NYC Gay Men's Chorus Tribute to Orlando

Next to Normal MashUp

Here's a Next To Normal fan mash-up video. Enjoy!

Next To Normal On GMA

Next To Normal is launching their national tour soon so here they are at Good Morning America performing You Don't Know/Iam The One. It's Tony winner Alice Ripley with Kyle Dean Massey and Brian D'Arcy James. Click on the photo to play the video.

And here's the original Dan from Off-Broadway, Brian D'Arcy James singing I've Been. I really loved his performance when I saw the show Off-Broadway at Second Stage. And this song just never fails to move me (sniff). Again, click on the photo to play the video.

I am The One

Next To Normal wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama! Congratulations to 2009 Tony winners Tom Kitt (composer) and Brian Yorkey (librettist)! This ground breaking musical has been the "little engine that could" since they opened Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre. To read more about this, please click here. To read about Tom Kitt's and Brian Yorkey's reaction upon hearing the news, please click here.

Next To Normal Recoups!

Next to Normal, a musical with a tough topic and no stars has managed to recoup it's investment! Good for them! Read more about it in this NY Times article.

(photo from Sh-K-Boom.com)

Coming To A Theatre Near You

Watch out America, a Next To Normal tour is currently in the works. And the first city it will visit........Chicago! It's slated for the 2010-2011 season. It was first mentioned in this Chicago Tribune article but confirmed by this July 2 Twitter post from a producer (Patrick) of Next To Normal.

Tonight, Tonight.....an Awesome TONY Night!

Well, last night was the Superbowl for theatre geeks like me......the Tony Awards! And it was a great and efficient show! We also had a great Tony party but that's another story.

I started watching the show online which had the Creative Arts Tony Awards. It started with a surprise!. For the first time in Tony history, Next To Normal and Billy Elliot tied for the Best Orchestration award. What a great way to start the night! It was great to see and hear loud cheers for Hunter Bell (Title Of Show) when the nominees for Best Book were announced. And he had co-creator Jeff Bowen right beside him! I was actually hoping he would win but alas Lee Hall of Billy Elliot did. Tony Award winner last year, Laura Benanti was the co-host for the Creative Arts awards and she was really funny. Even referencing bad audience behavior and what might happen to you (clearly referencing the Patti Lupone incident last year when she stopped the show because someone in the audience was taking flash photography). Too bad TV viewers didn't get to see that.

The broadcast then moved to CBS. They had a glittering opening number (see above)! It stretched for 11 minutes with every nominated show featured as well as well known performers like Elton John, Dolly Parton and Poison. It makes you want to see a show doesn't it?

For the presentation of the awards, I love Frank Langella's candid musings about not being nominated complete with print ad of Man for All Seasons! And I had heard that he did that off prompter! Amazing! It was really touching to see Broadway royalty Angela Lansbury win her 5th Tony for Blithe Spirit. She was so classy and visibly overwhelmed with the win. I digress but wasn't it amusing to see Shrek, Princess Fiona and Donkey sitting behind her? Karen Olivo's emotional speech was also poignant. And I must say I like her dress! It was also so charming to see the very talented boys from Billy Elliot speechless after they won. It was so adorable! I was so glad for Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's win for Best Score in Next To Normal as well as a Best Actress award for Alice Ripley. Her speech, although with a great message...... kinda scared me a bit ha ha! I still think she was great though.

I loved the production numbers but the best was from Next To Normal who sang You Don't Know. I didn't think that would translate well on TV but it did! It was so intense and emotional but what great music! Aaron Tveit has such a beautiful voice. I was dissappointed with the choice from Billy Elliot which was Angry Dance. If I hadn't seen the show yet I would have just thought the boy had tantrums. It didn't showcase the show well, although, Trent Kowalik, as the Billy was wonderful. I wished they did Solidarity instead. I also loved West Side Story's Dance at the Gym. It featured the intricate choreography of the show. Very energetic! Though I haven't seen it yet, Hair's number made me excited that I'll be seeing it soon!

I did like it that the plays, and there were a lot of critically acclaimed ones this season, were featured too! Scenes from each play were shown with the cast introducing them. Nice way to honor them.

The In Memoriam segment introduced by Bebe Neuwirth with the Broadway Inspirational Voices singing What I Did For Love was lovely. It reminded me how much great talent theatre has lost this year.......Natasha Richardson, Bea Arthur, Paul Newman, Estelle Getty and Ertha Kitt just to name a few. It was beautifully done.

As much as I enjoyed the show's production, I was so frustrated with the CBS TV broadcast. There were horrendous audio problems specially during the opening number and some performances. I mean not hearing lyrics but instead hearing people talking backstage??!!! Plus you couldn't hear the Jets and the Sharks facing off nor Trent's taps during Angry Dance. For a network that has produced the show before, I mean, common CBS this it the Tonys! How can you have horrible sound during the musical numbers! The camera angles and shots too were dizzying! It also didn't help that they had touring shows like Mamma Mia, Legally Blonde and Jersey Boys perform individual numbers. Those were just stale for me. I could have done without that. Plus it took time off from the last few award presentations which were major awards! The presentors had to hurry off reading the nominees list!

