‘Next to Normal’ @ Theatre Three
Photos by Jeffrey Schmidt
—Jan Farrington
Next to Normal will claw at your heart—but isn’t that the kind of theater we want and need sometimes?
Theatre Three’s moving and musically dynamic production of this challenging musical (not a musical comedy, though there are funny bits) is directed with care and honesty by Christie Vela, and brought to memorable life by a terrific cast of actor/singers—and a small onstage band (Benjamin Brown, Dennis Langevin, and Kami Lujan, led by the great Vonda K. Bowling) who drive the pulse of the action from beginning to end.
Brian Yorkey wrote the book and lyrics and Tom Kitt the music (N2N cleaned up in the 2008 awards season) for this tale of an American family working to survive issues of loss and mental health. It hits home with a lot of us, as the small cries and intakes of breath in the opening-night audience testified. Bring a pocket of tissues if, like me, you’re the teary type.
Father, mother, daughter, son. It looks simple enough. Normal, even. The house (set design by Track Curtis) is a frame of crayon-colored sticks, the costumes (from Corey Garrett) in the quietly ordinary style of suburban life. (Amanda West’s sometimes-startling lights, in fact, are the only visual clue that things aren’t quite on the up and up.)
Next to Normal is about the human truth that we probably aren’t going where we think we are. Somehow, sometime there will be life-changing “stuff” that comes between us and the future we expect—so sure that love, friends, marriage, kids, work, and daily life will have a happy rhythm to carry us through the years. Instead, here’s Mom Diana (Cara Serber) trying to cope with “Just Another Day”—with sandwiches and laundry (that’s normal), but also with the bipolar disorder that sends her up and down (and the family into crisis mode) day after month after year.
Husband Dan (Ian Ferguson) is the steady guy who loves her, stays, and hopes—but wonders if it’s really for the best (“Who’s Crazy?”). Son Gabe (Aiden Valentine) hovers around Mom, clingy and intense—and daughter Natalie (Presley Duyck) feels lost and ignored in this difficult household. She’s a talented musician, but feels Diana’s focus is always somewhere (or on someone) else (“Superman and the Invisible Girl”). Natalie’s days get better when she notices classmate Henry (Alejandro Saucedo), who says he’d be “Perfect for You.”
Outside the family circle are Diana’s doctors, both played by Colin Phillips, who abandons gravitas and scores with a “Rock Doc” moment. The medical men’s goals for Diana don’t always seem healthy—but what do we know? “I feel nothing,” she tells one of them after a long round of new meds. “Patient stable,” he notes with a satisfied air. Their hyper-speed lists of pills, treatments, side effects and possible outcomes (including death) leave Diana reeling, and the family faces a drastic decision.
Without the songs, without the fine artists who sing the heck out of them (again, Cara Serber, Ian Ferguson, Aiden Valentine, Presley Duyck, Alejandro Saucedo and Colin Phillips), without the humor and anger and moments of tenderness, Next to Normal would be a dry, sad case study. But the songs feel like vital conversations, with characters singing in overlapped lines, words rushing past and around as the characters try to understand each other, and themselves. The lyrical language isn’t heightened or poetical—but thoughtful and revelatory. And in this show, that feels very right.
Who's crazy, the husband or wife?
Who's crazy to live their whole life
Believing that somehow things aren't as bizarre as they are?
Who's crazy, the one who can't cope?
Or maybe, the one who'll still hope?
The one who sees doctors or the one who just waits in the car?
And I was a wild twenty-five,
And I loved a wife so alive.
But now I believe I would settle for one who can…drive.
WHEN: June 1-July 2, 2023
WHERE: Theatre Three, 2688 Laclede St., Dallas
WEB: theatre3dallas.com
