Why don't I get A NEW BRAIN?

[em22]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 9:07pm

Time and time again I return to my A New Brain CD and totally adore the music. But everytime I take a look at the script it strikes me as the one of the least logical musicals ever. I have seen a production of it and it made the show seems even more disjointed and illogical.

For some reason though I am determined to find out why critics have often liked the show and where the theatricality is.

Here are some questions that boggle my mind:

What is the homless lady doing in this show? Why does she have no purpose except to come out and belt a song while everyone else is doing a costume change?

What is the minister doing in the show? Again, this is another role that seems to serve little purpose.

What is with the giant coma section at the end? How do all of those songs fit in?

What is the main focus of this story that should be driving the rest of the action?

I don't know. I just find it a really murky piece, but one that continues to fascinate me.

Can any directors or cast members out there who have done or seen the show enlighten me on how to make this actually work? Is there some greater concept that has been used somewhere that really made the show fly?

I don't know why this drives me so nuts, but any insight would be great!

[Feathah]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 9:27pm

I never had the opportunity to see a staged production of A New Brain but I too love the music. I just think William Finn is a bit eccentric, off beat, but brilliantly creative. I am very familiar with the story despite never seeing it. I'd appreciate some insight as well. I don't get the homeless lady either.

[jasonf]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 9:31pm

I want to just say I love this score - so many pretty songs in it. I never got the book either (though I'm going strictly on the music having never seen or read it), but this is one of the few musicals where my not knowing what's happening is superceded by how great the music is.

Anytime I hear anyone say the word "affinity" I have to go listen to it again...

[kidmanboy]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 10:46pm

It's tough to boil this show down, but to me and my production of it, it's about finding inspiration. In the show it turns out that Gordon's inspiration is all around him, so he writes songs about his nurses, his family, etc, which become acted out in the show. The show blurs the lines between fantasy and reality quite often.

The "coma" sequence illustrates some of the songs living in Gordon's brain waiting to come out (and they presumably do come out after the surgury, as they came out of William Finn's head at this time as well). The arc of the show is that Gordon grows from someone who shuts out his surrounding and loved ones, to someone that embraces life and sees the joys in it (I feel so much spring)...spring of course being a metaphor for rebirth.

The homeless woman, in our version of the show anyway, was a sort of omniscient person, always watching the action and rooting for Gordon to change (hence her song change, which comes at the point in the show when Gordon starts to show signs of change). The homeless woman always knows what's coming next and knows best how to help the situation (it is she that keeps Gordon's books from him, essentially taking his past and making him move on).
Personally, I think this show is the most solid of any I have ever worked on. Everything in the book is there for a reason and has mulitple layers that allow you to delve into the emotions and intentions behind everything and have many a meaningful discussion. A truly brilliant piece of work. (Perhaps the production you saw didn't really get all that either...I know I've at least heard things about productions that REALLY didn't get it)

[lamentingenvelope]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 10:56pm

I've said it before - but I REALLY like the idea of the homeless lady as an omniscient sort of character. I too never quite understood her point, but I like that idea a lot.

I agree that the show is muddy. But the music is amazing. One of my favorite scores.

[shortydudette]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 11:52pm

I felt this way too - why in the world is there a patient who eats himself?! I think it helps to realize that the show is autobiographical. So the scenes and characters that seem to serve no purpose are there because they were inspired by something (if they are not direct representations of something) or someone in Finn's life.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 12/16/05 at 11:53pm

I absolutely adore this show. My favorite (recorded) Finn score. I absolutely agree with the assertion that the Homeless Lady is an omniscent overseer of the show. Frankly, I think the role was probably shoe-horned in to give one of Bill's best friends, Mary Testa, a great song or two, but the overseer theory works too, .

One must remember that the show was originally conceived as a song cycle with little to no throughline and Graciela Danielle and James Lapine coerced Finn into making some semblence of a show out of it... which is why it is so highly autobiographical (it seems to be easier for Finn to write from personal experience than in some far off place and time, at least when pressed for time). The majority of songs in the song cycle were literally the "so many songs" Finn wrote after his successful brian surgery. At this time, like Gordon, he found that songs were just pouring out him and had workshops of this song cycle. I believe many songs that ended up in ELEGIES were written during this period as well, and he basically made 2 one acts out of a couple shows' worth of material (Finn has stated that he abhors writing two act musicals because writing opening and closing numbers is incredibly taxing and difficult for him and he finds he can keep the flow and concentration of a piece better with only one act). I believe there were many, many other songs that have not yet found a home in either ELEGIES or A NEW BRAIN thus INFINITE JOY and MORE INFINITE JOY.

