A New Brain, despite what the title may suggest, is not about zombies, Frankenstein-style experiments or metaphysical conversions. It’s about the trials and tribulations of being a young, gay, Jewish composer living in Manhattan in modern time…
Think you’ve heard this one before? Well, to tell the truth, you’ve heard most of A New Brain before. The show, by William Finn and James Lapine, is in the self-referential vein of Jason Robert Brown or Jonathan Larson, a musical about a writer of musicals. The familiar elements are all here: layered ensemble pieces, complex recurring metaphors, sassy homeless people, the life-fulfilling power of music, problems with Jewish mothers … this is all ground well covered for this particular medium. But A New Brain covers it again with warmth and charm, and a talented cast and crew make this production eminently likable.
As Gordon Michael Schwinn, the protagonist whose brain surgery forms the main premise (hence the title), Will Pridmore (COL ‘10) is pretty close to perfect. He can sing, he can act, he has charisma and a loose, casual presence. Pridmore is at his best when not in the spotlight, reacting to the action around him, rolling his eyes at other characters or dropping one-liner responses. When it comes time for him to shine out in his solo songs, he sings well and with feeling, but doesn’t quite grab command of the stage.
But maybe it’s not just him. The heartfelt songs that actually move the plot along are left to speak for themselves, with very little extra action or staging. During the silly, incidental songs, director Jack Harrison camps it up with jazz hands and big smiles. In fact, the best songs are the surreal dream numbers, with ventriloquist dummies and Elvis impersonators, when everyone can just let loose.
The last number is a glorious outpouring of good feeling, but some of the pivotal songsshy;shy;— the lovers’ duet, the mother’s tirade—just aren’t that interesting. All too often the ensemble is just standing there, hands at their sides. Are they singing their heart out? Yes, but missing any spark or visual interest.
Other than Pridmore, standouts in the cast included Zhara Choudhury (COL ’09) as Rhoda, Gordon’s friend and colleague (her song as a dummy is fantastic), and, in an unfortunately smaller role, Dom Vallone (SFS ‘09) as a deadpan doctor, possibly the funniest part of the play. The whole cast was lovely; my only serious complaint is Mike Maliakel (COL ‘09), as Roger, Gordon’s boyfriend, who has a beautiful voice and fits the part, but whose face remained mostly blank, and made one of the central relationships of the play seem stilted.
A New Brain, despite taking itself a little too seriously, is full of wonderful moments of whimsy, like the frog Gordon hallucinates abstract prancing across the stage or the moment when they rhyme “Thackeray” with “wackery.” It’s a musical, which means that just walking into the theater guarantees you a pretty jolly time, as people sing through their lives and pretend it’s normal. This production, for all its minor flaws, captures that joy.
