"Perfect for US": The NEXT TO NORMAL love thread!- Page 4

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 9:34pm

Agreed. The changes in the staging have all improved the material GREATLY since 2ST. Everything seems so much more cohesive now and uniform.

[singer73192]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 9:35pm

Just got my tickets for Thursday April 9th. SO EXCITED!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:17pm

one small dialogue change I noticed over the weekend....

in the final scene, when Dan is talking to Dr. Madden, on Friday night, Dr. Madden said, "Do you want to come in and talk?"

The line is now, "Do you want me to give you some names of people you can talk to?"

Presumably, someone pointed out that if he's still treating Diana he couldn't treat Dan, as it would be a conflict of interest.
Updated On: 3/29/09 at 11:17 PM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:21pm

That's weird...

So, does it still end with Dan going in to get help from Dr. Madden?

It's Diana, BTW :)
Updated On: 3/29/09 at 11:21 PM

[jordangirl]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:22pm

Even if he's not treating Diana (it's Diana...NOT Diane), it could still be a conflict of interest. So that's good that they're using that alternative.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:25pm

So, does it still end with Dan going in to get help from Dr. Madden?

He walks off with him to (presumably) get the list of names that Dr. Madden mentions.
Updated On: 3/29/09 at 11:25 PM

[KingKong]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:26pm

Hopefully Dr. Fine isn't on the list.

[Kad]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:27pm

Unless valium is Dan's favorite color, too.

[manic_magic_n2n2]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:57pm

LOL.

[lstbutifulgrl2]

Posted: 3/30/09 at 12:45am

there were some other lyrical changes throughout the show from Friday to today.

[heo1128]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 2:48am

^Like what?

In I am the One Reprise, Dan sings "and now you act like you don't give a damn, like you never knew who I am". Is that grammatically correct? Shouldn't it be 'never knew who I was'? Something about that just sounds off to me.

[KingKong]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 3:09am

who cares if its gramatically correct, it wouldn't sound good if it was "never knew who I was".

[heo1128]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 3:23am

Oh I know, it would also change the name of the song. I'm not saying they should change it. But upon listening to it just now it caught me off guard. However, I highly doubt the audience notices it in that emotional moment.
Updated On: 3/31/09 at 03:23 AM

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 4:18am

So, I had a theory while watching the show the other day, and I wanted to know what you guys think.

Does anyone else think that Gabe might be a ghost? He is presented throughout the entire show as a psychological thing, but I think it works on a different level if he's a ghost. If it's true, then all of the electro-shock therapy in the world wouldn't be able to treat it, and Diana may not be crazy at all, or she was driven to craziness by the ghost. That would also explain why Dan can see him. The therapy doesn't work, because it isn't psychological. In fact, one of the lyrics in I'm Alive is 'When I appear it's not so clear if I am a single spirit or I'm flesh and blood.'

I dunno, just something I was thinking about.

[KingKong]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 4:31am

I had a discussion on the now deleted livejournal group 50000 Volts about this. I think it is an interesting theory. I don't remember the case i made but i believe there is textual evidence that can support that theory.

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 4:39am

Hah, I am glad I am not the only one who thought that this might be the case! I half expected someone to hop on here and call me stupid. Updated On: 3/31/09 at 04:39 AM

[KingKong]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 4:42am

Oh, i'm sure someone will call you stupid. it just wont be me (at least not because of this)

[iamdangoodman]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 7:46am

I guess it's a little late to do a SPOILER ALERT for this thread, eh? I don't know from ghosts, but I don't think the show makes a definitive statement that Diana is crazy and that's one of the things I love about it. I see him as the presence of trauma, unresolved in the family, and affecting each person in different ways. If this were Shakespeare we wouldn't be worried about one character 'seeing' a character that's not there. Or if it were any number of current plays,or a billion movies for that matter. For some reason here people jump to the conclusion that Diana must be crazy to 'see' it. But the play seems to be really asking that question. And she certainly is. She doesn't buy it any longer that she needs to be medicated for these things. "There's got to be another way." And when she leaves, he stays. And Dan SEES him. And may always have seen him. Ghost, not a ghost, the presence is real and haunting and needs to be dealt with.

One theory I have is that too many people who write about the show (here and in papers) have seen several iterations of it. I guess from the threads that Feeling Electric was not at all ambiguous about whether Diana was crazy. But as the show's matured, so has the understanding of the issue (from the writers) it seems, so that now it's a show about real people coping with a f***ing impossible load and a confused medical establishment trying and flailing in their efforts to help. I go back to the line where she says, as if she's just discovering the connection, that she was medicated because the grief was 'pathological'. What's implied right there is that was not the right diagnosis. And she's been fighting her way out of that box for 16 years. Meanwhile Dan has been sailing along as the apparently 'normal', 'healthy' one and it's his denial that's driving half the equation of Diana's condition. This dynamic is physicalized in the show in the form of Gabe. Does that make him a ghost? Or just a storytelling device that we get to have in the theater that cracks open this usually deeply private and inexplicable place in the human condition, this place of trauma around a loss, and allows the general public to touch what to many will (happily) never touch them directly.

[KingKong]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 8:07am

The overall story of feeling electric is the same as the current form. It was no more or less clear. There was the same textual evidence then that there is now that Gabe could be a ghost. The fact that Dan CAN see him lends credence to the theory, and the way Bobby plays it (during Just Another Day, I believe) as he heads upstairs he starts to turn left to head toward the center, and Gabe is standing there, he pauses for a second then turns back to the right and exits. It's very brief, but it's there. Dan accepts Dr. Madden's offer for a list of names of doctors to see but there is evidence it doesn't help as during Light, Dan acknowledges Gabe, as if he's still seeing him, happily, which again, lends credit to the theory. I don't know if I believe it, but I have seen the evidence that it could be there. the only way to know for sure would be to sit down with Brian.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 8:18am

Is it wrong that I bought another ticket to see it this Sunday? That will be my 4th time already....

[KingKong]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 8:25am

probably

[yay_gerb]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 8:46am

no no not wrong at all. after i saw hair i bought 3 more tickets when i got home. plus its good for the economy! i wouldn't mind frequenting this show. its a great show with really great music and talented actors. i'm very happy they already have a cast recording made.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 10:22am

If you're on Facebook,
become a fan of Alice Ripley here: http://tinyurl.com/ca83q3

become a fan of NEXT TO NORMAL here: http://tinyurl.com/d7gzau

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 10:23am

PS: Judas, where the hell did you get that avatar?! Hah!

[changinandhow]

Posted: 3/31/09 at 3:43pm

http://stone-thrower.com/2009/03/20/kafka-illustrates-next-to-normal/