Next to Normal - Donmar / Wyndham’s

Try and be calm Steven.

As an American I am fascinated by the apparent level of interest in this production. I hope it meets people's expectations.

I only added "As an American" to provide a bit of context so people didn't come at me assuming that I'm in the UK and should implicitly understand the level of interest.

I think it’s very telling that in recent years the Donmar hasn’t sold out every production - far from it. This one has really caught the imagination hence the sell-out run. It’s true that N2N is largely unknown outside of theatre circles, but for the purposes of a Donmar run there are clearly enough to sell out the 48 performances well in advance of opening/reviews.

48 x 251 = over 12,000 advance tickets sold less held back dayseats and comps.

I saw the original Broadway cast, in one of the best performances at the theatre I’ve ever seen, so this will definitely have to do a lot to even compare.

But I think the excitement is from the fact as the poster above indicates, it has been shown all over Europe, hundreds of am-dram and professional productions worldwide, but finally after 14 years it is here on our shores and appears to have been cast very well with love and respect to the story they are telling.

If it was Sally Ann Triplett reprising her Diana I’d be there in a shot…

Absolutely wonderful.

If she can deliver the acting performance- that is next years Olivier sewn up.

Wonderful. I’ve seen them all (Alice Ripley, Marin Mazzie, Jessica Phillips etc) and Cassie is holding her own. We are in for a treat.

She sounds beautiful - but videos like this never do anything for me - its just a pretty song sing nicely?

Considering what the song is about, her weird almost jig at the mid point made me question a lot - i know press sells etc, but id rather we didnt see there performances til the acting and direction is locked in.

Caissie sounds better than ever. I can’t wait for my London trip in about a month!

Is it just me or does anyone else think Caissie Levy is an odd choice for Diana (lead role)? She’s not really a ‘name’ here in the UK and in my humble opinion, gave an adequate performance in ‘Ghost’, but no more than that ( mind you, it can’t have been easy to do much with that material).

I can’t understand the reasoning for bringing over an American role to play this part unless it’s someone who has done the show before ( apologies if that is the case, I’m just not aware of her having done this).

There are quite a few actresses here in the UK who definitely seem more suited to the part.

Seeing the clip of ‘I Miss The Mountains” didn’t fill me with optimism either. As a previous poster said ‘pretty song, pretty voice’ but no sign at all of the acting needed to make this song really pack a punch.
I understand that many people may not have seen the show or know anything about it, but whether they do or don’t, even in isolation this song requires the emotional kick that was devoid in her performance, as opposed to a cabaret rendition.

I saw the show on Broadway, absolutely loved it and have been eagerly awaiting its arrival here in the UK. I really hope the Donmar production does it justice. I was surprised when I saw the original casting, but after seeing that video, the doubts are more pronounced.

By all accounts she was very good in Caroline, or Change on Broadway (and the few other things she's been in recently) and that was of course directed by the same director as this production so I imagine he chose her for a reason. Hopefully he chose wisely.

I have faith she'll do a good job. I think she acts it well towards the end of the clip but it's obviously more about the singing as I find most of these promotional studio recordings tend to be - they rarely reflect what happens in the theatre outside of vocal ability.

That was absolutely gorgeous. This is going to be very special.