KCTribune: A New Brain

Once again, the level of talent in Kansas City floors me. A New Brain, an autobiographical musical about a professional composer’s woes concerning writer’s block and impending brain surgery by William Finn, is a fun ride through the grooves of someone’s brain during a life-changing event. I adored him…and wanted to steal his boyfriend.

As we progress through Gordon Michael Schwinn’s (Darin Parker) inability to drag up inspiration to write a song for the children’s show that pays his rent about a frog named Mr. Bungee who flits in and out of the story line in an envy-green, sequin-loaded tux and giant frog’s head, I can’t help but wonder: How can the villain be a dancing frog? Because Mark Murphy pulls it off…and sometimes his giant head, too, especially when he’s yelling at zero-hour, pre-op Gordon for not writing “The Yes Song” perfectly, after having given up time with his boyfriend who loves to sail, Roger Delli-Bovi (Kipp Simmons). The lovely duets between Roger and Gordon made me wish my boyfriend would sing to me like that.

The ladies in the cast were spectacular, despite the fact that their characters were not involved in any of the romance, which is actually a relaxing detour from many female theater roles. Rhoda, his agent and friend (Kristin Leathers), is gorgeous and has wonderful vocal control, lending continuity to the scenes with her strength and believability. The Homeless Woman (Sarah Lamar), sang a song called “Change” where one of the lines was, “…I don’t ask for hugs, just more money to buy some drugs…” Her facial expressions are worth the price of your ticket.

My favorite player, though, was Nick Uthoff, who played Richard, The Nice Nurse, an obsequious care-giver who thinks he’s fat. His cherry number, “Eating Myself Up Alive”, is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. I don’t care how you feel about live theater, if you miss hearing Uthoff do this song, you need to go kick yourself in the shin.

Despite the moniker, this is not “community theater”, it’s really “beyond Broadway”, or something equally stupid and catchy like that. If I’m forced to voice a complaint, which makes me want to kick my own self in the shin, it’s that during the ensemble numbers, masterfully jazz-choired and hilariously choreographed, the players looked over the audience as if they were trained to sing for a bigger, New York-er stage. Except that they should be on that stage, damn it. But they are ours, on a wonderful little stage in Kansas.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.