The other night I went to see next to normal with my sisters and as it turned out a friend of mine who was sat separately from us and I didn’t know was there until I was leaving. We booked it in March before it was all sold out.
I will go through the staging, the characters, the story, the music and some thoughts that I have to share. Major spoilers for Next to Normal so if you haven’t seen it and your booked to see it go come back to this later. Content warning for suicide, grief, mental illness and gaslighting behaviour.
The staging
The stage was on a turn table and the set is a kitchen set up but it does also turn into a hospital. The prop in the middle a kitchen island broke near I miss the mountains so they had to do a stage stop for about 10 mins. They also had a set of stairs and had the band in four boxes and also it was used for imagery purposes which I’ll go into more in the story part.
The characters and cast
Diana the mum of the family was played by Cassie Levy.
Dan the dad of the family was played by Jamie Parker.
Gabe the son of the family was played by Jack Wolfe.
Natalie the daughter of the family was played by Eleanor Worthington-Cox
Natalie’s boyfriend Henry was played by Jack Ofrecio.
Diana’s pharmacologist, doctor and psychrist was played by Trevor Dion Nicholas.
The story and music
The play starts off with Diana sat up on her ipad which is new and modern in some versions I have watched online she is reading the news paper or just sat there so interesting nod into the more modern times. Anyway she is sat up waiting for her son and when he comes home she tells him she been sat there worrying about him dieing unexpectedly it’s a fun little exchange and then Dan the dad calls down. Diana tells Gabe to go up the back stairs to avoid him. This when they go into the song just another day. Diana then speaks to Dan and offers him sex to distract him. Natalie comes on the stage with a load of books and a can of redbull looking like she is doing an all nighter.
Diana tells her not to work to hard then yells her she is off to have to sex. As the song progresses we start to see that cracks in Diana and the family. She unravels until she ends up making sandwiches on the floor. We also get small clues that things aren’t what they seem as Gabe waves a set of car keys at Dan and gets no response. The song stops and they kids go to school. Dan encourages Diana to go back to the doctor.
The scene changes and Natalie is rehearsing for the winter recital which she asked her parents if they come and watch in the last scene. She sings about Mozart being crazy and wanting to escape to university. After the song Henry comes to see her but she finds him creepy cos he knew her name. It’s a funny exchange.
The next scene Diana is at the doctors being prescribed drugs and she hallucinates the cast dancing and singing the name of the drugs and she Dances with the doctor. Which is a parody of favourite things. While in this song we also see Natalie and Henry relationship develop. The revolve worked well for this song become we see the passage of time as the revolve goes and she explains her side effects. At the end of the song she says she doesn’t feel anything so the doctor says patient stable.
Natalie and Henry come on stage and struggle to move the kitchen counter but manage it so get an extra cheer. They do their perfect for you and it was so good. We see Diana notice the budding relationship and has a chat with Gabe about it. I think it was around this time there was a stage stop to fix the kitchen island. I was like please don’t send us all home before the plot twist. Luckily it was fixed and Cassie went straight into I miss the mountains a song about Diana missing her emotions and feeling like the drugs are numbing her too much. She starts to put her meds down the sink and Gabe comes in and encourages his mum to stop the meds.
The scene changes and Dan starts singing its going to be good completely ignoring the fact that Diana is having a manic episode and is doing things like deep cleaning the house and retiling the roof. Henry gets invite to dinner and Natalie is very nervous about this. Diana presents a birthday cake for Gabe and the tone changes. This is when is revealed that Gabe doesn’t exist and that the form we as the audience see’s is a hallucination. So when she presents the cake to Gabe and the music changes he either disappears off stage or goes to another part of the stage I can’t really tell. Natalie storms off angrily and Henry goes after him and comforts her.
So the next two songs I have a lot of thoughts about. You don’t know is when Diana is challenging the audience and Dan about his lack of understanding. Its so sad that they are both in such different stages of grief. Whereas Diana seems to be in denial but denial that he’s dead and Dan is in denial that he doesn’t exist. Its so interesting. So interesting. She starts cleaning up the dinner.
When Dan starts singing I noticed that maybe the rock elements didn’t seem to match his voice as well. He seemed to project when he was singing angrily but this could also be putting acting before singing. Gabe comes in and blows out the candle. Then he argues with Dan begging his dad to look at him while Diana sits covering her ears. During this song Gabe makes himself look even smaller and child like and curls up near Diana seeking comfort which I found interesting and a good bit of physicality. On the screens with the band we seen an image of a brain. In most versions Diana will run into Gabe’s arms at the end of the song but in this version she sat on the floor.
