Next To Normal is an intimate exploration of family and loss. At its heart is Diana Goodman, a suburban wife and mother living with bipolar disorder and haunted by her past. Donmar Artistic Director Michael Longhurst directs this powerful rock musical about a far‑from‑average family.
Where this show unambiguously succeeds is in its sympathetic but clear-sighted depiction of a family buckling under buried grief and an impossible present. Brian Yorkey’s book presents us with clearly-drawn portraits of how people respond differently to trauma. There’s a deftly handled and meaty exploration of how little Western society is prepared to truly face loss, our unwillingness to let go of relationships and the risk of unaddressed, harmful patterns of behaviour becoming a family legacy. As Kitt’s attention-grabbing score and Yorkey’s lyrics wheel through differing genres, we get an aural sense of the characters’ messy kaleidoscope of feelings. Longhurst also sharpens the show’s welcome black humour in its bleakest moments with his vivid staging.
On the larger canvas, director Michael Longhurst allows the weight of betrayal, the exultation of connection and the soaring jubilation of familial happiness to bump into the top of the rafters. The material itself still has shortcomings – its treatment of mental illness feels more slapdash and non-specific than it needs to be (highlighting the musical is already showing its age against the backdrop of a fast-paced subject matter). Even so, it may have been marvellous at the Donmar, but it’s a must-see now.
2008 | Off-Broadway |
Original Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
2009 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2010 | US Tour |
1st National Tour US Tour |
2010 | US Tour |
2nd National Tour US Tour |
2013 |
Weston Playhouse Production |
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2020 | Washington, DC (Regional) |
Kennedy Center Broadway Center Stage Production Washington, DC (Regional) |
2024 | West End |
West End |
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