Why I think the teenagers are flocking to Next To Normal...And why I think they're wrong — Page 2

ray, you are not demeaning it at all. I should have also said that I think "Caroline" can deeply touch even people who have not experienced all of what is depicted in the show. I know many people who haven't who are deeply affected by it. I think for me it was that I knew the storyline but when I sat there in the theater and it all unfolded before me, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Plus it was the 1st show I had seen on Broadway in about 15 years. I was extremely excited just to be sitting in a Broadway theater again, and then I got hit with the brilliance of that show.

I think that you can go into a show and it may not even be the main storyline that affects you. So many people come out of shows with so many different things. That is part of the beauty of theater in my opinion.

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There's no gays in Dreamgirls!

"The show is not just about mental illness, it's a show about a dysfunctional family trying to cope...."

I think it IS basically about mental illness - and how it has affected the entire family. I relate because I lived it.

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My entire family, including myself, have a long history of bipolar disorder, So naturally I expected that I would find NEXT TO NORMAL interesting, even moving. I heard Alice Ripley sing "I Miss The Mountains" in concert a year or two previously and thought it was an unusually beautiful and powerful song, and made me especially excited to finally see the show. But I found that song the one element of the show that had truth to it - the story line concocted around it verged just this side of Charles Ludlumesque. Quite unexpectedly, I found NEXT TO NORMAL to be the funniest shows I had seen in a long time.

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Updated On: 8/4/09 at 04:54 PM

After reading everyone's take on the show, I'm trying to see it all different ways, but I just can't separate the illness from the rest. I still think it's all about mental illness and how it affects not only the person afflicted.

At least I tried!

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I hear ya, and I think I understand what you're saying. However, I can't stop believing that the type of struggles they are experiencing are those caused by Diana's illness. That's what the show is about, for me that is.

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My mother suffers depression, as do I. N2N speaks to me in that I can catch a glimpse of what others go through with a similar disease in the family. Don't underestimate today's teenagers. We go through a lot more than we get credit for.

However, I can't stop believing that the type of struggles they are experiencing are those caused by Diana's illness.

They are. They're the reason for it. I'm not arguing that, either. At all. You seem to think I'm debating that her illness is the center of this show, and I'm not. For me, as well, this has always been a show about how mental illness can be destructive to relationships. But that being acknowledged, ALL I'm saying is that it doesn't mean people who haven't experienced it can't relate in some way. Families break apart, things go wrong for all sorts of reasons -- and on a general level, this is a family struggling with a tragedy and a problem. That's widespread and it's relatable. Maybe not as strongly or specifically, but it's still applicable. That's all I'm saying.

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Updated On: 8/4/09 at 05:32 PM

"You seem to think I'm debating that her illness is the center of this show, and I'm not. "

No, it's the other way around. I"M the one saying that her illness is the center of the show, not you.

I'm not even saying other people can't relate. The only point I'm making is that I think the show is all about mental illness, whereas many others here don't.

It's all fine with me, just posting my view.

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I don't think it is about her illness itself as it is how it affects her family and herself..

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If this show was only about mental illness, I doubt it could find the kind of audience it has. The bigger over all message is one of love, family, coping, desperation and finding of self.


To the OP: really, who are you to judge who should relate to any piece of theater? If it makes them feel something then they are relating to it.

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People can have a musical "speak to them" without having to directly experience the exact same situations and story. It's like saying the only way the actors can connect to the material is by actually living under the exact same circumstances (pure method, which is mostly a narcissistic and unnecessary endeavor to gain sympathy and attention, but that's another topic of discussion). Next to Normal definitely spoke to me when I saw it for various reasons at different times. Sometimes, it was solely in the music and orchestrations, which I found to be expertly written, if at times a little too fleetingly. There were also some emotions beautifully expressed in lines that perfectly encapsulated precisely how I've felt in a vivid and concise way I wish I had thought of myself. And then there were performances where I felt a direct connection to a very precise situation whether it be the cloudiness of a person under the influence of a trial medication, a frightened kid who is trying to gauge what can't be explained, or a co-dependent partner who so desperately wants nothing more than their partner back but can clearly see the end approaching. Does it mean that I used the same medications, had the same relationships, or even dealt with the same illness? None of the above. But I can identify and validate what they are saying and feeling at times, nonetheless. And when I hear the song progress of I Miss the Mountains/You Don't Know/I Am the One/Superboy and the Invisible Girl/I'm Alive, I don't have to have any connection to the story whatsoever to be moved by that music. It's utterly brilliant and brings me to the verge of tears each time I hear it.

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