And last but not the least, the gem of the evening, Neil Patrick Harris! He was a great host! He was witty, acerbic and just plain charming. I love his sushi-gate dig at Jeremy Piven! As he said in an earlier interview, he didn't want to take anything away from the featured shows but his main role would just be a facilitator. I hope they get him as a host again. His show stopping closer was one of the highlights of the night (see video below)! Kudos to Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman of Hairspray fame for last minute lyric switches! It was.......wait for it........LEGENDARY! Read about how they did it here.

What a great season! For a full list of winners, click here. Now I'm off again to watch my DVD of the broadcast. So get out there and go see a Broadway Show!

Q & A with Alice Ripley

This is courtesy of Broadway.com

I Miss The Mountains

For those who missed Next To Normal in The View yesterday (5/27), here's Alice Ripley singing I Miss The Mountains.

DVR Alert: In The Heights on PBS and Next To Normal on The View

In The Heights


Next To Normal

Tomorrow, Wednesday (5/27), get your dvr's ready because 2 good shows will be featured on tv. The cast of Next To Normal will be making a guest appearance in The View (11 ET/10 CT). Yay! They're getting national exposure! And on PBS at 8 pm ET, Great Performances will feature In The Heights - Chasing Broadway Dreams. It's a behind the scenes look at the journey of In The Heights to Broadway and Tony success. I've enjoyed the other PBS behind the scenes features of Finding Billy and Grey Gardens - From East Hampton To Broadway so I'm also excited for this one.

(Top photo from PBS.org and bottom photo from Playbill.com)

It's Gonna be Good

Pinky saw Next to Normal last year during its Off-Broadway run and raved about it. I was hesitant to watch it because it deals with mental illness, a topic not usually tackled in musical theatre, and something for which I wasn't prepared to see at the time. But I finally viewed it this past weekend with Pinky, and I was blown away. This musical had us both reaching for the tissues. It is packed with emotional wallop and universal truths.

Alice Ripley is Diana, struggling with her depression, bipolar disorder and other diagnoses. J. Robert Spencer took over the role of Dan (the ever supportive husband and father) from Brian D'Arcy James. Jennifer Damiano (Natalie) and Aaron Tveit(Gabe) are their children. Louis Hobson plays various doctors, while Adam Chanler-Berat is Henry, Natalie's loyal friend. The singing is outstanding. Tom Kitt's pop rock music is catchy---hummable and affecting. Most of our fellow audience members were older, and it was interesting to see them bob their heads and tap their feet to the music. The lyrics are alternately touching-funny and acerbic-funny, but always heart-breaking. The show is mostly through-sung, which made the show even more engaging. I was a captive viewer. The book is cleverly written, as we come to know each character's merits and malfunction bit by bit. But the sensitive subject is respectfully treated. I felt for all of these characters. This was the first show in a very long time that reduced me to a sobbing mess. If I was watching it alone at home, it would have been a chin-quivering, shoulder-shaking, complete meltdown.

So if you feel like this is just going to be Another Day, I am the One to tell you to see Next to Normal. Why Stay? It is Perfect for You. And although it left me feeling raw and ripped to shreds, it's good because it was courageous, gripping, honest yet hopeful about human nature. Next to Normal is a Light in the Dark.

Next To Normal Goes to the Studio

Next To Normal is now on Broadway. It's a very heavy subject matter for a musical for it deals with bi-polar disorder and it's effect on a family. It is emotinally intense and very moving but has great music and lyrics by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey. Now it's having it's score recorded with the Broadway cast. Sh-K-Boom Records is currently taking pre-orders for the cd. In the meantime, check out the behind the scenes video of the making of the cd here.

On a related note, check out this article from Variety which chronicles the unique journey of this musical to Broadway.

(photo from Sh-K-Boom Records)

Next To Normal Coming To Broadway

Tom Kitt's Next to Normal was one of the more moving shows I saw Off-Broadway last year. Come to think of it, it's almost a year now (see last year's review here). Today it has been announced that it will be moving to Broadway at the Booth Theatre. Previews begin March 27 with an opening night on April 15. The whole Off-Broadway cast except for Brian D'Arcy James (who is currently in Shrek) will be in it. In his place for the role of Dan will be J. Robert Spencer (Jersey Boys). I hope it does well like it did Off-Broadway at Second Stage where it had a sold out run.



(photo from 2St.com)

Just Another Day

I posted about Next to Normal earlier but I'm posting about it again as it closes today at Second Stage. I just want this chance for people to get a listen to this really good music from composer Tom Kitt and lyricist Bryan Yorkey. Amazing voices by the whole cast!

The first song is Just Another Day sung by the whole Goodman family about their typical suburban day (or so you think) at the top of Act 1. The second song is I Miss The Mountains sung by Diana (Alice Ripley) about her life being on mood medications.

Just listening to the music I think you'll figure out why I love this show. So I hope it does have another life after this production at Second Stage....it does have a message that I think people will respond to.