Diana's a modern American mom, modern enough one school-day morning at 6 a.m. to inform her teen-aged daughter, Natalie, that she's about to go upstairs to have sex. Nothing abnormal about the sex, it's with her husband, who is Natalie's dad, but the off-handed manner is a bit off-putting, though funny. Not necessarily normal, but "Next to Normal," the very good musical that opened at the Fox last night, to run through April 24.
A moment later, however, Diana, played with brilliance by Alice Ripley, who won a Tony two years ago for the Broadway performance, turns the corner and heads right round the bend. She's on her knees, dealing slices of bread and lunch meat onto the floor as if they were pinochle cards, and explaining that she's making sandwiches.
There are lots of plays about people who have mental problems, or need counseling, or undergo electric shock treatment, but few musicals, and this one works. Composer Tom Kitt and librettist-lyricist Brian Yorkey have written 37 songs, though it is apparently show policy not to list them in the program. There's a wide range of styles, from ballads to patter songs to solid country rhythms, and most are effective. I last saw Ripley on Broadway in "Side Show," where she and Emily Skinner teamed as the conjoined twins, Daisy and Violet Hilton; both were nominated for Tonys. She's powerful here, dominating without seeming demanding, and her final number, "Maybe," which could serve as the title song, is exciting and realistic as she realizes that being "next to normal," or "nearly normal," might be good enough.
The six-person cast, all first-rate, also includes Asa Somers as Diana's husband; Curt Hansen as Gabe, their son; Emma Hunton as Natalie; Preston Sadlier as Henry, Natalie's boy friend; and Jeremy Kushnier as two psychiatrists, one friendly-to-the-patient type and one rock star type. He's simply splendid. The former prescribes a wide variety of pills and, when Diana reports she doesn't feel anything at all, he declares her cured. The latter, close to the surgical standard that "You'll never heal without stainless steel," sends her off for electric shock treatment, which causes her to lose much of her memory and plaintively ask him, "How do I know what I don't remember?"
The musical is in the second stop of a national tour which began in Pittsburgh and moves next to Chicago, and benefits from a wondrously imaginative three-level set by Mark Wendland which includes a nod to Roy Lichtenstein and a brilliant (no pun intended) and dazzlingly colorful lighting design by Kevin Adams
The plot involves the problems of Diana's relationships with her husband and daughter, and the fact that she cannot let go of a relationship with a first-born who died in infancy. Hunton stands tall as Natalie, concerned with her feelings toward her mother, more concerned over her fear that she will grow up to inherit the same genetic code. Sadlier, as the boy who loves her and wants to take care of her, has a difficult task as the outsider to the family but is tender and sympathetic. Hansen has to react to his entire family and carries it off nicely. Greif directs powerfully, and his effectiveness is shown by the fact that "Next to Normal" won a Pulitzer Prize. The last musical to win that prize was "Rent," in 1996, which he also directed.
The second act has some problems, especially as the authors struggled to tie up the loose ends and avoid silliness. The final song, "Light," tries to do that and might have succeeded had not the Heavyside Layer been in the way.
Next to Normal will be at the Fox Theatre through April 24
—Joe