My Mother Has 4 Noses
Opening Night: February 20, 2014
Closing: April 19, 2014
Theater: 37 Arts Theatre
Jonatha’s mom did have 4 noses, at least as many names, and an indomitable sense of humor. She was a published poet, a clown, a Christian Scientist, and she had Alzheimer’s. In their final two years together, Jonatha and her mother would mine the daily goings-on for theatre. "Boolie (Jonatha’s nickname), are you getting this down? We should make a play out of it!" My Mother Has 4 Noses is the result.
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February 21, 2014
Deep into Jonatha Brooke’s solo theater piece the other night, a gentle wave of sniffles swelled through the audience at the Duke on 42nd Street, where a daughter’s love and loyalty were on tender display. With My Mother Has 4 Noses, this singer-songwriter has ventured into playwriting and performance that are achingly personal. In a haunted and haunting play with music, Ms. Brooke is bearing witness, recounting the descent into dementia of her mother, Darren Stone Nelson, and her experience of caring for Ms. Nelson in the last years of her life. “Oh, my poor broken mother,” Ms. Brooke says. “Oh, my poor broken heart.” Your heart may crack a little, too, not only from the unavoidably sad, yet poignantly funny narrative Ms. Brooke has created so beautifully out of mourning, but also from the artistic demands she makes on herself here as writer, musician and actor.
READ THE REVIEWFebruary 24, 2014
With her poignant and tuneful solo show My Mother Has 4 Noses, Jonatha Brooke shares a story that’s both familiar — caring for an elderly parent with dementia — and unique in its quirky and intimate details. Brooke, a literate neo-folkie who burst on the music scene in the ’90s but who’s best known for writing (and singing) the theme to Joss Whedon’s short-lived Dollhouse, performs a kind of annotated concept album — accompanied only by guitarist Ben Butler and cellist Anja Wood. (The show is playing at Off Broadway’s The Duke on 42nd.) A girlish 50-year-old with a forthright and friendly stage manner. Brooke draws a sharp but loving portrait of her mother, whom she affectionately describes as ”a serial character looking for a play.” Known as Stoney, mom published poetry, sometimes dressed as a clown, and practiced Christian Science (except when she didn’t). Due to a long-untreated cancerous growth on her face, she underwent belated surgery and acquired four prosthetic noses. It turns out that Brooke’s provocative title is not a metaphor.
READ THE REVIEWFebruary 20, 2014
Jonatha Brooke’s mother really did have four noses. The Boston-raised singer and songwriter has called her new musical play My Mother Has 4 Noses. That sounds like some artsy metaphor of a title, but it’s not, and further explanation would spoil the story. Suffice to say: anyone who’s borne witness to the mental decline of a loved one is encouraged to make note of this sweet and sensitive memorial Brooke has penned for her mom, whose final years were clouded by dementia. It’s now running at The Duke on 42nd Street. A poetic tunesmith, Brooke has co-written songs for Katy Perry and The Court Yard Hounds. Her own early albums with The Story and later solo records such as The Works and Steady Pull earned Brooke a legion of fans on the folk-rock circuit.
READ THE REVIEWFebruary 24, 2014
This solo musical about the descent of the author’s mother into dementia . . . hey, where are you going? Don’t be turned off by its subject: Jonatha Brooke’s affectionate, well-crafted, surprisingly funny new musical, My Mother Has Four Noses, is well worth your attention. An established pop-folk singer-songwriter credited with critically acclaimed albums — and a recent song for Katy Perry, “Choose Your Battles” — Brooke easily holds the stage alone as she reminisces about her late mom, Nancy Lee Stone, a k a Stoney. Stoney wasn’t the easiest person to get along with. She was opinionated and loved the circus so much that she moonlighted as a clown, much to her young daughter’s embarrassment. But Brooke loved her, and it doesn’t take long before we do, too.
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February 21, 2014
Jonatha Brooke is a singer/songwriter. I first heard of her when I fell in love with her album The Story: Angel in the House. At the time, she was partners with Jennifer Kimball, and the song "Angel in the House" totally captured me. The partnership ended and Jonatha Brooke successfully moved on to write and produce many more songs. Now she has brought her one woman show My Mother Has Four Noses (A Mother/Daughter, End-of-Life Love Story…Complicated By Religion and Dementia) to New York City. Ms. Brooke is a unique and singularly gifted artist. To have written a show about her mother’s dying, to bring her work to such an intimate and traumatic event—the disturbing death of her mother—takes a particular kind of courage.
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