Next To Normal

When I first opened The Music Shelf this was one of the musicals I wanted most to review. It became very quickly one of my favourites and for the last two years it has been there. 

It was written by Tom Kitt with a books and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and it tells the story of a 'nearly normal' family, with a mother who struggles with bipolar disorder  and delusions, and the effect that her illness has on her family: with a husband that tryes hard to hide the fact that his wife is disturbed and a talented teenage daughter who's also trying to cope with her mother's delusional episodes and competing constantly with his brother.

This is one of the most complex musicals I've heard with a lot of issues as grieving a loss, suicide, drug abuse and ethics in modern psychiatry. The songs are very crude and the characters very well defined. 

Next to normal debuted in 2008 in an off-Broadway production. It closed on January 16, 2011 after 21 previews and 733 regular performances. It has been performed not only through the USA and Canada, but also through Norway (2010-2011), Helsinki (2010), South Korea (2011-2012),  The Netherlands (2012), Denmark (2012), Sweden (2012) and Israel (2012) among others. It has also released its soundtrack  with the norwegian cast and a karaoke version, which I don't recommend if you haven't listened to the original cast. 

In 2010 Next to Normal won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, it was nominated to "Outstanding Actress in a Musical" and "Outstanding Music" for the 2008 Drama Desk Awards. And in 2009 it won four Tony Awards and was nominated for 8 more:

• Best Musical ---> NOMINATED
• Best Book of a Musical [for Brian Yorkey] ---> NOMINATED
• Best Original Score [for Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey] ---> WON
• Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical [for J. Robert Spencer] ---> NOMINATED
• Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical  [for Alice Ripley] ---> WON
• Best performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical [for Jennifer Damiano] ---> NOINATED
• Best Direction of a Musical [for Michael Greid] ---> NOMINATED
• Best Orchestrations [for Michael Starbin and Tom Kitt] ---> WON
• Best Scenic Design [for Mark Wenland] ---> NOMINATED
• Best Lighting Design [for Kevin Adams] ---> NOMINATED
• Best Sound Design  [for Brian Ronan] ---> NOMINATED

In the original cast where Alice Ripley in the leading role as Diana Goodman. Her voice is not entirely beautiful, it sounds somewhat broken and stressed, which gives a lot of character to the role. Brian d'Arcy James played Dan Goodman, Diana's husband in the  Original Off-Broadway Cast and was then replaced by J. Robert Spencer in the Original Broadway Cast. Natalie Goodman, Diana's daughter was played in both off and on- Broadway by Jennifer Damiano. Gabriel 'Gabe' Goodman, Diana's son was played also on both productions by Aaron Tveit. You can find a lot of similarities between this character and the Peter Pan figure. Adam Chanler-Berat performed as Henry, Natalie's boyfriend. Henry's a little bit the odd one, being the onlyone who's not from the family but sufferes the consequences from the Goodman's problems. And Dr. Fine [that's subtile, don't you think?]  and Dr. Madden were played by Asa Somers in the Original Off-Broadway production and Louis Hobson on Broadway. 

The literary references and allusions of this musical are very varied and on the staged version appear a lot of books about mentally unbalanced people. But perhaps the most clear of those references appears in the son 'Didn't I see this movie?' in which there are clear allusions to the movie One flew over the Coockoo's Nest. Another very curious alusion apears in the song 'Who's Crazy'/'My Psychopharmacelogist and I' where the chorus sings clearly to the melody 'My favourite things' from the musical The Sound of Music. 

'My Psychopharmacelogist and I' is also one of the most critical songs from all the musical. It tells about the evolution of Diana and how her doctor try to find the correct medication for her and ends with Diana saying: "I don't feel anything." And the doctor replaying "patient stable." That sentece hammered itself into my brain and left me with cold feet for a week. 

Diana's character is best described through the song 'Superboy and the invisible Girl' in which the teenager compares herself with Gabriel, showing to the audience that hers is not a normal teenage-rant but a completly justified inferiority complex. The viewer sees how imposible it is for her to reach the high standards her brother has put. 

'It's gonna be good' is, on the other hand a perfect portrait of Dan, Diana's husband. He trys and hopes against hope to give his wife a daughter a normal life and in his desperation he denies the reality. In the end he's just a normal guy who loves his wife and doesn't know what to do or how to do it. 

The musical was recorded ilegally and you can find it whole in youtube. I don't really have a problem with how it is staged. There's a lot of effort put into it and while it relays heavilly on the complexity of the story and depth of the songs, the stage isn't very impressive - at least judging by the not so high quality videos. It has a big iron structure that forms all the scenery, being both the Goodman's house and the different hospitals. It plays a lot with the lights and illumination, while the structure stays put all the musical suffering minor changes. 

It is interesting that the house-structure is made of iron and glass, portraiting the fact that the musical is like spying on the private  life of a 'normal' family, as well as the fact that, even though living in a 'glass house' the characters don't seem to see each other. They have a lot of trouble communicating with each other - one of the mayor issues in the song 'You don't know Reprise'. I think that this incommunication is also one of the mayor reasons why Diana relays so heavilly on Gabriel. 

Some of the characters reactions are purely based on movements, which is why it is advisable to watch the recording even if it's not all that good, for you can hardly form yourself a good image of Dianas and Gabriel's relationship based purely on the CD. 

I can't recommend this musical enough, it doesn't have a single song I don't like and it's really very difficult for me to select only five for the top five, but here they go:

1. Aftershocks  -- sung by Gabriel. [starts at the minute 1:20]
2. I miss the mountains -- sung by Diana it is a very good window into this woman's felings
3. I'm alive -- sung by Gabriel [listening to this might contain spoilers]
4. Who's Crazy/ My Psychopharmacologist and I -- sung by Dan, Doctor FIne, Diana and ensemble [which is done by Dan, Natalie, Henry and Gabriel]
5. Why Stay? / A promise -- Diana, Natalie, Dan and Henry [this contains mayor spoilers as well as the songs how could I ever forget, it's gonna be good (reprise), why stay/ a promise, i'm alive (reprise) and the break) If you want to whatch the whole thing without spoilers, DON'T WATCH THIS VIDEO]