A New Brain is a musical with music and lyrics by William Finn

William Finn

William Alan Finn is an American composer and lyricist of musicals. His musical Falsettos received the 1992 Tony Awards for Best Music and Lyrics and for Best Book.-Biography:...

 and book by Finn and James Lapine

James Lapine

James Lapine is an American stage director and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn.-Biography:Lapine was born in Mansfield, Ohio and graduated...

.

The musical was first produced Off-Broadway

Off-Broadway

Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...

 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center, with previews beginning on May 14, 1998. The production was directed by Graciela Daniele

Graciela Daniele

Graciela Daniele is an Argentine-American dancer, choreographer, and theatre director.-Biography:Born at Buenos Aires, Daniele began her dance training at the age of seven at Teatro Colón, Argentina's equivalent of Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre...

 and featured a cast headed by Malcolm Gets

Malcolm Gets

Hugh Malcolm Gerard Gets is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Richard in the American television sitcom Caroline in the City. Gets is also a dancer, singer, composer, classically trained pianist, vocal director, and choreographer. He has a small part in the film adaptation of...

 (Gordon Michael Schwinn) and including Penny Fuller

Penny Fuller

Penny Fuller is an American actress.Born in Durham, North Carolina, Fuller attended Northwestern University in Illinois. She then went to New York City to make a name for herself on Broadway...

 (Mimi Schwinn), Mary Testa

Mary Testa

Mary Testa is an American stage actress. She is a two-time Tony Award nominee, for performances in revivals of Leonard Bernstein's On the Town and 42nd Street ....

 (Lisa), Kristin Chenoweth

Kristin Chenoweth

Kristin Chenoweth is an American singer and actress, with credits in musical theatre, film and television. She is best known on Broadway for her performance as Sally Brown in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown , for which she won a Tony Award, and for originating the role of Glinda in the musical...

 (Waitress/Nancy D), Chip Zien

Chip Zien

Chip Zien is an American actor. He is best known for playing the lead role of the Baker in the original Broadway production of Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim...

 (Mr. Bungee), Christopher Innvar (Roger Delli-Bovi), Liz Larsen

Liz Larsen

Liz Larsen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is an American actress. She is best known for playing Jessica Reed on Law & Order....

 (Rhoda), and Keith Byron Kirk (the minister). A cast recording was made under an RCA Victor label with Norm Lewis singing the role of Roger.

The first performance of "A New Brain" subsequent to the Off-Broadway production was at Rice University

Rice University

William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...

 in February 2000. "A New Brain" was also performed at UC Berkeley by the student theater company BareStage Productions in March of 2001. The student production was subsequently picked up by Shotgun Players

Shotgun Players

The Shotgun Players is a critically acclaimed California East Bay regional theater group formed in a pizza parlor in Berkeley, California in 1992 by artistic director Patrick Dooley. The group specializes in unfamiliar productions by modern playwrights, Greek plays, and Shakespeare...

 to fill a gap in their 2001 season, and was performed as a co-production in June 2001, marking the regional premiere of the show.

A New Brain opened in March 2002 in St. Louis at New Line Theatre

New Line Theatre

New Line Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri, is an alternative musical theatre company producing challenging, adult, politically and socially relevant works of musical theatre...

, then premiered in the UK at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2005, with the English premiere in September 2006 in Littlehampton

Littlehampton

Littlehampton is a seaside resort town and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England, on the east bank at the mouth of the River Arun. It lies south southwest of London, west of Brighton and east of the county town of Chichester....

, West Sussex

West Sussex

West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...

.

Though many of Finn's previous musicals were to some extent autobiographical, A New Brain dealt directly with his own harrowing personal experience with arteriovenous malformation

Arteriovenous malformation

Arteriovenous malformation or AVM is an abnormal connection between veins and arteries, usually congenital. This pathology is widely known because of its occurrence in the central nervous system, but can appear in any location. An arteriovenous malformation is a vascular anomaly. It is a...

 and the healing power of art. The hero, Gordon, worries that he may not live to complete his work. Finn wrote many of the songs soon after his release from the hospital. A concert of the songs was produced at The Public Theater, followed by 1996 and 1997 workshop productions that included contributions by Lapine.

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

External links

• Internet Off-Broadway Database listng, 'A New Brain'
• Review from NY Theatre
• William Finn - Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org
  American Theatre Wing
  The American Theatre Wing is a New York City-based organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre," according to its mission statement...
  
  , December 2006
• Littlehampton - England Premiere (August 2006)
• Acting Up Stage - Toronto Premiere (February 2009)
• Pipedream Theatre Project - Vancouver Premiere (June 2009)
• http://theatrepeople.com.au/features/new-brain - University of Melbourne Music Theatre Association interview with director, Allie Sutherland (October 2010)