A New Brain

This was a regional premiere for Gallery Players with their production of  A New Brain, with music and lyrics by William Finn. This was Gallery’s second musical by Finn as they  had previously produced  Spelling Bee  in the  Spring.  Finn wrote a series of songs  after leaving hospital  and it is an autobiographical piece of  his own harrowing experience  following major brain surgery, which was later premiered as a musical  in 1998.   

The storyline revolves around  songwriter Gordon Schwinn  played by Dayle Saunders  who is trying to finish a song for  a children’s television show when he  is rushed into hospital. The trauma of that, the operation, and then  being in a coma, all adds to his experience,  but he  survives it with  the help of his family and friends around him  and continues writing.

Not the normal plot for a musical you will agree, it is weird, wacky, crazy  and the songs  are so diverse as I suppose you would expect from a man recovering from major  surgery with his differing moods and fears.  Dayle gives an excellent performance,  capturing the emotions of the character  with the quality of his singing. The  whole cast of dedicated and talented actors all worked well together giving a tight, professional and well directed performance.  Wade Ablitt’s  direction and choreography was very effective  using the very limited  space on stage. The actors certainly  gave the dancing plenty of energy and enthusiasm.

The music was non-stop with a five piece band, under the direction of Olly Wood and the harmonies and singing were excellent. My favourite song of the show was ‘Sailing’ beautifully sung by Roger played by Michael Haywood-Smith and the songs by Jan Needle with her wonderfully strong voice who played The Homeless Lady 

The set has to be minimalistic at The Sir John Mills and worked well with the addition of Wade’s  Audio Visual Design projected onto the back flat and an effective lighting design. Wade also did the costumes which were in keeping with the theme. Mention must be made to  the  enormous, colourful frog mask, cleverly designed and made by Dave Borthwick. It made quite an impact and allowed Mr Bungee  (Ryan Cope) to be seen and not to mask his voice during his many songs.  Well done, not an easy task I should imagine.

Congratulations must go to Wade Ablitt in this his directing debut with Gallery, for his insight and dedication and all his work to bring this piece together, and to the cast for a very professional and polished performance.

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