A New Brain
BOOK BY WILLIAM FINN AND JAMES LAPINE
MUSIC AND LYRICS BY WILLIAM FINN
DIRECTED BY SHAWN MORGAN
MUSIC DIRECTION BY JESSICA FITZSISTI
By the Tony Award–winning authors of Falsettos, here is an energetic, sardonic, often comical musical about a composer during a medical emergency. Gordon collapses into his lunch and awakes in the hospital, surrounded by his maritime-enthusiast lover, his mother, a co-worker, the doctor and the nurses. Reluctantly, he had been composing a song for a children’s television show that features a frog—Mr. Bungee—and the specter of this large green character and the unfinished work haunts him throughout his medical ordeal.
SHOW DATES
Jan. 29, Jan. 30, Feb. 5 and Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 31 and Feb. 7 at 2:30 p.m.
All performances are at Sand Lake Center for the Arts (2880 NY-43, Averill Park, NY 12018).
AUDITIONS AT WHMT
Auditions are Nov. 9 and 10 from 6 to 10 p.m. at WMHT Public Media (4 Global View, Troy, NY 12180). Please use the side entrance and not the front entrance—see map.
Sign-in will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Auditions will officially start at 6:30, but if you need to come later, please feel free.
Please bring 30 to 32 bars of a song that shows off your range and sheet music.
Callbacks are TBD.
Rehearsals will start in November based on cast availability and will break for the holidays.
AVAILABLE ROLES
GORDON MICHAEL SCHWINN (Tenor). Aspiring stage composer who awakes in a hospital after collapsing on a plate of ziti.
HOMELESS WOMAN (Mezzo-Soprano). An eccentric woman who scavenges Gordon’s discarded belongings.
RHODA (Soprano). Gordon’s practical, grounded best friend and coworker.
MR. BUNGEE (Baritone). A tyrannical children’s show host in a frog suit who acts as a demanding boss and hospital hallucination.
RICHARD (Baritone). The gentle and steady “nice nurse” at the hospital.
NANCY D./WAITRESS (Soprano). Plays the diner waitress and an efficient hospital nurse.
DOCTOR (Baritone). Dr. Jafar Berensteiner. Gordon’s confident brain surgeon.
MINISTER (Tenor). A spiritual visitor appearing in Gordon’s imagination.
ROGER DELLI-BOVI (Tenor). Gordon’s compassionate, nautical-loving partner who grounds and supports him.
MOTHER (Mezzo-Soprano). Mimi Schwinn. Gordon’s dramatic, overbearing and loving mother who shares a complex history with him.