More Theatre! "Next to Normal"

I'm not going to bury the lede here, this might be the most emotionally powerful play I have ever seen. It was the first musical to win the pulitzer since "Rent", and something like the 9th in 93 years. I was fairly certain this show would make me cry, given what I knew about the subject matter, but I didn't expect to end the show sobbing and to spend half the show trying not to disturb other audience members with my crying. It's pretty intense.

"Next to Normal" is the story of a suburban family with serious problems. It is about mental illness, how it can control the life of the person with the illness, and how it affects the people around them. It is painful, and poignant. I feel like I could see it three times and still be finding new ways to relate to the story, new ways to identify with the characters, new ways to relive my own experiences through the show. Mental illness has affected my life in so many different ways, and while this is just the story of a handful of people, centered around one person's illness, I feel echoes of so many people in this show. I'm afraid that even a week later, I can't speak very coherently about this show. It was so intensely emotional, I know I didn't catch everything.

I won't talk about the plot in detail, because this is a show that I very strongly recommend going into knowing as little as possible. Trust the story, and let it unfold before you. The music served the plot well enough, but I don't know how much I will listen to the soundtrack. I haven't tried listening to yet, perhaps some of the songs will jump out at me.

I'm told the original lead actress, who left the show last month, was truly amazing, but I was very happy with this cast. The married couple at the heart of the story is played by a real life married couple, (which i read about in the playbill for "A Little Night Music" earlier in the day.) I can hardly imagine what it is like to go through that relationship every day with your spouse, to say all those things and have all that conflict to the person you have a real relationship with. It reminds me how much I would like to play closely with my boyfriend Peter in a Live Action Role-Playing game some day. Recently he played the Judas-analogue to my Jesus-analogue in a game, and the game masters called us during casting to make sure we'd be comfortable in those roles. At the time I laughed and said that of course it would be no problem, but afterwards I did find I really wanted a hug from Peter and promises that he'd never sell me out to the feds. :-)

In conclusion, go see this show. I wasn't the only one crying, when we finally left the theatre one couple was still sitting in their seats, clutching each other and sobbing hysterically. I don't know what pain they've felt in their lives, but I hope the show gives them some catharsis. I really can't speak to what the show is like for people whose lives haven't been touched by mental illness, but I fairly certain the story will still be strong, the pain will be real, the characters will be sharp and touching, even if it doesn't cut into your own heart's pains the way it did mine.

"A Little Night Music"

Hello, blog! I am just back from New York City and I am full of culture! Over the course of < 30 hours, I saw three groups perform at Lincoln Center and two Tony award winning Broadway musicals! It was delightfully decadent. And at the same time, I visited my third city (Chicago, Boston, New York) in seven days! I am very lucky.

Today I'll talk about the Saturday matinee. This was my second time seeing "A Little Night Music" and my companion's first. It's a romantic comedy from Stephen Sondheim (my personal god of musical theatre) set among the love affairs of actors, lawyers and Counts in turn of the (20th) century Sweden. At least I think it's a comedy, it is full of comedic moments, but also many tears and much sadness.

We got really quite good seats through the TKTS booth in Times Square, which sells significantly discounted tickets to shows the day of the performance. Sadly, Angela Lansbury is no longer in the production, but it now stars Bernadette Peters, who I'd take over Catherine Zeta-Jones any day. She was just *wonderful*. Sixty two, and she's still completely gorgeous and lively and wonderful.

This production felt much more comedic than the other production I saw, I think in large part thanks to Ms. Peters. Her mannerisms and tone of voice and energy gave real humor to scenes that felt flat in the college production I saw previously. She was an utter delight, and I was honored to be mere feet away from her.

As I told my companion on the way to the show, I was never clear why, of all of Sondheim's wonderful music, "Send in the Clowns" had gotten the most popular attention, when it wasn't even in my top 20 favorite Sondheim songs. When Bernadette Peters sang it on that stage, heartbroken, crying, vulnerable and pained... I didn't sob, but I had chills, and people near me cried.

The rest of the cast was fine, I was just overwhelmed with love for Bernadette Peters. The actress who played Anne in the previous production... her voice was incredibly unpleasant. It was interesting to see that with an Anne where I am not distracted by the actress, I still think of the character in approximately the same way. (At least this time I didn't slip up and say "God she's so *dumb*" outloud in the front row during Act II.)

Elaine Stritch played Madame Armfeldt, and while she was certainly a fine actor, I did keep thinking about how much I wished I could see Angela Lansbury in the role. I don't know if she's a trained singer. Her one song, "Liasons", was not so muc sung as... complained? In the previous production, she was mostly wistful in this song, where as Ms. Stritch seemed to be close to, well, freaking out about it. As I told my companion, she has such special problems.

"The Miller's Son" is a favorite of mine, and I had high hopes for the actor playing Petra, and she did not disappoint. It's a joyful ode to youthful promiscuity, and I think it will now be stuck in my head again thanks to writing this post. :-)

I always forget just how much better professional productions are than physicists at MIT. (Especially the dancing, I do so love dancing.) I don't have a good enough ear to really notice the difference in singing skill most of the time, but with dancing, I am just delighted by professional work. And this is a show with hardly any dancing at all!

Overall, it was a lovely production and I recommend it. I left the theatre in excellent spirits, full of happiness and love for the world, a perhaps strange reaction to a Sondheim play, I know. Of course, by the end of the second play I saw on Saturday, I was sobbing hysterically, but that will be another post. :)