Review - Next To Normal and Maureen McGovern

As the 21st Century chugs along toward completing its first decade, perhaps Broadway's new role in American theatre with emerge as the place where talented composers and lyricists with interesting projects will premiere their less-inspired shows while their exciting, adventurous and better-written work continues to hide in the under-publicized shadows of Off- and Off-Off Broadway, festivals and the occasional cabaret appearance. Just as Legally Blonde, the Broadway debut of composer/lyricists Lawrence O'Keefe (Bat Boy, Sarah, Plain and Tall) and Nell Benjamin (Pirates!, Sarah, Plain and Tall) doesn't match the quality of their Off-Broadway and regional work, last season composer Tom Kitt made his first main stem appearance with the catchy-tuned and enjoyable, but not especially notable, High Fidelity while musical theatre lovers in the know were anxiously awaiting a production of Feeling Electric, his substantially superior collaboration with bookwriter/lyricist Brian Yorkey, first seen at the 2005 New York Musical Theatre Festival.

Though the piece now claims the less flashy title, Next To Normal, it is still the most electrically charged and invigorating musical about clinical depression you can hope for. Revised quite a bit for its new Second Stage mounting, I miss some of the darker humor from the '05 production, but that doesn't keep Next To Normal from being one of the most exciting and emotionally dazzling musical theatre creations to hit New York in many a season.

Much of the plot is best discovered through Kitt's aggressive and intricate rock score (beautifully played by conductor Mary-Mitchell Campbell's six-piece ensemble through string-heavy, finely interpretive orchestrations by the composer and Michael Starobin) and Yorky's plain-spoken, but always interesting narrative (despite their extraordinary circumstances, the characters are pretty much everyday people, realistically reflected in his uncomplicated lyrics), so I'll just say the story deals with a suburban family's distress caused by mom's (Alice Ripley) bi-polar episodes triggered by a long-ago tragedy. The authors ease us into the situation with a pretty, inspirational anthem ("Let There Be Light") followed by tensely comic scenes exposing the critical family dynamics, building to a farcical number about the joys of shopping at Costco which turns anguishing before you realize you're laughing at a woman's nervous breakdown. Though her powerful and expressive rock vocals are well-known to musical theatre fans, it's Ripley's (and the material's) capability to be funny without undercutting the seriousness of her character's situation that gives Next To Normal a firm empathetic base to build from.

Though director Michael Greif's staging (with frenetic musical staging by Sergio Trujillo) lacks a consistent visual feel with his alternating between big, presentational rock concert images of questionable meaning on set designer Mark Wendland's 3-tiers of scaffolding and more naturally played out scenes, he draws some wonderfully detailed portrayals from an excellent singing and acting ensemble. Along with Ripley, there's Brian d'Arcy James as the husband whose ability to cope and be strong for the family is severely tested and Jennifer Damiano as the teenage daughter whose awkwardness with her first boyfriend is compounded by the fear that she'll grow up to be as unstable as her mom. Aaron Tveit, as the attention-hungry son becomes a fierce presence as the musical progresses (his character is the one case where the rock star imagery works well) and there's good work by Adam Chanler-Berat as the daughter's nice guy suitor and Asa Somers as two doctors.

So long as bookwriters, composers and lyricists are writing pieces as ambitious and well-executed as Next To Normal, the American musical will be in fine shape artistically. Getting that fine artistry onto Broadway, where more people will see it, is another matter.

Photo by Joan Marcus: (Top) Aaron Tveit, Brian d'Arcy James, Adam Chanler-Berat and Jennifer Damiano (Bottom) Alice Ripley and Asa Somers

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I wish I were a better writer so that I could more completely convey to you the breathtaking artistry of Maureen McGovern. That sterling voice seems so effortlessly and lovingly controlled, even when emitting the faintest whisper of sublime vocal purity. Combine that with an extraordinary talent for complex lyric shading enhancing sensitive arrangements by music director/pianist Jeff Harris and the always cool and entertaining contributions of bassist Jay Leonhart and you've got a overwhelmingly fulfilling evening of cabaret.

The delightfully humorous McGovern dedicates her two-week engagement at The Metropolitan Room, titled A Long And Winding Road, to those born between 1946 and 1964. "We will not go quietly into that early bird special," she says of her fellow baby boomers.

Directed and co-written by Philip Himberg, the evening covers the more lyrically-minded side of 60s and 70s pop, including songs by Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and James Taylor. What becomes rather apparent early on is that while these singer/songwriters may have written great material, it takes the interpretive skills of a singing artist like McGovern to truly bring out the drama of their stories. The opening night audience was completely hushed throughout a stunning a cappella rendition of Mitchell's "The Fiddle and the Drum," a tortured and intense performance of Taylor's "Fire and Rain" and the ethereal fantasy she creates from Dylan's "The Times, They Are A-Changin'." She brings a quiet sophistication to Carol King's "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" and turns McCartney's "Let It Be" into and inspirational prayer. Her deep, loving tones on Lennon's "Imagine" embraces the audience like a warm comforter.

A Jay Leonhart arrangement of Simon's "The 59th Street Bridge Song" is sunny and playful, while she gives a down and dirty spin on McCartney's "Rocky Raccoon" and a light jazz twist to Laura Nyro's "And When I Die."

An a cappella tour de farce called "60's Silly Syllables," adapted by McGovern, has the singer rapidly running through doot-doots, dum-dum-dums and other nonsense lyrics from hits like "Mr. Sandman," "Mrs. Robinson," "My Boyfriend's Back" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." She gets even sillier with Tom Lehrer's "The Vatican Rag."

"West Side Story got me through junior high, The Beatles got me through high school and I could not have gotten through my divorce without Joni Mitchell," quips Maureen McGovern. Her new show is bound to get audiences through the night feelin' just groovy.