Next to Normal - Next to Good

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 3/9/08 at 9:17pm

Don't hate me for this, folks. I tried really hard to love the show. Really, really hard. I went in expecting to be wowed. For the first act, I was. But the show peaks at Feeling Electric. After that it's like falling into a deep, dark pit. My problem wasn't the subject matter, since I loved Spring Awakening and Speech and Debate. I think what bothered me was the imbalance between acts. The first act is flashy, with the up-tempo tunes. But then comes the second-act. It's depressing, grim, and a tad boring. I understand that you're supposed to feel like you're going downhill, since Diana's just spiraling at that point, but the effect falls short. To be honest, the only song I can remember from the second act is Growing Up Unstable. Everything else just felt like the same crushing song.

On a lighter note, the show isn't completely without strong points. The cast is fabulous, with Alice and Jennifer as the standouts. And the lighting design was very well done, especially in Feeling Electric.

I'm not going to write the show off as a total failure. Truth be told, I was loving the first act. But then everything just falls apart in act two. I understand that there are hundreds of people who love the show. I guess they're made of stronger stuff than I am.

5/10, since half the show is good.

Updated On: 3/9/08 at 09:17 PM

[Zeitoujo]

Posted: 3/9/08 at 9:19pm

I wanted so much to love it as well but I hated it. It was awful.

[verynewyorkcurious]

Posted: 3/9/08 at 9:22pm

So I'm not the only one.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 3/9/08 at 9:23pm

Oh no. Roscoe hated it too.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 3/9/08 at 9:27pm

Lmao...loved your title.

[Just_John]

Posted: 3/9/08 at 9:32pm

I hated it as well. I'm glad to finally know I wasn't the only one with this opinion.

[snl89]

Posted: 3/9/08 at 9:39pm

Ok, first off I'd just like to thank GlindatheGood22 for the review. Thank you for really taking the time to explain what you felt the show was lacking, and what you thought was good about it. It's refreshing to see a more negative review that isn't simply "uggg I hated it and it was horrible" :).


That said, I have a question for the others on this board who didn't like Next to Normal, because this has been bugging me:

I know GlindatheGood talked about the imbalance between the acts, but how do the rest of you feel like the show could actually be better? It seems like a lot of people who didn't like it feel like the idea is an interesting one, but that it's carried out in a very superficial, non-realistic way. Imparticular, I've heard people mention "how absurd the Feeling Electric scene is". And I'm just trying to wrap my brain around this, because I personally feel like the show would be loosing SO much without the "fantastical" aspects of the show. I think that the balance between realism and diana's more absurd/supernatural hallucinations is one of the best things the show has ggoing for it. And yet, reading the reviews that have been negative, it seems like 99% of the people who didn't like it felt it would be better if it was just stripped down to the dramatic heart of the show.

I guess I'm just trying to understand this in terms of what the creative team could do in order to make the show appeal to more people. Because right now it seems to be fairly 50/50 as to who likes it and who doesn't (though, maybe it's closer to about 70/30 and the negative reviews are just really sticking out to me? hopefully?). And it scares me because I feel like the people who don't like it have problems with the fundimental aspects of the show, so that no matter how smooth/un-choppy the creative manages to get it, the people who didn't like it this time around probably wouldn't like it in any other reincarnation. So I'd love to here from the very people who didn't like it, what YOU guys think could be done to make it better, that wouldn't involve completely changing the basis of the show.

Updated On: 3/9/08 at 09:39 PM

[AntonEgo]

Posted: 3/9/08 at 11:10pm

snl89, thanks for asking. I have a lot of opinions about this show. I posted some of them on another thread, but I do have a few ideas of what would make the show better for me, but of course this is just one person's opinion.

Right now, I don't like the show, but if it does transfer to Broadway, I'd give it another chance. There are a lot of positive elements to the show, so I don't know if I'd want it to go away completely. I should say that I saw it before some of the more recent changes were made. I heard that the Costco number has since been cut, which I'm very happy to hear. That song added nothing to the show.

My main problem with the show has to do with inconsistency more than the supernatural elements. I am one of those people who feel like it would be better if it was stripped to the dramatic heart of the show and I think taking out numbers like Costco, which are a completely different tone, helps that problem.

Also, I hate to say this because I loved Adam Chandler-Berat's performance, but I would rather get deeper into the Diana/Dan relationship, which I think is hard to do with the Natalie/Henry relationship.

The "Feeling Electric" scene bothers me because I feel it makes light of electric shock therapy.

If you'd like me to explain any more of these points, I'd be more than happy to at another time (it's getting pretty late).

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/9/08 at 11:13pm

My problem wasn't the subject matter, since I loved Spring Awakening and Speech and Debate.

How is Next to Normal, other than the fact that it has teenaged characters, remotely related to SA and Speech and Debate in subject matter? SA/Speech and Debate, I can kind of see, but honestly, even that's a stretch. So Next to Normal, seriously?

