Princeton University Players finds ‘A New Brain.’
By: Stuart Duncan
A New Brain is a "well-off-the-beaten-path" musical by William Finn, who wrote the highly acclaimed Falsettos. It opened off-Broadway in 1998 to enthusiastic reviews, but failed to capture audiences and soon faded. The Princeton University Players rapidly becoming competition on campus for better-known and older organizations is giving it a strong revival. PUP has a nomadic existence, staging its musicals (a half dozen each year) in every venue from basement black boxes to Richardson Auditorium. This production is at The Matthews Acting Studio at 185 Nassau Street.
A New Brain is biographical, the result of the composer’s life and death battle with brain cancer in the early 1990s. It focuses on Gordon Michael Schwinn (acted and sung with great sensitivity by Jonathan Schwartz), a writer of commercial music, mainly for children’s TV shows. In fact we first meet Gordon as he is battling to meet a deadline, imposed by Gordon’s boss, Mr. Bungee (Spencer Case), who plays a frog on the show. Mr. Bungee comes with four tadpoles (Jasmine DaCosta, Laura Hankin, Kate Stevick and Meredith Wren) but when left to himself, likes to ride a bicycle.
Early in the evening (played in this outing in a single act, without intermission), Gordon shows signs of distress. In fact, while at a restaurant, he ends up face down in the entree. It turns out he has a condition known as arteriovenous, a disease that causes excessive water on the brain and demands draining. In fact three songs arrive while he is in a coma, which somewhat belies the concern that he may not be able to compose again. So, indeed, do the show’s 27 individual tunes.
And a wonderful company works hard to please. It is led by director Doug Lavanture, who recently gave us an exciting Terra Nova at Theatre Intime. Liz Abernethy plays Gordon’s mother with great insight and is particularly appealing in her solos. Billy Hepfinger plays Gordon’s male lover who, all in all, would rather be "Sailing," but knows how to play the hospital game as well. Sara-Ashley Bischoff plays a homeless lady, complete with shopping cart in case any wayward "throwaways" come her way. Others in the cast include Liz Dengel, Connor Diemand-Yauman, Molly Borowitz, Brian Gurewitz and Emad Atiq, playing various doctors, nurses and the like.
A nine-piece orchestra, led by R.W. Enoch, sometimes comes very close to overpowering the individual singers. But director Lavanture has pulled off a near miracle and by next weekend this show should be a complete sellout. In fact, with a bit more attention to a script that at times wanders, this might have been a Broadway fixture.
A New Brain continues at The Matthews Acting Studio, 185 Nassau St., through March 16, 8 p.m. Tickets cost $12, $10 seniors, $8 students. For information, call (609) 258-1742.

