Next To Normal

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More About

• Next to Normal (Musical)
• Alice Ripley
• Tony Awards
• Theater Awards
• Theater

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Surveying the prevailing state of Broadway musicals, one could get the impression that originality is in short supply. Faced with rising costs in a troubled economy, many producers have attempted to lure audiences with comfortably familiar revivals of crowd-pleasing favorites or easily recognizable pop-culture adaptations. Whatever the respective merits of such productions, an overall lack of originality seems to define the contemporary musical scene. For this reason alone, Next to Normal should be cause for celebration. The collaborative effort of Tom Kitt (music) and Brian Yorkey (book and lyrics), the piece received an inauspicious off-Broadway debut in 2008, garnering a wildly mixed reception. After taking some time for retooling, however, the play returned as an unlikely Broadway success, eliciting uniformly rave reviews en route to numerous Tony Awards, not to mention the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. A refreshingly original rock musical, Next to Normal keenly observes a family torn by bipolar disorder and the struggle to communicate. With a talented cast including the return of Alice Ripley to the lead role of Diana Goodman (a portrayal that earned Ripley the 2009 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical), the play aims to redirect the contemporary musical from the realms of nostalgic diversion by presenting a story that emphatically connects with the fraught complexity of modern families. (Photo by Craig Schwartz)
Tuesdays-Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 p.m.; Sun., May 15, 2 & 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 1 & 6:30 p.m. Starts: May 10. Continues through May 22, 2011