Review: Next to Normal 4/4/09 matinee (small spoilers)- Page 2

[KingKong]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:11pm

The song makes a fictional doctor look bad, so you're offended? what the **** is wrong with you? You do realize that in many cases, that's the way drug therapy actually works. The goal is simply to make the patient not feel anything. I'VE EXPERIENCED IT. The song is funny, and true (not universally true, but true in some cases).

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:12pm

Again with the crappy personal attacks. I dislike the way it portrays therapy and find it to be very wierd how they try to make it funny. It isn't, especially when it gives a very untrue view on therapy and gives audiences the notion that all people who see therapists feel that way.

[KingKong]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:14pm

IT'S NOT UNTRUE. It is true in some cases. there are some doctors who actually do practice drug therapy like that.

YOU ARE WRONG. factually wrong. this isn't about your opinion, this is about you just being flat out wrong.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:15pm

There's a way to disagree with someone without acting like you are, kingkong.

The name-calling because someone disagrees with you is uncalled for and you seriously need to relax because no one's going to take you seriously on these boards if all you post about is N2N and how flawless it is. I love the show but it's got its flaws.

And I happen to disagree with AndAllThatJazz22's comment but I'm not flipping a sh*t about it. Calm down and at least attempt to be respectful because no one disrespected you for no reason.

[jake6970]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:15pm

Wait, tell me again how is gives the audience the notion that all therapists feel that way? I might have missed that part. I thought that the show was about one family's story...

[KingKong]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:17pm

exactly jake. the song gives the audience the notion that DR. FINE IS LIKE THAT, not that all doctors are like that. Just like it gives the audience the notion that Dan, is the way he is, not that all husbands of wives suffering from a serious mental disorder are like that.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:17pm

KingKong, you have a very baby-ish way of disagreeing with people.

Drug therapy is NOT meant to make patients feel nothing, it is meant to find the problem and fix it. It also makes it seem as if the patient is puring his/her heart out while the doctor kicks back and relaxes. Completely false, being told confidential 'deepest and darkest secrets' is like being emotionally punched in the face. You try doing the job.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:22pm

This show is the first broadway show (at least the first show in an extremely long time) to deal with these issues that people are very uninformed about. When it comes to unfimiliar subject matter, people are going to believe what they are told... weather or not it is false information. I'm not sure that people are going to understand that Diana's story is not everyone's story. Not everyone has to deal with 'the big bad doctor', but many uninformed people will think that all cases look like that and it's not true.

[jake6970]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:26pm

That's the audience's fault and no one else's. No creative team should have to be forced to censor their show due to an audience being unable to differentiate fact from fiction in a MUSICAL. Simple as that.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:28pm

jake,

totaly agree with you about audiences needing to know that N2N is fiction, but the creative team has the responsibility to feed the audience with accurate information.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:29pm

Wait...so shows are supposed to depict life exactly as it is for everyone?

My brooms don't fly or allow me to! I never had a nanny, but my babysitters never flew in by umbrella and took me on adventures or tried to feed me brimstone and treacle. Shall I go on? Yes, I shall. I have in fact worked with people in prison and none of them do song and dance numbers to tell about why they're in there! I think I was misled into thinking THAT happens!

Give me a break!

next to normal (and most shows actually...Grey Gardens possibly being the one exception) is not and never has been presented as a documentary. That song is totally from Diana's perspective and her delusions. It is in no way from the doctor's perspective. She's projecting onto him, which DOES in fact happen. He is unaware of what she's doing in the song (not dialogue) because it is HER FANTASY.

And as far as this... Completely false, being told confidential 'deepest and darkest secrets' is like being emotionally punched in the face. You try doing the job. Aren't you like 14? So how would you know what it feels like to do that job?

Updated On: 4/5/09 at 09:29 PM

[jake6970]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:30pm

I don't think you understand that that isn't inaccurate information....depending on the situation. Just because most doctors are not like that does not mean none of them are. If you're at all familiar with mental illness, you would know that people frequently switch therapists until they find the right one.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:33pm

AND the creative team has worked with a number of professionals in the mental health field. Are they representing everyone? No. But even those people were comfortable with the depictions in the show BECAUSE THEY REALIZE THAT THAT SONG IS HER DELUSION!!!!!

