Dysfunctional is the New 'Normal'

Michael Grief's 'Next to Normal,' winner of 3 Tony awards and a Pulitzer, provides consumers of New York with a pleasantly refreshing alternative to Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, and the other traditional lions of Broadway. This reviewer was advised NOT to read a review or a synopsis of the play (someone must have told him that I 'cheat' by reading the synopses of Operas beforehand), and I would in turn advise the same.

Wow! Is this play shocking! Next to Normal is not your run-of-the-mill "boy-gets-girl," "girl-falls-in-love-with-monster,' 'girl-escapes-poverty-and-overcomes-social-barriers-to-fall-in-love-with-student-in-pre-revolutionary-France,' 'American-soldier-gets-Vietnamese-peasant-pregnant' love story that historically defines Broadway musicals in the past. In fact, its not really much of a story. It's a scathing indictment of the traditional "looks good on the surface" family structure--the type of family that we all used to know or still do. You know, the Cleaver-ish family who lived three houses down who seemingly had it all figured out, but beneath the surface, les démons du sommeil!!!

Next to Normal begins with quotidian travails of a family of four: a detached father who cannot emotive, a hysterical mother toiling to keep the house together, a teenage son crashing the gates of manhood, and an awkward daughter struggling to fend off her pot-smoking suitors with her AP chemistry textbook. Sure, the mother goes to a little therapy. Sure, her shrink gives her few pills. Sure, the father takes just enough care of her in between conference calls at the office. But something is terribly amiss here. The audience discovers that this family is more than just long overdue for a family vacation.

Next to Normal has one of the most innovative sets I have seen in my nascent theater-going career. Rather than having the orchestra play in between the crowd and the action--an arrangement that only adds to the distance between the two--this set places the band IN THE SET. The Set resembles a stainless steel house cut in half, kinda like taking a chainsaw to your little sister's dollhouse so you can see whats going on. Each band member occupies a separate 'room' in the house, and while I am not sure what this does for the acoustics of the play (since this reviewer will be getting cochlear implants in a few short years), it allows the crowd to be closer to the action. Plus the set designer gets muchas felicitaciones for ingenuity.

Tom Kitt's world-class musical score does not disappoint. the music is more modern and contemporary (duh.....the band has an electric bass, electric guitar, a synthesizer, and drum-machine). The music haunts and depresses when the play turns dark. It vivifies when the story ascends. I would not describe the music as "catchy" or "gripping," for they don't necessarily stick in your head for days, as some of the Les Miz songs might be. But the score compliments the acting and the screenplay in the same way that Garden State's soundtrack did with the movie: accentuating and catalyzing without overtaking the actors and drowning the crowd.

This reviewer has a soft spot for the supporting role, and predictably this reviewer enjoyed the actor who portrays the multiple psychiatrists who the mother consults. He slips seamlessly between the boring, prescription-wielding shrink to the faith-healing, almost-evangelical hipster therapist. His singing voice was easily the best of the bunch.

On the contrary, the teenage son was slightly off-key. And while the story is meant to highlight the complex and intimate relationship between himself and his mother, the Oedipus -like infatuation seems a bit creepy and repulsive. As the artist intends, they say.

The Passing Scene Cafe urges its patrons to see Next to Normal before the sputtering Broadway
economy claims yet another victim. But BUYER BEWARE!!! Come to the cafe and have an extra strong latte, a tasty danish, and make sure you are in a good before you see it. You won't be disappointed!