PrideArts: A New Brain
Dakotta Hagar and Taylor Bailey
PrideArts Presents A NEW BRAIN Review - When Your Brain Makes Your Life A Musical
TLDR: Inspired by true events, A New Brain takes us through one man's diagnosis of a brain illness that requires surgery. Though dealing with the looming surgery, the musical feels like a musical episode of a TV show where everyone bursts out into song at a moment's notice.
Dakotta Hagar
When You Pass Out Over A Plate of Spaghetti…
…you would probably suspect something is not right with you healthwise. For one composer, this faceful of pasta turns into a life altering event. Inspired by events in songwriter William Finn’s life (co-writer of hit musicals like Falsettos and The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee), we’re taken on his journey as he grapples with a life altering diagnosis.
A New Brain takes us through this particular moment in Gordon’s life, played by Dakotta Hagar. Currently he feels like he’s in a rut. He’s meant for so much more - he has shelves full of literature, songs in his heart, and yet he’s writing cheesy songs for a kids television show. Even though you’d think writing songs for a singing frog should be easy, he’s still fighting writer’s block and constantly missing deadlines, much to his agent’s dismay.
When he’s rushed to the hospital after this lunchtime scare, he finds out he needs surgery on his brain. As various people come in and out to visit Gordon, we see bits and pieces of his various relationships. Obviously on admittance to the hospital, the first person we need to call is his mother, Mimi, played by Michelle McKenzie-Voigt. She plays the typical overbearing mother, telling Gordon “mother will fix everything.” However, when she’s left with nothing to do but wait for her son to come out of surgery, she shows us a mother’s vulnerability and how deep her love goes in “Throw It Out.”
Taylor Bailey plays Mr. Bungee, the TV show host but hard-ass business man. It’s hard to take a grown man's criticism seriously when he's wearing flippers and a sequined frog hat, but Mr. Bungee runs a tight ship and won’t stand for less than stellar work. Bailey gleefully flips onto stage in a striped, rainbow getup and has the crowd in an uproar.
Gordon’s relatively new relationship with boyfriend Roger, played by Beck Hokanson, is now thrown into an emotionally fraught time. Luckily, Roger is a kind hearted man who loves to sail. He’s by Gordon’s side all through the ordeal, even when Gordon chooses his legacy over love the night before his surgery.
These along with various other characters - his agent, a woman asking for “change” on the street, and the nice nurse, all sing with and to Gordon as he stares down the proverbial barrel of the looming surgery.
Bringing Back The Musical Episodes
A New Brain feels like one of those musical episodes they had on television shows back in the day. And to be more specific, this feels like the one from Scrubs not only because we're mostly set in a hospital where a person with a brain injury is surrounded by people bursting into song, but because for the most part all the songs are simple and meant to be silly and fun.
The ensemble comes dancing down the theater aisles wearing Einstein-esque wigs as they sing about “Gordo’s Law of Genetics.” And when Gordon finds himself in a coma, he’s visited by all the ensemble members in a nightmare-esque dream state.
Every moment turns into a song in this mostly sung-thru musical.
L to R: Jonas Davidow, Britain Shutters, Beck Hokanson, Caitlin Preuss, Michelle McKenzie-Voigt, Elijah Warfield. Front: Dakotta Hagar
The After Party Thoughts
For a musical about a life changing surgery, A New Brain has a lot of levity to it. The ensemble members have a lot of fun with the big chorus numbers. We get surface level details about each of the characters Gordon interacts with, but really the majority of the serious songs come from Gordon as he struggles with accepting he has no other option but this surgery.
And so A New Brain tries to find the balance between the seriousness of feeling like time is running out when you haven’t achieved as much as you wanted to with comedy and not letting the mood dip too low.
If you're one that is looking for a show that explores in-depth feelings around a health diagnosis, this may not be the best fit for you. However If you like feel-good musicals that embrace silliness and have a positive message at the end, A New Brain would be a good show for you.
RECOMMENDED
L-R: Cordaro Johnson (obscured), Caitlin Preuss, Jonas Davidow, Elijah Warfield, Lena Simone, Britain Shutters, Dakotta Hagar
When
Now through September 14, 2025
Where
Center on Halsted
Hoover-Leppen Theatre
3656 N. Halsted
Chicago, IL 60613
Runtime: 1hr 40min, no intermission
Tickets
$30+
Tickets can be purchased through the PrideArts website
Photos
Logan and Candice Conner, Oomphotography
L-R: Michelle McKenzie-Voigt, Caitlin Preuss, Dakotta Hagar, Beck Hokanson
CAST
Dakotta Hagar (Gordon Schwinn)
Beck Hokanson (Roger)
Michelle McKenzie-Voigt (Mimi)
Lena Simone (Lisa)
Taylor Bailey (Mr. Bungee)
Caitlin Preuss (Rhoda)
Cordaro Johnson (Richard the Nurse)
Britain Shutters (Waitress / Nancy the Nurse)
Elijah Warfield (Dr. Berensteiner)
Jonas Davidow (The Minister, U/S Gordon)
Morgan Braithwaite (U/S Mimi Schwinn/Rhoda)
Kevin Chlapecka (U/S Roger)
Jay Torrens (U/S Richard the Nurse, Minister)
Janelle Sanabria (U/S Lisa/Nancy/The Waitress)
Aidan Sternberg (U/S Mr. Bungee/Dr. Berensteiner)
CREATIVE
Jay Espano (Director)
Robert Ollis (Music Director)
Annie Liu (Assistant Music Director)
Britta Schlicht (Choreographer)
Shawn Quinlan (Costume Designer)
Lea Davis (Lighting Designer)
Gael Owens (Scenic Designer)
Connor Blackwood (Projection Designer)
Parker Vos (Props Designer)
Garrett McCann (Assistant Director, Intimacy Designer)
Ally Montgomery (Production Manager)
Shreya Khanna (Stage Manager)
Emily Stipetic (Assistant Stage Manager)
Ruby Lowe (Lead Electrician)
Aidan Lynn Smith (Technical Director)
Val Gardner (Sound Engineer)