The sophisticated, glowingly brilliant and completely enthralling musical at Pioneer Theatre Company is a not-to-be-missed production.
While the unsentimental plot ostensibly revolves around a family coping with mental illness, the central theme is a powerful one: familial love and loss. The “rock” music is not backbeat-driven, vocal wailings, but better described as rock-influenced Broadway ballads that contribute perfectly to the storytelling.
To describe the poignant trigger and its repercussions at the dramatic core of the musical would be revealing details that the play’s authors, honored with a Pulitzer for this work, clearly intend to unfold gradually during the course of the play. There are birthday cakes, prom dates and the “next to normal” daily routines of any other American family.
The score, full of insightful wit and with the impact of a boxer’s punch, has music by Broadway veteran Tom Kitt and first-time lyricist (and book writer) Brian Yorkey and earned the team a hard-fought Tony. While including rough words not often spoken in Salt Lake households, the songs have a freewheeling, conversational tone and ping-pong through the family’s highs and lows.
Modern-day housewife Diana Goodman suffers from bipolar depression, but that is perhaps a too-simple explanation for her anguish. Her husband, Dan, is engaged in supporting her and finding effective treatment. The Goodmans have a son and daughter, each with their own story to tell. The other characters are Natalie Goodman’s boyfriend, Henry, and two health professionals, each played by a single actor.
In one of the show’s first productions after its Broadway run, Karen Azenberg directs a confident, highly professional cast, and each performance is beat-for-beat emotionally on target — heart-wrenchingly so. Because the play is virtually sung-through, the singing is a major component, and the professional PTC cast has soaring, octave-ranging beauty yet not as full-throated as anticipated.
The interwoven “You Don’t Know”/“I Am the One” by Judy McLane as Diana and Jonathan Rayson as Dan is raw and searing and one of the play’s highlights. The actors immerse themselves in their roles and bare their individual anguish with ferocious intensity.
The vibrant duet is followed by a masterful “I’m Alive” by Matt Dengler, whose character provides both inspiration and despair. His role is the play’s linchpin, and the terrific young actor is nothing short of amazing.
As the teens at the beginning of a relationship, the talented Ephie Aardema is a bundle of frustrations and angst as Natalie and the guilelessly charming Alex Brightman is ideal as Henry. In smaller roles, a noteworthy Ben Crawford humanizes the two doctors. His pharmacological version of “My Favorite Things” is a welcome moment of lightheartedness.
Lawrence Goldberg leads the vital but uncredited pit orchestra, light on percussions that added so much radiance to the original recording. The tri-level set design by George Maxwell grounds the production in reality yet hints at the family’s upheaval. Michael Gilliam’s lighting adds tension, and costume designer Carol Wells-Day continues to explore color intensity as a dramatic tool.
Unforgettable theater leaves audiences with much to ponder, and PTC’s “Next to Normal” is an illuminating production. Snippets of the show’s powerhouse ballads reverberate long afterward.
There is no real resolution in “Next to Normal” and no answers are offered. But we learn that "even the darkest skies will someday see the sun."
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