Next to Normal is a cultural milestone in my mind in the same way that Hamilton is. It opened on Broadway in 2008 and kicked off a slew of musicals discussing mental health. They often do a worse job than Brian Yorkey, the lyricist and book writer. Compare the ambiguous end of Next To Normal with the relatively “all-is-well” ending of Dear Evan Hansen. Yorkey’s work also includes the Netflix adaptation of 13 Reasons Why.
The Denver Center Theatre Company’s version is expertly done, with a spot-on cast and technical elements that add to the disorienting nature of the material. The sets for N2N are usually multiple floors of wiry and sparse walls. This version adds a ton of moving doors. The family winds in and out of rooms, leaving you unsure of who can see and hear whom. If you aren’t familiar with the show, you might not ever realize until the reveal that Gabe doesn’t interact with any family members besides Diana. A turntable on the ground floor provides the only circular movement in the show and only when Diana is on it, further representing her inner turmoil, usually with her therapist.
Aléna Watters as Diana is dizzying, moving from reality to hallucination with no break. Her character is sharp, dropping literary and pop culture references that belie the intelligence trapped underneath her bipolar delusions. It’s no wonder that James D. Sasser’s Dan is desperate to pull his brilliant wife out of the abyss. When you find out both their characters were architects, the sharp nature of the house makes sense with Dan’s no-nonsense personality.
Gabe has always been my favorite character, depicting the chaos in Diana’s mind. Ethan Peterson’s crystal-clear vocals are electric and he creeps around and across the stage like he is stalking prey. Angélica Conceptión as Natalie is the standout actor for me. Her arc from tense and sarcastic bookworm to out-of-control party girl, to wise-beyond-her-years parental rock is heartbreaking and believable. She is a mess, a brat, fiercely intelligent, biting—and it is all justified by the treatment her parents gave her.
The musical direction and band are sharp and tight, the lighting cold and isolated until the characters reach their feeling of hope with “There Will Be Light.” The audience doesn’t leave the theatre with hope so much as the feeling that the Goodman family has finally broken the pattern of insanity. Diana is ready to try something entirely new, because nothing else has worked. It’s not a happy ending, but it is real. The story isn’t over, there is no happy ending or sure thing. But the family is more in sync than they ever were before, singing in unison for the first time in the show.
Next to Normal plays from April 3 – May 3 in the Stage Theatre in the Denver Center for Performing Arts. Tickets run from $47 to $114 and are available at denvercenter.org. Advisories include adult themes and language, haze, strobe lights, drug use, mental illness, loss, and self-harm.
Photo courtesy of Jamie Kraus
