Theater review: 'Next to Normal' at the Ahmanson Theatre

 

Uh-oh. Diana seems to be having another one of her episodes. She’s staying up all night disinfecting the house, sneaking into bed for some manic lovemaking and then arising without a wink of sleep to start an assembly line of unnecessary sandwiches. Time once again to speed-dial her doctor about her meds.

The pervasive effect of mental illness on a family is harrowingly brought to life in “Next to Normal,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, which opened Sunday at the Ahmanson Theatre with a daring somber relentlessness. The production arrives with its two greatest assets intact — Michael Greif’s boldly inventive physical staging and Alice Ripley’s raw Tony-winning portrayal of a wife and mother falling apart for the umpteenth time.

A rare recent example of Broadway integrity, the show found an audience not by sugarcoating its depiction of bipolar disorder but by finding provocative ways of representing its seismic emotional fallout onstage. The subject matter may be unusually grim, but the artistry and ambition are uplifting, even when the work loses focus in the second act. And like all good musicals, it breaks your heart without crushing your hope. 

“Next to Normal” is part of a new line of rock-infused musicals confronting issues normally reserved for serious drama. “Rent” (also originally directed by Greif) started this contemporary trend by showing that an electric-guitar-driven blockbuster could be made about AIDS and addiction. “Spring Awakening” subsequently sang moodily about sexual repression and teen suicide. “Passing Strange,” while no box office dynamo, turned out indie grooves on race and artistic identity. And “American Idiot,” the often mesmerizing Green Day collage, ventured into the realm of 21st century slacker ennui and further introduced new possibilities to old Broadway.  

The scores for these shows aren’t bursting with piano bar show tunes, and traditional tastes might not be seduced. But the willingness to move the American musical away from the mindlessness wrought by escalating commercial pressures is something to cheer about. Not all will love “Next to Normal” (the show, in fact, is oddly polarizing), but it deserves full respect for what it sets out to accomplish.

Admittedly, the way in which Yorkey’s book and lyrics conflate clinical and symbolic realms isn’t always persuasive. And Kitt’s nearly constant flow of music, while more compelling on repeated exposures, sometimes takes the mind-shattering cacophony a bit too far. You may begin to feel yourself nervously quivering as the onstage band, perched on upper tiers of Mark Wendland’s set of metallic scaffolding, drives Diana’s mental frenzy into your own brain. Kevin Adams’ lighting, crossing Broadway glitz with expressionistic psychodrama, intensifies the sense that all of our sanity — not just Diana’s — is hanging by a single thread.

The plot isn’t easy to discuss without giving away a crucial twist. Let’s just say that the musical tracks Diana’s situation from a variety of vantages. This normal looking woman — the very image of an attractive mother on a TV drama — descends into a state of madness that resists the usual drug and psychotherapy protocols. Electroconvulsive therapy is recommended. Diana’s husband, Dan (Asa Somers), her daughter, Natalie (Emma Hunton), and her son, Gabe (Curt Hansen), are instantly plunged into a state of crisis. Like it or not — and Natalie is understandably sick and tired of an ordeal that has swallowed most of her existence — patient and caretakers are helplessly enmeshed.
  
Ripley’s face is like a translucent membrane covering unspeakable suffering. She’s tired of muffling her emotions with pills, as she explains in the number “I Miss the Mountains.” Yet flushing her prescription medicines down the toilet is a risky proposition. Every action or inaction poses treacherous consequences. No wonder everyone around her is completely strung out, including Natalie’s quirky new boyfriend, Henry (Preston Sadleir), who refuses to give up on his clever classmate even though she’s flirting with giving up on herself.
 
Jeremy Kushnier plays Diana’s doctors, whose answers are backed with little certainty. Even the medical establishment is groping, to a degree, in the dark. This realization leads Diana to a terrifying question: “What happens if the cut, the burn, the break / Was never in my brain or in my blood / But in my soul?”

The creators’ respect for the mystery of mental illness is brave. But that only makes it more difficult for them to figure out a resolution to their story, which defies easy fixes. Their solution is moving yet dramatically clumsy, and the equation that’s established between the triggering factor of Diana’s manic-depression and the prospect for her recovery is increasingly strained. 

