Saw NEXT TO NORMAL First Preview in DC Nov. 21- Page 2

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 11/22/08 at 5:28pm

So what is the date you're going, JG? I know we discussed this, but it was so long ago.

I still think my kids are too young for this show, so I will either have to wait until the babysitter is back from the holidays or see it sans husband (who will then become the de facto "babysitter." Good husband. )

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/22/08 at 5:31pm

I might try to see this the Sunday before Christmas. But it sounds like it's not that much different, so I'm not exactly clamoring to get tickets.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 11/22/08 at 5:35pm

Rentboy, it isn't that much different. If you didn't like it the first time, I don't think it'll change your mind. And if you liked it as much as I did at Second Stage, I don't think it'll change your mind.

I'm still really eager to see it again though.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 11/22/08 at 10:13pm

Another song that is gone is "Growing Up Unstable"...anyway, i think that was the title.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 11/22/08 at 10:49pm

Miss Pennywise ~ December 13 and 14 and then closing weekend. It feels like it's SOOOOOO far away!!

[EnWashingtonHeights]

Posted: 11/22/08 at 10:52pm

I may finally see it tomorrow! I was going to get tickets of TKTS last March but mixed it up with Passing Strange and saw that instead.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/22/08 at 10:53pm

Oh, no, I enjoyed the show for the most part. I didn't care for the set though. Like, it was pretty, but it just felt so cramped. I would have liked to seen a little more room. I just felt like the whole thing was played downstage the entire time.

I really hope they do record the show though. Although I really enjoyed "Growing up unstable." I didn't care for "Feeling Electric," but I liked the idea. It was a good finale for Act 1 because it left you thinking "okay....but now what?" and then we the show starts again and she's lost her memory and says to her daughter "who are you?" it makes the dramatic impact it needs.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 11/22/08 at 11:29pm

Risky? NEXT TO NORMAL? NEXT TO NORMAL was about as risky as an episode of HOME IMPROVEMENT. Cutting that ghastly tasteless "Feeling Electric" won't do much, as the rest of that unfortunate score and tired book remain.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 11/23/08 at 12:05am

The book to NEXT TO NORMAL is an abomination and a spit in the face to anyone who knows that mental illness is being twisted and spun atrociously for entertainment purposes.

I pray the show dies in DC and never sees New York again.

[nexttoelectric]

Posted: 11/23/08 at 12:16am

oh look, foster rears his ugly head to trash this show.



go **** yourself you bitter piece of trash.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/23/08 at 12:21am

I don't understand the backlash. Theater is entertainment. So yes, I suppose, they're "exploiting" mental illness for entertainment value, but that's the nature of the beast. Whether it's done tastefully or not, I don't know, but I thought the show had some great moments, but it wasn't a knock out.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 11/23/08 at 12:26am

nexttoelectric, it's so much easier to personally attack someone and call them names than to actually put thought into discussing the issue at hand, isn't it?

[nexttoelectric]

Posted: 11/23/08 at 12:56am

The issue at hand is that you CLEARLY HAVE A PERSONAL ISSUE WITH THE WRITERS OF THE show and instead of being mature just continue to wish and pray for its demise.

you're pathetic. And I know I'm not the only one with that opinion of you.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 11/23/08 at 1:01am

I don't know the writers of the show. I don't have personal issues with the writers of the show.

This isn't personal.

You are choosing to personally attack me.

I take issue with this piece of theatre. And I am expressing that here on a theatre message board.

If you want to personally attack me or anyone else, please send me or them a private message so that we can forward those attack messages onto the moderator.

Personal attacks on this message board are against Message Board Guidelines.

Updated On: 11/23/08 at 01:01 AM

[nexttoelectric]

Posted: 11/23/08 at 1:08am

I pray the show dies in DC and never sees New York again.

That's personal honey, you can deny it all you want, but that's personal.



Your post in relation to N2N over time are clearly personal. Ifs like you feel they personally are attacking you somehow with this show. Its all very pathetic. Updated On: 11/23/08 at 01:08 AM

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 11/23/08 at 1:10am

Given that everything I wrote leading upto that statement supported why I was against the SHOW, that is certainly not personal.

And I didn't even say the writers' names.

You, on the other hand, are choosing to personally attack me, without engaging in a discussion about the topic at hand that I took issue with.

THAT is personal. And it is not allowed on this board.

[nexttoelectric]

Posted: 11/23/08 at 1:14am

do we need to go back and find the your venom filled posts about the show foster? Is that what you want? Us to go back and see where you've repeatedly said things about how you'd wish the show would just die, that it should go away and be forgotten and that you thought it was using and misusing mental illness in some despicable fashion (which you've never actually identified).


you feel personally attacked by the writers and displaying it in your bitter "i wish this show to die a painful death and to be forgotten forever and to burn in hell where it belongs"



Get over it honey.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 11/23/08 at 1:18am

Negative opinions are allowed too. If you can't handle criticism of shows you adore, don't post on a public message board! Attempting to police threads for opinions that aren't yours is pointless, aggressive, and uncalled for. To each their own.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 11/23/08 at 1:19am

HONEY, you need to look up what "personal attack" means.

