Review: Next to Normal 4/4/09 matinee (small spoilers)- Page 3

[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.

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:55pm

I hate to be the one to say this: but this musical really isn't very good. True, it has some exceptional performances, but too often I felt sorry for this clearly talented cast (namely Ripley) having to find meaning in this obvious and often superficial material.


I'm sorry, I dont't understand why you all fawn over this musical. It is fine, yes. Is it at all exceptional? I'm sorry, no. I imagine the reviews will praise performances but find that this is an incomplete and distracted musical.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:55pm

Where the hell did I say it's easy? I never said that. BUT THEY ARE TAUGHT WAYS TO GET PROFESSIONAL DISTANCE. (I know a lot of people who work in the mental health field too. Wow! Go figure!) No one "finds it easy" but if it's affecting them so much that they can't separate from the job, they need to consider a new job. I know if I was seeing a therapist and knew that s/he was taking home every single thing I said, I'd find a new therapist quickly. Partly it's that ability to keep distance that makes someone a good therapist.

You can have EMPATHY without getting bogged down. The best example is if someone's in a mud hole and you want to help, you've got two choices...

Choice A ~ You find a root or something to hold onto before getting in the hole so you can help get yourself and the person you're helping out of it. THAT IS EMPATHY and what good therapists have.

Choice B ~ You jump right in with the person and don't keep hold of anything. Then how will either of you get out? THAT IS SYMPATHY and while it may be appropriate between friends (probably not if you really want to help someone) it is SO not appropriate in a therapeutic relationship.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 9:57pm

Not everyone is well informed about prison or babysitting/nannies. You're making an assumption there too.

And lord knows not everyone is well-informed about sex (hello abstinence-only education or NO education).

Bottom line is again THIS IS NOT A DOCUMENTARY AND HAS NEVER BEEN PRESENTED AS A DOCUMENTARY!

IT IS A FICTIONAL STORY OF ONE FAMILY'S JOURNEY.

If people are incapable of holding two separate ideas in their head at once, they should stick to schlock like The Little Mermaid.

Updated On: 4/5/09 at 09:57 PM

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 10:05pm

Once again.

If I pull a random person off the street and enter them in a boxing competition, they're going to leave a wreck (if theyr'e even alive), but if I pull a professional boxer off the street and enter them in a boxing competition and he wins, he won't be AS wrecked as the random person... but he'll still be aching when he gets home. His professional training does not work like magic.

The impression that this number gives is that patients pour their heart out to the doctor while the doctor sits back and puts his feet on a coffee table.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 10:06pm

BECAUSE IT IS IN DIANA'S HEAD!!!!!!! IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE DOCTOR'S PERSPECTIVE!!!!!!!!!! IT IS HER JOURNEY!!!!!!!! IT IS HER DELUSION/PROJECTION!!!! HE DOES NOT KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON IN HER HEAD REGARDING HIM AND THAT IS CLEAR IF YOU WATCH HIS REACTION TO THE LINE THAT STARTED THIS WHOLE THING!!! HE *CLEARLY* HAS A WTF?!?!? LOOK ON HIS FACE!!!

Updated On: 4/5/09 at 10:06 PM

[jake6970]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 10:08pm

Exactly. The IMPRESSION it gives is Diana's reality.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 10:08pm

jordangirl,

did not say ANYTHING about sex.

People are very much well informed about nannies and prison, or at least well-enough informed to know that nannies don't fly and prisoners don't sing and dance in jail.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 10:10pm

RE: the sex, go back and read the thread and you'll figure that one out.

As to the other... And most people can clearly see that that song is DIANA'S reality and that her reality is altered.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 10:10pm

My point is that people aren't informed enough to know that this is A story of mental ilness, not THE story of mental ilness.

[jake6970]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 10:12pm

No story is THE story of anything. Even if it is a factual event such as a war, everyone's experiences with it will be different in some way. That is true of ANY situation, and the audience would have to be idiots to think that for any situation, someone's reality is the same as everyone else's.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 10:13pm

Jordangirl

I was saying that I never said spring awakening accurately depicted teen sex.

Why don't you talk to random audience members and see what facts they seperate from fiction.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 10:15pm

Are you kidding me? Seriously? I have heard a LOT of people talking about it after the shows ~ and talked with a lot of them about it ~ and I have yet to hear people (except the argument starters on this board) saying that they think this is the only way. On the contrary. What I hear more often than not is people talking about their own experiences or those of close friends or family members and how aspects mirror their or their loved one's experiences in struggling to find the right person, the right solution. I have YET to hear anyone walking out saying "I'm throwing my pills out" or "I'm quitting therapy".

I think people are by and large more intelligent than you're giving them credit for.

Updated On: 4/5/09 at 10:15 PM

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 10:17pm

Well we clearly disagree with that. Let it drop.

[jake6970]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 10:18pm

Just curious, has anyone you've talked to who has seen the show decided to quit therapy/taking their pills?

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 10:18pm

Finally some semblance of reason.

[Kad]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 10:18pm

I went into the show fully prepared to see an anti-medication/therapy slant, since I had read about people having issues with the show in that regard. I came out feeling the show was very specifically saying that, in the case of Diana, her best course of action was perhaps different what she had been given. Not that all medications and therapy is completely useless.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 10:19pm

jake ~ NO!

[jake6970]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 10:21pm

Haha that was intended for allthatjazz since he seems so sure that this show influences people to quit therapy.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 10:22pm

Kad ~ It's a big change from 2econd Stage. The whole "you have a chronic illness" bit wasn't in at 2econd Stage until the last week of performances when they started tweaking. The fact that it's not all completely useless has only been strengthened with the changes made at Arena.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 10:23pm

Oh, gotcha jane! :)

[KingKong]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 10:28pm

and people wonder why i call jazz stupid.

Posted: 4/5/09 at 10:29pm

"I don't think the relationship between a professinal therapist and a mentally ill patient is subject matter for a humorous song."
________________________________________________________________________________

As a psychiatric therapist for the seriously (talking locked ward) mentally ill, I can tell you that humor is the savior for those of us working in that world.

There is a reason why it's called "comic relief."

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 10:31pm

Do I need to repeat from before??? Let me simplify.

It is not about the relationship as it is.

It is Diana's delusional projection.

[LittleBitRacist]

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

this is such a heated debate... i'm gonna go with most of these people and say its not offensive whatsoever, its humorous, and is doesn't give an unfair representation of therapists and such. it doesnt say everyones experiences are like diana's or that they're all corrupt and doesnt imply it. and the show is brilliant.