'Next to Normal' opens Friday at Corn Stock
- Details
- Published on Saturday, 27 October 2012 12:54
- Written by Paul Gordon
Musical drama focuses on how mental illness affects family
Mental illness can affect people in many different ways, but it also can adversely affect the families of those who are ill.
The Broadway hit musical drama "Next to Normal" focuses on those effects as well as looking at the sometimes controversial treatment for mental illness.
"Next to Normal" open a five-show run at Corn Stock Theatre's Winter Playhouse at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets can be reserved by calling 676-2196.
It is perhaps fitting that one of the songs in "Next to Normal" refers to "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," the quintessence of films about severe mental illness.
That's because the main character in "Next to Normal," the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning musical that makes its regional premier at Corn Stock Theatre on Friday, has let delusion become her way of coping with the tragic events of life.
In another song that character, Diana Goodman, says to her husband, "Do you wake up in the morning and need help to lift your head? Do you read obituaries and feel jealous of the dead? It's like living on a cliffside, not knowing when you'll dive, you don't know! You don't know what it's like to die alive!"
But don't think that little else needs to be said about that character or the show. "Next to Normal" is indeed what director Robin Hunt calls "an emotional roller coaster ride" and far from a happy-go-lucky musical with a fairy tale ending.
This is musical drama; this is about real life. The lyrics are gripping, the rock music clean. And it's presented Corn Stock Theatre's intimate Winter Playhouse, bringing these people close to the audience with no place to hide.
"This musical will not shock anyone but it will take the audience on an emotional roller coaster ride. The audience will feel experience every high and feel every low this family goes through," Hunt said just before a recent dress rehearsal. "It will test the emotions of everyone who sees it."
"Next to Normal" opens Friday at 7:30 p.m. Its five-show run will continue at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday and at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 9 and 10. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students. To reserve tickets call the Corn Stock box office at 676-2196.
"Next to Normal" was written by Brian Yorkey with music by Tom Kitt. The story essentially is about Diana Goodman's worsening bipolar disorder and how it affects her family, including husband Dan, who is coping himself while trying to keep his wife from diving off that cliff, and children Gabe and Natalie, each with their own unique backgrounds and problems.
It was a Broadway success, with 11 Tony Award nominations, and it was in New York that Hunt first saw it.
"It is such an incredible story. It spoke to me from the very beginning and I knew I had to be part of it," said Hunt in explaining why she wanted to direct it now at a time she has been going from show to show, theatre to theatre — including "Les Miserables" at Eastlight Theatre this past summer.
"It certainly ranks among the top directing challenges I've ever had. Diving into the characters, finding their real depth and bringing it out has been a challenge but rewarding. What audiences will see is that these people have relationships they are dealing with as well, but in these relationships I think the audiences will be able to relate to these characters," she said.
"Our cast has done a tremendous job of portraying real people, being real people on stage and not merely caricatures. I have been incredibly blessed with this cast," Hunt added.
Diana Goodman is being portrayed by Stephanie Myre in her first show at Corn Stock. Community theater veterans Mike Reams, Rebekah Dentino and Caleb Finley portray the rest of the Goodman family, Dan, Natalie and Gabe, respectively. Tim Jenkins is Henry, Natalie's boyfriend, and Stephen Peterson portrays the doctors who treat Diana.
The five-piece orchestra, set up in the dance studio next to the theatre, is led by music director Susan Somerville Brown.
Chip Joyce designed the simple, yet effective set that Hunt said is just what she hoped for in that "nothing is symmetrical; rather everything is just a little bit next to normal." Light design by Megan Larke brings up different areas of the set to help portray the emotions of the lyrics.
Hunt said the Winter Playhouse "is an incredible venue for this show. It is so intimate that the audience is sitting right there with the family in their kitchen or in the doctor's office with Diana. And the chemistry among the cast is so good that when a look between them is all that is needed to convey something, the audience sees it clearly. Nothing is lost."
Paul Gordon is editor of The Peorian. He can be reached at 692-7880 or editor@thepeorian.com
