floor of an apartment block on 5th Avenue. The stories are all centred around one theme: the moment of decision. According to Brown, "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."We have all had to face moments of decision in our lives. Some moments are life affirming and our whole future hangs on what decision we make. Other decisions are not so momentous. Songs for a New World deals with all of these decisions. It deals with the moments in your life when everything seems perfect until disaster strikes - losing a job, unexpected pregnancy, suicide, death of a loved one or a marriage falling apart. Shona Lanigan, one of the leads, promises that every audience member will have at least one moment in the production that they can relate to. “You will find yourself having a moment of realisation at some point in the production where you realise that yeah, that has happened to me”.According to the cast, the production promises to be one of the most exciting pieces of theatre to come out of UCC this year. It is showing in the Cork Arts Theatre between 1st - 5th February (excluding Sunday 3rd) and tickets cost €10/€15 (and €5 for students on opening night).