Next To Normal
Next To Normal
#1Next To Normal
Posted: 2/26/09 at 3:38pm
hey everyone
I know we've had any posts here and opinions about Next To Normal, but....
I have a question to those who have sen it and know the music and story..
what's good about it? I want to see it, but know nothing but the basics....What made you guys a fan? Is it worth it?
Roscoe
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#2re: Next To Normal
Posted: 2/26/09 at 3:42pm
Nothing was good about it except the performances. The story is a grab bag of dysfunctional family suburban angst cliches and it had a tiresome pop/rock score. I still have no idea as to what people liked about it.
I understand a good deal of work has been done.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
WiCkEDrOcKS
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/13/04
#2re: Next To Normal
Posted: 2/26/09 at 3:46pm
I just heard the newest version of the show and the score has greatly improved (it was very good before but now is pretty great) and is really no longer full of rock ballads. There are a few but they fit with the context of the scene...the second act is now much more quiet in terms of the music, a lot more true to the diseases that the show sets out to investigate, and is still really beautiful.
Plus, Alice Ripley is brilliant as Diana.
I hope a lot of the people who didn't like it or had problems with it when it was at 2ST give it another chance. It seems to have changed a lot. For the better.
Updated On: 2/26/09 at 03:46 PM
#3re: Next To Normal
Posted: 2/26/09 at 3:49pmthanks guys...I think both of your opinions complimented each other nicely!
#4re: Next To Normal
Posted: 2/26/09 at 4:32pmI know almost nothing about the 2ST production, but the Arena version (which I saw three times) was near perfection. The performances are out of this world, and I don't think the score is tiresome at all.
#6re: Next To Normal
Posted: 2/26/09 at 4:43pm
I only saw the show at Second Stage. I was absolutely appalled by the recklessness with which these authors handled such serious issues as mental illness. The heroine of the show decides to go off her medications treating her bipolar disorder (that was somehow caused by a traumatic event - which isn't the way bipolar disorder is caused) because she needs to find the way to feel better in her "soul," - which, the way the book writers present, is all she needs.
The show gives the message that when you have a serious neurological condition that can only be treated with medication, you can throw your medication away, and find peace within yourself and somehow be better.
There was also an electro-convulsive therapy scene that was treated like a mad scientist rock 'n' roll number.
The show that I saw at Second Stage was completely misguided, uninformed, and offensive. I look forward to giving the revamped version a second chance, in hopes that the great acting can be matched with a smart book. We shall see.
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
colorandlight2
Understudy Joined: 12/5/08
#7re: Next To Normal
Posted: 2/26/09 at 6:10pm
"The heroine of the show decides to go off her medications treating her bipolar disorder (that was somehow caused by a traumatic event - which isn't the way bipolar disorder is caused) because she needs to find the way to feel better in her "soul," - which, the way the book writers present, is all she needs. "
I believe that in musical theatre such things can happen. If this was the ordinary story of any regular woman struggling with neurological diseases in a rudementary fashion, I don't know how many people would want to see that. Just like film and literature, the theatre is able to take liberties romanticizing things as they confront them.
The Next to Normal that I saw at Arena Stage was an exquisite, original piece that is an example of the way a modern musical with rock music can be effective.
heo1128
Broadway Star Joined: 7/9/08
#8re: Next To Normal
Posted: 2/26/09 at 6:36pmI love the show, but all bias aside, I think it's good to know going in that the show is almost completely sung through, hardly any dialogue. But it's not really like a rock opera ala RENT, the songs flow into one another. Updated On: 2/26/09 at 06:36 PM
TheCharleston
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/18/08
#9re: Next To Normal
Posted: 2/26/09 at 6:54pmAlice Ripley for President. She's better than Idina Menzel.
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