A New Brain

A New Brain
CD Cover of the Original Cast Recording
Music	William Finn
Lyrics	William Finn
Book	William Finn James Lapine
Basis	Autobiographical, William Finn
Productions	1998 Off-Broadway 2002 St. Louis International productions

A New Brain is a musical with music and lyrics by William Finn and book by Finn and James Lapine. Though many of Finn's previous musicals were to some extent autobiographical, A New Brain dealt directly with his own harrowing experience with arteriovenous malformation and the healing power of art. The hero of the musical, Gordon, worries that he may not live to complete his work. Finn wrote many of the songs soon after his release from the hospital. The musical premiered Off-Broadway in 1998 and has been revived in the U.S., England and elsewhere.

Productions

A New Brain started as a "series of songs that Bill Finn wrote after he left the hospital", with a concert of those songs produced at The Public Theater. A fully staged workshop production was held in 1996 and again in 1997 and included contributions by Lapine.

The musical was first produced Off-Broadway at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center, with previews beginning on May 14, 1998 and closed on October 11, 1998. The production was directed by Graciela Daniele and featured a cast headed by Malcolm Gets (Gordon Michael Schwinn) and including Penny Fuller (Mimi Schwinn), Mary Testa (Lisa), Kristin Chenoweth (Waitress/Nancy D), Chip Zien (Mr. Bungee), Christopher Innvar (Roger Delli-Bovi), Liz Larsen (Rhoda), and Keith Byron Kirk (the minister). A cast recording was made under the RCA Victor label with Norm Lewis singing the role of Roger.

A New Brain opened in March 2002 in St. Louis, Missouri at New Line Theatre, then premiered in the UK at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2005, with the English premiere in September 2006 in Littlehampton, West Sussex.

Synopsis

Gordon Schwinn, a talented young songwriter, works at his piano to meet a deadline. Gordon is irritated because he must write a song about Spring for a children's television entertainer who dresses as a frog. He takes a break from his writing and meets his agent Rhoda at a restaurant for pasta. During lunch, Gordon clutches his head and falls face first into his meal. Rhoda calls an ambulance, and Gordon is taken to the hospital. He learns that he has an arteriovenous malformation. Gordon needs an operation, and if he doesn't have it, he could die or never regain the use of his faculties.

While in the hospital, Gordon contemplates his situation. His greatest fear is dying with his greatest songs still inside of him; and so from his hospital bed, and while in a coma, and all throughout his ordeal, he begins writing the songs. He also has several hallucinations that involve various people whom he has encountered. In particular, a homeless lady that he met on his way to get pasta with Rhoda continually pops up.

Gordon eventually has the surgery and recovers completely. The creative block he was experiencing before his ordeal lifts, and he gains new insights. His near death experience encourages him to re-evaluate and better appreciate the people and relationships in his life.

Character list

• Gordon Michael Schwinn (A lovable but sarcastic composer)
• Mr. Bungee (The slightly tyrannical director/producer/star of his own children’s television show)
• Mimi Schwinn (Gordon’s loving yet unstable mother)
• Rhoda (Gordon’s agent and best friend)
• Roger Delli-Bovi (Gordon’s charming and affectionate lover)
• Richard (A kind and compassionate nurse)
• Lisa (A homeless lady)
• Waitress/Nancy D. (The waitress is overbearing; Nancy is a mean nurse)
• Dr. Jafar Berensteiner (An unsympathetic doctor)
• The Minister (A somewhat clueless man of the cloth at the hospital)

Musical numbers

• "Frogs Have So Much Spring Within Them" (The Spring Song)(Gordon)
• "Calimari" (Gordon, Rhoda, Waitress, Mr. Bungee)
• "911 Emergency/ I Have So Many Songs" (Richard, Waitress, Doctor, Rhoda, Minister, Lisa)
• "Heart and Music" (Minister and Gordon with All but Mr. Bungee)
• "Trouble in His Brain" (Doctor and Mimi)
• "Mother's Gonna Make Things Fine" (Mimi and Gordon)
• "Be Polite" (Mr Bungee)*
• "I'd Rather Be Sailing" (Roger with Gordon)
• "Family History" (Nancy D, Richard, Mimi)
• "Gordo's Law of Genetics" (Nancy D, Doctor, Minister, Rhoda, Richard, Lisa)
• "And They're Off" (Gordon with Nancy D, Doctor, Minister, Rhoda, Richard, Lisa)
• "Just Go" (Gordon and Roger)
• "Poor, Unsuccessful and Fat" (Richard, Gordon, Mr. Bungee)
• "Sitting Becalmed in the Lee of Cuttyhunk" (All but Mr. Bungee)
• "Craniotomy" (Doctor, Nancy D, Minister)*
• "Invitation to Sleep in My Arms" (Gordon, Roger, Rhoda, Mimi)
• "Change" (Lisa)
• "Yes" (Gordon, Mr. Bungee with Nancy D, Doctor, Minister, Rhoda)
• "In the Middle of the Room" (Gordon, Mimi)
• "Throw It Out" (Mimi)
• "Really Lousy Day in the Universe" (Roger and Lisa)
• "Brain Dead" (Gordon and Roger)
• "Whenever I Dream" (Rhoda and Gordon)
• "Eating Myself Up Alive" (Richard with Nancy D, Doctor, Minister, Lisa)
• "Music Still Plays On" (Mimi)
• "Don't Give In" (Mr. Bungee with Gordon, Roger, Rhoda, Mimi)
• "You Boys Are Gonna Get Me in Such Trouble/ Sailing (reprise)" (Richard, Gordon, Roger)
• "Homeless Lady's Revenge" (Lisa, Gordon, Roger)
• "Time" (Roger and Gordon)
• "Time and Music" (Minister,Gordon, and All)
• "I Feel So Much Spring" (Gordon, Lisa, Minister and All)

*Not included in the Original Cast Recording

Critical reception

Ben Brantley, in his review for The New York Times, wrote: "The problem is that for Mr. Finn (and probably, alas, for most people), happiness is definitely a blander muse than anxiety. A New Brain, which has been directed with wit and elegance by Graciela Daniele, has moments of captivating eccentricity. But watching it is often like passing a group of animated, slightly drunken revelers on the street: you're glad they have something to celebrate, but it's a private party, and you walk on by with a faint smile. Mr. Finn originally conceived what became A New Brain as a series of revue numbers, and it might have worked better in that format. As a story, shaped by Mr. Finn and his longtime collaborator, James Lapine, the show has a spliced-together feeling, a disjunctive quality at odds with the holistic spirit it seems to be aiming for."

References

• A New Brain summary & character descriptions from StageAgent.com
• A Curtain up review

External links

• Internet Off-Broadway Database listng, 'A New Brain'
• Review from NY Theatre
• William Finn - Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org, December 2006
• Littlehampton - England Premiere (August 2006)
• Acting Up Stage - Toronto Premiere (February 2009)
• Pipedream Theatre Project - Vancouver Premiere (June 2009)
• [1] - University of Melbourne Music Theatre Association interview with director, Allie Sutherland (October 2010)
• ""A New Brain' Plot and songs at guidetomusicaltheatre.com