Closing Notice For Next To Normal
After major cast changes and months of sluggish box office, not to mention rumors speculating the inevitable,
next to normal has
posted a closing notice for January 16, 2010.
Originally mounted
Off-Broadway, as well as at Washington DC's
Arena Stage, this unlikely musical delved headlong into mental illness. So potent was the controversial tuner that it garnered 11 Tony Award nominations including for Best Musical. The show would win Tonys for its star
Alice Ripley, its score (
Tom Kitt and
Brian Yorkey) and orchestrations (
Michael Starobin).
Perhaps its biggest
coup de grâce to all naysayers was earning a Pulitzer Prize earlier this year -- controversial in itself since it was hardly a new dramatic work by the time it won.
Personally, I found myself absolutely spellbound by the show, and it certainly melted its way into my heart. And I certainly thought it merited the 2009 Tony Award for Best Musical (it lost out to the irresistible charms of
Billy Elliot).
By the time
next to normal closes, it will have played 733 regular performances. Fortunately for its legions of fans, they'll be able to catch the
touring version of the show headlined by none other than Alice Ripley herself.
Performances begin later this month (November 23) at the Center Theatre Group's
Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.
This is
Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post.
Labels: Alice Ripley, Brian Yorkey, Broadway, Closing Notices, Michael Starobin, Next To Normal, Tom Kitt, Touring Production
Twittering The TonysBy now, you already know that
Billy Elliot - The Musical won the most Tonys during last evening's ceremony (click
here to view a full list of all of this year's Tony Award winners).
Billy Elliot earned 10 Tonys in all ... or
12 if you count
David Alvarez,
Trent Kowalik and
Kiril Kulish individually for the joint Tony they received as "Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical" -- a topic I'll circle back to shortly.
The evening started out surprisingly enough as
Martin Koch (
Billy Elliot - The Musical) and
Michael Starobin and
Tom Kitt (
next to normal) were both declared winners in a tie for Best Orchestrations.
But it all ended up seeming so, well, mostly predictable. While I accurately predicted 19 out of 27 categories, I was dead-on in almost every one of the major categories.
The predictabity was OK, not just because I liked most of the shows and performances that won, but also given the wonderfully witty
11:00 number offered up by host
Neil Patrick Harris, which only needed a
few last-minute changes from
Marc Shaiman and
Scott Wittman. The only things completely unpredictable were the excrutiatingly painful headbanging poor
Bret Michaels endured or the embarrassing mics that seemed to not work more often than they did.
Unlike last year, when I enjoyed the Tony Awards from a great orchestra seat at Radio City Music Hall, I was in the comfort of my own living room offering up my Tony tweets via
Twitter. It was a totally unique experience for me, but one that I have to admit enjoying primarily because of the banter with other theatre Twitters.
The only downside was that during the first hour of the televised awards, I hit Twitter's limit on the number of tweets any one individual can post in any given hour. Who knew? I certainly didn't! Fortunately, after being sidelined for over a half hour, I was able to get back on, although I ended up being a bit more judicious in what I posted.
Now, coming back full circle on the awards, the only winner I still can't wrap my head around is giving all three Billys the Tony for Best Performance by
a Leading
Actor in a Musical. Don't get me wrong, I am sure they are each very talented. Yet, how can the four other nominees who give 8 performances each week compete with three actors who perform 3 times tops per week? And to say that they are all equally worthy? Well that thinking's akin to the way they give away soccer trophies just so no one's feelings will get hurt.
Yes, I know about the bizarre Tony precedents.
In 1960, all of the young actors portraying the von Trapp family children in the original production of
The Sound Of Music --
Lauri Peters,
Kathy Dunn,
Evanna Lien,
Mary Susan Locke,
Marilyn Rogers,
William Snowden , and
Joseph Stewart -- were nominated
together in the category of Best Featured
Actress in a Musical. Wonder if Snowden and Stewart ever fully recovered from
that!
This year's Tony winning Best Performance by a Leading Actress
Alice Ripley had to share a joint nomination for the same award with
Emily Skinner for
Side Show back in 1998 simply because they were portraying conjoined twins Violet and Daisy, respectively. I always thought conjoined twins had their own individual personalities.
