Next to Normal - Donmar / Wyndham’s

I agree, I thought it was a brilliant production, the cast were perfect and the score really does get into your brain and stay there, but I too found the second act a bit relentlessly bleak and the finale doesn't rectify the balance enough. But it's still one of the best things I've seen in a long time.

So I finally saw this on Tuesday and have been kind of collecting my thoughts ever since. Still not 100% sure I know how I feel but I shall try to express it.

I am aware (from this thread and the number of 5 star reviews) that a lot of people love this show and find it more or less perfect theatre. I didn't get that myself.

The good:

- The production. More or less faultless to be honest. Set was perfect and very effective. Loved the orchestra up and at the back. Stunningly lit. And the projections were also very effective. Band were great and the sound design was pretty much perfect.

- The space. I had never been to the Donmar before but what a lovely theatre. Great views and of course very intimate.

- The cast. Thought they were all wonderful. Really not a weak link so I kinda don't want to single anyone out but thought they were all wonderful. The only one I struggle slightly with is Trevor as he kind of suffers from the Michael Ball effect. He's such a larger than life character and his Genie is etched so firmly in my mind (plus now his TV persona) that I always just see him and struggle to see character.

- The audience. Perfect. No phones, no talking, no filming, no drunks, no moving, no rustling. Absolute bliss. And a world apart from Moulin Rouge last week which was the usual chaos.

5 star production no doubt.

The really-not-sure.

The piece itself. I really struggled with it. It is wonderful to see an entire musical devoted to the exploration of a mental illness and I commend them for that. Within this exploration there was some good and some bad. I appreciate it's a musical so is never going to be 100% true to life but I felt they were very much taking a real illness and I felt trying to present a realistic depiction of that so you have to judge it on that. The depiction of Diana as a patient with bipolar just didn't ring true to me. Her behaviour, her episodes, her presentations, her appearance - it's not impossible but the way she is is a vanishingly rare collection of ways bipolar may present. To me it was fantasy musical rather than realistic musical.

ECT. And this was my biggest bugbear. The way it was talked about and woven into the plot towards the end of Act 1 was SO unrealistic and bordered on the way it would have been dramatically explored 20-30 odd years ago. The treatment itself was made into such a big deal. Then consent was made into such a big deal. The treatment itself is not that common, but where indicated is a safe, routine, well tolerated procedure performed under general anaesthetic (this was not made clear until Act 2) with minimal side effects. It is effective where required and can literally be a life saver. In terms of consent, in the UK at least it can be given without consent if a patient is under certain sections. It is more usually given with consent though - and it is vanishingly rare for consent to be contentious as the vast majority of patients who are presented with the option are at the point either of desperation for something to work or of barely caring and just signing it. Total memory loss so rare. So they were piling on rare on rare on rare and it just became next level unrealistic.

To summarise - I think a show like this has a responsibility to an audience (many of whom will have their own pre-conceived (often overly dramatic and negative) opinions on ECT) to let them leave the theatre realising that where needed it is a safe and good treatment. And is not remotely traumatic (as a procedure itself) as it's under general anaesthetic.

So yes, because of all this it slightly lost me at the end of act 1 and start of act 2 and I preferred the first and last 45 mins of the piece.

Things that were better in the depiction of mental illness however:
- The utter relentlessness of it all. There were very few more positive moments and I thought it was great to show that in same instances you try so many things and nothing helps. Your suffering just goes on and on and on. Again this is a minority of patients but it is significant enough that it was nice to see it portrayed in this musical.
- The effect that someone who is suffering so much has on their family. I thought the mental descent and struggles of Diana's husband and daughter were really well written and far more realistic than her own portrayal. The last 30 mins where the husband is just sat on the floor in despair - heartbreaking.

Anyway, there we are. If theatre is meant to make you think it worked. Have thought about it a lot this week. And am really glad I went to see it. But I certainly wouldn't go back.

Oh finally, it's a musical, so, the music. Nothing I could hum the next day sorry. Though did recall enjoying I'm Alive so did dig that out on the OBC. It was very pleasant, bit didn't get beyond that for me. Knowing what am like I might have forgiven parts of the above had some melodies pierced my heart.

Overall IMHO - 5 star production of a 2(?2.5) star musical.