Updated On: 3/9/08 at 11:13 PM

[jordangirl]

Posted: 3/9/08 at 11:14pm

Anton, when was the last time you saw it? Before it opened, they made some changes that clarify that "Feeling Electric" is taking place in Diana's mind as a hallucination/delusion.

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 3/9/08 at 11:16pm

Emcee- I didn't mean to say that the three shows have similar plotlines. All I meant was that I'm usually able to deal with heavier material, so that wasn't what made me dislike N2N.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/10/08 at 12:47am

Oh, okay.

[bkonbroadway]

Posted: 3/10/08 at 5:14am

I liked it but I really wanted to LOVE it!

I did not like the girl who played the daughter. I loved her in SA, but it's like she was plucked right out of that show and put in this one and this is a different style. Her delivery of lines was abrupt and she had that SA sway the whole time that came off as "playing" quirky. She did have a nice voice for the most part, though.

Some of the lyrics were very hokey and seemed to say, "oh well this rhymes." I really wish I could remember what they were more specifically, but some of them just seemed cheezy.

Act 1 dragged for me. I hate it when I go to see a show and I keep thinking, "when is intermission?" For a bit I was thinking, "I should have read the playbill more because maybe there is no intermission. Is this a one-act???" Thank God for that big plot twist!! It saved the show for me.

Alice and Brian did a great job (ps when did they get old enough to play parents...I guess they did). Alice had A LOT of singing in this show (clearly...it's a musical) but she never got to that tear down the house moment that I was dying for the whole show!! She came close in a nice, tight harmony with the daughter....but that was it. Don't get me wrong, she sounded great, but she never gave me the chills as I thought she would.

The son (sorry I forget his name) was pretty darn incredible. He was very Rent meets Tommy. His voice was amazing!!

I think I liked Act 2 better because it was more stripped down and about the drama and not wildly conceptual. The duet around the end with the father and son brought me to tears. However, I wish the show would have ended on a more dramatic, cathartic, and less repetative note.

So those are my thoughts. Not really sure if that answers your question about what to change, but they're my thoughts, nonetheless.

[Zeitoujo]

Posted: 3/10/08 at 8:30am

It was awful and was a bunch of garbage. What a joke...

[jordangirl]

Posted: 3/10/08 at 8:42am

That's constructive.

[Zeitoujo]

Posted: 3/10/08 at 8:43am

No, it's called an opinion jordangirl. I still don't understand what people like about that show. I hated every minute of it. The only "good" part was Jenn Damiano.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 3/10/08 at 9:12am

I don't get all the devotion to NEXT TO NORMAL either. It just never ever came alive for me as an interesting piece of theatre, just a collection of gimmicks and borrowed plot elements, all of which have been done better elsewhere.

[exedore]

Posted: 3/10/08 at 9:20am

Controversial comment follows...

To put it very bluntly, a lot of the devotion comes from the heavily circulated bootleg of the NYMF reading (it's even mentioned in the rather thorough and almost certainly official Wikipedia entry), as the show played extremely well on audio in its earlier and longer form, combined with a consistent ability to get solid people with strong followings in the cast (Norbert/Sherie in 2002, Amy/Anthony in 2005, Sheri/BDJ/Asa now).

That and a lot of the songs just plain rock. I know I'd do Feeling Electric / Light in the Dark / Etc. as audition pieces.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 3/10/08 at 9:27am

It does sound like a couple of the changes they've made are good ideas. That Costco number really really really didn't fit at all.

[Zeitoujo]

Posted: 3/10/08 at 9:50am

A lot of the songs didn't fit. It was a wreck.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 3/10/08 at 10:25am

Zeitoujo ~ The "constructive" reference was because you've already made your opinion clear. What we're discussing is some of the specifics that people feel are wrong and could be improved.

Your second response is better...but specifically which songs and how?

I think a lot of the devotion also comes from it touching people on a deeper level emotionally. When that happens, you're bound to get people who are utterly devoted to a show. It's called passion.

[Zeitoujo]

Posted: 3/10/08 at 10:28am

Umm I don't remember the names of the songs... I tried to block them out. Especially that one about Costco... HAHAAHHAHA

[tonytonytony]

Posted: 3/10/08 at 10:29am

Next to Normal -
WOW what an emotional rollercoaster ride. It felt like I was back in the audience for the electrifying “Tommy”. This was a wonderful Off-Broadway production. This show had great performances and truly touching. A stand out performance by 16 year old Jennifer Damiano that was in the original cast I saw of Spring Awakening as the youngest performer in that cast. It also starred Brian d'Arcy James (“Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”), who did a great performance! This ranks as one of my favorite off-Broadway experiences.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 3/10/08 at 11:33am

Zeitoujo ~ I thought you said you saw it this weekend. If so, you didn't see "Costco". It's gone.

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 3/10/08 at 12:14pm

Zeitoujo if we went to the same performance then you definitely did not hear or see "Costco"