A New Brain (1998)

I know I just reviewed a William Finn musical last month, but I had the chance to see a regional production of this one live over the weekend, so I’m coming back around to A New Brain. This was actually the first Finn score I ever heard. I picked up the original recording years ago (starring Malcolm Gets and Norm Lewis, among others,) and I also have the double-CD recording from the 2015 Encores revival with Jonathan Groff, pictured above. I didn’t know what I was getting into when I first listened to it, but it’s really something else, and even if Falsettos holds the top William Finn score spot in my heart, you never forget your first.

Gordon is a composer who isn’t where he wants to be. Despite dreams of Broadway greatness, he’s been languishing writing songs for a kids’ TV show. However, an unexpected health scare, bringing with it the prospect of actual brain surgery, gets him worried about his mortality and the future he may no longer have. All the songs he hasn’t written yet stretch out before him, and he imagines them being performed by the other characters: his overbearing mother, his boyfriend Roger, his friend Rhoda, the hospital staff and minister, and the specter of his boss Mr. Bungee (an “aquatic and despotic” nightmare in a giant frog costume.)

Although the story is fictional, it’s inspired by a real health scare in William Finn’s life. As is usual with his work, the score is a little odd and more than a little unexpected, but at the same time, the emotions of it are immediate and visceral. We see how Gordon pushes Roger away out of fear, how Mimi (his mother) fakes a sense of control when faced with the prospect of her son dying in surgery. Through it all, Gordon’s sense of identity as an artist who hasn’t yet made the art he wants is a palpable presence. I mean, just as one example, here’s a line from “An Invitation to Sleep in My Arms”: “I could have been what I meant to be. / I could have written the score / To our lives or a symphony.” I mean, come on!

Like a lot of Finn’s scores, I think it takes a few listens to really unlock the work, but once you do, there are some incredible songs here. “I’d Rather Be Sailing” and “And They’re Off,” as two of the more liftable songs in the show, get a lot of justifiable attention, but they’re just a few gems among many. I also really love the gorgeous “Heart and Music” and the catchy “Gordo’s Law of Genetics,” and it occurs to me that Mimi’s cathartic “Throw It Out” has some of the same fingerprints as Falsettos’ classic “I’m Breaking Down.”

One thing I appreciate about this show is that the main characters don’t “have” to be gay. Obviously, they are, as is Finn, but it’s not a story about being gay in the vein of La Cage aux Folles, Fun Home, or, yes, Falsettos. It’s about a dissatisfied, somewhat abrasive composer who realizes what he really wants from life when he stares death in the face, and part of that story includes his relationship with his boyfriend. I like that.

Warnings

Language, sexual references, a little gross-out humor, and thematic elements.