I do have to say, the people who say that Caissie’s depiction of bipolar doesn’t feel ‘enough’ one of my biggest issues with the Broadway production was how they presented Bipolar, it felt very cartoonish and was a perfect example of why so many people (especially in that time period and the however many decades before) didn’t disclose their mental illness diagnoses, because the media’s depiction of our illnesses are so exaggerated. Im not saying that is the case for everyone with a bipolar diagnoses, but I’m pretty critical at judging how different forms of media have depicted this illness that has affected my entire life, and this feels the closest portrayal to it.

Saturday 2nd September 2023 - evening - £60.00 centre stalls

I apologise in advance for the scatter-shot nature of this review! It’s going to be a bit all over the place, sorry!

Have you ever had a theatre-going experience which has left you lost for words? I have - twice in my lifetime. The first time was at the Booth Theatre on Broadway, watching the full original cast of Next to Normal. Saturday night at the Donmar was exactly the same. It has taken me a full week to simply digest what I saw and get my thoughts down.

The Donmar’s outgoing Artistic and Show Director Michael Parkhurst is leaving his post with a bang. His production of this outstanding show is very, very special.

Sat in the front row of the stalls, central block, I was barely a foot away from the action. The superb design (Chloe Lamford) and clever use of the intimate Donmar space made me feel I was right there in the Goodman house with the family. This is one aspect I hugely preferred over the traditional proscenium Broadway staging, and will be sorely missed when it transfers into the West End.

Excellent use of verticality, with an upper balcony doubling as the playing space for Nigel Lilley’s outstanding six piece band and the upper level of the Goodman household, giving the production a very aesthetically pleasing quality. Lee Curran’s lighting frames the set beautifully, and passive but effective use of projections add to the otherwise fairly static set rather than distract from it. Every word is “crystalline clear”. Such a rarity in musical theatre nowadays, the sound balance is perfection. The band absolutely rocked, without levels being set too high against vocals - this is how it is done, guys.

Gone is the neon, modernist nightclub-ish scaffold look of the original production, instead we get a more literal take on a nuclear American family home. Everything from the practical aspects of the set (working taps, kitchen appliances, even a large fridge doubling as an upstage exit and entrance!) right through to the costumes is set in grounded universe. These feel like real people, in a real home.

I loved the costumes, actually. Diana dresses exactly as a 40-something soccer mom might (just picture it in your head), and Dan becomes more and dishevelled as his world - his life - comes crashing down around him.

I needn’t have worried about Parkhurst trying to reinvent the wheel. Just a couple of minor like-for-like changes to update the piece slightly - the odd word. A reference to “X” (Twitter) rebrand being a disaster by Henry, for example. The orchestrations, sound balance in harmonies and so forth are largely identical to Broadway and the US tour. This is a very faithful production, yet unique. I told you it’s hard to put into words!

Dan’s deterioration of his own mental health is dramatically revised in this production. He is a broken man. Jamie Parker plays this perfectly, and is entirely believable from the get-go as a man on the edge, himself not even believing his outward brave face.

Which I suppose brings me onto the performances, which are absolutely phenomenal. Caissie Levy has the most blatant and obvious Olivier win in recent history sewn up. She is sensational. And now might be a good time to compare this production’s Diana to the Broadway counterpart.

Alice Ripley’s Diana was more outwardly unstable, frankly. She gave off more of a “right on the edge” vibe from her very first lines of the show. Caissie Levy’s Diana is holding her cards closer to her chest, instead allowing the character’s behaviour and therefore motivations to develop more organically.
For example, the build up during “Just Another Day” of her strange, but more “quirky” than concerning behaviour, leading to a manic episode. The Broadway direction for Ripley, Jessica Phillips and Marin Mazzie was much more on the nose in comparison to what Parkhurst and Levy have realised, in my opinion.

The voices are beyond comparison. Caissie Levy has one of the most beautiful and compelling voices in musical theatre. Her “I Miss the Mountains” was heartbreaking and technically exemplary. If you wanted to give a workshop on “acting through song”, show them this performance. She runs the gamut; from a slow, folksy beginning right through to the dramatic belting end, this is a performer who absolutely dominates the task given to her.

In short, Caissie Levy gives one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen. Both her acting and singing is beyond compare with the other Diana’s I’ve seen.

