There is a
recent trend for Cleveland area professional theatres to couple with local
university drama programs.
Cleveland Play House has married itself to both Cleveland State
University and Case Western Reserve’s MFA programs. Cleveland Public Theatre and Oberlin College have such an
agreement. The connection between
Beck Center and Baldwin Wallace’s nationally ranked musical theatre program,
has resulted in not only allowing BW students to appear on a professional stage,
and the expansion of the acting pool for Beck, but the production several top
notch shows.
Last year
Beck-BW parlayed to produce the mesmerizing SPRING AWAKENING, which received
The Cleveland Critics Circle—2012 best musical production award, and garnered
Victoria Bussert recognition as the best director of a musical. This year, Bussert, again is staging a
winner with NEXT TO NORMAL, which stars former and present BW students and a
university faculty member.
NEXT TO NORMAL, with book
and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt, is a unique musical which
addresses loss, death, suicide, drug usage, and the ethics of modern psychiatry.
It won three 2009 Tony
Awards and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
The Pulitzer Board
credited the show with “expanding the scope of subject matter for musicals.”
The story concerns Diana Goodman, a suburban
American housewife, who has been diagnosed as having a form of bipolar disorder
coupled with what might be schizophrenia.
The question comes as to whether the condition is hereditary or was
induced by a trauma early in her marriage. Together with her husband, Dan, she fights to keep her mind
and their family on some sort of “normal” path. Maybe not normal, but “next to normal.” After extensive therapy Diana decides
to stop taking the pills, cuts off all mental health help, including the
electroconvulsive therapy that caused her short-term amnesia. This decision leads to an unsettling
conclusion.
The play brings up many questions, questions
usually presented in a dramatic, rather than musical form. Yorkey’s book is so well developed that
the singing enhances the actions, rather than being an interlude from the
development of the dramatic tension.
Questions include: Is being
happy the same as happiness? Is
there a way to treat mental illnesses?
Is losing one’s memory good or bad? Can someone put mind over matter and succeed in controlling
psychotic instances? Is mental
illness in the brain or in the soul?
NEXT TO
NORMAL is the type of show that Bussert does best…quirky, compelling, requiring
creativity and strong talent. The
script and her cast are up for the requirements. The singing voices are marvelous, the acting is generally of
high quality, the pacing is excellent, the show’s meaning shines clearly.
Highlight
numbers include “He’s Not Here,” “I Am the One,” “How Could I Ever Forget,” “It’s
Gonna Be Good,” and “I’m Alive.”
Chris
McCarrell, a BW senior, displays a strong singing voice and totally inhabits
the role of Gabe, the son. With
his boyish good looks and performance abilities he is Broadway ready! He is a physical and talent flashback to
Rex Nockingust, a BW grad who went to NY and took over the lead in THE
FANTASTICS. (Too bad the role of
PIPPIN in the Broadway revival is already cast.)
Katherine
DeBoer generally has a nice grasp on the role of the mentally ill Diana, making
her a real person with overwhelming psychological issues. Her singing voice is strong, her lyric
interpretations excellent.
Suspending
Diana from the set during the Electro Convulsive Therapy scene, rather than
placing her on an operating room table, created an interesting conundrum. Was she supposed to be a symbol of
psychiatric crucifixion, a victim of mental health S&M, or was this a necessity
caused by the set design?
Scott Plate
is impressive as the emotionally stifled, yet well meaning Dan, Diana’s
husband. He has a fine voice and
sings meanings not just words, thus creating dialogue out of lyrics.
Caroline
Murrah creates in daughter Natalie a confused, obsessive teenager, desperate
for love and acceptance. Though
her voice is strident at times, her overall song interpretation is good.
Phil Carroll
is spot on as both Dr. Madden, Diane’s rock star psychiatrist and Dr. Fine, a
traditional mental health professional.
As with the others in the cast, his singing voice is excellent.
Ellis Dawson,
who sings well, stays on the surface as Henry, Natalie’s boyfriend. It’s hard to accept him as a real
person.
Jeff Herrman
has created a stage design of wooden scaffolding which, while attractive and
properly symbolic (hundreds of prescription bottles decorate the set), makes
for some awkward staging. The
actors are constantly ducking under the second level, which distracts from the
action.
Nancy Maier’s
band is excellent, backing up rather than drowning out the very important
lyrics.
David Zody’s
choreography generally worked, but was overly obvious and repetitive in the
convulsive therapy segment.
Though the
sound system worked well, one must question why in this very small theatre,
where no patron is more than five rows away from the stage, and the cast having
trained voices, microphones were needed.
The electronic sound distracted from the reality of the production.
CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: NEXT TO NORMAL, a
combined Beck Center and Baldwin Wallace University production, is well
done. This is the type of show
that should result in sold out houses.
NEXT
TO NORMAL is scheduled to run through April 21 at Beck Center for the
Arts. For tickets and information
call 216-521-2540 or http://www.beckcenter.org
