A New Brain, currently on the Gryphon Theatre – as part of Wellington Footlight Theatre’s Heart and Music season – stands out for the abundance of theatrical pleasures it offers its audience. It’s a bit like going to a restaurant and finding that everything on the menu is 2 for the price of 1, plus you can get a complimentary glass of wine and plate of hors d’oeuvres. There’s so much talent on show on the smallish stage of the Gryphon, it wouldn’t particularly surprise me if it overflowed out through the theatre doors and onto Ghuznee Street, forcing traffic detours.

Let’s start with the piece itself. A New Brain is the New Zealand premiere of a 1998 musical by William Finn (music, lyrics, book) and James Lapine (book), both successful veterans of the American stage. The structure of the story is simple. Composer Gordon Schwinn wants to express himself through his own stuff but is bogged down writing songs for children’s television. He suffers a medical misadventure and ends up in hospital facing life-threatening surgery. The experience forces Gordon to evaluate his relationships and priorities and eventually (tiny spoiler alert ahead) to re-connect with the importance of love, hope and following your dreams.

Anyone thinking that the plot as described is not much of a platform on which to build 90 minutes of fizzing stage activity doesn’t know their Finn and Lapine. These guys could fit suitable music and lyrics to any occasion, and in A New Brain, they do, pretty much (Dad had a gambling problem? Fine; we’re all off to the races on the wings of a song – to give just one example). The thing to wonder at is the easy, colloquial, almost-natural way the show’s characters convey in song their thoughts and feelings about events big and little, funny or touching. It’s as if singing was just like ordinary folk talking about everyday stuff, with musical accompaniment.  

Finn and Lapine, I think we can also say, are not afraid of a cliché, and A New Brain has plenty of those: clinging Jewish mom, knife-happy surgeon, kid’s show TV personality who’s a fractious tyrant underneath, the panhandler who’s also a philosopher/counsellor, and last but not least the artist torn between expressing himself and earning a living. The storyline is not cliché-free either. This is a show that wants to take us down towards the depths – the main character is confronting the possibility of his own death – but not so deep that we can’t find our way back to the surface in time for a big, life-affirming finale.

Variety, tons of pace, quick switches of mood and setting, small, intimate dialogues with the audience, big, stage-shaking song-and-dance ensemble numbers – A New Brain has got all of these, and more. A bit of a challenge for the good people of the Wellington Footlights Theatre? No problem – they’re all over it with a smile.

This is, first and foremost, a very well put together production; there’s lots happening on stage, multiple characters moving here and about, bits of scenery to change, dance moves to synchronise, and it all flows quickly, smoothly and together. So take a well-deserved bow, director Cassandra Tse and the entire cast.

At the individual level, the show has a strong cast who, pretty well universally, have voices that are up to their roles and the acting skills to carry off their parts. The dancing tends to be well-co-ordinated and enthusiastic rather than skilful. More bouquets to everyone, including the un-named choreographer, with a bottle of champagne as well to Dominic Taffs who, as Gordon, carries a lot of the show on his capable shoulders. Your reviewer particularly enjoyed the performances of Alex Rabina as nasty Mr Bungee, Mike Bryant as the Nice Nurse and Eugene Wolfin as the Minister.

The cast is admirably supported by the smallish band, who’ve got the balance between doing justice to the music and working with the singers just right. Cheers to Lauren Simpkins (Piano/Conductor) and team.

Whoever designed the set also deserves special mention, for making such effective use of limited space and material.  

(For further information about A New Brain and the Wellington Footlight Theatre’s current four-show production, of which A New Brain is part, go to: https://sites.google.com/view/heart-and-music/ ) 

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