On that note, I have heard of many productions interpolating "Anytime" into the show. It was a part of the show through the latter workshops, and I believe even into rehearsals and previews. The creators found that it brought the show to a halt, thus making it peak too early and with the wrong character (it just wouldn't work for anyone but Roger to sing it). I find it truly is integral to the piece, and could easily act as an Act I finale with "Change" opening the second act if the show were to be done as a two act piece. I'd kill to see a production that did just that.

A Good Nightmare Comes So Rarely,
P genre
Updated On: 12/16/05 at 11:53 PM

[roquat]

Posted: 12/17/05 at 10:50am

I love the homeless woman and her songs. I think this is one of the most directly autobiographical and personal shows I've ever seen--sort of a musical theatre "Long Day's Journey Into Night"-- and it is so good at times that I'm sad it isn't fully successful. (There are moments in the second half, especially, that are just too cute--and that whole "throwing out the books" business is asinine.)

[GClef2]

Posted: 12/17/05 at 11:37am

I love this show. The music is GORGEOUS and, the entire show itself really teaches one to be greatful.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 12/17/05 at 1:39pm

both book and score are so strong.

pgenre, i have always loved that idea. because a lot of theatres do choose to make it a two act, so why not ending with anytime. (which should have stayed in. norm's version of it is downright amazing.) also, you can hear the melodic motives of it in the orchestra scoring at other points. if you've heard the song earlier in the show, it works well as a leitmotif, however, because in the current state you don't, the audience is just kind of like, "huh, what is that?"

Posted: 12/17/05 at 5:33pm

I agree about the "books" thing. I think one of the concepts of the piece lies in the title: "A New Brain" is not merely literal (the surgery being a success) but perhaps a "New Way of Thinking" about things, life, love, art, etc. Something Gordon learns while going through his ordeal.

A fine lesson for all to learn, in our own way.

[Jimbo2]

Posted: 12/17/05 at 5:43pm

Books for sale, 3 bucks a book....

Loved this show, loved Mary Testa and also Kristen C. as the waitress...

"I Feel so Much Spring!"

[Jon]

Posted: 12/17/05 at 7:34pm

It's actually Gordon who's "eating him self up alive". Richie - the nice nurse - performs the song as one of Gordon's alter egos. "Whenever I Dream" is also sung by an alter ego of Gordon. Mona is on Gordon's lap like a ventriloquist's dummy - a la "We Both Reached for the Gun".

[kidmanboy]

Posted: 12/17/05 at 9:19pm

Did you honestly think "eating myself up..." was literally about someone eating themselves??? If so I think you need to look a little deeper when you're taking in musical theater...especially that of the sort written by William Finn.

[kidmanboy]

Posted: 12/17/05 at 9:24pm

I also think the show works well in one act and "anytime" was cut for a reason...the show is not about Roger's feelings for Gordon and the song is also written from the prespective of someone who has died (William Finn wrote the song to be sung at the Funeral of his friend). Having played Roger and thinking the song is one of the most beautiful ever written, I would have loved to sing it, but, it really didn't work. And does anyone know for a fact that that is actually where it went in the show? It boggles my mind that some theatrical companies think they can tinker around with a show...it's illegal! I just really think that an intermission and/or the addition of a five minute song in the middle of the show would really ruin the story arc.

[bta212]

Posted: 12/18/05 at 12:21am

This thread is the first time I've encountered the notion of "Anytime" as part of A New Brain. I've known it solely as Monica's song from Elegies, and I can't conceive it as sung by a "living" person; it strikes me as completely wrong. Next time I listen to it, I will try to keep an open mind and imagine it sung by Roger, but I don't think I buy it.

I was a huge fan of A New Brain for about two years, based only on listening to the cast recording. I saw the Porchlight Theatre's production in Chicago last year, and (as so often happens when you know a show only from the recording) I found it to be a revelation--I didn't find it muddy at all. The Homeless woman was almost as strong as Mary Testa (which is saying something, of course) and that kind of strong performance makes (for me) it's own kind of imperative logic. I think that the omniscient observer thing is correct, and I also think she plays an important vocal balancing role with Roger in "A really bad day (in the Universe)".

I never questioned throwing out the books either--in fact it rang so true to me; that is EXACTLY the kind of thing my crazy Jewish mother would do if I was in the O.R. having brain surgery.

I love this show--"So many songs" moves me every time I listen.