ARTS . Arts Picks

A New Brain

Through Jan. 29, $25-$30, Plays & Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey Place, 800-595-4849, playsandplayers.org.


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Published: Jan 19, 2011

[ theater ]

Don't miss Plays & Players' area première of A New Brain, the seldom-seen 1998 William Finn musical about his harrowing brush with death in an all-sung story of a congenital condition, "arteriovenous malformation" (trust me, it's bad) requiring a craniotomy — making the grim situation more fantastical and inspiring than seems possible. Brendan Norton's Gordon is a songwriter struggling to churn out tunes for TV frog Mr. Bungee (Rob Cutler) when a sudden pain lands his face in a plate of pasta and his ass in a hospital bed. Director Daniel Student and musical director Melissa Dunphy's charming, low-budget production superbly brings Gordon's hopes and fears to life in an intimate audience-on-stage configuration on the P&P main stage — their only miscalculation, since they'll clearly need more seats.

Through Jan. 29, $25-$30, Plays & Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey Place, 800-595-4849, playsandplayers.org.