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hesApril 29, 2009
An Out-of-Town Overhaul Helps a Musical Find Focus
By PATRICK HEALY
Michael Greif sensed something was wrong. It was February 2008, and Mr. Greif — the director of the Tony Award-winning musicals “Rent” and “Grey Gardens” — was watching his latest production, “Next to Normal,” night after night during its Off Broadway run at Second Stage Theater. In a recent interview he recalled feeling that many audience members were not gasping or flinching at a pivotal revelation in Act I: the main character had just tried to kill herself.
“Everything on stage looked pretty — people weren’t getting that Diana had just bled out all over the living room,” Mr. Greif said, referring to the character Diana Goodman, whose struggle with bipolar disorder is at the heart of this musical. “It was one of several moments where the tone of the show was off. Big moments just weren’t landing.”
That led the lead producer of “Next to Normal,” David Stone, to take an unusual step: he moved a show that had already opened in New York to an out-of-town theater (Arena Stage, in Washington) for an overhaul. There, the creative team and actors changed songs, swaths of dialogue, aspects of the characters and the overall tone in hopes of turning this promising but problematic musical into a hit.
“Next to Normal” opened on April 15 on Broadway to mostly exuberant notices. There were also plenty of gasps during a newly created scene that deals with the suicide attempt: Diana’s husband, Dan, sings the newly added song “I’ve Been,” kneeling by a bucket in the living room and wringing a washcloth that drips red liquid, representing Diana’s blood.
Brian Yorkey, who wrote the show’s book and lyrics, said: “That new song ‘I’ve Been’ also helped deal with another problem we had Off Broadway, which was people asking us, ‘Who is Dan — why does he do what he does?’ We knew we needed a song that really explained Dan. It also gave us a chance to add this visually devastating moment about the cost of Diana’s illness.” (Mr. Yorkey’s creative partner, Tom Kitt, wrote the show’s music.)
“Next to Normal” has become not only more emotionally demanding for audiences but also more balanced in tone. Gone is an early number in which Diana had a laugh-generating breakdown at a Costco. Gone is the initial Act I closing number about shock therapy, “Feeling Electric,” sung by a minor character.
“I’m glad those two songs are gone,” said Alice Ripley, who plays Diana. “They didn’t work, and I knew it as I was onstage last winter. The emotional palette of the musical had to be adjusted: it had to do with language, words, our scene work. It took a while, but all of us badly wanted ‘Next to Normal’ to work.”
Nine songs were cut — most of them were replaced — and lyrics were changed in several others. The original opening number, “Let There Be Light,” was cut altogether because the creative team decided that they needed to dive into the story of Diana, Dan and their two children more swiftly.
“I felt a little battered after all that happened Off Broadway,” Mr. Yorkey said, “because you want your show to be a success right out of the gate. But I remember thinking in D.C., more life is better than not, it’s always good to have more life to your show, and so we went to work on making changes.”
The character of Diana’s daughter, Natalie, for instance, came across as sharply sarcastic during the Second Stage run, to the point of alienating some in the audience, members of the creative team said. The song “Getting Better” was replaced with a new one, “Better Than Before,” dealing with Diana’s return home after a hospital stay. It shows a gentler side of Natalie and also reflects her tighter bonds with her mother and father.
“This musical has really made me believe in myself as an actor,” said Jennifer Damiano, who plays Natalie. “I’ve created and then changed and, I hope, improved upon this character. She just seemed very tough and isolated Off Broadway, but now I feel we’ve poked enough holes that you can see her character more clearly.”
Diana and Dan’s other child, Gabe, also underwent something of a transformation. Gabe’s relationships with his mother and father — and his motivations in trying to influence their actions — were murky. It was difficult to deduce if he was, in essence, angel or devil. “Early on I thought Gabe was too much of a good guy, but frankly I didn’t want to let myself go the other way,” said Aaron Tveit, who plays Gabe. But Mr. Yorkey added new lyrics to Gabe’s big Act I number, “I’m Alive,” that underscored the character’s darker side, which the creative team believed would sharpen important aspects of his complex relationship with his mother.
“I feel like the musical is now in a place where Gabe can be a bad guy, in a sense,” Mr. Tveit said, “but in a way that people will really understand.”
If the musical has a clarity and impact now that it lacked Off Broadway, as some critics have noted, it also has an intensity — without numbers like the Costco sequence — that might be more than some theatergoers want in a night out. For performances last week, the first full week after the positive reviews, “Next to Normal” grossed $207,775, a very modest amount for a Broadway musical. (“Next to Normal” has a small — six-person — cast and a relatively fixed set, which helps stabilize costs.)
Mr. Stone, whose financial success as the producer of “Wicked” was essential to paying the costs of the overhaul of “Next to Normal,” said he remained optimistic that the audience would build for this show. And he said he was happy that in the end, “Next to Normal” added tough moments to render Diana’s pain honestly.
“At no point did I ever say to anyone, we can’t do this or we can’t do that because, say, I can’t sell tickets to someone cleaning up blood after a suicide attempt,” Mr. Stone said. “The great thing about creating and recreating ‘Next to Normal’ is that we basically stopped having conversations about what was palatable in bringing difficult subject matter to life or figuring out what would sell,” he added. “We just focused on figuring out the heart of the show, and getting it right.”
