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April 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.”
( Read more... )
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.”
( Read more... )
April 16, 2009
THEATER REVIEW | 'NEXT TO NORMAL'
Fragmented Psyches, Uncomfortable Emotions: Sing Out!
By BEN BRANTLEY
No show on Broadway right now makes as direct a grab for the heart — or wrings it as thoroughly — as “Next to Normal” does. This brave, breathtaking musical, which opened Wednesday night at the Booth Theater, focuses squarely on the pain that cripples the members of a suburban family, and never for a minute does it let you escape the anguish at the core of their lives.
( Read more... )
THEATER REVIEW | 'NEXT TO NORMAL'
Fragmented Psyches, Uncomfortable Emotions: Sing Out!
By BEN BRANTLEY
No show on Broadway right now makes as direct a grab for the heart — or wrings it as thoroughly — as “Next to Normal” does. This brave, breathtaking musical, which opened Wednesday night at the Booth Theater, focuses squarely on the pain that cripples the members of a suburban family, and never for a minute does it let you escape the anguish at the core of their lives.
( Read more... )
Next to Normal, with Entire Arena Cast, to Play Broadway's Longacre
By Andrew Gans
February 17, 2009
Next to Normal, the acclaimed new musical seen Off-Broadway at Second Stage and more recently at Arlington's Arena Stage, will arrive on Broadway March 27 at the Longacre Theatre, most recently the home of the Tony-winning revival of Boeing-Boeing.
Opening night is April 15.
Michael Grief, who directed both the Off-Broadway and Arena Stage productions, will direct on Broadway as well. The Broadway production will also boast the entire Arena Stage cast: Alice Ripley, J. Robert Spencer, Aaron Tveit, Jennifer Damiano, Adam Chanler-Berat and Louis Hobson. (Ripley, Tveit, Damiano and Chanler-Berat were also in the Second Stage Theatre production.)
( Read more... )
By Andrew Gans
February 17, 2009
Next to Normal, the acclaimed new musical seen Off-Broadway at Second Stage and more recently at Arlington's Arena Stage, will arrive on Broadway March 27 at the Longacre Theatre, most recently the home of the Tony-winning revival of Boeing-Boeing.
Opening night is April 15.
Michael Grief, who directed both the Off-Broadway and Arena Stage productions, will direct on Broadway as well. The Broadway production will also boast the entire Arena Stage cast: Alice Ripley, J. Robert Spencer, Aaron Tveit, Jennifer Damiano, Adam Chanler-Berat and Louis Hobson. (Ripley, Tveit, Damiano and Chanler-Berat were also in the Second Stage Theatre production.)
( Read more... )
Alice Ripley Will Reprise Role in Arena Stage's Next to Normal
By Andrew Gans
August 20, 2008
Broadway singer-actress Alice Ripley, who scored some of the best reviews of her career as well as a Drama Desk nomination for her work in the recent Off-Broadway production of Next to Normal, will her reprise her role as a bipolar mom in Arena Stage's upcoming production of that acclaimed musical.
The Washington Post reports that Ripley will join the previously announced J. Robert Spencer in Arena's Michael Greif-directed production of Next to Normal, about a family affected by a mother's mental illness and grief. Spencer will play the dad, Dan, the role created Off-Broadway by Shrek's Brian d'Arcy James. No other casting has been announced.
Next to Normal will play Nov. 21, 2008-Jan. 18, 2009 at Arena's temporary home in Crystal City, VA.
( Read more... )
By Andrew Gans
August 20, 2008
Broadway singer-actress Alice Ripley, who scored some of the best reviews of her career as well as a Drama Desk nomination for her work in the recent Off-Broadway production of Next to Normal, will her reprise her role as a bipolar mom in Arena Stage's upcoming production of that acclaimed musical.
The Washington Post reports that Ripley will join the previously announced J. Robert Spencer in Arena's Michael Greif-directed production of Next to Normal, about a family affected by a mother's mental illness and grief. Spencer will play the dad, Dan, the role created Off-Broadway by Shrek's Brian d'Arcy James. No other casting has been announced.
Next to Normal will play Nov. 21, 2008-Jan. 18, 2009 at Arena's temporary home in Crystal City, VA.
( Read more... )
