Tony-award winning playwright and composer William Finn recounts his tribulations with a brain aneurysm in his semi-autobiographical 1998 musical, A New Brain. Protagonist Gordon, a composer, grapples with anxiety and existential angst as he tries to keep his cool before a dangerous brain surgery that threatens his life, and with it, all of his unfulfilled artistic potential. Premiered at New York City’s Lincoln Center, A New Brain has been performed in theaters across the US and in the UK, and now makes its South Bay premiere at the Tabard Theatre Jan 9-26.
A New Brain
Thu-Sun, Various Times, $18
Tabard Theatre, San Jose
