Reviewed by Laura Kennelly
There’s nothing funny about mental illness and so I didn’t expect to love this show. I expected to merely tolerate it. But instead, I left the Beck Studio Theatre awed by a superb theatrical experience that (often) made me laugh and moved me deeply.
When I saw the national tour of Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s Next to Normal a couple of seasons ago at Playhouse Square I left more interested in the shrink’s crude application of electroconvulsive therapy–angry about it, really–than in the music or the story itself. But not this time. Dependably brilliant Director Victoria Bussert shaped this musical into a powerful and unforgettable piece of theatre that immediately drew us into the family tragedy created by Diana’s illness. Bussert’s nuanced interpretation served as metaphor for what happens when (as the self-help book proclaims) “bad things happen to good people.” Life, for the family in Next involves things that must be endured, dealt with in ways positive and negative, good and bad–in other words, they have been dealt a life that is just like yours or mine (only different).
The cast tosses off lines and songs so naturally that we can almost forget we are watching a musical. Katherine DeBoer’s Diana exudes a likeable warmth and energy from the first time we meet her in the opening scenes (as she tries to get everyone off to school or work) until the last act’s bittersweet goodbye. Her family seems “normal,” an average suburban family. Scott Plate as Dan, Diana’s oft-flustered, but always loving and helpful husband, bubbles with believable hope and optimism. Their kids, rebellious Gabe (Chris McCarrell) and sweet, quiet Natalie (Caroline Murrah) seem to have typical teen concerns. Even Diana’s doctors (both played by Phil Carroll) seem to be mostly normal, “we know better than you,” shrinks who try their best.
Current BW students cast in this collaboration between the Beck and Baldwin Wallace University Music Theatre program contribute an extra level of believability since they are close to the age of their characters. But that wouldn’t be important (and isn’t, really) if they were not all the extremely talented performers and vocalists that they are. Senior McCarrell’s vibrant and stunning presence as Gabe, especially in “I’m Alive,” both chills and attracts. First-year BW students Murrah and Ellis Dawson (as her boyfriend Henry) beautifully evoke those awkward moments of first attraction and teen love.
Rehearsing and performing on this multi-level set with its oft-frenetic numbers must have been as good as joining a gym for the cast who never appeared out of breath even after multiple chases and turns up and down the stairs center stage. A small band hidden behind the stage and conducted by Nancy Maier supported the vocalists without overwhelming them.
Life with Dan and Diana isn’t all sunshine and songs, however. That something darker, something that mocks positive thinking, lurks in the house isn’t made clear until the last, riveting scene when Gabe (Chris McCarrell) and Dan (Scott Plate) ponder their options in “I Am the One.” Brrrr. Wonderful chills, wonderful show.
See it if you can. It continues at the Beck until Sun 4/21. For tickets call the Beck Center at 216-521-2540. http://beckcenter.org
3/23/2013
Laura Kennelly is a freelance arts journalist, a member of the Music Critics Association of North America, and an associate editor of BACH, a scholarly journal devoted to J. S. Bach and his circle.Listening to and learning more about music has been a life-long passion. She knows there’s no better place to do that than the Cleveland area.
Lakewood, OH 44107