School may be out, but this weekend the MHS School of Visual & Performing Arts is staging a production of Jason Robert Brown's "Songs For A New World." Bonus: the show is free. We're told musical director Jonathan Tuzman (MHS Class of '02 and musical director of this year's buzzed about production of "Parade") masterminded this show in an effort to give back to Montclair's thriving community of music and theater lovers.
So come in out of the heat and check out performances by '08 grads Elisheva Aaron, Dan Belnavis, Michael Blume, K.C. Schlossberg, Emmet Cohen, Max Kravitz and Charlie Rudoy, as well as Ben Herman ('04) and Tuzman himself. (Though admission free, donations will be happily accepted.) Get the details on our calendar.
I just returned from "Songs For a New World". The show was fabulous, and drew a large, appreciative audience. The core group of singers - Elisheva, K.C., Dan and Michael- are so talented and accomplished. They took on some extremely difficult material, and performed it with enormous confidence and expressiveness. Jon Tuzman, the musical director (and Montclair High alumnus), deserves praise for masterminding the project. The musicians played challenging music at a professional level, and the tech crew gave the staging a polished look. I hear that Jon Tuzman wants to bring Montclair another show next summer under the auspices of the MHS School of Visual & Performing Arts. I, for one, will be looking forward to it.