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

By the Tony Award-winning authors of Falsettos, this autobiographical musical deals directly with the writer’s own harrowing personal experience with arteriovenous malformation and the healing power of art. The hero, Gordon, worries that he may not live to complete his work, and his near death experience encourages him to re-evaluate and better appreciate the people and relationships in his life. William Finn wrote many of the songs soon after his release from the hospital.

Based on the true story of William Finn, the autobiographical musical A New Brain (by Finn and James Lapine) tells the tale of a composer, Gordon Michael Schwin, who, in the midst of writing a song for work, collapses at lunch one day. It turns out that, unbeknownst to himself or his doting mother, he was born with brain arteriovenous malformation and now must undergo surgery immediately. Gordon (played in this Gallery Players production by the phenomenal Jesse Menocherian) is thoroughly blindsided and frightened by this news, and he wonders if he is the only one who sees the severity of the situation. His mother, Mimi (Anette Michelle Sanders), smiles through the diagnosis given by Dr. Jafar (Adam David Pearce) and declares she will go to Gordon’s apartment for her “date with Mr. Clean!”; Gordon’s boyfriend, Roger (Gerardo Vallejo), is off sailing and might not make it in time to Gordon’s side. Throughout all of this, Gordon is visited by visions of his boss, Mr. Bungee (Jim Roumeles), who appears as the life-sized frog from the children’s show for which Gordon composes. Mr. Bungee vacillates between jovial and avuncular as the frog and demanding and unreasonable as the boss, repr …Read more