If I say something about a piece of THEATRE, not a HUMAN BEING, but a piece of THEATRE, on a THEATRE MESSAGE BOARD, that is relevant.

Gladly look up and paste what I've written on this board about this PIECE OF THEATRE.

That's what we do here.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 11/23/08 at 1:29am

Wanna Be A Foster is entitled to like or dislike ANYTHING he wants. He isn't attacking ANYONE. Nexttoelectric, I'm sorry but you are the one making this personal.

Talk about the WORK. Stop the personal attacks.

[nexttoelectric]

Posted: 11/23/08 at 1:38am

Foster, you have a personal vendetta against this show. YOU GO OUT OF YOUR WAY TO TRASH IT. You will attack the show in threads that are not even RELATED to it. Hell, you once posted in a thread about Aaron Tveit's short term fill in in Hairspray before he did Saved that they only did it to bilk money out of people obsessed with N2N. No one had even brought up N2N til you posted. You clearly feel attacked by the writers of the show fore what you call "a dangerous misrepresentation" of mental illness. well its not dangerous, and its not a misrepresentation, its a representation DIFFERENT THAN WHAT YOU'VE EXPERIENCED. You all say negative opinions are ok, but what Foster has isn't a negative opinion its an obsessive need to trash it at every possible instance. His posts come from a place of thinking the writers have committed some sort of act on level with denying the holocaust occurred. He truly thinks it is at that sort of level. And he's also not above so called "personal attacks". He has on more than one occasion called fans of the show shills simply because they posted positively about it. you all should really take a look at his history of posts about this show before you rush so valiantly to his defense.


And pennywise, i have no problem talking about the work. the work is beautiful and for the most part on point. Yes its an exaggeration of real life, but that'ss what theatre is, an exaggeration of real life. yes they do things for dramatic effect, things that aren't real, but they're telling a story, not about mental illness, but about a family dealing with mental illness, loss, grief and an inability to communicate. YES THEY USE MENTAL ILLNESS AS A MEANS TO AN END but its is not doing a disservice to those with mental illnesses. Different people have different experiences foster, yours clearly has left you to believe the show is based is falsehoods, but for some us, our experience is spot on with what happnes in the show.


YOUR EXPERIENCE ISN'T THE ONLY ONE DARLING, DESPITE WHAT YOU CLEARLY THINK.
Updated On: 11/23/08 at 01:38 AM

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 11/23/08 at 1:42am

Did you write the show darling? You're taking this really personally.

[nexttoelectric]

Posted: 11/23/08 at 1:47am

No, i didn't write it. My problem is with foster and is obsessive need to trash the show in every thread that could even remotely be related to N2N. Its childish and pathetic. you don't see me posting in every thread about Spring Awakening, or Young Frankenstein, or Spamalot that I think the shows are horribly stupid and should probably just fall away from the world and never be seen by the public again. And the reason i'm not doing that is that i have some dignity, the same cant be said for some of the people in this thread.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 11/23/08 at 2:56am

Nexttoelectric, You just said it yourself: "My problem is with foster and his obsessive need to trash the show in every thread that could even remotely be related to N2N."

Your "problem" is "Foster." You're making this about a PERSON, not a theatrical WORK. This is YOUR issue. He is a human being with a different point of view. Let it go. Don't get so worked up about it. I happen to disagree with him about this show, too, but I still think he's a wonderful human being!

You can LOVE people and not have the same, identical thoughts they do! My god. How boring would this world be if we all thought exactly the same way? What kind of relationships would we have without conflict, contrast, debate and different perspectives? Sometimes you can learn the most from people who present things from a totally different point of view.

When my husband likes something I don't, I don't call my lawyer and file for divorce. Come on! Live and let live. And, truly, if you disapprove of someone's behavior, aren't you being a a tad hypocritical by doing the very thing you find offensive in the other person?

I am not trying to be mean or harsh or judgmental, but, rather, helpful.

We all lose our tempers now and then--and sometimes express ourselves less appropriately than we might, but the only thing in life we can really control is ourselves, so, for your own sake, please try to come to a place of peace with all of this. Wanna be A Foster is a good and kind person. I know this for a fact. Even if he is wrong about NEXT TO NORMAL

(KIDDING! KIDDING! Just shooting for a little levity here, WBAF!)

[nexttoelectric]

Posted: 11/23/08 at 4:58am

a good and kind person doesn't gleeful wish for the demise a show at every foreseeable opportunity.

his actions contradict your words.

He's being petty, immature, irrational, bitter and just plain rude because he feels that the writers of this show are evil bitch monsters that are trying to capitalize on the suffering and pain of those with mental illness.

It's truly pathetic.


I frankly don't give a damn that Foster doesn't like the show, i know a fair number of people who don't like the show. This is about his gleeful prayers for its demise in every thread that is related to it. If all he had was a negative opinion of the show he would have expressed it and moved on. What he has is a vendetta.
Updated On: 11/23/08 at 04:58 AM