Yes, another musical is my choice
for show and tell number three. I
was inspired to re-read this show after talking in class today about musical
theater and our favorite moments. I talked about one of my favorite moments
from this show, which is a dramaturgical choice that I will discuss later on.
This is a little show called next to normal, music written by Tom Kitt and book and lyrics written by Brian Yorkey. This show first started
out about 15 years ago as a workshop called Feeling
Electric starring Norbert Leo Butz. It moved to Off-Broadway in 2008 and
then a year later moved to Broadway at the Booth Theatre. The orginal
production starred Alice Ripley (Diana), Jennifer Damiano (Natalie), Aaron
Tveit (Gabe), J Robert Spencer (Dan), Adam Chanler Berat (Henry), and Louis
Hobson (Dr. Fine/Dr. Madden). It
won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2010. However, it did not win the Tony in
2009 for best musical (it was beaten out by Billy
Elliot). Ripley won Best Actress and Tom Kitt won Best Original Score. The
show is now being produced all across the world.
Next to Normal is, in short, about
a struggling suburban American family. Diana is a mother with manic depression.
She had a son when she was young which is the only reason her and Dan got
married. Eighteen months later, her son was killed. They had Natalie some time
after and she is currently sixteen years old. Throughout the play we see Diana interacting with her son
although he is not actually there, however we don’t learn that until halfway
through act one. After a suicide
attempt, Diana goes through electric shock therapy and forgets everything about
her life. In act two, the family tries to bring back some of her memories and
leaves out everything about her son.
However, Gabe keeps poking back at her trying to get her to remember.
Meanwhile, Natalie is feeling a bit
ignored. She’s your typical
stressed out high schooler, up until four in the morning studying “three more
chapters of calculus, a physics problem set, a history quiz and two pages on
floral imagery in Flowers for Algernon
which is like duh” (9). She is an
avid pianist, and as she rehearses for her big recital she meets Henry. Henry
is a loser stoner type who tries to win Natalie over, and eventually does.
However, Natalie becomes a stoner and steals her mother’s medication. Eventually she goes into a downward
spiral and Henry brings her back.
My absolute favorite dramaturgical
choice in this show is a choice that Brian Yorkey makes. Diana and Dan’s son’s name is not
mentioned until the end of act two.
At one point, in the “It’s Gonna Be Good (Reprise)” Diana screams, “What
was his name?” We see him on stage throughout the show but the one moment that
literally assaults all of your emotions is when Dan finally accepts that he is
there. In “I Am the One (Reprise)” Dan looks up and says “Gabe, Gabriel” as
Gabe replies “Hi, dad.” This is
one of the most effective and powerful moments I’ve ever read/listened to and I
cannot imagine what it would do for me when I see it live.
Another choice is the delayed point
of attack with Gabe. We see him
throughout the first act and think that he is just a normal part of the
family. He interacts with Diana
but we don’t realize that he isn’t real until the right before the song “He’s
Not Here.” Natalie and Henry are
at dinner with the family and Diana walks in with a birthday cake for
Gabe. Henry says something along
the lines of “I didn’t know you had a brother” and Natalie responds with “I don’t.
He died before I was born.” We grow attached to Gabe because we think he’s real
and it’s just such a shift and you get so confused that it’s so just “wow.”
This is one of the trippiest and inspiring
shows I have ever read. It makes you think and I cannot even begin to express
my love for it. I highly recommend
it to anyone with a fascination in psychology or how the mind works in the
slightest.
Ah, the rare example of a musical winning the Pulitzer! I’m not a big musical theatre fan, but this play definitely gets most of it right. The one thing about it that I will probably never have answered is what my reaction would have been like if I didn’t already know that Gabe was dead. I feel like it should be an entirely different play if that reveal is the knife-to-the-gut that it should be, but I already had it spoiled for me. In regards to the text, specifically, that late reveal is probably my favorite part of the show. (Musically, my favorite part is definitely “Wish I Were Here.” Awesome, right?)
ReplyDeleteOh look at you! Choosing my favorite musical of all time and stuff! I love the dramaturgical choices you chose to talk about, specifically the reveal that Gabe has been deceased for sixteen years. This particular bit of information leads to a sudden increase in tension that never lets up for the rest of the show. Even at the end, when Diana has presumably left her demons behind her, Gabe is still seen haunting Dan. The question left unanswered is whether or not Gabe's spirit will ever find any peace.
ReplyDeleteHaha of course you would do this musical! I love the choices you've talked about, specifically the delayed point of attack. It's a very Sixth Sense kind of moment. I think having this late point of attack reinforces your first dramaturgical choice. By getting you so attached to a character, then revealing he's dead, and then not even bringing up his name until Act II...it makes it that much more hear breaking. Yayyy for musical theatre love :)
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