Jamie Parker fares very well as a heartbreaking Dan. I was able to put aside a couple of negatives (in pros and cons below) and his was the performance which moved me the most, simply because the character is so crucial to the telling of the second Act and showing the devastation that Diana’s illness has caused.


Jack Wolfe (Gabe), Eleanor Worthington-Cox (Natalie) and Jack Ofrecio (Henry) are all superb in every aspect. Acting, vocals and emotion. Frankly, having seen Aaron Tveit, there’s not a lot of room for manoeuvre in the part of Gabe. Really it comes down to looking pretty and being able to sing really well - both of which Jack Wolfe does in abundance. His “I’m Alive” was a clear highlight of the evening. This production’s take on Henry is a bit less geeky than Broadway, Ofrecio sings “Perfect for You” beautifully. Worthington-Cox initially seems a bit one-note, but the character develops from screwed up face huffyness, to daughter yearning for meaning and affection, to young adult coping with the hand she has been dealt. In my view, in this production Natalie’s journey has the biggest arc. She has a super voice too and, like the whole cast, is quite easy on the eye. Trevor Dion Nicholas as Dr Fine/Madden does the role justice. I don’t have that much to say about him. Minor negative to follow.

PROS:

- Outstanding production of one of the greatest musicals ever written.
- Phenomenal cast led by Caissie Levy
- Very effective sets, lighting, projections and general use of the Donmar performance space
- More than does justice to the original Broadway production, and improves on it in many areas

CONS:

- Unfortunately, Jamie Parker struggled a little vocally. High notes are modulated in key and/or lowered, and feel underpowered. “You Don’t Know/I Am the One” final notes spring to mind, and the entirety of “A Light in the Dark”. He also fumbled lines twice. Despite this though, he was generally superb giving an actor’s performance.
- Bizarre decision to very poorly mime Dr. Madden’s “rockstar” moments. I don’t know if it was because of all the vocal effects applied to those lines, or whether the actor would struggle eight times a week, but it looked really crap.

I picked up a programme, Next to Normal book and show poster - can’t remember the amounts but generally very pleased. The programme in particular is superb, with full colour photos, and loads of interesting articles about the show and the wider discussion about bi-polar disorder. Exemplary! The show poster is on the small and expensive side (£5 and roughly A4 size).

So yes, very easy 5* and one of the best things I’ve ever seen. Will be back on opening night of the transfer.

Pretty much lost for words after watching Next to Normal this afternoon. What an absolutely stunning, gut wrenching piece of theatre.

Can someone just give Eleanor Worthington Cox the Olivier for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical right now?!

Happy for Jack Wolfe to get the Best Actor in a Supporting Role while you're at it. 😀

Me too!

As of right now- there is no transfer.

I agree. The way they showed much more of how Diana’s illness impacts Dan is one of the best “changes” to the show they did.

Contains spoilers.

I caught this last night also after seeing the Broadway production in 2010 with Marin Mazzie. I knew what to expect, but I loved seeing an updated take. This staging worked better I thought, and there were some really clever additions such as the walk through fridge, revolve, and the blood spill which caught me off-guard. Caissie seemed to play it very dry humoured at the start and had a more discrete way of showing Diana’s struggles than how I remember Marin. Her vocals almost seemed too polished for the story, and even though she’s in her 40s, she looks younger, especially when compared to Dan. I think a lot of the heavy lifting acting is done by Dan and Natalie rather than Diana, and Jamie and Eleanor were perfect.

I had no issues with Jamie’s vocals last night, either he has worked on them since the other reviews or it wasn’t noticeable in the moment like it would be in a YouTube clip. The standout for me was Jack Wolfe as Gabe, his voice gave me shivers. I’m Alive got the biggest audience reaction of the night. I’m excited to see what he does next.

I was also surprised they hired two extra cast members to play the ‘nurses’ at the start of act 2. Was this really necessary? Do they have other roles as understudies or backstage crew? It seems wasteful. I didn’t buy a programme so can’t check this.

Almost positive the two nurses are just stage crew?

Give the score a couple more listens, I promise it's worth it and it'll grow on you 😁

I'm always surprised when people don't see the reveal coming - I guess having known the show for so long it doesn't come as a shock to me, but I still think it's staged pretty clearly from the beginning what's happening (but I'm always pleasantly surprised when there is an OH moment for the audience)