Next to Normal ... 2009. Much of the action takes place in the family home - in the kitchen, living room, and family bedrooms. Among the new songs, "Wish I Were Here," about Diana's electroshock therapy, is a vast improvement over the song it replaced ("Feeling Electric"), while "Maybe" is a poignant and tender tune that deepens the troubled relationship between mother and daughter. Theater: Booth Theatre / 222 West 45th Street, New York, NY, 10036. But like “Spring Awakening,” “Next to Normal” is steeped in an inescapable, aching compassion for people crippled by pain. A self-protective archness kept diluting its intensity, as though the darkness might go down more easily if the show were perceived as social satire, a riff on the nasty shadows cast behind white picket fences. RATING: Aaron Kyle Tveit (/ t ə ˈ v eɪ t /; born October 21, 1983) is an American actor and singer. And I’m reluctant to describe it in detail, since the show staggers its revelations about what triggered Diana’s illness and its impact on the other members of her family: her husband, Dan (J. Robert Spencer, in the role originated by Brian d’Arcy James) and her children, Natalie (Jennifer Damiano) and Gabe (Aaron Tveit). But the creators of “Next to Normal” realized they had something of authentic and original value beneath the formulaic flourishes. "next to normal" by Brian Yorkey (Music by Tom Kitt) is one of the most emotionally vivid pieces of theater I've read. Next to Normal. Aaron Tveit and Alice Ripley in Next to Normal, a feel-kind-of-bad musical. Reviews. The notion that personality is fragile, always on the edge of decomposition, is exquisitely reflected in Ms. Damiano’s astringent, poignant Natalie, a girl who lives in fear both of being invisible to her mother and turning into her. Next to Normal Review - Broadway musical This is a story about a woman who could not bear the heavy loss. Club members can see a different show every night of the week. The earlier version had the same convictions but had yet to find the courage of them. Next to Normal is musical written by American playwright and lyricist Brian Yorkey. Her achingly exposed-seeming face and sweet, rawness-tinged voice capture every glimmer in Diana’s kaleidoscope of feelings. Also involved are the couple's son Gabe (Aaron Tveit), daughter Natalie (Jennifer Damiano), Natalie's new boyfriend Henry (Adam Chanler-Berat), and the doctors who treat Diana's illness (both portrayed by Louis Hobson). Details. Original Broadway Cast, 2009 (Sh-K-Boom) (5 / 5) If Spring Awakening marked the successful comeback of the original pop/rock musical theater score, then Next to Normal helped insure its future. The story centers on a mother who struggles with worsening bipolar disorder and the effects that managing her illness has on her family. That Mr. Spencer presents Dan as a weaker soul than Mr. James did doesn’t mean he’s giving a weaker performance. Instead this portrait of a manic-depressive mother and the people she loves and damages is something much more: a feel-everything musical, which asks you, with operatic force, to discover the liberation in knowing where it hurts. But as one of her two doctors (both suavely played Louis Hobson) says, there is no neat description or explanation for what she suffers from. Original Broadway Version (2009) An unflinching look at a suburban family struggling with the effects of mental illness. This brave, breathtaking musical, which opened Wednesday night at the Booth Theater, focuses squarely on the pain that cripples the members of a suburban family, and never for a minute does it let you escape the anguish at the core of their lives. 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