A New Brain
1998 Original Cast

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William Finn is an acquired taste. Not only is this lyricist-composer one of the few proponents of the (mostly) sung-through musical, but he favors unlikely subjects. His 1992 musical Falsettos was about love, a bar mitzvah, AIDS, and mortality; A New Brain deals with a brain tumor and art and, yes, mortality and love. Both witty and touching, the show displays Finn's melodic gift and his talent for suggesting sentiment without sentimentality. The supporting cast, including Chip Zien, Kristin Chenoweth, and Penny Fuller, is a collection of New York's finest stage actors, each of whom gets at least one splendid song. In the lead, Malcolm Gets allows the listener direct access into Gordon Schwinn's innermost emotions. An acquired taste, yes, but one that will linger in your memory and heart. --Elisabeth Vincentelli
It contains some of Finn's best, wittiest and most darkly comic work--aside from some lapses in the lyrics department that are more glaringly apparent on disc. Performances are almost consistently knockouts ... especially Malcolm Gets, who gives a charismatic, diction-perfect, dryly witty account of the brain-afflicted main character.