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:38pm

I seem to be the emotional dumpster of people in my high school. It's usuall really silly information, (like 'he likes me, I like his brother', silly high school stuff) and it GREATLY annoys me. I really don't like knowing everyone's baggage. I tried 'peer mediation in middle school' and quit at the end of the year. Only ONCE was I given a really truly heavy deep dark secret and it was awful. I can only imagine what it would be like to hear information like that 5 days a week from 9 to 5. As for shows being 'life as it is', everything you mentioned was unrealistic fiction that is not meant to be taken seriously, N2N is a realistic situation that people are going to take seriously and must be as accuarate as possible.


Jake, the problem I have is that the show doesn't mentoin that there ARE good doctors out there.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:40pm

I think you could certainly argue that Dr. Madden is a good doctor.

[jake6970]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:41pm

Right, but that is because the lead character has not found the right one yet. We are on HER journey. She says that it hasn't helped for the past 16 years...she doesn't say therapy sucks. She just hasn't found the right person for HER. We don't see into the future and we are never told if she will find the right doctor or not. Clearly, if they were to mention the good doctors, it would have to be in the form of Diana finding one, which would kind of ruin the point.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:42pm

Jail is a realistic situation. Having nannies or babysitters is a realistic situation.

THE SHOW WAS NEVER ADVERTISED AS AN ALL-INCLUSIVE DOCUMENTARY.

And friends telling you things is FAR different from being a trained doctor or therapist. Part of our studies when going into that field is finding ways to distance yourself from what you hear from patients. The moment you lose objectivity and truly start taking their crap home with you is the minute you know it's time to get the hell out of that profession. There's a term "professional distance" for a reason.

(edit for clarity ~ yes, I said "our" because initially in college I was heading in that direction. I changed and went in a couple of different directions. But always in careers where there is a level of distance needed.)

Updated On: 4/5/09 at 09:42 PM

[KingKong]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:43pm

oh look, jazz is wrong, and continues to be wrong. SHOCKING.

[jake6970]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:43pm

Do you want something more realistic? If you have sex for the first time you are automatically going to get pregnant just because Melchior and Wendla did in Spring Awakening? Your logic is flawed.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:43pm

Part of our studies when going into that field is finding ways to distance yourself from what you hear from patients. The moment you lose objectivity and truly start taking their crap home with you is the minute you know it's time to get the hell out of that profession. There's a term "professional distance" for a reason.

And that's exactly why when Diana wants to keep pouring her heart out to Dr. Madden, he stops her and tells her to wait until next week. He's keeping professional distance and not getting too involved.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:44pm

adamgreer and jake6970 ~ You are both totally correct! Dr. Madden is an example of a good mental health provider.

And yes, the bit about needing to find the right person is IN THE LIBRETTO!!!!!!!! Dan says it! "There's someone out there for you. In the depression chat rooms they say it's like dating. You have to keep going until you find the right one."

[teka21]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:46pm

About My Psychopharmacologist and I-

The song is really Diana's inner monologue about the warped way in which she views her doctor, she is a bipolar patient with a highly distorted sense of reality. If one is offended by her thoughts, then one does not truly comprehend mental illness. The lyrics are not making light of her situation, they are meant to enlighten us.
The changes since the Second Stage production seem much more sensitive to the complexity of doctor-patient relationships. Off B'way, I found the message too anti-doctor and anti-treatment- the new changes make for a much more powerful, thought-provoking show.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:48pm

Do you want something more realistic? If you have sex for the first time you are automatically going to get pregnant just because Melchior and Wendla did in Spring Awakening? Your logic is flawed.

Even more excellent proof of the point I was trying to make about musicals are NOT documentaries.

I think most people who would attend theatre are people who are capable of holding fantasy and reality in two different places in their heads.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:49pm

No. Jordangirl, being a professinal therapist is NOT an easy job. Emotionally distancing themselves does not work like magic. I know people who have this profession and none of them find it easy. Sure, if I'm a wrestler... I'll build a thick skin and won't be in as much when I'm punched in the face, but I will still go home aching. Therapy is no different.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:53pm

Also Jordangirl, people are well-informed about prison and nannies and KNOW that information is false. People today have a very small knowledge about mental ilness.