"Next to Normal"

Next to Normal

Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt

Los Altos Stage Company

Jillian Toby-Cummings & Mitchell Mosley

In 2008, a rock-music-infused premiere at Washington’s Arena Stage hit and dug deep into every topic that the Great American Musical had overall been reticent to put on its stages:  lifelong mental disease, paralyzing grief, severe depression, drug abuse, the questionable practices of modern psychiatry, and worst of all, suicide.  And yet, Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt’s Next to Normal made it to Broadway in 2009, won three Tonys, and became only the eighth ever musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Los Altos Stage Company brings to its stage the story of Diana Goodman’s daily fight to cope with life and her family’s struggle to cope with her.  The intimacy of the Bus Barn arena allows the family’s effects of Diana’s worsening, bipolar disorder to be acutely felt by those of us only a few feet away from the emotion-packed songs and the oft-tear-laced faces of those singing them.  At the same time, there are breakthrough moments where this family experiences a reason to relax, sigh, and smile, enveloping us as an audience with a hope that even facing crises, “When we open up our light, sons and daughters, husbands, wives, can fight that fight ... There will be light” (“Light”).

For my full review, please proceed to Talkin' Broadway: https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/sanjose/sj166.html.

Rating: 5 E

Next to Normal continues through June 22, 2019 at Los Altos Stage Company, 97 Hillview Avenue, Los Altos, CA.  Tickets are available online at http://losaltosstage.org or Monday – Friday, 3 – 6 p. in person at the box office or by calling 650-941-0551.

Photo Credit: Richard Mayer