Next to Normal

An ordinary suburban family drowning under the weight of bi-polar disorder, unresolved grief and anger; it’s not the usual fare of musicals, yet it’s actually the true pay-off with Next To Normal.

While musical theatre has had it’s fair share of intriguing diva roles with clear issues, their 11 o’clock number epiphany hasn’t usually been preceded by treatment including electroconvulsive therapy. Here’s a musical which, rather than tieing up the loose ends by the final curtain, and promises nothing more than tenuous new beginnings.

A rock-based score is the perfect musical idiom for the characters, a couple of about 40, and their children, in terms of their generational music, as well as evoking the domestic upheaval and inner turmoil of the characters. It’s played superbly by a six-piece band, concealed backstage, under the leadership of Alistair Smith.

This Pulitzer Prize winning musical is by no means perfect. Sometimes the rhyming is a bit naff, the lyrics and dialogue don’t always convince, but in broad strokes, it’s a grown-up musical about burning contemporary issues.

And it’s close to home. This family could so easily live next door to you, while depression must surely touch a nerve for anyone, in a society where odds suggest everyone knows someone who is suffering.

On a black box set, mostly using more black boxes for props and levels, the cast of this pared back production do the rest with chalk drawings, used to suggest setting beforehand and symbolize mental and emotional states throughout. The only criticism I’d offer of this concept is that on the Hayes Theatre stage, sightlines to the floor aren’t universally good, and craning one’s neck to see portions of it sometimes become a distraction from the main game. A pity. Those moments I could see clearly from my seat suggested it’s a powerful choice.

Natalie O’Donnell drives the production compellingly as Diana Goodman, eliciting our empathy and finding an intense, credible core to anchor her portrayal of the fragile, troubled bi-polar afflicted protagonist, never faltering in a complex character who is literally all over the place, including imaginary communication with her son, who died as an infant, but now appears to her as the teenager he might have become.

The role of husband Dan isn’t one I warm to; even if at first glimpse he’s the ideal and supportive husband, far too much seems to be about his needs. Written sparsely in the second act, his realization that he’s been in denial comes out of nowhere. Anthony Harkin plays Dan with utter conviction, in a performance that feels better than the actual material, and intensifies those thoughts for me.

There’s capable though sometimes uneven work in supporting roles. When Kiane O’Farrell, as Diana’s daughter Natalie, joins Diana in the late show duet ‘Maybe (Next to Normal)’ it’s particularly moving, though earlier she displays insecurities. As the show’s two doctors, Alex Rathgeber is in fine form vocally, though he doesn’t hit the mark as Diana’s hallucinatory rock star. Brent Trotter brings good rock vocals to the teenager who never was, Gabe. Clay Roberts gives a credible, sympathetic portrayal Natalie’s boyfriend Henry.

It's not a production without its technical issues. Audibility is good – you don’t miss a word, yet the sound engineering doesn’t always complement the voices to best advantage. There are little moments of detail too, that take away from the whole. Both Natalie and Henry are keyboard players, yet neither convinced that they were actually playing.

Overall, though, Next to Normal, with its unusually dark themes, a heart-wrenching performance from Natalie O’Donnell, and a no happy endings climax that is, at best, a collection of possible starting points, merits the visit to Kings Cross.

Neil Litchfield

Images: Anthony Harkin, Brent Trotter, Natalie O'Donnell and Kianne O'Farrell, & Natalie O'Donnell, in Next to Normal. Photographer: Yael Stemple