William Finn: A New Brain - Vocal Selections Composed by William Finn. For voice and piano. Format: piano/vocal/chords songbook. With vocal melody, piano accompaniment, lyrics and chord names. Broadway. 112 pages. 9x12 inches. Published by Warner Brothers. (WB.0315B)
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From The Rice Thresher, February 18, 2000.

SID MUSICAL MEASURES UP TO PAST SUCCESS

Jett McAlister Thresher Editorial Staff

I haven't been able to find anyone currently at Rice who remembers when Sid Richardson College last put on a musical that wasn't excellent. Two years ago, Company was the highlight of the spring theater season. And last year, I wrote that Cabaret was the best musical I'd seen at Rice. It's obvious that Sid's current production, A New Brain, has a lot to live up to.

Live up it does. Director Simi Blair, a Rice theater veteran and Sid senior, has put a strongly talented cast and crew with a new and little-known, but marvelous musical, and the result is magical. As a critic, it's my job to find something wrong with everything I go see, but I'm hard-pressed to find fault with this production.

Let me break from my torrent of praise for this musical to tell you a little about it. Playwright William Finn was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and expected to die. When he survived, he took his experiences and wrote the songs that make up A New Brain, and later crafted a plot around them. This is also one of the newest musicals to be put on at Rice - it premiered in New York in 1998 and hasn't yet been produced in Houston.

In the musical version of his life, Finn becomes Gordon Schwinn (Will Rice college junior Dan Street). Stuck in a creative rut, he complains over lunch to his agent Rhoda (Hanszen College sophomore Andrea Lubawy). In the middle of their conversation, he passes out and is rushed off to the hospital. Rhoda frantically attempts to contact Gordon's boyfriend Roger (Hanszen senior Austin Ku) and mother (Will Rice junior Jennifer Lohmann).

What ensues is a sometimes surreal, sometimes poignant examination of the relationships among these people when it looks like Gordon could die very soon. It's also a personal journey for Gordon, who, faced with his own mortality, comes out with the proverbial new lease on life.

In addition to the central cast, there's a host of odd characters who surround Gordon in his work life and in the hospital. First, there's Mr. Bungee (Tom Bisciglia, Wiess '98), Gordon's boss, a kid's TV show host dressed as some perverted conflation of Bozo and Kermit the Frog. Then there's a random minister (Will Rice senior Marshall Wolfe) who consoles Gordon, who is unimpressed and Jewish. Add to that a sometimes crazy medical staff - an always confident doctor (Hanszen freshman Dennis Arrowsmith), the nurse for whom he has affections (Jones College freshman Katie Soper), and the "nice nurse," Richard (Joe White, Sid '89), who is dedicated but unhappy with his job - and you've got all the makings of a light-hearted musical on a serious topic.

There's not a weak link in this cast. In fact, the strongest points in the show are the ensemble numbers, especially "Heart and Music," the first point in which this incredible cast gets to show off as a whole. In "Gordo's Law of Genetics," the cast muses on Gordon's bad family medical history - and things start to get surreal. Wolfe's minister becomes a soulful pop singer, complete with sunglasses, and has some great duet time with Lohmann and Will Rice junior Kendall Moseley, who through most of the musical plays a surprisingly wise homeless woman.

Street, not a regular face on the college theater scene, is wonderfully adept as Gordon. His character has moments that range from intimate and quiet to raging and loud, and vocally, Street is able to handle both extremes and everything in between. Street never is as much of an asshole as I expect his character is intended to be in the beginning, but he has an amicable presence that works very well by the musical's end.

Ku also gives a strong performance, though not as memorable as his role as the emcee in last year's Cabaret. He has a powerful voice - easily one of the best in this strong cast - and an impressive stage presence, but this role doesn't allow him to fully develop an interesting persona. Roger is a character who doesn't deepen very much through the musical. He is simplistic - his only aspects are his love of sailing and his affection for Gordon, neither of which get very much attention. Nevertheless, Ku does well with the limited role and develops a good chemistry with Street.

Though her role isn't as big as Street's or Ku's, Lubawy's performance was my favorite in the show. Her voice is clear and carries well, and she has the energy to fit her vibrant role. Her best moment comes in a lengthy dream sequence near the musical's end, when Gordon dreams of her as a ventriloquist's dummy. Street and Lubawy are magical together in this one part, but Lubawy is excellent throughout the show.

As Roger's mother, Lohmann gets a chance to sing some very exciting and moving numbers. Her solo "The Music Still Plays On,", which is actually Gordon's dreaming of his mother remembering him after his death, is the most touching point in the entire musical.

Moseley's interludes as the homeless woman are, well, disturbing. At first, they don't seem to fit in with the rest of the action, but they begin to make sense later. In any case, Moseley is more than convincing as the homeless woman - she's downright haunting.

The direction of A New Brain is just as good as the cast. A synopsis is included with the program, because the songs don't necessarily communicate the plot of the musical. And I can see how an audience of a less well done production of this musical could get confused. But Blair has arranged things so that this musical communicates itself very well to the audience. I think I would've gotten it without the synopsis.

A New Brain is easily the best production I've seen at Rice. Even though it's not the best musical in the world, it's intelligent, poignant, funny and entertaining. And it has a happy ending - there's something to be said for that. Put that together with a cast as brilliant as this one and a director like Blair, and you've got something truly worth watching.

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