My thoughts on NEXT TO NORMAL (Long, possible spoilers)- Page 6

[jordangirl]

Posted: 2/7/08 at 7:13pm

Cassanrda ~ I think you're better off going for a youth ticket (can be purchased in advance) if you want to guarantee a seat. I may be wrong, but I think the student rush is IF anything's left available ~ and I don't think a lot has been. Especially for a weekend.

Yankee ~ The people next to me who didn't get the electricity-induced hallucination thing were in their 20s or 30s. The group of older men (more like the demographic you're discussing) next to me (one of whom I'm guessing is a big shot donor or something because someone with Second Stage came to talk with him before the show) seemed to get it just fine.

[KChenowethfan]

Posted: 2/7/08 at 8:01pm

When I saw it, there was a lot of laughter at very inappropriate places. Has anyone else experienced this?

I was part of a very, ahem, matinee audience.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 2/7/08 at 8:07pm

I'd need a few more details as to which places to know for sure.

[Craww]

Posted: 2/8/08 at 1:25am

Yeah. Without details, we're just going to assume you didn't know why it was funny.

[KChenowethfan]

Posted: 2/8/08 at 10:12pm

I can't remember all of the instances but some of them were when the doctor first tells the audience the diagnosis that Diana had, when the husband mentions (after her breakdown in Costco) that they will go see the doctor, and when the husband throws the music box towards the end of the show.

Updated On: 2/9/08 at 10:12 PM

[jordangirl]

Posted: 2/9/08 at 7:58am

I don't remember any there, but possibly it's the same thing as the inappropriate laughter that happens in Spring Awakening? People aren't comfortable with it?

With throwing the music box, it could depend on what specifically happened with the box. The other night when I saw it, it didn't break the first time and then when it did, some bits shot out towards the front row, which added a slight degree of humor to the tense situation.

[KChenowethfan]

Posted: 2/9/08 at 10:18am

Yeah, that is probably it. I just wondered if I had a particularly uncomfortable audience or whether this was a regular happening.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 2/9/08 at 10:28am

At the diagnosis part, I've never had it happen when I've seen it. But people have laughed at the pill instruction part. "The yellow pills are taken with food, but not the green ones. The green ones..."

With the box, that would be my guess. Especially since Dan's been so even-keeled up to that point. There is tension ~ like, he's thrown the box...is he going to turn and hit Diana or what?

[KChenowethfan]

Posted: 2/9/08 at 1:21pm

Yeah, I can understand some laughter at the pills part.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 2/9/08 at 1:23pm

Yeah, actually I've chuckled at that ~ it's so true when you read all the warnings and advisories on pills it's really a wonder any of us take anything!

[suzannefabulous]

Posted: 2/9/08 at 9:53pm

First off, I love this show. It is absolutely amazing. Now. Re: I Dreamed a Dance reprise. The cast is amazing, they do not need the crib to make the audience understand that she is thinking about her dead kid. Please make it go away.

[snl89]

Posted: 2/9/08 at 10:51pm

Ok, I saw the show about 2 weeks ago and I really don't know why I havn't thought to post my review about it before now haha (sorry, I figured it would make more sense just to post it in here than to make a whole new thread, but if a whole new thread would be better I can totally do that)

*preface: I wrote this a day or two after I saw the show, and since then I'm sure there have been lots of changes, so some of the things I mentioned may well have been changed by this point

----------------

The number one thing that I think surprised me was how freaking INCREDIBLE the was visually. Like... it's hands down THE most awesome, trippy staging/lighting/etc. I've ever seen. Truly, it is a treat for the eyes like WOAH. I just.. I could not get over it. It just looked SO COOL (especially Feeling Electric, which is pretty much THE trippiest most awesome thing of life). So major, major props to the creative team for planning the set, the lighting, and the over all use of space. In my two years of listening to Feeling Electric obsessively, I NEVER imagined it would LOOK as awesome as it did.


Performances:
They were all basically UNBELIEVABLE. And this is come one who was originally DEAD set on the previous cast a la Amy Spanger, Anthony Rapp, Annaleigh Ashford, etc. But really, there was not a single weak link I didn't think. The funny thing is, it DID take a little bit of time for Alice to grow on me, but by the end I thought she was brilliant. SO so good. I think the problem I had in the beginning was that I'm not the hugest fan of the sound of her voice- it's just a personal preference thing. But her acting and her singing ability were so top notch that by about 30 or so minutes in nothing else mattered. And Brian. OMG. can we discuss how SOMETHING about the way he plays the ending makes it the most heartbreaking thing ever, and I can't even pinpoint exactly what it is? I think it's just... the subtlety with which he does it. Like, it's sobbing, but it's very gentle sobbing. I don't know... but yeah. He's INCREDIBLE. And his voice is heavenly. Both Alice and Brian carried the show brilliantly, can EASILY win Tonys I think if the show is transfered (which it needs to be).

My personal favorite though (and I'm probably biased because I think he's gorgeous lol) was Aaron. Seriously, SERIOUSLY that boy is insane. Like.. I could not even IMAGINE a better Gabriel. I'm Alive was so fierce it's ridiculous. Again, like with Brian's performance, I can't quite put my finger on what made him so brilliant, but he just was. He somehow totally captured that "spirit" quality about Gabriel. Oh, and how the HECK does he bolt up like THREE flights of stairs multiple times during the course of one song and STILL manage to sing without being the slightest bit out of breath?? I don't understand that... haha. He must be in freakishly amazing shape.

Jenn was awesome too. I LOVE her voice. And I thought she especially shined in Superboy and Invisible Girl. For such a young person, she really knows how to layer the emotion in her voice in a very effective, touching way.

Asa and Adam were both wonderful as well. I'm afraid I still yearn for Anthony's "Feeling Electric", just because his voice has the perfect waily edge to it for that voice that gives it something extra, but that's not to undermine the fact that Asa does it fabulously as well.


Okay so as for the show itself:
imo, it's VERY near perfect. Truly, it is a brilliant brilliant show. They've made great cuts I think, and it's remarkably un-choppy considering it's still in its relatively early stages. The ONLY thing that I feel like could be fixed up is the beginning: like.. the first 15 minutes or so. Or basically up till Costco (which is absolutely hysterical, for the record). It's not bad the way it is, but I just felt (and my mom agreed) that it was a bit akward with the way they intertwined Let There Be Light and Another Day. And just.. the introduction of the story at first is a tad bit strange at the moment. I think especially if you don't know the story, you're kinda like "...wha?" But then once it gets to Costco and you realize that Diana has "mental problems" and all that it all comes together, and from that point on, it is KILLER.

So yeah, aside from the very beginning, I think they need to leave it preeetty much just as it is. Because all the rest of the staging and set up of it right now is pretty much flawless as is. And the ending, if it was akward a couple weeks ago, it sure ain't now. i LOVED the staging for the ending.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 2/9/08 at 11:43pm

Just got in from seeing it tonight and it was the best ever. Alice was in ~ but definitely dealing with some sickness/hoarseness. She coughed once during "I Miss the Mountains" and her voice broke a few times, but it played off because it was some of the really emotional ones. Still, even sick she's better than a lot of what's out there. I absolutely love it more and more every time I see it.

FWIW, the people sitting next to and close to me were subscribrers or in that more typical age-range and they all LOVED it as well. :) Yay!!