Inspirations, even when they spring from nowhere, can still end up remarkable artistic creations. To hear playwright Brian Yorkey tell it, his Tony award winning Next to Normal now playing at the Writers Theater in Glencoe was just a “what about a play about” idea. Astonishing that a mere whim could carry such force. The play, a journey into the slow disintegrating impact of mental illness; placed in the framework of a musical, was odd at first. Until you realize much later how much in common it has with opera. Serious subject matter. Awash in emotion. And filled with exquisite music. Considering how well it succeeded, calling it a tour de force wouldn’t be a stretch.
Of course, musical theater is no newbie when it comes to taking on serious topics. Few can claim Next to Normal’s singular focus though. Diana Goodman’s descent into the morass of bipolar disorder initially shocks us because the first glimpse we have of her and her family is so ordinary. She’s the one who come across as canny and cool as she spars and banters with her son and husband.
But that’s one of the points of the play. Even the most normal of us can be nudged over the edge. Often triggered by a traumatic event, it was the sudden death of her infant son that bumped Diana (Keely Vasquez) over the precipice. And, as often happens with mental illness, it snatched up her family too like a cloaked tornado sending them all careening through episodes of uncertainty, confusion and for some, resentment.
Working with Tom Kitt who composed the play’s music, Yorkey penned the lyrics and as well as the script. He deserves accolades for not only showing the raw torment mental illness exacts but also for revealing how love, even when it seems to be flowing only one way, can nourish and sustain the prospect of positive possibilities.
Opening with benignly average dialogue between a mother and her teenage son, performed partially in song, the sweet cheeky exchange suddenly becomes startling when you realize she’s having this conversation with someone on the other side of the veil. Her son, Gabe (Liam Oh), who died in infancy, lives only in her imagination. He’s always an integral part of the performance throughout. A character with whom only Diana interacts but who exerts tremendous force on the lives of his father Dan (David Schlumpf) and sister Natalie (Kyrie Courter); the play would be empty without him.
Yorkey proves himself extraordinarily adept at making sure that conversations between characters is as effective in song as it is in speech and his consistency adds to the work’s brilliance.
The audience doesn’t know what Diana’s husband and daughter already understand until we watch them catch her making sandwiches on the floor. The scene sets loose questions about medication efficacy and their bizarre side effects; and about guilt and passive defiance. Now we begin to understand the tension we noticed earlier between the mother and daughter. Diana thinks Natalie is smart but weird and that her husband is good but boring. She doesn’t seem to comprehend though how her illness distances her from them both. All three wear the fatigue of people who’ve lived too long time in the trenches.
An overly conscientious high school kid who spends too much of her time alone and is reproachful of her parents, Courter’s Natalie is particularly intriguing. Her portrayal makes Natalie infinitely relatable by letting you see enough of the character’s vulnerability to recognize her pain. It takes a persistent classmate and unrepentant stoner with boyfriend aspirations, Henry (Alex Levy), to keep chipping at her wall and make her realize and accept her own humanity.
Perfect for You, a song sung in tandem to both Natalie and her mother by the men in their lives is made more powerful because it causes you to wonder at the resilience of love. It’s also, uncharacteristically, a surrender song sung by guys.
Every member of this demanding and complex story stands tall and is impressive throughout. Alex Levy in his role as Henry manages to ingratiate on first sight and becomes even more appealing as he discloses his character’s open heart, thick skin and dogged persistence. Liam Oh’s Gabe, the boy who lived only in his mother’s unending regret, brimmed with talent and energy. For a kid who’s still in college, Oh deserves a bright future on the stage. The same can be said for Kyrie Courter. Bright, brash, defiant and carrying a hurt as deep as the Grand Canyon, her Natalie balanced casualty and fighter beautifully. By absorbing the play’s intent so well, Garcia’s Diana let you feel her journey as if it were your own.
One of the many beauties of theater is its unparalleled ability to take us just below the surface to expose what life looks and feels like behind the front door. Wrapped in a poignancy that’s neither soft or cloying, that capacity is the play’s crowning achievement. The operatic scope and flirtations with tragedy certainly contribute a somber patina to the performance. But what you remember most is the way it never loses its grip on hope.
Next to Normal
through June 30, 2019
The Writer’s Theater
325 Tudor Court
Glencoe, IL 60022
847-242-6000
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