The production dominates the performers more than it did in New York. Some intimacy is lost at the Ahmanson and the blare of the staging, presumably pumped up to fill the theater’s acoustical dead space, had me reaching into my medicine cabinet when I returned home.

Somers, in particular, gets lost in the shuffle; his Dan has a milky quality that’s never really clarified. Hunton creates a distinctive impression as Natalie, a bright young woman who’s as petulant as she is injured. But the actors are still finding their individual footing in this first stop on the show’s national tour. The character relationships are well drawn but right now they’re only briskly inhabited.

Still, “Next to Normal” is worth catching, and not just for those fretting about the musical’s future. At the center of the production is a truly gutsy tour de force performance. Diana swings dangerously high and low, and Ripley soars while tracing these heartrending arcs. 

-- Charles McNulty 
 twitter.com/charlesmcnulty

"Next to Normal," Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles Music Center. 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays (call for exceptions). Ends Jan. 2. $20 to $95. (213) 628-2772  or www.centertheatregroup.org. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes, including one intermission.

 Photos: Top: Alice Ripley, center, with Curt Hansen, left, and Asa Somers. Middle: Ripley and Jeremy Kushnier. Bottom: Ripley and Kushnier. Credit: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times

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Comments

[jeffri]

It's truly a shame that Broadway has "degenerated" to this extent. "RENT" is still the most questionable Tony Award recipient ever (with "SPRING AWAKENING" right in there - which is simply outright BAD THEATRE - but it won a slew of awards - obviously, no competition). "RENT" has always be a derivative show (Larson had loads of potential, but little real substance). I'll see about this one - depressing evening of musical theatre are difficult at best (even when presented by a 'master' composer - - i.e. Sondheim's "PASSION").

[Drew]

@ jeffri - Very ignorant to use Next To Normal as an example of Broadway's degeneration before you have even seen the production. The show had an amazing score and a book that takes the audience member on a journey through hope, despair, and in the end some redemption.

Entertainment and musical tastes change over time, and Next To Normal (along with other critical hits including RENT as you pointed out) represent the cutting edge of musical theatre. It's unrealistic of you to expect all new shows to include songs along the lines of Gypsy's "Everything's Coming Up Roses." That's a great classic show, don't get me wrong. But times and tastes change, and if you don't the world will leave you behind.

[Cassidy]

jeffri - If you actually had your pulse on "questionable" Tony Awards, you would know that the 2010 recipient, Memphis, is the show that raised eyebrows. If Broadway was as degenerated as you claim, American Idiot would have won Best Musical this past season.

In fact, there are many people in New York who wonder how Billy Elliot won the 2009 Tony Award over Next to Normal.

I suggest you get out of your rocking chair, turn off your Oklahoma record and head to the Ahmanson and be ready to see a piece of theatre that is revolutionizing Broadway.

[Stephan]

What happened to the Charles McNulty so ticked off at Next to Normal's Pulitzer? What happened to the Charles McNulty that lamented critical geographical myopia? Did Los Angeles not produce any original material worth reviewing the last few weeks?

Dear L.A. Times, please put your money where your mouth is and review all the great theatre Los Angeles produces within it's own borders and not another touring production that gives critics the best spread.

[Babette]

Just saw this production today and highly recommend it -- touching, funny, inventive, invigorating, moving ... it is NOT a big debbie downer of an evening despite this review's indications. I was at a matinee with all ages and, from appearances, levels of sophistication and the show got a rousing standing ovation (an 80ish doyenne literally boogied her way out the aisle to the rock-infused exit music). This is the hope and promise of musical theater in America -- not yet another cookie cutter based-on-a-movie or 50 year old revival. If you love theater, run - do not walk - to catch a terrific supporting cast and Alice Ripley in a role people will be talking about for years.

[jwh]

My wife and I saw this production last Wednesday, and throughly enjoyed it. There is lots of clever dialog and unexpected humor, in addition to glimpses of the difficult choices faced by the those with mental illness. We both have family members with histories of psycotic breaks, and many of the issues raised rang true.

Standing 'O's' may not mean what they once did, but I think the vast majority of ticket holders felt they had seen a great show, and responded accordingly. The lighter touch won't ruin a 'date night'. See it!