Next to Normal –an emotional Drama
“Next to Normal” directed by Michael Grief shows all the traumas that Diana (Alice Ripley) had to go through in her life. The drama deals with the problem of depression and the probable ways of treatment to overcome it. The character played by Alice Ripley suffers from Hallucinations due to a past traumatic incident and Dan, her husband (Brian d’Arcy James) take her to various doctors for treating her. She goes through tiring treatment regimes including electroshock therapy. The play shows how imprecise the medical science is in some cases and at the same time is glorifying the efforts of genuine medical practitioners.
Tom Kitt’s music and Brian Yorker’s lyrics has made the music very resonant and appealing. Ripley has given an extraordinary performance in humorous as well as tragic scenes. Brian James has done justice to his role but the duet with his son (Aaron Tveit) is areal flop. A subplot involving the love story of Diana’s daughter is utter failure as the couples portrayed by Jennifer Damiano and Adam Chanler- Berat lacks chemistry. Tveit has put his heart in to the play and is very vibrant in his songs. So, all the characters and the music make this play watchable but not a relaxing experience to the audience.