An Out-of-Town Overhaul Helps a Musical Find Focus
By PATRICK HEALY
Michael Greif sensed something was wrong. It was February 2008, and Mr. Greif — the director of the Tony Award-winning musicals “Rent” and “Grey Gardens” — was watching his latest production, “Next to Normal,” night after night during its Off Broadway run at Second Stage Theater. In a recent interview he recalled feeling that many audience members were not gasping or flinching at a pivotal revelation in Act I: the main character had just tried to kill herself.
“Everything on stage looked pretty — people weren’t getting that Diana had just bled out all over the living room,” Mr. Greif said, referring to the character Diana Goodman, whose struggle with bipolar disorder is at the heart of this musical. “It was one of several moments where the tone of the show was off. Big moments just weren’t landing.”
That led the lead producer of “Next to Normal,” David Stone, to take an unusual step: he moved a show that had already opened in New York to an out-of-town theater (Arena Stage, in Washington) for an overhaul. There, the creative team and actors changed songs, swaths of dialogue, aspects of the characters and the overall tone in hopes of turning this promising but problematic musical into a hit.
“Next to Normal” opened on April 15 on Broadway to mostly exuberant notices. There were also plenty of gasps during a newly created scene that deals with the suicide attempt: Diana’s husband, Dan, sings the newly added song “I’ve Been,” kneeling by a bucket in the living room and wringing a washcloth that drips red liquid, representing Diana’s blood.
Brian Yorkey, who wrote the show’s book and lyrics, said: “That new song ‘I’ve Been’ also helped deal with another problem we had Off Broadway, which was people asking us, ‘Who is Dan — why does he do what he does?’ We knew we needed a song that really explained Dan. It also gave us a chance to add this visually devastating moment about the cost of Diana’s illness.” (Mr. Yorkey’s creative partner, Tom Kitt, wrote the show’s music.)
“Next to Normal” has become not only more emotionally demanding for audiences but also more balanced in tone. Gone is an early number in which Diana had a laugh-generating breakdown at a Costco. Gone is the initial Act I closing number about shock therapy, “Feeling Electric,” sung by a minor character.
“I’m glad those two songs are gone,” said Alice Ripley, who plays Diana. “They didn’t work, and I knew it as I was onstage last winter. The emotional palette of the musical had to be adjusted: it had to do with language, words, our scene work. It took a while, but all of us badly wanted ‘Next to Normal’ to work.”
Nine songs were cut — most of them were replaced — and lyrics were changed in several others. The original opening number, “Let There Be Light,” was cut altogether because the creative team decided that they needed to dive into the story of Diana, Dan and their two children more swiftly.
“I felt a little battered after all that happened Off Broadway,” Mr. Yorkey said, “because you want your show to be a success right out of the gate. But I remember thinking in D.C., more life is better than not, it’s always good to have more life to your show, and so we went to work on making changes.”
The character of Diana’s daughter, Natalie, for instance, came across as sharply sarcastic during the Second Stage run, to the point of alienating some in the audience, members of the creative team said. The song “Getting Better” was replaced with a new one, “Better Than Before,” dealing with Diana’s return home after a hospital stay. It shows a gentler side of Natalie and also reflects her tighter bonds with her mother and father.
“This musical has really made me believe in myself as an actor,” said Jennifer Damiano, who plays Natalie. “I’ve created and then changed and, I hope, improved upon this character. She just seemed very tough and isolated Off Broadway, but now I feel we’ve poked enough holes that you can see her character more clearly.”
Diana and Dan’s other child, Gabe, also underwent something of a transformation. Gabe’s relationships with his mother and father — and his motivations in trying to influence their actions — were murky. It was difficult to deduce if he was, in essence, angel or devil. “Early on I thought Gabe was too much of a good guy, but frankly I didn’t want to let myself go the other way,” said Aaron Tveit, who plays Gabe. But Mr. Yorkey added new lyrics to Gabe’s big Act I number, “I’m Alive,” that underscored the character’s darker side, which the creative team believed would sharpen important aspects of his complex relationship with his mother.
“I feel like the musical is now in a place where Gabe can be a bad guy, in a sense,” Mr. Tveit said, “but in a way that people will really understand.”
If the musical has a clarity and impact now that it lacked Off Broadway, as some critics have noted, it also has an intensity — without numbers like the Costco sequence — that might be more than some theatergoers want in a night out. For performances last week, the first full week after the positive reviews, “Next to Normal” grossed $207,775, a very modest amount for a Broadway musical. (“Next to Normal” has a small — six-person — cast and a relatively fixed set, which helps stabilize costs.)
Mr. Stone, whose financial success as the producer of “Wicked” was essential to paying the costs of the overhaul of “Next to Normal,” said he remained optimistic that the audience would build for this show. And he said he was happy that in the end, “Next to Normal” added tough moments to render Diana’s pain honestly.
“At no point did I ever say to anyone, we can’t do this or we can’t do that because, say, I can’t sell tickets to someone cleaning up blood after a suicide attempt,” Mr. Stone said. “The great thing about creating and recreating ‘Next to Normal’ is that we basically stopped having conversations about what was palatable in bringing difficult subject matter to life or figuring out what would sell,” he added. “We just focused on figuring out the heart of the show, and getting it right.”