Entertainment Critic Jim Ruocco reviews Next to Normal on stage at Westport Country Playhouse

Editor's note: Here, international/national/regional entertainment critic and member of Connecticut Critic's Circle,  Jim Ruocco reviews Next to Normal on stage at Westport Country Playhouse now through April 24, 2022.

The bipolar disorder of a wife and mother painfully coping with a life that thrusts her back and forth into a mental hell she might, or might not, necessarily escape, is the driving force of Marcos Santana's inspiring, voltage-charged, conversational telling of "Next to Normal," which opened Saturday night at The Westport Country Playhouse to an excited, appreciative audience whose screams, cheers and ovation-worthy applause often brought the show to a standstill much to the delight on everyone on stage and those seated in the spacious, immersive auditorium.
An emotionally demanding evening of theatre designed to rock your senses, make you think, touch your soul and bask in its layered, gutsy reality, this revival forges ahead with the stamina, and angst a musical of this caliber demands, craves and deserves.

It breathes, probes and gesticulates.
It attacks with a profound fury.
It is raw, real and terrifying.
It is intimate, deft and nuanced.
It is honest, artistic and principled.

Upfront, "Next to Normal," which features book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt, is not your typical feel-good musical. And therein, lies its appeal, its pulse, its heartbeat and its emotional center as realized by its creative team who won the 2009 Tony Award for Best Musical Score and Best Orchestration.

Musically, it deals openly with themes and subject matter designed exclusively for an adult audience: first love; a marriage slowly unraveling out of control; parental neglect; liberation; drug dependency; regret; missed opportunities; escape from reality; bipolar disorder; shock treatment; boredom in the bedroom; death; favoring one child over another; hiding behind-closed doors, etc.
Then, the ball drops, so to speak.

About 20 or 25 minutes into Act I, "Next to Normal" delivers a jolting, surprising twist to the proceedings that you didn't see coming, unless you've seen the show before. If you have, it's easy to figure out what's real, what's imagined and how it fuels the progression of the story and its heady aftermath.

This production is helmed by Marcos Santana (he doubles as both director and choreographer) who staged both "In the Heights" and "Man of LaMancha" at the Westport-based Playhouse. In terms of staging, everything from the move of a prop and the turn of a table to how someone walks up and down the stairs or faces full front to musically address their feelings at any given moment is important to the telling of the story. It's all carefully designed, choreographed and staged with a modern thrust that takes it out of the 2009 setting of its Broadway past and into the world of today. Nothing happens or should without reason - a point that is meticulously played out with surprise momentum, character, connection and savvy by Santana. Not a word of dialogue or lyric from a vocal is unclear. You hear and experience everything. Sound design by Domonic Sack is absolutely flawless as is Adam Koch's atmospheric, handsome, roomy set design and Cory Pattak's vigorous, erupting, impassioned lighting palate.

Given the intimacy of the "Next to Normal" experience, there's not a lot of dance or overplayed movement to Santana's organic enhancement. His connection to the source material and its heated thrall is rich in opportunity and scope as each act builds and amps toward its well-timed release and dicey thickening. His mental pruning is lively and important. As is his steadied level of dramatic interaction, character exchanges and chess-like swagger and face offs.  It's a creative process that makes all the difference in the world.

One of the best musicals of the 2022 Equity regional theatre season, "Next to Normal" is an affecting, moody, no-frills musical that celebrates its emotional nakedness and penetrating double-act shrewdness with three-dimensional size and scope. The electrifying honesty and unnerving edginess of Marcos Santana's kinetic direction, offset by the rich, raw, flavorful performances of its tremendously talented six-member cast, bring additional spark and pulse to the proceedings, making you tune in to every word, conversation and musical note of its accessible, sound-flowing palette.

Photos of "Next to Normal" by Carol Rosegg