Majestic Theater, West Springfield, MA
through June 1, 2014
by K. J. Rogowski
Musicals by their very nature can present a challenge, in
finding the right singers who can act, or actors who can sing. But, add to
that, a serious central theme such as a family struggling with the impact of a
family member with a long history of bi-polar disorder, and that challenge is
increased.
That said, this presentation of "Next To Normal"
meets and exceeds on both of those challenges. Working with an excellent
script, which relies on very little dialogue but conveys the characters' inner
struggles and situations, and interpersonal conflicts between the family
members through their songs, this cast of six easily draws the audience into
the instability and anxiety of trying to get through a single day and some of
the most mundane daily tasks, when no one knows what might happen next.
Sue Dziura and Tom Nunes as the parents, trying to hold
their marriage together, and Emery Henderson and Daniel Plimpton as their teen
children caught in the middle, portray an average family, living with a real,
puzzling, and sometimes debilitating disorder. As their story unfolds, visible
are parallels between the parents' struggles and those of their daughter and
her new found boy friend, played by Josiah Durham. Add to this upheaval, the
many visits to Doctor Fine and then to Doctor Madden, both played by Freddie
Marion, is the question of which plan and medication cocktail will bring some
relief and stability which blur like the patient's view and hope of normalcy.
The authors play a name game, with our average family, the Goodmans, treatened
by their doctors, "fine" and "madden."
Greg Trochlil's set design, comprised of clean institutional
lines and generic panels, with smooth gray steel furniture, and puzzle piece
gray floor reflect and enhance that gray zone that is the Goodman's life, and
the disorder that they must deal with. The strength of this show is the strong
voices of the cast, both in their ability to deliver on the music and to create
characters who are real/next door people who tell their story, and make us care
about what happens.
