A New Brain

A New Brain
Normanhurst Uniting Church Musical Society. Review Saturday 28th October 2017. Director Tamer Morris, Musical Director Matthew Herne, Choreographer Rebecca Savage. Oct 21 – Nov 5, 2017

A New Brain, the musical based on the semi biographical account of William Finn’s own near death experience, was an interesting and insightful evening at the theatre. The relatively unknown and rarely performed show was new and fresh to see, With this community group’s gamble having paid off.

Composer and Lyricist Finn has told the events of his ordeal in 1992 when he suffered an episode of partial paralysis, dizziness and deteriorating vision ending in an AVM in his brain stem. He tells the story through the main character Gordon Schwinn (Tim Selby), a songwriter for a children’s show where the character is a frog called Mr Bungee (Marcus Cope-Williams). Gordon feels like he is wasting his talents on this show, which he expresses to friend Rhoda (Charmain Fauvet) over lunch, where he collapses into his meal. Gordon is taken to hospital and treated by a doctor and nurses Richard and Nancy D.

Rhoda then contacts Gordon’s mother Mimi (Gail Waizer) and partner Roger (Joe Wasuruj) to come to the hospital, giving them the news of Gordon’s episode. Mimi arrives promptly whilst Roger is off sailing and is noticeably missing for some time, which causes a lot of friction on his arrival. During his time at hospital Finn contemplates his life and all the songs he hasn’t written yet. There are some great musical numbers whilst Gordan is unconscious, like “Be Polite” by Mr Bungee and a very entertaining song and dance routine called “Heart and Music” performed by all the cast. Gordon’s brain surgery effects many of the other main characters like Mimi, Roger, Rhoda and even Richard, the nice nurse (Paul Mepham). We see just how it effects them in their own songs like Mimi’s “Mother’s Gonna Make Things Fine”, “Invitation to sleep in my arms”, mainly sung Roger and Rhoda, and “Poor Unsuccessful and Fat” sung by Richard.

Gordon has surgery and completely recovers; the song writing block he was having before his illness lifts and he re-evaluates his relationships and his work with a new mindset.

The Normanhurst Uniting Church hall stage seemed a very limiting space for sets and the actors to work on, but Tamer Morris has directed his cast to use this space well. Most of the action takes place inside the hospital and with a few props it didn’t really effect the musical except for a few exists and entrances to and from the stage.

There were a few memorable performances from the cast, including Tim Selby as Gordon, who practically never left the stage all show. Tim played the struggling lyricist with real authenticity and once he is hospitalised you could see the struggle Gordon was going through with the possibility that he may not come out of his operation. Tim’s voice stood out and his lyrics were clear in a show with a score that included some very challenging numbers.

Charmain Fauvet as Rhoda played the concerned friend with clear passion, showing she was a stong dancer in many of the cheesily choreographed songs, especially her puppet movements in the” Whenever I Dream” number.

Marcus Cope-Williams, as the energetic children’s show entertainer, was full of beans, while his facial expressions were fantastic when singing the song “Yes” to the ensemble playing kids in the mock TV show.

Using such a small space, the need for a small ensemble for me weren’t needed as they were distracting at times. They came out into the audience too many times and it was unclear at points who they were actually being. Rebecca Savage’s choreography was quite entertaining and its seemed she was working to the ability of her cast which is always better than pushing them to do steps they can’t get. Matthew Herne’s smallish orchestra sounded well balanced although in some parts were too loud for particular cast members, who probably needed to project their voices more.

NUCMS have delivered a memorable production. I’ts definitely worth the trip to Normanhurst to see this unique musical.

James Russell

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