On paper, “Next to Normal” doesn’t scream “see me.”
The rock musical — Southern Arizona Performing Arts Company’s current offering — is about grief, a fractured family and a bipolar woman haunted with sorrow and a world that she can’t embrace.
Yet, it must be seen.
It is packed with empathy, pain and, ultimately, hope.
And this production is packed with talent.
“Next to Normal” is about Diana, a manic-depressive who struggles to keep her concerned husband and her angst-ridden teen daughter happy. And to keep the ghost of her dead son at bay.
This is no easy feat. Diana is fed drugs that don’t work and sent to see psychiatrists who don’t help. Her husband is exhausted with the effort to keep her mentally healthy and the family together. Her daughter just doesn’t get why Mom can’t make her recitals or give her the guidance and love a teen so desperately needs.
The cast is led by the talented Liz Cracchiolo, who gives the grief-stricken Diana humanity and courage even in the midst of despair. This is a role that would be easy to over-do; that never happens in Cracchiolo’s capable hands.
Dan, Diana’s husband, is almost crippled with worry for his wife. Matthew Holter embodies the role of a man burdened with love, concern and despair.
Allie Devaney, a Pima Community College student, and University of Arizona senior Daniel Altamirano stepped into the roles of daughter Natalie and her beau, Henry. While both were a little shaky with their acting, their singing was pristine.
Dennis Tamblyn’s psychiatrists — he played two of them — were both funny and kind of tragic in their sometimes cavalier treatment of Diana’s illness.
In the center of everything is Gabe, the son who is there and not there, seen and heard only by Diana. Xander Mason, tall, thin and blond, made the ghost both menacing and tender. Mason, with his voice and his presence, commands attention.
Director Annette Hillman saw to it that the musical flowed and the actors deeply understood and embraced the material.
There were other stars of this solid production: Tom Benson, who created the two-tiered set of a home full of pill bottles and family scrapbooks; sound designer Noah Dettman, who made sure the tight six-piece orchestra led by Elizabeth Spencer never overpowered the performers; and lighting designer Christopher Mason, who flooded the stage with lights that punctuated the ever-changing moods of the characters.
Most of us haven’t stepped foot into a theater in almost two years. Sitting down and taking this Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical in seems almost like a miracle. So does this production.
