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A CurtainUp Review
Encores!- New Brain
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...you're put here to do certain things, and you can't waste your time not doing it. You have to greet each day with enormous gratitude and hope and happiness... I know I sound like a new-age moron. William Finn in USA Today
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Jonathan Groff andcast members
(Photo: Joan Marcus) |
This year, a revival of Finn's 1998 production of his ordeal, A New Brain opened City Center's Encores! Off-Center season. It's a fast-moving, funny, tender, intensely personal 100-minute account of Finn's crisis, admittedly with some tweaks.
With eloquent and detailed direction by co-writer James Lapine, Jonathan Groff (Spring Awakening, Hamilton) takes the part of Gordon Schwinn, Finn's alter ego. Schwinn is a struggling, frustrated musician who hates his job writing for a children's television show which is hosted by a snarky frog named Mr. Bungee (Dan Fogler best known for his role in The 26th Putnam County Spelling Bee).
Gordon collapses while laboring over a new song, "I Feel So Much Spring." He is rushed to the hospital by his best friend Rhoda (Alyse Alan Louis). In a mad spin he is surrounded by medical personnel as well as his strong-willed, loving mother Mimi (Ana Gasteyer promising to "make things fine"). His partner, Roger (Aaron Lazar) alsoshows up after a sailing jaunt.
A dizzying pace and then the diagnosis: Gordon must have a craniotomy. It could save his life or it could leave him brain damaged.
Gordon digests this drastic turn in his life, thinking of all the songs, stories and the rhymes unexpressed. He agonizes over living, dying, and fear as spontaneous hallucinations of the frog, Mr. Bungee, harass him. On Roger's this last night before the surgery when the calm Roger wants him t lie in bed with him, the restless Gordon chooses instead to work on a song for the show.
Finn's eclectic score features hints of Sondheim, Bernstein, some rock, pop, even romantic strains. Singing vocal arrangements by Jason Robert Brown, Groff highlights facets of Gordon's mix of maddening likability. His subtly emotive voice is stirring, building layers of heart as the show reaches the finale. "I Feel So Much Spring" at the top of the show illustrates Gordon's dissatisfaction. He and the cast end with the same song, now potent with understanding and spirit.
Lapine cast a strong ensemble. Gasteyer stands out, at times a stereotypical over-the-top divorced mother, blaming her son's books for "exploding his brain" and throwing them away. Yet she is touching with her heartrending realization of life's hard changes and losses in "The Music Plays On," shading her natural belt to deliver the song with touching emotion. It is one song that that can stand apart from the largely sung-through production.
As the more even-tempered Roger, Lazar's romantic tenor voice sails smoothly in his standout number, "I'd Rather Be Sailing." Josh Lamon (Finding Neverland) brings on the laughs as a pudgy nurse with a lusty side and Fogler brings an obnoxious glee to Mr. Bungee. Mega-belter Rema Webb is a homeless woman singing about "change," acting as a societal commentator, warning, "We live in perilous times.
I missëd more of Quentin Earl Darrington's resolute baritone as the minister but the whole ensemble including Louis (Rhoda), Jenni Barber as a harried nurse and surgeon Bradley Dean all add individuality and vocal substance to Finn's score.
The stage is used well by scenic designer Donyale Werle in fast-moving sequences. Lighting by Mark Barton reflects moods as well as time and weather. The six-piece orchestra is placed at the back of the stage, often lighted in silhouette in a niche. Josh Prince created outstanding choreography in numbers like "And They're Off!" that illuminate Finn's inventive character-driven score.
A New Brain ends with hope and the joy of life and the value of time and music. As the group sings, "And something's taken wing within me/ What was dead so long had felt like winter; Finally there's sun!"
Like all Encores! this production has an all too brief run, so that this review comes too late for me to tell you to go see it.
To read Elyse Sommer's review of the original production, go here.
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A New Brain
Written by William Finn and James Lapine Music and Lyrics: William Finn Director: James Lapine Cast: Jenni Barber (Waitress/Nancy D), Quentin Earl Darrington (Minister), Dan Fogler (Mr. Bungee), Ana Gasteyer (Mimi Schwinn), Jonathan Groff (Gordon Michael Schwinn), Josh Lamon (Richard), Aaron Lazar (Roger),Alyse Alan Louis (Rhoda) Rema Webb (Homeless Woman) Music Director: Christ Fenwick Music Coordinator: Seymour Red Press Scenic Desiger: Donyale Werle Costume Designer: Clint Ramos Lighting Designer: Mark Barton Sound Designer: Scott Lehrer Vocal Arrangements: Jason Robert Brown Orchestrations: Michae Starobin, Adam John Hunter, Carrie Gaardner, CSA/Stephen Kopel CSA Production Stage Manager: Adam John Hunter Running Time: 100 minutes. No intermission Theater: City Center, 131 W. 55th St. Performances: Wed,Thurs, Fri, Sat. From: 6/24/15 to 6/27/15 |
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