The Tony Award and Pulitzer -winning rock musical “Next to Normal” is bringing Broadway to Bloomington at Constellation Stage & Screen’s Waldron Auditorium. The production is directed by Kate Galvin and brings to life Brian Yorkey’s book and lyrics along with Tom Kitt’s musical score.
The musical, running through Sept. 21, is an intense and empathetic story of grief, trauma and healing, taking the audience into a family’s journey through complex emotions.
Diana Goodman, played by Alex Keiper, is a mother suffering with bipolar disorder ,due to past trauma. Her husband Dan, played by Ben Michael, and daughter Natalie, played by Claire Summers, struggle to connect with Diana in her ongoing battle with the illness.
The musical officially opened at Broadway's Booth Theatre April 15, 2009.
Jordan Stephens, the audience services manager at Constellation, said this musical’s production with a live band, fell into place seamlessly because of the team and the preparation they did over the summer.
Along with casting, which began in May, the actual design of the show happened over the summer. Stephens said the process of designing a set and all its accompanying elements takes anywhere from one to three months. After that, the turnaround from rehearsals to performances is quick.
“Once those things are together and we have our cast, it's usually about a two to three week rehearsal period,” Stephens said. “The actors are all in the same room together, they get the scripts and the book in advance to learn the music and their lines.”
The cast performs empathetically to strike a chord with audiences and brings out the emotions wrapped within the changing dynamics between characters as the story progresses. Summers, a junior at IU playing the daughter in the show, elaborated about the cast’s creative process, especially in a show that dives into such heavy topics.
“We all got together as a cast and deep-dived into our characters and the emotions,” Summers said.. “We did a lot of workshopping. We had a psychiatrist to come in and talked to us, which was cool because the show deals with so much. We got more of a deeper understanding of medicine and bipolar disorder on how that could affect someone.”
For Summers, the process of bringing her character to life relied heavily on understanding the character’s strained dynamic with her mother, Diana.
“I think the most challenging part would be at the end of the show when Natalie goes to her mom and they have that song ‘Maybe,’” Summers said. “She must accept what's not going to be perfect by and she needs her mother in her life. It's just such a sweet moment.”
The musical also depicts how reaching out for help and having people around to count on during tough days is important while going through something emotionally grappling.
IU junior Jonah Broscow plays Henry, Natalie’s partner, in the musical. With a character like Henry — who tries to be a calming presence in Natalie’s life — Broscow felt like it was his own patience that helped him relate more to the character.
“I think his (Henry’s) patience and passion to pursue what he's into is what resonates the most with me,” Broscow said. “I think he sees a lot of Dan in himself too. As Dan sticks with Diana for a long time, and he just wants to continue to stick with Natalie in the same and knows that he can help her get through this.”
The stage production and lighting form important elements of storytelling throughout the show and are designed to convey character subplots. In a show that bounces between different storylines and time jumps, the lighting helps highlight the themes and intensity of the scenes to the audience.
Anna Shea Safran, a junior at IU and an audience member during the production’s Sept. 14 show, felt the lighting helped influence her interpretation of the songs and characters.
“I love the lighting in this show,” Safran said.
“I thought it added so much to the story and indicated where we are, what's real and what's not. The ‘I'm alive’ song for instance, had the lights going crazy, you can feel that's what's going on in Diana's mind I think it added an element to this story”
The story brings out each character’s personal journey of navigating grief, loss and feeling lost from within, leaving the audiences thinking of the show from each character’s perspective instead of just one. IU junior Tessa Wittenbaum said she resonated most with Dan.
“You could tell that he had been going through it the entire time,” Wittenbaum said. “But they never really focused on the grief until he processes his son’s loss. I thought it was beautiful.”
At the heart of “Next to Normal” is a powerful message: mental health matters and it is never too much to seek support from loved ones and professional help. The production emphasizes the idea of families fixating on being ‘normal’ whereas most homes need to be ‘next to normal’ to get through life.
“Next to Normal” is scheduled to run at the Waldron Auditorium until Sept. 21, 2025. Show tickets and timings can be found on Constellation Stage & Screen’s website.
A list of resources is available here if you or someone you know is struggling with mental health.
