One of two musicals to open last week, Windfall Theatre's season closing production of A New Brain is easily the more risky fo the two. A musical theatre piece about a songwriter with a brain tumor isn't exatly well-trodden territory, especally if it could be described as a comedy. Director Shawn Guylas answers some questions about the production:
Working on a musical about a commercial composer with a brain tumor has got to be a challenge. If you move the mood too far away from the drama of the main character's condition, you run the risk of losing sight of the central conflict. If you move the mood too far away from traditional musical theatre, you lose much of what makes William Finn's work so unique. What has it been like trying to modulate between the musical's dichotomies?
The music and lyrics drive all of our choices. Finn has made it very clear when we're in the drama of the moment and when we jump inside Gordon's mind where things can get a little crazy. The dichotomy you mention is what makes this show so much fun for the actors and the audience - you never know what's going to happen next - just as you would if you were facing an uncertain future. In each of the areas you find the truth or as Finn would say the "heart and music".
The musical has been criticized for not having a solid enough plot to serve as an adequate foundation for a cohesive musical. What are your feelings on this? Does "A New Brain," not have more of a cabaret musical feel to it? How are you approaching the stagingof this show?
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A NEW BRAIN is not a conventional musical, but rather a cycle of songs with a very strong thematic line. It is not about an illness or its events, but mostly about an artist's resurrection - finding out what life is really about - his artistic work. Finn said that after returning from the hospital that he could not sit down at the piano without writing a decent song - gratitude and life were spewing out of him.
It's a roller coaster ride of a show - that traces Gordon's journey through a life changing health event - that causes him and those around him to look at things in a new light. So the plot is pretty straightforward - what makes it so unique is that we also jump into Gordon's mind and imagination. When we go there - it's like a cabaret show in his mind that uses the musical theater form to its fullest with great melodic ballads and comic ensemble songs that all touch on the feelings and fears one would face in the midst of a crisis.
Judging from previous reviews in other markets, A New Brain has been brought to the stage in a number of different ways. Sets, costuming and such have run from minimalist to very elaborate. What can we expect from this production?
Windfall is known for our focus on the text and actor while finding ingenious ways to create the space of the play. A NEW BRAIN calls for minimalist staging - because it's about the people. Finn has used the word "expressionistic" to describe scenic and lighting elements - and I think you'll see some of that in our staging.
The ensemble for this show is large. If I'm not mistaken, Windfall hasn't had a cast this large since its production of Anyone Can Whistle some time ago. The cast includes some rather talented people including David Flores, Kristin Pagenkopf and of course, Larry Birkett in the lead role. What was it like working with the challenges posed by such a large ensemble?
Actually our talented cast of 10 for A NEW BRAIN is smaller than our last two musical productions, THE BAKER'S WIFE and ANYONE CAN WHISTLE. The cast includes those you have mentioned and Marilyn White, Marty McNamee, Thomas Rosenthal, Ben George, Bob Hirschi, Carol Zippel and Tamara Martensek - you're not going to find a more talented and focused group of actors. We're all there at rehearsal every evening with one goal - bringing this story to life. So the challenge is not the size of the cast, but the difficulty of the material - Finn gives you a lot to work with!
Andre Bishop from the Lincoln Center sums it up best, A NEW BRAIN's “score contains four or five of the most beautiful melodies EVER and, yes, it has intelligent, graceful lyrics that offer poetry and wise-cracking vernacular in equal measure. But what is most striking about it is the author's great heart.”
