Through March 16
NEXT TO NORMAL Daemen University/MusicalFare
By Augustine Warner
In one unhappy house, Mom sees a ghost, the ghost of the eighteen-month-old son she and her husband lost years before.
This is “Next to Normal,” a musical about mental illness and its effect on a family.
It’s very strange to see a musical about mental illness.
Now, an opera?
Sure, you can certainly believe Baron Scarpia in “Tosca” is mentally ill but a musical?
Here, Natalie (Penelope Sergi) is nearing 17 and has had her entire life develop in the shade of the brother she never knew, qualifying her as troubled.
Dad Dan (Darryl Semira) has seen his marriage deteriorate and his daughter develop in a twisted way because Mom hasn’t recovered from that death.
Diana (Victoria Perez), Mom, seems to drift in and out of mental clarity, without thinking there’s something not standard about sending the now late teen ghost son off to school and football practice.
Natalie isn’t handling her mother’s issues very well, trying to convince Mom seeing her dead son and seeing him as a teen suggests a problem.
She may or may not realize Mom is seeing a psychiatrist who is filling her with pills (Marc Sacco), which eventually numb her, leaving the doctor happy, her “I Miss the Mountains.”
Dad is having his own problems, dealing with all of this and the pills, “Who’s Crazy?/My Psychopharmacologist and I.”
Natalie has met a guy, Henry (Aaron Gabriel Saldana), who sees what’s going on.
He supports Natalie, while Mom tries to explain her limits in this situation “Superboy and the Invisible Girl.”
A new shrink, Dr. Madden (Sacco again), finally decides shock therapy is the only solution, after Diana’s suicide attempt, encouraged by her dead son.
As Dad and Mom finally agree to the electric shocks, Natalie starts sinking into night clubbing and pills, with Henry rescuing her.
Over two weeks, Mom gets the shock therapy, leading to two problems, forgetting her prior life and forgetting son Gabe, although he’s poised on the edge of her lost memory, “Song of Forgetting.”
With support from Henry, Natalie begins to shift to starting an adult, independent life.
Mom starts to realize how much she has forgotten in the shock therapy and how little her years of therapy appear to have helped her.
She decides to leave, telling Natalie, she’s hoping they both can be “next to normal.”
Natalie and Henry go to the prom.
After Mom Diana leaves, Dan goes to Dr. Madden and gets a recommendation for a doctor to see to help himself.
Much of “Next to Normal,” is very depressing.
Unfortunately, it’s probably accurate, too often, with medicine’s inability to help every patient with mental health issues.
We have plenty of plays about people with issues, exploring every issue from mass murder (Shakespeare?) to the effect on relationships.
A musical is different.
It’s supposed to be funny or entertaining, although some are certainly dealing with issues, “Carousel”?
Here, it’s educational, informative and sorrowful.
At the same time, “Normal” is absolutely worth seeing because the script is good and because the Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey music is so good.
Director Randall Kramer cast the show well, giving music Theresa Quinn and choreographer Michael Oliver-Walline a lot to work with.
The best are Perez, Sergi and Semira.
It shows.
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