NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama- Page 3
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/21/06
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#51
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:00pm
"Either Anna in the Tropics or I Am My Own Wife or Doubt."
I seem to remember it being I Am My Own Wife, but maybe it was DOUBT. In the case of the former, CAROLINE should have won, and in the case of the latter, it should have been a runner-up.
"And for the record, you don't have to be a hater (which admittedly, I am) to acknowledge that, especially in a year with so many strong dramas, Next to Normal did not deserve to win the Pulitzer. "
"What strong dramas? The Vibrator Play? Next Fall?"
Exactly. I'm not a fan of NEXT TO NORMAL, but it was bold and ambitious. It tackled a very difficult subject and made it dramatic and involving. What other musical is even remotely like it? I think the Pulitxer makes sense. But still, Wow.
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#52
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:02pmdon't like the show, but thrilled Next Fall didn't win
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#53
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:04pm
I'm thrilled for N2N, which I just saw last Friday.
Also seeing finalist "The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Diety" Wednesday here in Minneapolis. Wooo!
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/06
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#54
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:05pm
I really liked the show (not entirely thrilled with the ending, but I liked the rest), so I'm happy. Congratulations to them! 
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#55
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:08pmWell, good for them!
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#56
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:15pmI just...I don't know. I think the standards to win the Pulitzer as a musical have been set so high, and...Next to Normal, really? Really? I'm not going to pretend to have seen all of the nominees (other than In the Next Room, which I liked well enough but was surprised to see nominated, but Next to Normal just seems so forgettable when compared to the likes of Rent, Sunday in the Park with George, A Chorus Line, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, South Pacific... But, again, I can't compare all of this year's nominees on their own merits.
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#57
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:16pm
adamgreer, there are things not on Broadway that were fantastic and deserved a look. CMT and Brother/Sister Plays come to mind immediately. Why Torture is Wrong...
I am not a N2N hater. I enjoy the show. That being said, it is obvious that it's not worthy of a Pulitzer. I would have been happy for it had it won Best Musical at the Tonys. But the Pulitzer is for book and lyrics, which are easily Next to Normal's weak points. Too many good plays were overlooked this year.
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/03
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#58
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:20pmI think everyone here shocked at this award should take a serious look at some past winners. I'm sorry, but I don't think THE SHADOW BOX or GIN GAME are all that deserving. NORMAL is decidedly among the best. I mean we also have TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON on the list. NEXT TO NORMAL is an ambitious show that absolutely captures a particular aspect of American life. I think it's as deserving as a show about performance artists on the lower east side. The Pulitzer has always been given to an ecclectic mix.
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#59
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:31pmThose are all examples from a while ago. The winners in the past decade have all been deserving. Of the ones I have seen and/or read, Dinner with Friends, Proof, I Am My Own Wife, Rabbit Hole, August: Osage County, and Ruined were all MORE than deserving.
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#60
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:31pmDouble Updated On: 4/12/10 at 05:31 PM
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/03
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#61
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:35pmI disagree about RABBIT HOLE, frankly as do many people, so it's not entirely about older awards vs. new.
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#62
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:38pmOk, even if you disagree about Rabbit Hole (which for the record is in my top 3 of those plays I listed), that's only 1 out of about 10. Both the Gin Game and Shadow Box were from the 1970s. Even many of the ones from the 90s were deserving (Lost in Yonkers, Angels, Rent, Wit).
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#63
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:40pm
I consider this a well-deserved honor, and regard N2N as a terrific theatrical experience.
(I was trembling at the thought that something like NEXT FALL might get it - but thankfully intelligence went into this year's decision.)
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#64
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:41pmI realize I am opening a HUGE can of worms, but RENT is hardly any more deserving of a Pulitzer Prize than NEXT TO NORMAL.
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#65
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:45pmSo no winner next year?
Wanting life but never knowing how
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#66
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:46pmRENT has a book. Period. I don't even care about the difference in quality. Rent has a book, N2N doesn't.
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#67
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:46pmHow wonderful! This REALLY deserved it!
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/03
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#68
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:47pmTotally agree, D2. For all its strengths, the second act remains an unfinished blur. And I love RENT, as long as it's singing.
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#69
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:50pm
In the Next Room was a finalist??
N2N just doesn't do it for me. I can still hear Alice screeching - "You don't know, you don't know...."
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#70
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:51pm
"RENT has a book. Period. I don't even care about the difference in quality. Rent has a book, N2N doesn't."
That is a statement that could only be made by someone who has no understanding at all of what the term "book" means in musical theater.
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#71
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:51pm
A powerful rock musical that grapples with mental illness in a suburban family and expands the scope of subject matter for musicals.
I gather the award was won on the fact that it is a)a fully original musical not based on a previous source and b) tackling some complex issues. I thing it's important that a true original like this is being commended. That said, I admired the show more than actually enjoying it. I found it distancing instead of involving, but it did leave a lot to think about afterwords, and that's never a bad thing.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#72
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:54pm
I realize I am opening a HUGE can of worms, but RENT is hardly any more deserving of a Pulitzer Prize than NEXT TO NORMAL.
I agree 100%. Next to Normal is far more deserving of this award than Rent was.
RENT has a book. Period. I don't even care about the difference in quality. Rent has a book, N2N doesn't.
N2N has just as much of a book as Rent does. I would argue the book in N2N tells the story better than the book of Rent does.
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#73
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:54pmAgreed, TimesSquareRegular. The way the term "book" is bandied around here by "those in the know" is downright hilarious.
NEXT TO NORMAL wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama#74
Posted: 4/12/10 at 5:57pm
That is a statement that could only be made by someone who has no understanding at all of what the term "book" means in musical theater.
I consider the book of RENT to be all of the sung-through recitative-style dialogue. It functions the same way an opera's recitative does (which is the point since it's based on La Boheme). Next to Normal is just song after song, with a few spoken lines of book (which admittedly RENT doesn't have). But I consider the sung-through parts between the actual SONGS of Rent (the arias) to be the book (the recitative). So it's not that I don't understand what "book" means...it's that I see the book of RENT as something different than most people. You know... the way Larson intended it.
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