Demi Lovato, Russell Brand, Carrie Fisher — even adorable girl-next-door-who-happens-to-be-host-of-ever-popular CBS Sunday Morning, Jane Pauley – admit to bouts of bipolar disorder. Others in the spotlight have gone public with their struggles, and awareness of various mental disorders are discussed more openly now than they were a few years ago.
But while the glitterati appear on talk shows and tell-alls, or star on soap operas and sit-coms, seldom are their stories presented as a musical that leaves audiences humming rock tunes, tapping their feet, and reflecting on the ways whole families are affected when one of them is in the grip of mental illness.
Enter “Next to Normal,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning musical that features a suburban mom as the main character. When the play opens, Diana is sitting in a chair alone, waiting for her teenage son to get home.
When he finally shows up, late again, she says, “It’s the seventh night this week I’ve sat ‘til morning, imagining the way you might have died.”
Her hyperbole sparks a laugh almost every time, since parents have uttered those words, or their equivalent, from time immemorial.
Gabe, a teenager, is irreverent in his response, as his mother adds more imagined disasters to her litany.
Although it is September, she worried that a freak ice storm, a gang war, bird flu, or a train wreck might have caused Gabe’s tardiness.
When Gabe points out that she needs to let go since he’s almost 18, she asks if he is snorting cocaine. When he mentions that he heard voices when he came in and wondered if someone else was up too, Diana replies she had been talking to herself.
In short order, the audience meets Gabe’s over-achieving sister, Natalie, and also Dan, the father of the clan. Dan and Diana sing a duet about the challenges of holding things together to “keep the cup from tipping,” a common complaint in many families.
But when Diana says, “I wanted to get ahead on the lunches,” slaps slices of white bread on the floor, and frenetically piles on layers of lettuce and mayo, we realize this is not run-of-the-mill stress that dogs this family.
Tom Kitt, co-creator of “Next to Normal” with Brian Yorkey, was determined that that the portrayal of Diana’s bipolar disorder would be authentic. Theatergoers have praised the show’s truthfulness as the source of its impact.
David Stone, who produced the musical, was convinced of the play’s value after he saw a workshop presentation. He related to the daughter character because he was her equivalent in his own family.
“It spoke to me about being in a household where one person sucked all the attention,” he said in a New York Times interview.
The origin of the play goes back to 2000, when Kitt, Yorkey, and Rita Pietropinto developed a 10-minute musical entitled “Feeling Electric.” Yorkey had seen a news program about electroconvulsive therapy and decided to explore how the topic might be treated in that dramatic form.
Eventually, the piece was expanded and brought to Broadway. Now it is coming to Murray’s Playhouse in the Park, from June 21 through July 1, Thursday – Saturday at 7 p.m. Appropriate literature will be available, and a curtain speech before each performance will provide some insight to the subject matter. A panel discussion featuring people with personal and professional knowledge of mental illness is scheduled after the June 28 performance.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S.—43.8 million, or 18.5%—experience mental illness in a given year, so the topic is relevant to those suffering from it, as well as the people who love them.
Ticket information and reservations are available through the Murray Playhouse in the Park website.
Constance Alexander is a columnist, award-winning poet and playwright, and President of INTEXCommunications in Murray, Ky. She can be reached at calexander9@murraystate.edu. Or visit www.constancealexander.com.
