Next to Normal? — Page 2

Well, I was fortunate enough not to have a paranoid schizophrenic drug addict as a mother, so I guess I just can't know what N2N was talking about.

More like bipolar and/or manic depressive, which ended up causing hallucinations And actually, let me tell you, I think a lot more people can relate than most people would think. I know I can, at least. Granted my mom wasn't quite as bad off as Diana- okay, not nearly as bad off- but she's certainly struggled with bipolar dissorder and stuff. And my mom's not the only person I know who's struggled with mental illness on some level. It's funny how it's still such a touchy subject, when depression and bipolar is really something that a LOT of people experience. We have no problem going to the doctor and getting help with broken bones, but yet when it comes to very real, treatable mental illness, there's still this estigma around it like everyone who experiences depression is crazy or "messed up" or something. ANYWAY, I'm getting off track and rambly here lol. Basically, my point is, it's a pretty relatable and important issue I think :)

As for the show being tired and hackneyed, what can I say. I was bored senseless. It all felt very very familiar, like a musical version of AMERICAN BEAUTY or an episode of SIX FEET UNDER, it was working very very hard to be very very daring, and I just never felt it for a minute.

C'est la vie.

Alright,I suppose I can respect that a little more now that you explained. I guess I was thinking more along the lines of musical theater and not so much in the realm of TV/movies/etc, where these issues HAVE been more widely explored. But still, I feel like it's very innovative for Broadway.

---

Updated On: 3/4/08 at 11:46 AM

And having grown up in a family that was SO normal we're now "dysfunctional" because no one knows what to do with someone from a happy well-balanced family does NOT have to hamper your engagement with the show or its ability to touch you. In no way shape or form does it even remotely resemble my personal family story, but it still hits a nerve and touches me deeply.

---

^ See, I feel the same way about Spring Awakening as you feel about Next to Normal. Different things touch and move different people in different ways. That's why god made chocolate and vanilla.

edited for clarification

---

Updated On: 3/4/08 at 12:00 PM

I don't think the plot of N2N is hackneyed nor traditional. Where else have they featured the controversial practice of ECT so heavily?

My objection to the show is the traditional and hackneyed way such a unique subject was treated.

---

I have tickets for saturday, i can't wait.
Question, will this be awkward to see with my mother? (She's seen rent with me and that was fine but i would never go with her to say Spring Awakening or Avenue Q... just wondering why i should expect)

---

okay, no that sounds fine. I just don't know a lot about the show (and am trying to keep it that way since i think that adds something more when you see it) so i didnt know if it had a highly sexual content or whatever (ie spring awakening)

thanks though, I really can't wait.

---

yeah the only thing that's even remotely objectionable about the show is that the Fword getes dropped about 2 dozen times

From what I can decipher from YouTube clips, its look like early recordings of Next to Normal/Feeling Electric started out as a satiric portrait of a family but it has evolved into a much more touching melodrama.

I think there's enough distance in satiric portraits that you aren't necessarily required to delve too specifically into a character's mental life. But that distance goes out the window once you beg the audience to care about the character and her mental illness. And thats where N2N at 2nd Stage falls flat.

The woman's illness makes no sense -- bipolar folks aren't hallucinating. If she is, then she's completely misdiagnosed. And the treatment she receives is only reflective of artificial, hackneyed stage concoctions -- not what would be doled out but even the most perfunctory mental health practitioner.

Those are serious and fairly amateurish flaws that need to be corrected.

Irregardless, Alice Ripley gives one of the most touching performances I can remember. I found a lot to admire in this production. I enjoyed the score and the way they told the tale. The show has found its heart, but its sorely lacking a brain at this point.

I may just be playing devil's advocate here, but I have to wonder if the medical technicalities aren't intended to be realistic. It just doesn't seem right for the show to have gone through such a long development process and still arrived with such inaccuracies if it was meant to be realistic. I think, especially given the fact that the idea of the son's presence is a bit supernatural on its own, there's an element of asking you to suspend your disbelief.

---

Liverpool---

No. I will not just go away somewhere dark and secluded. I am as allowed to post on why I detest something as others are to continually post over and over again about how joyous and perfect they think something is.

Don't like what I write? Don't read it.

---

"only you seem to detest anything that is int he slightest way good. and if you keep posting in threads im posting its hard to not read your so called posts."

Gosh. So we disagree. Goodness gracious me and mine. I guess I must change my notions of quality to conform to your standards.

Okay.

Here goes:

NEXT TO NORMAL is a masterwork. It will outlast Shakespeare and The Bible. The acting was of the highest imaginable standard, and the music has been known to cure cancer. Glory Hallelujah, NEXT TO NORMAL must be seen and admired by all sentient beings.

Happy now, Liver?

---

But I just said that NEXT TO NORMAL is the greatest achievement in the entire history of human endeavor. Being in the theatre itself has been shown to restore eyesight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. The aisles are littered with canes and wheelchairs cast away by those who have been rendered able to walk again by this astonishing miracle of a show.

See NEXT TO NORMAL! Your very soul's salvation depends upon it!

---