Above: Family characters cast of Whimsical Productions’ ‘Next To Normal’: (l tor) Claire Perry (Diana). Sebastian Nelson (Dan), Chaya Ocampo (Natalie) and Jacen Bennett (Gabe). Photo credit: Hugo Photography & Film. Featured image: promo photography of Claire Perry by Kal Cinema, design artwork by Rachel Leong.
Bipolar Disorder. Grief for a child. Mania. Depression. Anxiety. Delusion. Drug treatment. Drug abuse. Electroconvulsive therapy. Hypnosis and hypnotically slow marriage breakup.
These are not easy topics to encounter during a night at the theatre. But it is exactly these which fuel the informed, brilliantly controlled fire within the uncensored tranche-de vie which is Next to Normal. This musical, with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt took Broadway by storm in 2009. It later went on to win three Tony awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
The musical follows a family fractured by grief. Its diverse, challenging musical pastiche and series of mainly intense domestic scenes hurtle us through roller-coaster ups and downs of a mother struggling with major symptoms of mental illness plus their treatment.
Focussed, harsh vignettes of family life, flashback, delusional reaction and hyper realism in the storytelling grab at us and hurl us on the same roller-coaster the Goodman family have been travelling on for years.
This subject area and trajectory is a hectic and emotional watch for any audience. Mental illness education, stigma-shattering, stigma inducing sequences of predicament, family dysfunction and hard-edge humour require us to keep up, keep alert and cognitively manage the jarring, hectic juxtapositions as best we can.
Above: Liam Faulkner-Dimond as Henry and Chaya Ocampo as Natalie. Photo credit : Hugo Photography & Film.
At the bruised heart of this family story is an award-winning score of mood-shifting, contemporary shades. It is adequately realised with precision, energy and colour by Music Director Gianna Cheung, leading and playing in the vibrant ensemble of keyboards, drums and low strings. This solid music direction was assisted by Rosanna Lam.
The saving grace of the deliberate manic energy within this musical’s demonstrative, angered, domestic romp is some stellar characterisations, showing how mental health crises in a family affects the assorted members differently.
Here, Tom Kitt’s musical pacing and character definition comes brilliantly to the fore. Some very apt casting on behalf of Whimsical Productions also gets the controversial ingredients in this recipe quite right.
The voices chosen are strong and have the stamina to endure an assault on the shifting exchanges in the score with extended ballads of broken emotion breaking through the conversation at times.
Claire Perry brings a clear, contrasted arsenal of tone to the roles of Diana. As we followed her dramatic cavalcade of tough vulnerability through the course of the show, we witnessed suitably variegated vocal delivery.
Her exemplary acting journeys from resigned humour through horror to new starts found an admirable solo and ensemble sound worlds and soundtrack in this star voice and adept physical carriage anywhere on the stage.
Above: Marcus Rivera played Dr Madden and Dr Fine. Image credit: Photography by Kal Cinema and promo design artwork by Rachel Leong.
As husband Dan in tired denial, Sebastian Nelson brings a fitting fatherly innocence to the complex stage. His voice is one which had a lyricism and hope that succeeds, especially in shifts to more mellow, lamenting or hopeful moments to fill us with a beauty of sound and tone whether it was in ensemble or solo flight.
Gabe, as Diana’s delusional, grown-up baby grief prowling the stage for victims, was voiced in a variety of menacing levels by the compelling, lithe stage covering Jacen Bennett. His character’s haunting pre-suicide attempt elegie ‘There’s A World’ tragically stopped time with its persuasive, hushed stillness. When compared to the driving vocal energy of group numbers such as ‘ I am the One’ , this artist showed impressive vocal and dramatic range.
Energy and formidable use of character contrast were admirable features of the Dr Madden / Dr Fine portrayals we witnessed due to the strong casting of Marcus Rivera. Shifts between medical education, cliche cramped medical advice and the transit of spoken word into song were well handled by this cast member. His outbursts as he morphed from psychiatrist into fierce rockstar of Diana’s delusion had expert timing.
In the roles of Natalie (Chaya Ocampo) and Henry (Liam Faulkner-Dimond) we were gifted amidst the mess a stage chemistry and honesty that is not always found in casting of younger characters, but here was of fading and refiring firecracker brilliance. Using her boyfriend as a tool of expanding the exposition plus her emotional response, Ocampo nailed her vocals and role as hard-edged troping reality of the tale every time.
Liam Faulkner-Dimond’s integrity- bursting, so-believable time on stage was all directors such as the obviously hard-working Eezu Tan plus Marie-Jo Orbase could have wished for as the non-family character. His timing and nuance of comment stretched us in this hard biopic with comedy, subtlety and aching, out-of-depth, gritty sorrow. And he sung out with a true, plaintive voice to match.
Next to Normal is not often performed in Sydney. An attempt on the life, love and stop-start gravitas of this work’s message is to be admired. There was much comment and caring of humanity to be treasured here, with fine realisations of the emotional push-pull confrontations and a new-age songful score we will not easily forget.