Pittsburgh in the Round: Selling audiences on a musical that delves into the excruciating morass a woman traverses as she faces grief, mental illness, a stymied marriage, and a romance, of sort, with a pharmacologist seems like a pretty daunting, if not impossible, feat. Veering catastrophically into the territory of tacky or egregiously offensive seems likely—being infinitely heart-wrenching and winning a Pulitzer Prize seems vastly less likely.
1 comment:
I am personally a big fan of the musical "Next to Normal", so I was intrigued with this article. Not only is it a musical with great music and lyrics, but the topics of mental health, suicide, family structures, stress, and anxiety are extremely relevant to our society and even the school of drama for that matter. It is really easy to see yourself in each of these characters, particularly Natalie. The pressures many of us feel in this environment to succeed can cultivate an unhealthy environment that also promotes unhealthy competition. For many students, they feel stifled just like Natalie does, which can inevitably lead to bad or dangerous habits. It also can block creativity, which in the musical causes Natalie to derail her recital because of its rigidity. I'm sure there are many other ways to relate as a parent or sibling, but this resonates with our community more than anything.
I do wish this review offered more insight into some of the other production elements aside from the "sporadically irksome technical issues", but I would certainly be interested in seeing this production.
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