We then focus on Natalie and she goes into Super boy and the invisible boy Diana sings back trying to reassure her daughter she still loves her. She is begging her mum to see her and not to be in the shadow of a brother she never met. Its so compelling. So the blocking is Diana is sat on the floor Dan is leaning on something and Gabe is on the kitchen island curled up. When Natalie comes down the stairs Gabe sits up and starts singing with her. I found that interesting.
We next see Diana talking to Dan about different therapies and we meet doctor Madden. Dan says to Diana that he’s a rock star and this causes Diana to hallucinate that he is a rock star. They start talking about her son and we get I’m alive and now he has a microphone that he uses and now we know he isn’t alive he does seem to get an other worldness about him. Natalie starts abusing Diana prescription drugs. The doctor suggests that as Gabe is now 18 its time for him to move out which is just rude.
Doctor Madden tries hypnosis and uses that to help her process her loss which it does help. As Gabe starts to loose control of Diana he starts feeling the sensation of falling which then Diana feels it too. During this song Natalie does her recital but she is distracted by the fact her parents haven’t come and the prescription drug abuse probably isn’t helping so she starts improving. At the end of the song Doctor Madden encourages Diana to go through Gabe’s things and get rid of stuff to give her closure but you can see in her body language she doesn’t want to but she says yes anyway.
Later on Diana is upset and starts to clear out his stuff we see a tiny baby grow and a pair of tiny shoes. Then the music box is opened and Gabe comes down with his bags packed and Diana sings I dreamed a dance. She encourages him to come over to her which I interrupted as her not wanting the hallucination to end. She doesn’t want him to go. They dance and then the scene gets darker and he encourages her to come with him. Then blood starts seeping and she starts to follow him and it is revealed she slit her wrists in an attempted suicide.
Doctor Madden suggests ECT which freaks Dan out. He goes to think about it and to clean up the mess while he sings about not wanting to be alone and this is when we see some of the cracks in his mental health. So effective.
Diana and Gabe are not happy about the ECT and are very worried about what the effects are. They both protest and sing about it in a song called didn’t I see this movie. Making references to One Flew Over the Cuckoos nest and other cases of ECT where it didn’t go right. She is definitely not consenting to it and attempts to walk out. But Dan stops her and encourages her to do it. End of act 1.
The beginning of act 2 starts with Diana having ECT and Natalie abusing drugs and going clubbing with Henry. They both sing about the experience and they both have a joint hallucination and sing about feeling the burn but not the pain. Natalie is taken home by Henry. Then Natalie starts to reject Henry.
Diana is taken home after her ECT and has forgotten everything over the last 18 years which is both the ECT and its psychological the brain trying to protect itself. Natalie gets frustrated with the treatment not working or taking her memories away. Natalie and Henry meet up at school and she is attempting to distancing herself from him. He invites her to the school dance and she rejects him.
Diana and Dan go to doctor Madden and ask about the memory loss. He makes sure that they know that it is normal. I love it and I have always loved it when Dan goes “I couldn’t give a flying fuck what’s normal
We haven’t had a normal day in years” its so real and you can see it in his face that its true. Doctor Madden suggests reminding her about Gabe but keep it light at first. Dan takes this as permission to completely delete Gabe from existence.
Natalie and Dan try and help Diana remember her life and she starts to remember as time goes on but Dan is manipulating her memories by not bringing up Gabe and its almost cruel because he leaves a photo frame empty and still keeps the music box in the box but he has broken it. So cruel. But she does know something is missing.
Gabe then sings after shock and he is in a plastic box which is so powerful representative of him being in a locked away box of her memories. So powerful and it makes me angrier at Dan for manipulating her memory. She keeps looking at pictures and lets Henry in. She feels like he reminds her of someone. Its so interesting. Henry goes to see Natalie and they do Hey 2 which is Henry trying to get through to Natalie and she rejects him again.
Diana goes to see Doctor Madden and is stressed about her missing piece to the puzzle and I can get it. The bi-polar and the psychosis started when the son died without the catalyst how is she meant to heal. Doctor Madden asks her if she’s talking to her husband and lets slip about the son. ECT obviously hasn’t been super helpful because she lost most of her memory and it adds to her fears and she doesn’t trust Dan cos she can’t remember marrying him.
Diana goes homes and breaks into a cupboard to get the music box. This one beat gives me chills thinking about. She gets the non broken music box and opens it and in the plastic box its covered by a curtain but we can see the silhouette of Gabe and he vocalises part of the music and puts his hand on the window its gorgeous, powerful and cheerful. This shows that as her memory returns of Gabe the stronger he is getting.
