Next to Normal - Donmar / Wyndham’s

Not just immersive, but disruptive also!

I know this is an often-asked question on here, but I wonder why NTN has never been produced here in the UK? The immersive version looks fascinating, but the original Broadway show was a profoundly moving experience that I’ll never forget.

None of that explains definitively why the show hasn’t come here, although 2 years in a 700 seat theatre is a weird directive.

I don’t think it ran for two years on Broadway ( apologies if I’m mistaken).
It’s such a niche show, definitely not one for coach party bookings or one where you’ll come out humming the tunes.

I loved it. Sadly there are aspects of the narrative that I can personally identify with and I was so affected by it that I took me a while to get out of my seat and leave the theatre at the end.

I think star casting ( as in musical stars like Hannah W or Jenna R) would really spoil it.
When I saw it I had never heard of Marin Mazzie and that helped to keep the focus on the intensity of  Diana’s character, rather than an actress who had been the lead in many other shows giving her interpretation of Diana.

Of course without star casting it could have a very short commercial life, so somewhere like The Dorfman or Young Vic would suit it so much better than a Shaftesbury Ave theatre.

I’m glad it never happened at The Menier. The casting there can often be way off beam or the same actors in the old boys and girls club turning up over and over again.

Not for a Brit like me though.

I’m often in a minority in more ways than one.
I guess I’d be sorry to see this show become ‘the Hannah Waddingham ( or insert other UK MT revered leading lady here) show’ rather than something that purely stands on the material. As I think I mentioned before, this show feels very resonant for me as it mirrors issues I have dealt with personally. I think the part of Diana calls for outstanding acting chops, as well as musical ones, and Marin Mazzie had both and the some.

If only Nicola Walker could sing, she’d be my perfect Diana.

Here is a video from last night's first preview of Next to Normal in Barcelona.

www.instagram.com/reel/CfgUT24ooD7/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=

(I know this technically belongs in the International section, but there has been some discussion here about the immersive version, so here's how it looks)

The official opening night is next Wednesday, so I'm hoping they provide more footage then. It is a bit frustrating it's just an abridged hour-long version (although those seats (cubes) wouldn't be comfortable to sit on for 2.5 hours).

It might have been on this thread or elsewhere on the forum, but was there talk of a film adaptation of Next to Normal at one point?

She's still got it!

A few more clips also available, courtesy of Broadwayworld on YouTube.

I also don't know how they explain the plot in just an hour.

A second call for more info please!

Waiting excitedly for a review!

Well, that was incredible. I'll write a proper review tomorrow when I have more time, but it worked really well in that setting. It was basically "The best of...Diana" - they'd cut out most of the Natalie/Henry stuff, and unfortunately (as I really like them) "I've Been" and "Light in the Dark". So it makes it an intense hour as there's no variation in mood, but Alice Ripley was even more than I hoped for. She put everything into that and sounded fantastic.

I think you have to know the show to appreciate this abridged version. There was a successful Spanish production about 5 years ago that played Barcelona, Bilbao and Madrid, and there were so many Americans there tonight who had travelled to see the show (/Alice).

The 360 effects were wonderful. Virtual Adam Pascal worked as Diana has all her appointments by video call or phone. And the visual stuff really complemented Alice's performance, getting inside her head etc.

As as I said, I'll write all my thoughts tomorrow. But for what we got tonight, €35 a ticket was a bargain.

Sorry for the delay with this, but here's some more on the staging and narrative etc, and I've tried to avoid any spoilers for those who don't know the story...

First of all, I think most people watching on Saturday night had previous knowledge of the show - there was certainly a vibe of familiarity in the queue outside before it started. I spoke to some Spanish and Americans (people started queuing over an hour before the doors opened, as it was first-come-first-served for seating choice) and all of them had seen it before - either the Spanish production 5 years ago; or were huge fans of the show in the US, and had flown over to see it (and Alice Ripley) in Barcelona. One guy behind me had seen it over 40 times on Broadway and tour, while others had Playbills from various shows they were hoping to get Alice to sign.

Once we got in, we could sit on any of the cubes dotted around the room (with the exception of some which were reserved, and used by the actors at various times during the show). Luckily I got there early and started speaking to two really nice Spanish ladies who had seen it the week before, so they told me to follow them when we got in, for the best seats (and they weren’t lying).

Regarding the narrative, the show has been adapted by the original writers, Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt, for this version. So it’s very carefully done so as not to lose the integrity (is that right word?) of the piece. And it feels very true to the original and certainly not a knock-off version.

The audience is allowed into the space about 15 mins before the start, and Diana is already sitting on a chair in the middle of the room. She’s sitting anxiously (and performs it brilliantly), which it turns out is her at 3.30am waiting for Gabe to arrive home. During that 15 mins while the audience is coming in and finding a seat, there is some text appearing on the walls - some of it background information about the musical, while other pieces explaining a little about Diana, her illness and her family, to set the story up. You can see that here in this Instagram post: www.instagram.com/reel/CfobPb4l6Rp/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=

The show itself then runs at about 1h10m (with what would be the first act being about 37 mins, and the second act 33 mins - but obviously there is no interval in this version). As I said in my last post, it’s like a “Best of Diana” show, with the focus being specifically on her. The other characters are there to serve her story, which is always the case, but it doesn’t go into so much detail on their individual struggles in the same way the full show does. So songs like Natalie’s “Everything Else” and Dan’s “I’ve Been” are completely cut, and others are just one short verse if it’s essential to the story. For example, Dan just sings the final verse of “A Light in the Dark” when he’s trying to get Diana to agree to the treatment. Most other songs have also been trimmed down, with verses removed. It really is an illusion though, because I still don’t understand how they were able to cut so much, yet feel that the full story was there. And even watching it, it didn’t feel rushed.

I think the actors did a lot to make sure their characters’ story was told as much as possible. Natalie and Dan’s acting was fantastic, so what was cut from the show about their own struggles, really was compensated in their performance. I know it sounds a bit pretentious, but you do really feel the emotion from the character when they are sitting crying in the chair right beside you.

They also used a voiceover at times, to fill in parts that had been removed. At the end of (what would be) Act 1, there is a narrator explaining what is happening, as Gabe is still singing “There’s a World”. While other times the actor says in one line what would have been sung in a full verse - again, an example is when Diana phones Dr Madden and simply says “It’s been four weeks since the treatment and my mind is still a mess”, and he then goes straight into singing “Are you talking with your husband…”.

I’m not sure what else I can say, so just ask me anything I haven't explained clearly enough. The 360 effects really do work in getting inside Diana’s head - in her video calls with Dr Madden, for example, you see flashes of the rock star image she sees, and get a sense of the chaos that’s inside her mind.

I don't know what the future of this version is, as a lot of it really is dependant on the space and 360 effects, but it is being billed as the world premier of this staging, so I'm not sure if that suggests they plan to take it elsewhere. A full show would be great, but they would have to change the seating, as I’m not sure I could have lasted much longer sitting on that cube. inthenose , you've already explained the problems bringing Next to Normal to the UK, and I'm not sure this version would do well anywhere else in Spain, being in English, and the fact most people from abroad who would travel to see it, would have probably already done so during this Barcelona run. However, I assume this version was in English to accommodate Alice Ripley - she seems to have a good relationship with Pablo del Campo, the producer, and has done various projects with him for his Spanish language productions of Casi Normales in Buenos Aires and Madrid. So maybe they will do a Spanish version of this in Madrid with a different cast, if they can recreate the effects in another space.