NEXT TO NORMAL Reviews

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 12:48am

Today is Wednesday, the 15th of April, which marks the official opening of Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkley's much-acclaimed, heavily-anticipated 'baby' NEXT TO NORMAL. After successful runs at Off-Broadawy's 2ST and Arena Stage, the Booth Theatre is the new home for this new tuner. Let us welcome the enchanting and uber-talented Alice Ripley back to The Great White Way where she undoubtedly belongs, joined onstage by J. Robert Spencer, Aaron Tveit, Adam Chanler-Berat, Louis Hobson, and of course, Jennifer Damiano. I'd like to personally take a second and wish this one the absolute - all personal ties and bias aside - this is truly an original piece of theatre, I haven't seen the latest incarnation yet, but let me say, that I surely welcome it with open mind and open arms. Break legs, all! Love and best to the cast and crew! Post the OFFICIAL reviews here!

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 1:02am

There is already a thread for this.

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?thread=994907&dt=42&boardid=1

[ZONEACE]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 1:04am

which has gotten a little out of hand. Lets leave the other thread, and just repost that review here.

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 1:17am

Plus, it's not "official" until I start 'em!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 11:06am

I knew it.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 11:13am

lol.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 11:19am

Did Brantley review this? I hope so. I know it's biased, but for reason his reviews mean more to me than Isherwood.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 11:20am

Well, despite often being an ass, he's a better writer. And, you know, chief critic of The New York Times. So it's not like your bias is arbitrary.

FWIW, he reviewed it at Second Stage.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 11:40am

Brantley was at the Saturday matinee, so one can assume he'll be writing the review.

[alliez92092]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 11:40am

He was spotted at a performance last week so I wouldn't be surprised if he is the one who reviews it, especially considering he reviewed the Off-Broadway production.

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 3:28pm

Makes sense to me.

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 4:18pm

per the "other" thread, amNY's Review follows:

"Alice Ripley is absolutely fierce. Like Sherie Rene Scott, Idina Menzel or Julia Murney, Ripley brings an electrifying, urgent intensity to edgy rock musicals. And Ripley?s luminous ferocity is displayed to brilliant perfection in ?Next to Normal.?

...

Simply put, ?Next to Normal? is truly one of the most powerful, surprising and invigorating original musicals in recent memory, reminding us how it?s possible for contemporary musical theater to hook an audience entirely through the strength of its storytelling. This dynamic musical should not be missed."



Updated On: 4/15/09 at 04:18 PM

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 6:46pm

Matthew doesn't like it (surprise!):

You might wish that this ordinary family, which lives in an ordinary house on an ordinary street in Ordinary Town, U.S.A., would want to include you in their world - but no. If this clan, the doctors that treat and mistreat them, and the lovestruck teen neighbor who populate Next to Normal are too consumed with their own concerns to pay attention to each other, you won't have a much better chance.

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/index.html

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 6:52pm

The Bergen Record is Very Positive:

""Next to Normal," which opened Wednesday night at the Booth Theatre, is an exciting leap into the possibilities of musical theater.

Beginning with the familiar subjects of mental illness and family conflict, it creates a fresh, intelligent, compassionate and extremely touching experience.

The show has been significantly improved from the already distinctive version that was presented off-Broadway a year ago. If not for a frustrating cast change, it would be firing on every cylinder."

http://www.northjersey.com/entertainment/stage/nexttonormalbl041609.html

Updated On: 4/15/09 at 06:52 PM

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 6:58pm

Variety is Positive:

Unlike the bipolar manic-depressive at the center of "Next to Normal," who draws no lasting salvation from her trials with different medications, this original new pop-rock musical has benefited unequivocally from treatment. Composer Tom Kitt, writer-lyricist Brian Yorkey and director Michael Greif have made a lot of smart changes en route to Broadway, giving the show a more assertive personality, a more consistent tone, sharper focus and greater depth to its relationships. While its weaknesses have not been entirely erased, they are outweighed by the intimate musical's ambition, sincerity and heightened emotional involvement

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117940055.html?categoryid=33&cs=1

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 7:00pm

Entertainment Weekly gives the show an A:

"It's a tough sell: a rock musical about mental illness. One or two people losing their marbles is pretty much de rigeur in a play; where would Shakespeare, O'Neill, Williams, or Tracy Letts (August: Osage County) be without it? But composer Tom Kitt and lyricist-librettist Brian Yorkey chose to devote two hours and 20 minutes (and nearly 40 songs) to this generally unappealing subject; the result, in Next to Normal, is incongruously, sometimes agonizingly beautiful."

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20272677,00.html

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 7:06pm

I like [title of show], but I love how David Rooney describes it, in a list of failed small-scale musicals, as "self-congratulating artistic masturbation."

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 7:59pm

AP looks like a rave:

There are no easy answers to be found in "Next to Normal," a startling, emotion-drenched musical about one family's attempt to cope with mental illness. The show is an impressive achievement, a heartfelt entertainment that has found its way back to New York after an invaluable out-of-town retooling.

http://www.metronews.ca/ottawa/entertainment/article/213717--mental-illness-shatters-family-in-broadway-musical-next-to-normal

[alliez92092]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 8:24pm

Very Positive from Chicago Tribune

"The show?s lyrics ponder memory loss, depression and confusion. A typical musical number is ?My psychopharmacologist and I.? This not only is a serious, substantial, dignified and musically sophisticated new American work, intensely staged by Michael Greif, but a frequently moving picture of a empathetic nuclear family whose members are struggling, like many of us, to take care of themselves and each other, and to keep the stitches in the fraught daily fabric of their everyday lives. "

http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/the_theater_loop/2009/04/next-to-normal-on-broadway-when-normal-is-so-achingly-out-of-reach.html

[jagfkb]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 8:33pm

Word of Mouth (sorry, no link, but it's up) is two raves and a mixed to negative... really, I hate Steven...

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 8:34pm

This is all very promising.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 8:36pm

"Word of Mouth (sorry, no link, but it's up) is two raves and a mixed to negative... really, I hate Steven..."

Me too.

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 8:38pm

Word of Mouth:

http://www.broadway.com/Broadway-com-VIDEO-ON-DEMAND-Word-Of-Mouth-Reviews/broadway_information_html/5015935

[jagfkb]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 8:41pm

He's just so... easy to hate. He's the average college theatregoer in every way, but hates everything, and has the critical vocabulary of a toad. Also, he ONLY knew Christine Embersole when reviewing Blithe Spirit? ANGELA LANSBURY, YOU NIT WIT!!!!
Updated On: 4/15/09 at 08:41 PM

[johng428]

Posted: 4/15/09 at 8:54pm

He bugged me in the review as well. I was hoping that Barbara was one of the three Word of Mouth reviewers. She is always entertaining to watch.