Table of Contents
A work of muscular grace and power, next to normal features a surging tidal score by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey thatwhile sustaining the electric momentum of a rock operakeeps shifting shapes. No show on Broadway makes as direct a grab for the heartor wrings it as thoroughly. Simply to describe what occurs doesnt do justice to the excitement this show generates. It is a brave and breathtaking musical.
Ben Brantley,New York Times
Incongruously, sometimes agonizingly, beautiful. Grade: A!
Melissa Rose Bernardo,Entertainment Weekly
Next to wondrous! Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey have created an exceptional show that says something meaningful and powerful. These songwriters words and melodies resonate after you leave the theater.
Joe Dziemianowicz,Daily News
A startling, emotion-drenched musical about one familys attempt to cope with mental illness. The show is an impressive achievement, a heartfelt entertainment that tackles the uncomfortable subject of manic depression with a straightforwardness that is commendable. And its emotional, too, in that Brian Yorkey, who wrote the book and lyrics, and Tom Kitt, who composed the music, have crafted an affecting contemporary tale that doesnt shortchange character or plot in their attempt to tell a difficult story.
Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press
next to normal offers a welcome, indie-like reminder that Broadway musicals can be about people rather than pyrotechnics.
Brendan Lemon,Financial Times
Its choice of subject alone is reason to admire next to normal. Too many small-scale musicals think even smaller. But the creative team here poses a potentially hackneyed questionIs it better to feel pain or smother it?and gives it freshness, urgency and emotional integrity.
David Rooney,Variety
next to normal is that truly rare beast in the Broadway song and dance jungle: a creation with heart, guts and brains, served up in equal proportion. Not since Spring Awakening has a musical come along that quickens the pulse rate like this one does. With amazing balance, the book by Brian Yorkey (who also penned the often witty, always sensible lyrics) avoids the pitfalls of melodrama and sentimentality, letting us see these people in the raw, ragged state where years of living on the edge have left them.
Richard Ouzounian,Toronto Star
Rock is alive and rolling like thunder in next to normal. It is mesmerizingan emotional powerhouse with a fire in its soul and a wicked wit that burns just as fiercely. Composer Tom Kitt and writer-lyricist Brian Yorkey have broken the shackles of tired Broadway tradition, pushing it in new directions. Next time you think the Broadway musical is dead, head off to next to normal. Itll pin you to your seat.
Peter Travers,Rolling Stone
A perfect musical. Simply put, next to normal is truly one of the most powerful, surprising and invigorating original musicals in recent memory.
Matt Windman,am New York
A gutsy, unconventional Broadway show. This is not only a serious, substantial, dignified and musically sophisticated new American work, but a frequently moving picture of an empathetic nuclear family whose members are struggling, like many of us, to take care of themselves and each other, and to keep the stitches in the fraught fabric of their daily lives.
Chris Jones,Chicago Tribune
I was surprisedjaw-droppingly soby next to normal, a musical about the effects of manic depression that is, appropriately enough, leaving audiences both teary-eyed and elated at Arena Stages Crystal City theater. next to normal is about smart people who deal with tricky issues of love and loss and who do so in soaring, searing melodies, in ways that prove exhilarating and roundly affecting.
Bob Mondello,Washington City Paper
next to normal is that rare musical that touches your heart and gets under your skin. Its a great collaborative effort. Tom Kitt, who composed the music, with Brian Yorkey, crafting the lyrics and book, propel the story to fanciful and emotional heights.
Roma Torre, NY1
A fresh, intelligent, compassionate and extremely touching experience. Tom Kitts music and lyrics by Brian Yorkey probe the characters minds and motivation with great psychological understanding. An exciting leap into the possibilities of musical theater.
Robert Feldberg,Record(New Jersey)
A seamless, riveting, must-see event. next to normal artfully zooms in on a family in crisis, and the things that cripple themdenial, numbness, the refusal to examine difficult issuesthings that often cripple modern musical theater audiences. Kitt and Yorkeys irresistible story will grab you and force you to look, listen and feel.
Amy Krivohlavek,Show Business Weekly
To Rita, Michael and Julia
Tom
To Bev, for waiting outside every rehearsal, in the station wagon, with the dogs
Brian
acknowledgments
next to normal has been an unlikely project from the very start, and as its authors, we owe debts of gratitude to far too many people to list in a book this size.
But you wouldnt be holding this book in your hands at all if it werent for producer extraordinaire David Stone, who believed in the show, and in us, long past the point others would have given up.
The same goes for the smart and passionate Michael Greif, who cared deeply about every word, every note, every moment, and brought our show to brilliant life.
The amazing producers, actors, designers and stage managers listed on the following pages have each made indelible contributions to the strange and wonderful journey of this show, and we thank them. Many others contributed to readings and workshops along the way, and we are grateful to each and every one of them as well.
The Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation provided support at an essential time; thanks to Nancy Kassak Diekmann and the Larson family.
Thanks to Kurt Deutsch, Noah Cornman, Steve Norman and everyone at Sh-K-Boom records, early and ongoing supporters.
Peter Askin and James Lapine guided us in finding what the show wanted to be, and believed we could get it there, which meant the world to us.
So did Carole Rothman, Chris Burney and everyone at Second Stage, and Molly Smith, David Dower and everyone at Arena Stage.
Dr. Anthony Pietropinto, Dr. Nancy Elman and Dr. Quentin Van Meter provided invaluable medical advice, though any errors are ours alone.
Laura Pietropinto, Tom DAmbrosio and Brandon Ivie looked out for us at moments of great overwhelmedness.
Anthony Rapp and Alex Lacamoire are awesome human beings.
next to normal was presented in an early form at the New York Musical Theatre Festival (Isaac Hurwitz, Executive Director) under the title feeling electric, produced by Reno Productions and Terry Byrne, Kristin Kopp and Amanda DuBois.
feeling electric was developed at Village Theatre in Issaquah, Washington (Robb Hunt, Executive Producer; Steve Tomkins, Artistic Director), and was subsequently presented in concert form at the Cutting Room in New York City (produced by Kurt Deutsch, Melissa Justin and Sh-K-Boom Records) and by Musical Mondays (Bick Goss, Artistic Director, and Frank Evans, Producing Director).