There used to be a rule that whoever opened in the show was eligible for the Tony. Just ask
Frank Dolce, who alternates with Tony nominee
David Bologna as Michael in
Billy Elliot - The Musical. Same show, different rules apparently apply. Maybe it was their rousing ode to individuality called "Expressing Yourself" that did them in.
I'll get off my soapbox long enough to admit how pleased I was with the rest of the results overall -- in fact, I plan to finally see both
Billy Elliot and
God Of Carnage on Broadway after having first seen them in London.
I was downright thrilled (sorry David Bologna) when
Gregory Jbara -- one of Broadway's nicest actors -- won for his role in
Billy Elliot. I got goosebumps when
Angela Lansbury earned her fifth acting Tony. And I was giddy with delight that
The Norman Conquests rightfully won Best Revival of a Play during prime time where it belonged (although I thought director
Matthew Warchus deserved to win for that effort over his other
God Of Carnage).
So, dear readers. What did you think of this year's Tony Awards? And how many of the winners did you get right?
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Alice Ripley, Angela Lansbury, Billy Elliot The Musical, Broadway, David Alvarez, God Of Carnage, Gregory Jbara, Kiril Kulish, The Norman Conquests, Tony Awards, Trent Kowalik, Twitter
next to normal (The SOB Review) - Booth Theatre, New York, New York
***1/2 (out of ****)Billy Elliot – The Musical may be the odds-on favorite to take home the Tony for Best Musical this year, but make no mistake that there’s a brooding dark horse in the race. With a fierce, electrifying direction from
Michael Greif,
Brian Yorkey and
Tom Kitt’s
next to normal is giving the musical about the dancing boy(s) a run for its money.
next to normal is nothing if not atypical for Broadway musical fare, but in tackling mental illness and its continued social stigma head-on, the tuner ranks among the best I’ve seen all year. In a bravura performance deserving of a Tony,
Alice Ripley portrays Diana, who on first blush seems like the quintessential housewife and mother of two.
But not everything is as it seems. It’s not long before Yorkey’s book descends into the personal hell Diana must endure and the scorching reverberations her deepening depression has on the rest of the family, including the heartbreaking
J. Robert Spencer as her husband Dan, a haunting
Aaron Tveit as her Gabe and the revelatory
Jennifer Damiano as her daughter Natalie. The entire cast is exceptional.
Even if the score is at times a bit overwrought and it may appear (to some) that Yorkey’s inherent message is an outright rejection of psychiatry, as well as all drugs and treatments for depression (a notion I flatly reject given an eleventh hour endorsement from a surprising volunteer for treatment),
next to normal marks a welcome if downright shocking departure for Broadway.
If you’re like me, it just may melt down into your heart.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Aaron Tveit, Alice Ripley, Brian Yorkey, Broadway, J. Robert Spencer, Jennifer Damiano, Michael Greif, Musical, Next To Normal, The SOB Review, Tom Kitt
Far From Normal For BroadwayYesterday, it was announced that
Next To Normal -- a musical from
Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey -- will turn things upside down on the Great White Way when it lands this April 15 at the
Longacre Theatre.
According to
The New York Times, the production will take the unprecedented step of purposely reducing the number of seats to provide a more intimate atmosphere. The capacity will be reduced from 1100 to just 820. Producer
David Stone says:
We want an 800-seat theater but none were available, and this is a very emotional play and I’m a big believer in creating the theater space you need.
Given this economy, you have to give the guy credit.
While
Michael Greif (
Rent and
Grey Gardens) will once again direct the tuner, as he did
Off-Broadway and at the DC area's
Arena Stage, there's no word on casting other than a reference in the
Times piece describing the musical:
The musical, budgeted at $4 million, centers on a woman with bipolar
disorder (played by the Tony nominee Alice Ripley) and the impact of her illness
and her treatment on her family.
Presumably, this will go on without
Brian d'Arcy James, who's already appearing on Broadway in
Shrek The Musical. Stay tuned for more details.
UPDATED (2.25.09, 9:10 a.m. EST): According to Playbill.com, the entire cast from Arena Stage -- Alice Ripley, J. Robert Spencer, Aaron Tveit, Jennifer Damiano, Adam Chanler-Berat and Louis Hobson -- will return to their roles at the Booth Theatre instead of the Longacre.This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Alice Ripley, Brian Yorkey, Broadway, David Stone, First Word On New Show, Michael Grief, Musical, Next To Normal, Tom Kitt, Transfer
