A New Brain

A CONCORD THEATRICALS TITLE

A New Brain

Full-Length Musical, Drama  /  4f, 3m

William Finn, James Lapine

Music and Lyrics by William Finn
Book by William Finn and James Lapine

"Jaunty [with] moments of captivating eccentricity." - The New York Times

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A New Brain

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    4f, 3m
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Not Applicable
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
Licence details
  • Licensing fees and rental materials quoted upon application.

Details

Summary
By the Tony Award-winning authors of Falsettos, here is an energetic, sardonic, often comical musical about a composer during a medical emergency. Gordon collapses into his lunch and awakes in the hospital, surrounded by his maritime-enthusiast lover, his mother, a co-worker, the doctor, and the nurses. Reluctantly, he had been composing a song for a children’s television show that features a frog – Mr. Bungee – and the specter of this large green character and the unfinished work haunts him throughout his medical ordeal. What was thought to be a tumor turns out to be something more operable, and Gordon recovers, grateful for a chance to compose the songs he yearns to produce.
Keywords
Performing Groups

GORDON MICHAEL SCWINN - aspiring stage composer who awakes in a hospital after collapsing on a plate of ziti
A HOMELESS LADY
RHODA
WAITRESS
MR. BUNGEE
RICHARD - a nice nurse
NANCY D. - the thin nurse
DR. JAFAR BERENSTEINER
THE MINISTER
ROGER DELLI-BOVI
MIMI SCHWINN - the mother

  • Time Period Contemporary
  • Setting A hospital room.
  • Features Contemporary Costumes / Street Clothes

Media

"Jaunty [with] moments of captivating eccentricity." - The New York Times

"Apt and original...A fascinating story." - The New York Post.

"Filled with beguiling, buoyant melody [and] witty and original lyrics...The kind of musical theatre invention we have come to expect from this gifted artist." - InTheatre

Videos

  • A New Brain preview at New York City Center

  • A New Brain

Music

Song Samples

Frogs Have So Much Spring (The Spring Song)
Calamari
911 Emergency
I Have So Many Songs
Heart and Music
Trouble is His Brain
Mother's Gonna Make Things Fine
Sailing
Family History
Gordo's Law of Genetics
And They're Off
Just Go
Poor, Unsuccessful, and Fat
Sitting Becalmed in the Lee of Cuttyhuck
An Invitation to Sleep In My Arms
Change
Yes
In the Middle of the Room
Throw It Out
A Really Lousy Day in the Universe
Brain Dead
Whenever I Dream
Eating Myself Up Alive
The Music Still Plays On
Don't Give In
You Boys Are Gonna Get Me in So Much Trouble
Sailing (Reprise)
The Homeless Lady's Revenge
Time
Time and Music
I Feel So Much Spring
11 Piano-Conductor

1 Reed (Alto Saxophone, Clarinet, Oboe, English Horn, Piccolo Soprano Saxophone, Flute)
1 Horn
1 Drums/Percussion
1 Synthesizer
1 Cello
1 Bass
  • Musical StyleClassic Broadway
  • Vocal DemandsModerate
  • Orchestra SizeSmall/Combo, Medium
  • Chorus SizeSmall

Materials

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11 Piano-Conductor

1 Reed
1 Horn
1 Drums/Percussion
1 Synthesizer
1 Cello
1 Bass
11 Piano-Conductor

Scripts

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Authors

William Finn

William Finn

William Finn is the writer and composer of Falsettos, for which he received two Tony Awards, Best Book of a Musical (with James Lapine) and Best Original Score. He has also written and composed In Trousers, March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland (Outer Critics Circle Award f ...

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James Lapine

James Lapine

James Lapine was born in 1949 in Mansfield, Ohio and lived there until his early teens, when his family moved to Stamford, Connecticut. He attended public schools before entering Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania where he majored in History. He went on ...

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