Pride Arts kicks off its 2025-2026 season in its new home, the Hoover-Leppen Theatre at the Center on Halsted, with a lively staging of A New Brain, the 1998 musical by composer/lyricist William Finn, with a book by Finn and James Lapine. At a lickety-split 100 minutes, the production delivers Finn’s bouncing jazz-inflected score with charm as directed by Jay Espano and choreographed by Britta Schlicht.
A New Brain is a gay musical in the sense that Finn (1952-2025) was gay, the lead character also is gay and a composer, and it’s based on a health crisis which threatened Finn’s life. No, not AIDS nor anything specifically gay. Rather, Gordon Michael Schwinn (Dakotta Hagar) needs brain surgery to correct tangled blood vessels depriving his noggin of oxygen. Apart from that, Gordo—as he’s called—has a nice life.
Sure, his boss is a schmuck, a kids’ TV star who plays Mr. Bungee, a frog (Taylor Bailey). Still Gordo seems to have an okay job writing songs for Mr. Bungee, definitely has a sweetly devoted boyfriend, Roger (Beck Hokanson), and has a supportive mother (Michelle McKenzie-Voight) and sister (Caitlin Preuss).
The ensemble cast of A New Brain, presented by Pride Arts at the Center on Halsted, through Sept. 14 (photo courtesy of Oomphotography)
Before and after his surgery, Gordo obsesses over life, the songs he has yet to write, what his death would be like, and whether-or-not he’d leave any legacy. Pretty normal, I imagine, if you’re a composer having brain surgery (vs. a pudding manufacturer, say); I had nothing like that when I had my hips replaced.
So, A New Brain has musical pizazz but not much conflict. Self-absorbed Gordo expresses little angst over the idea that he could die, and his health crisis is imposed by chance and genetics, not by his own actions or emotions. His love isn’t forbidden, his family doesn’t reject him, he makes no stupid mistakes, he defies no authority, all of which are more typical sources of dramatic complications. Okay, he fails to give money to a homeless lady (Lena Simone), but she has her revenge later on.
Still, it’s impossible to resist Finn’s pulsing pop/jazz rhythms and smart lyrics, which are poetic, sassy or plot-driven as each song situation requires. They are delivered with clarity by a vocally appealing cast and a sensational five-piece band, all under musical director Robert Ollis, a fixture at Pride Arts since the Late Jurassic Period who only gets better and better. Everyone in the strong 10-person cast has at least a brief musical solo in Finn’s through-sung score, which involves much musical give-and-take among ensemble members and a large chorus role, offering some of Finn’s richest writing. They are an impressive group.
Among lead players, Hokanson as Roger has the sweetest voice and the prettiest songs to sing, while McKenzie-Voight and Simone deliver the power numbers and the most emotionally charged songs with authority, McKenzie-Voights’ “The Music Still Plays On” being the show’s emotional center. Meanwhile, Taylor Bailey as Mr. Bungee is a character actor’s dream; a more-imposing version of Seinfeld’s Newman with a just-right voice, perfect sardonic comedy chops and a bigger chin. In the central role, Dakotta Hagaras Gordon is cute-as-a-button and sings pleasingly but is a surprisingly neutral character, which isn’t Mr. Hagar’s fault. The action of the show is how everyone around Gordon reacts to him and his illness: family members, lover, doctors, nurses and even Mr. Bungee.
The Hoover-Leppen Theatre’s deep, wide stage gives director Espano and choreographer Schlicht advantages they didn’t have at the old Pride Arts space on Broadway. The show moves fluidly across the stage and into the aisles on Gael Owens’ relatively simple set, which uses hospital curtains that surround a patient’s bed to good effect, especially as screens for Connor Blackwood’s lovely film projections. Ms. Schlicht uses uncomplicated but effective unison steps and shifting patterns of circles and lines to make her ensemble of non-dancers look good. Shawn Quinlan’s street clothes costume designs are accented by whimsical flourishes such as Mr. Bungee’s colorful costume and make-up, a superb patchwork coat for the homeless lady, made out of stuffed animals, and horse head hats for the chorus for one number.
A New Brain is a feel-good show as Gordo chooses life over death, which never really seems like an actual threat. Gordo may think composing for Mr. Bungee is a dead-end job, yet it’s Mr. Bungee’s song “Don’t Give In” which turns Gordo’s emotional tide.It’s very much a feel-good production, too, and a good way to kick off the 2025-2026 theater season.
Gordon (Dakotta Hagar) confronts his boss and nemesis, Mr. Bungee (Taylor Bailey) in William Finn’s A New Brain at the Hoover-Leppen Theatre. (photo courtesy of Oomphotography)
A New Brain shows through Sept. 14 at Pride Arts at the Hoover-Leppen Theatre at Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St. Tickets are $35. For more information see www.pridearts.org.
Jonathan Abarbanel is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association. His reviews can be heard every Sunday morning on “The Arts Section” on WDCB-FM public radio.
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