Daily Sitka Sentinel

Off-Broadway Musical Opens Tonight in Sitka

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    A stage musical that opens here tonight is about as close to a professional play as you’ll ever find in Sitka.
    “Songs for a New World” will be presented three times: 7 p.m. tonight, 7 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday at Odess Theater on the SJ campus.
    The show, by Jason Robert Brown and directed by Zeke Blackwell of the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, was described as a “song cycle” when it was originally produced off-Broadway in New York City. It features four actors in the roles of Man 1, Man 2, Woman 1 and Woman 2.
    The pit band for the Sitka show is pianist Robert Fleitz and Drew Sherman on bass.
    One of the actors brought in for the play is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, another is a few months away from earning his actor’s union card. The others have acted and performed professionally. Three of the actors flew in to be part of the play.
    Rhiannon Guevin (“Woman 1”) put the pieces together for the show a few months ago. She invited fellow University of Puget Sound alumnus Sam Faustine, a lead in the musical “Last Five Years” that was staged at Odess last year, to join the cast.

Rhiannon Guevin. (Sentinel Photo)

    Faustine, like Guevin, is a big fan of composer Jason Robert Brown, and when she asked Faustine if he had ideas on who could play the other two parts in “Songs,” he said he did: Jessica Coker and Brandon Noel Thomas.
    The four principals found a short window when they were all free, and practiced their parts separately before joining with Blackwell in Sitka for a short week of rehearsal before opening night.
    “What interested me is the potential to work with four of my favorite artists in the world,” said Faustine (“Man 2”). “They’re the most talented people I know. ... The demands of the two roles are so intense that only a select number of people can even sing these parts, and I know two of them.”
    “We needed a show that was small because it would be hard to put on a huge show in four days,” Guevin said. “We had a few ideas, but we selected this because the music is fantastic, it has a small cast and Sam knew singers that would fit really well into the roles we needed.”
    Guevin, who is operations director for Sitka Fine Arts Camp, sang with Faustine at UPS, where she earned a degree in vocal performance.
    Faustine, who will earn his Equity card in May, received his undergraduate degree in music at UPS, and a master’s in music from San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He met Jessica Coker (Woman 2) when both had lead roles in a San Francisco production of “Little Shop of Horrors,” and Thomas when both were in “Sweeney Todd.”
    For Brandon Noel Thomas, it was an easy call to come to Sitka.
    “Besides the show itself, it was the people in it,” said Thomas, who plays “Man 1,” and is appearing under a guest contract as a member of Actors Equity. “I heard Jessica Coker would be in it, so it was a no-brainer to get these voices together. We have this amazing show now.”
    Thomas, from Richmond, Calif., now lives in Las Vegas but plans to move to New York.
    Coker, from Hayward, Calif., said she was happy to be “roped in” to the show by Faustine. She performs solo shows, works as a finance manager for a regional theater company, and appears regularly in cabaret programs.
    “The fact it was in Alaska and to get to work with Sam on stage, and I just like the show,” she said. She has performed a concert version of this show in the past with Ray of Light Theatre. She said the pace of the rehearsals has been fast.
    “It’s good, but it’s fast,” she said. “We’ve blocked an entire show in six or seven hours.”
    The selling point of the show, besides the performers, is the music, Faustine said.
    “The music is the best part,” he said. “Jason Robert Brown has got to be the best modern musical theater composer. It’s really special to get to sing those harmonies with similar capable musicians.”
    While in Sitka the singers are taking their art into the schools.
    The cast performed selections for Pacific High School on Tuesday, and will perform for Sitka High School students Friday at the Performing Arts Center.
    Sitka Fine Arts Camp director Roger Schmidt said he is pleased the camp was able to share the professional talent with the schools.
    “Like any kid that wants to play basketball has to see how great basketball is played, any kid that wants to be an artist has to see great examples of art,” he said. “This gives kids the opportunity to see professional singers singing in an art form that’s exciting for so many Sitka kids. That’s really important.”
    The camp also has a mission to inspire and bring together the community through live performances and the arts, he said.
    “This can be uplifting for people, entertaining for people and bring joy,” Schmidt said. “We also have a number of community members really interested in theater and musical theater. This brings a show to town that can serve that group of people.” 
    Tickets are $20 for general admission and $15 for students, at Old Harbor Books and the door.