OC Theatre Guild’s preview of Next to Normal has great insight:
OC Theatre Guild’s preview of Read full article | Buy Tickets | More about Next to Normal“one throughline connecting most of the Chance’s musicals is that they are smart, challenging and unafraid of probing difficult, uncomfortable subjects. Which gets us back to Next of Normal, a musical about a very uncomfortable subject (mental illness) but one entertaining enough to play for nearly 800 nights on Broadway and garner 11 Tony Award Nominations. Plus, it was literate enough to become only the eighth musical, at that time, to win the Pulitzer.”
“It’s also unusual how Diana’s story is such a harrowing white-knuckle ride through the manic highs and debilitating lows of bipolar disorder but yet also, at times, is so hilarious.”
“Next To Normal explores how we cope with extreme emotional difficulties and acute mental health issues, individually and as families.”
“Chance has built a large part of its artistic reputation on a blend of solid productions of musicals that ether address serious, problematic concerns like racism (“Ragtime,” “Parade”) and sexuality (“Fun Home”) or tell the kind of stories —-and feature the kinds of characters–that aren’t exactly traditional Sunday matinee fare, from the axe-wielding Lizzie Borden to the Loch Ness Monster.”
“One throughline connecting most of the Chance’s musicals is that they are smart, challenging and unafraid of probing difficult, uncomfortable subjects.”
“But what truly elevates the story of “Next to Normal” is how Diana’s journey defies what many in the audience might be predisposed to view her as: a victim.
Jocelyn A. Brown, who plays Diana and gets to enact the intoxicating heights and crushing depths her character oscillates between”
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