Next to Normal Coming to Broadway!! — Page 8

It looks like they just left off the Sunday performances...so I'm guessing an error...and that there will be two shows on Sunday.

---

there are $36 tickets for the last row of the mezz, and its not exactly an expansive theatre. there probably won't be a bad seat in the house (except maybe the row or 2 of the Orch if the Overhang is problematic)

The initial press release said spring. It was recorded just under 3 weeks ago, it does take some time to produce a CD I'd expect close to opening. Maybe a couple weeks after. I signed up for the mailing list on Sh-k-boom but I haven't gotten any emails so I'd assume they're still figuring things out.

Updated On: 3/2/09 at 12:11 AM

Since on page 7 of this thread I was going into detail about my problems with the inaccuracies and misrepresentation of mental illness in NEXT TO NORMAL, I just want to point something out as to why these untruths and misinformation are so dangerous.

Some people counter my arguments by saying, "well, it's just a musical, it's not real life, it doesn't have to be incredibly accurate, it's fiction," etc.

The problem that I have is that this show is presented and marketed with a very "real" sensibility, like "this is real life," and the way it is written makes it seem very truthful.

I was just looking at the new NEXT TO NORMAL Broadway website, and the two critics' quotes on the front page read the following:

In his review of the Arena Stage production, Peter Marks of The Washington Post, wrote, "NEXT TO NORMAL is a moving, blisteringly honest, and inordinately powerful new musical, sung with a wallop by a six-member cast that includes the astonishing Alice Ripley, and dexterously directed by Michael Greif. Writers Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey have stocked the musical with beautiful songs that get to the heart of the story- and simply get to the heart."

And Jayne Blanchard in The Washington Times called the show, "A transcendent production of a powerful new American musical with a bristling, contemporary rock score, smart lyrics and raw energy."

By selecting these quotes as a way of advertising the show, the producers, writers, and marketing team are presenting the show as "real," "honest," with "smart lyrics," a show that gets to the audience's heart.

They want their show to connect with the audience, so that people can look at what is being presented on stage as the truth, and for the audience to connect this story to their life, and perhaps reassess their situation dealing with this extremely serious, rarely explored on stage subject matter.

This is why NEXT TO NORMAL is not just simply a fictional musical.

It feels very honestly written, directed, and powerfully real, centered around a VERY SERIOUS subject matter.

So when the portrayals of mental illness being presented in the show are sensationalized pieces of misinformation, it becomes dangerous to the audience that is being told that what they are seeing on stage about the human condition is real and true.

---

Updated On: 3/11/09 at 07:46 PM

Next to Normal portrays mental illness as accurately as Greys Anatomy portrays a surgery wing of a hospital. It's not real life, it's heightened for entertainment purposes.

Oh lord. wheres my gian eyeroll, i need again.


YOU CAN'T TRY AND BLAME THE CREATIVE TEAM FOR AN AUDIENCE'S STUPIDITY.

oh, and you havent ****ing seen the show since it went to DC so stop commenting like you know its "dangerously untrue" because it's not.

I have mixed feelings about N2N, because, based on what I saw at Second Stage, Foster's right. If they're going to present the mom's illness as bipolar, they ought to do it responsibly. There is so much misinformation out there about this illness! That said, up until the anti-medication ending, I LIKED the NYC production and will definitely go over to the Booth to take another look at the changes they've made.

But if you doubt that people are influenced by the depiction of issues like this in theater and film, check out various posters' interpretations of the N2N plot and characters on this board. Some here even seem to think it's is a realistic portrayal of this illness.

The burden of taking on a subject that's so serious and so rarely tackled is that people who know and care a lot about the issue will look at it especially critically; I mean, there's a reason film and TV shows hire experts to make sure their plots make sense. They ACCEPT that what they show may influence people and want to make sure they get it right. A Broadway show shouldn't be any different...even art should be responsible.

I liked NEXT TO NORMAL at 2nd Stage.

I didn't have a problem with her cracking up in Costco, I didn't have a problem with Elvis giving her Electroshock Treatment.

I have mentally ill relatives. Not merely bipolar, by psychotic. The reason that NEXT TO NORMAL didn't piss me off was because I knew I was watching a piece of musical theater. It's not real, folks. It's fiction. The marketing team isn't claiming it's real, they're quoting a review. A review by the guy who loved GLORY DAYS.

They're not trying to present a story about mental illness, they're trying to present a story about how a family copes with disaster.

TDF tickets for the first preview are no longer available.

This link should work...
Music video