Dan comes in and tries to get her put it down and gaslight her into not talking about it. They both sing how will I ever forget and it heart breaking. They sing about how he died and the night he died. She asks how he died and Dan is vague. She asks him his name and Dan starts singing a reprise to its going to be good and trying to drag her to the doctor and she is demanding to know what the name of her son. Dan then looses it and throws the music box. Natalie lets Henry in or is coming in with Henry. She is horrified and then runs upstairs followed by Henry.
Diana then starts to demand why Dan is still with her in the song “Why stay”. It starts off with Diana but then Natalie joins in and sings it to Henry. So Henry and Dan sing to their partner that they stay because they love them and that Dan made a promise and he takes him word seriously. The song finishes with Henry and Natalie hugging and making up. Diana is about to hug Dan but the curtain moves revealing Gabe he sings a reprise of I’m alive and goes down the stairs. The look on Dan’s face when he see’s that she is seeing Gabe again is so sad. He drops to the ground and is crying looking in the middle of a mental breakdown.
Natalie takes Diana to the Doctor and he tries to explain that relapse is normal. They argue in song and in words. Diana keeps hugging Gabe as well while they are having the exchange and he has a way of making himself look smaller and young. She is frustrated that the medicine doesn’t work, the talking therapies haven’t been as helpful and their isn’t an answer. She starts to wonder if it something in her soul not her brain. Her first ever therapist told her that grief after 6 months is pathological and its heart breaking. Like she said 6 month for the death of her child. She makes the decision to stop all treatment and Gabe then drops the floor and mirrors Dan at the other side of the kitchen island. He puts the handheld microphone in a box.
Diana takes Natalie to her dance and they have a moment of love. Diana tells her about the death of Gabe and she is at least acknowledging that he’s dead. The conversation finishes with a bit of hope. Natalie goes to the dance and Henry and Natalie have a lovely exchange. She is worried she is going to go crazy like her mother and he tells her he would be there for her. She then worries that he will be tied to her like Dan is with Diana but he reassures that he could also go crazy and that he loves her.
Then Diana goes to Dan and leaves him. She decides that she needs to focus on herself and he needs to focus on himself. Its so sad but she makes the right decision because from the sounds of it he has been there for her but has sort of tried to stop her feeling the pain. So she leaves him.
Okay this bit, this bit. So Diana leaves the stage and Dan starts a reprise of I am the one. The first verse he sings alone and then Gabe gets up. Then leans on the kitchen island and joins in with the song. The look of horror on his face when he hears Gabe froze me to my seat. The music gets a bit darker the more Gabe sings and the drum is similar to a heartbeat to add to the tension. Then the look of anger in his eyes when Gabe sings “I know you told her I am not worth a damn”. The way Gabe climbs on the kitchen island and Dan exclaiming “Why didn’t you go with her” was chilling. When Gabe grabs hold of him I for some reason I thought he was going to wrap his legs around him as well the position he was in. I will go into if I thought he could see him the whole time in my final thoughts. Its so good so good.
Dan finally says Gabe’s name and the way he chokes it out then goes to hug him broke me. The hug is interrupted by Natalie. Who comforts Dan and turns the light on. All the stories get wrapped up. We see Dan get given a number for therapy. Diana goes back on her meds but seems to have come to terms with her grief and doesn’t seem to want rid of the hallucination or she is saying he will always be with her. Gabe watches the family and the play finishes and they bow.
Final thoughts
Well first things first it was so good. I only had a few niggles here and there like Dan’s actor Jamie being a bit shouty when he was singing. Also something that did bug me a bit was in the program it would make sense to have Diana and Dan or Diana and Gabe on one page. I don’t understand why the doctor who is a relatively a smaller part is on the one page with Diana. I do a bit though because its Trevor but character wise it makes sense to put either put Dan and Diana together or have Diana on her own or have Gabe and Diana as they are on stage more.
So, big question does Dan see Gabe throughout the whole musical. I would say maybe but I personally don’t think so. His version of grief is denial but denial of Gabe’s existence. I can imagine that is why Diana was less open with Dan in the beginning about binning the meds because she wants to see Gabe she misses the highs and lows. The meds were sedating her whole emotions. When Diana and Dan have the song how could I ever forget he starts to acknowledge Gabe and his grief. After that song onwards he is sat on the floor holding his chest crying. It takes him a while to get up. So when he does see Gabe it shocks him but he knows it him because he knows it in his soul. Also realistically when Diana had ECT if it was a joint hallucination then he would have carried on seeing him.
To conclude I think this musical was amazing I think it should tour or move to another theatre but I doubt it, I think it should have had a longer run. With the staging it would suit the other palace theatre. I think the musical would translate well to film but done properly. Ever since I heard about this musical in 2012 I have been dying for it to come over to London and when I heard it was coming over I made sure to book my tickets quickly. So the next musical I want to come over is A New Brain.
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