A New Brain

A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

A New Brain

William Finn, James Lapine

Full Length Musical, Drama  /  4f, 3m

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

by  William Finn James Lapine

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A New Brain

OVERVIEW

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    4f, 3m
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Not Applicable
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    • Adult
Description
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

Considerations

Performing Groups
  • High School/Secondary
  • College Theatre / Student
  • Community Theatre
  • Professional Theatre
  • Shoestring Budget
  • Large Stage
  • Blackbox / Second Stage /Fringe Groups

Licence details

  • Licensing fees and rental materials quoted upon application.

Specifics

Details

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

Casting

4f, 3m
Cast Attributes
  • Ensemble cast
  • Strong Role for Leading Man (Star Vehicle)

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

Music

  • Musical Style: Classic Broadway
  • Vocal Demands: Moderate
  • Orchestra Size: Small/Combo, Medium
  • Chorus Size: Small

Materials

Scripts

FORMATS AVAILABLE:
A New Brain

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Rehearsal Resources

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Full Package:

11 Piano/Conductor Scores
Synthesizer
Drums/Percussion
Reed (Alto Saxophone, Clarinet, Oboe, English Horn, Piccolo Soprano Saxophone, Flute)
Horn
Cello
Bass

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Digital Perusals

Media

Press

"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

Song Samples

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

  • A New Brain preview at New York City Center

  • A New Brain

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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 for Best Musical, two Los Angeles Drama Criti ...

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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 to get an MFA in Design from the California I ...

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