Here’s a question for fans of statistics. What Broadway musical contains the greatest number of trauma topics? The Guinness Book of World Records is mum on the subject, but based on a viewing of the show currently at the Kravis Center this week, surely the answer is Jagged Little Pill. Based on singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette’s decade-defining 1995 album, adapter Diablo … [Read more...]
Intense central performances give Zoetic’s ‘Next to Normal’ profound impact
Lyricist-book writer Brian Yorkey and his composer partner Tom Kitt researched well bipolar disorder to write the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical Next to Normal, about one woman’s battle with the mental affliction and its effect on her family. And in his program note, Zoetic Stage artistic director Stuart Meltzer is very candid about his own history with … [Read more...]
LW Playhouse mounts powerful, compelling ‘Next to Normal’
By Dale King Next to Normal – the musical now being staged at the Lake Worth Playhouse – pulls no punches in its powerful portrayal of a woman haunted and dismayed by mental illness and the misery it inflicts on her loved ones. The show is frank and overt, focusing not only on the woman’s unpredictable behavior, but also on the plenitude of pills she consumes, the … [Read more...]
Standout performances lift FAU’s ‘Next to Normal’
By Dale King Leave it to students in the master of fine arts program at Florida Atlantic University to wrap up their first season — one that featured some shockingly emotional, nerve-twisting, heart-wrenching productions — with a shockingly emotional, mentally twisted finale. The show, Next to Normal, is a frank portrayal of a family in psychological crisis. The tale of … [Read more...]