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 are to some extent autobiographical, A New Brain deals directly with his own harrowing experience with an arteriovenous malformation and the healing power of art. The hero of the musical, Gordon Schwinn, 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 Christopher Innvar (Roger Delli-Bovi), including Michael Mandell (Richard), Penny Fuller (Mimi Schwinn), Mary Testa (Lisa), Kristin Chenoweth (Waitress/Nancy D), Chip Zien (Mr. Bungee), Liz Larsen (Rhoda), John Jellison (Doctor), and Keith Byron Kirk (Minister). Lovette George was an understudy for Rhoda, Waitress, and Nancy D. Christopher Innvar left the show in June 1998 due to vocal problems; a cast recording was made under the RCA Victor label with Norm Lewis singing the role of Roger.
A New Brain was next performed at Rice University during the Sid Richardson Players' 1999–2000 season. It was also done at UC Berkeley BareStage during the 2000–2001 season, which transferred to Shotgun Players in 2001. The show was also produced 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.
The musical was presented as part of the Encores! Off-Center staged concert series June 24–27, 2015 at the New York City Center. The production included multiple rewrites by Finn and Lapine and was directed by Lapine. It starred Jonathan Groff as Gordon and featured Dan Fogler as Mr. Bungee, Ana Gasteyer as Mimi, and Aaron Lazar as Roger.
A new, updated cast recording was recorded by the cast of the Encores! Off-Center production (with the exception of Fogler, who was filming a movie in London at the time of the recording and was replaced by Christian Borle as Mr. Bungee) and was released February 5, 2016, by PS Classics. Unlike the original recording, this two-disc set contains the full show, including over 15 minutes of previously unrecorded music.
Plot
Lisa, a homeless woman, asks the audience for some change. Songwriter Gordon Schwinn works at his piano to meet a deadline, irritated because he must write a song about spring for children's television host Mr. Bungee, who dresses as a frog ("Frogs Have So Much Spring (The Spring Song)"). Gordon takes a break from writing The Spring Song to meet his best friend Rhoda at a restaurant, where the waitress, who is a fan of Mr. Bungee, informs Gordon and Rhoda of the specials at the restaurant, including "Calamari". During lunch, he clutches his head and falls face first into his meal. Rhoda calls an ambulance ("911 Emergency") and Gordon is taken to the hospital. Gordon's greatest fear is dying with his greatest songs still inside him ("I Have so Many Songs"), to which he ponders about what makes a song (“Heart and Music”). Gordon's mother, Mimi, arrives and insists that ("Mother's Gonna Make Things Fine"). A neurosurgeon, Dr. Jafar Berensteiner, explains that there's ("Trouble in His Brain") and that an MRI is necessary.