Theatrius
  • Now Playing
  • All Reviews
  • Writers
  • Reflections
  • Millennial Notes
  • Join Us
  • About Us
  • Search Icon

Theatrius

Theater Reviews—San Francisco and Beyond

“Next to Normal” Destigmatizes Mental Illness, at Los Altos Stage

“Next to Normal” Destigmatizes Mental Illness, at Los Altos Stage

June 13, 2019 Fritz Mad'Laine

Millennial Notes

Yorkey & Kitt Master the Manic Depressive Musical

by Fritz Mad’Laine

Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt’s smash hit “Next to Normal” shatters expectations for a standard romantic musical, uprooting the stigma of mental illness with tenderness and pizzazz.

The show depicts Diana (charming Jillian Toby-Cummings), a mother battling bipolar disorder as she and her family desperately try to achieve normalcy. Only a musical could capture the larger-than-life turmoil and ecstasy of a mind torn between extremes. Each song is an episode all its own, offering an intricate understanding of manic depression—an illness characterized by joy and humor, as well as suffering.

Ella Ruth Francis, Mitchell Mosley, Jillian Toby-Cummings, Joey McDaniel. Photos by Richard Mayer

Between her fits of manic cleaning and depressive grief, Diana’s illness is fueled by the pressure to be a perfect wife and mother. Tragically, her spiraling moods make her more absent than ever, leaving her teenage daughter Natalie (melodious Ella Ruth Francis) and her faithful but clueless husband Dan (stoic Joey McDaniel) to pick up the pieces.

The emotional tone of the production is spot-on, convincingly rendering the complex dynamics of Diana’s psyche. Diana has run the gamut of treatments—hilariously portrayed in dance numbers featuring a rock star psychiatrist (versatile David Sabre) and a parade of pills.

As Diana’s mental health worsens, intensified by hallucinations of her long-lost son Gabriel (spellbinding Mitchell Mosley), her neglected daughter grows into a young woman with problems of her own. We see our heroine locked in an endless dance with each of her children, her body mirroring Natalie’s as their symptoms intertwine.

Ella Ruth Francis, Anthony Stephens, Mitchell Mosley, and Joey McDaniel

Natalie’s stoner-philosopher boyfriend Henry (endearing Anthony Stephens) is a saving grace in her out-of-control life. As Natalie loses herself in a quickly escalating prescription drug habit, Henry tries to hold it all together, eerily echoing her weary father.

Captivated, I left feeling hungry for more. I wish Mosley’s incredible performance as the ghost of Diana’s son were staged to offer more insight into Diana’s emotional world. Still, Gabriel’s presence impresses, hauntingly reminding us what might have been.

A stone’s throw from Stanford and posh Palo Alto, Los Altos Stage Company is well-positioned to explore the underbelly of the American family. Despite its sunny exterior, Silicon Valley is no stranger to the specter of mental illness. Santa Clara County has seen an increase in suicide in recent years, with Palo Alto’s teen suicide rate reaching more than four times the national average.

Mitchell Mosley, Jillian Toby-Cummings, and David Sabre

“Next to Normal” does more than chronicle the day-to-day realities of madness. It calls into question the idea of sanity itself, and challenges the authority of psychiatry when Big Pharma is riding high.

Diana, missing the peaks and valleys of her highs and lows, is asked by doctors to undergo shock therapy and trade a piece of her soul for stability. Her story hits close to home, and leaves me to wonder: Which is worse, the symptoms or the cure?

 

“Next to Normal” by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt, directed by Janie Scott, at Los Altos Stage Company, Los Altos, California, through Saturday, June 22, 2019. Info: losaltosstage.org

Cast: Ella Ruth Francis, Joey McDaniel, Mitchell Mosley, David Sabre, Anthony Stephens, and Jillian Toby-Cummings.

Banner photo: Anthony Stephens and Ella Ruth Francis.


Millennial Notes, Musical
Family, feminism, Identity, marriage, Medicine, mental illness, music, patriarchy, Science, social class, Women's Rights

Post navigation

NEXT
“Archduke” Steals Hearts, at TheatreWorks, Mtn. View
PREVIOUS
“body/politic” Reclaims Femininity, at Nitery, Stanford
Comments are closed.

Menu

  • Now Playing
  • All Reviews
  • Writers
  • Reflections
  • Millennial Notes
  • Join Us
  • About Us

BLM

Black Lives Matter

Current Shows

  • “Monument, or Four Sisters” Explores Loss of Love & Coral Reefs—at Magic Theatre
  • “Paper Dreams of Harry Chin” Reveals Chinese American Fears—at SF Playhouse
  • “Going Out”: Humorous & Heartfelt Memories thru a COVID Lens—at The Marsh
  • “The Government Inspector”: Classic Comedy Mocks Corrupt Officials—at Ross Valley
  • “Our Town”: Small Town Charm Exposes Need for Change—at Center REP
  • “Octet” Invites Musical Escape from Internet Tyranny—at Berkeley Rep
  • “PrEP Play, or Blue Parachute”: Packed with Plots and Passions—at NCTC
  •  “Allegiance”: A Musical that Entertains & Instructs—at Palo Alto Players
  • “Crowns” Spotlights African American Perseverance—at CCCT
  • “Drowning in Cairo” Plumbs Depths of Homophobia—at Golden Thread
  • “The Incrementalist”—A Tender, Illuminating View of Compromise—at Aurora
  •  “One Flea Spare”: Praiseworthy Experiment Pays Off—at Main Stage West
  • “Endlings” Unnerves with Extinction Nightmares—at Oakland Theater Project
  • “Gem of the Ocean”: A Mighty Cruise to African Epiphany—at TheatreWorks   
  • “Native Gardens” Bloom into Millennial vs. Boomer Battles—at Left Edge

About us:

If you want to see the best plays & performances around the San Francisco Bay or beyond, read our reviews. We promise to give you a true report on the best shows.
Bay Area Critics Circle

Barry David Horwitz, Editor of Theatrius, is a Voting Member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics' Circle, SFBATCC. Follow us on: facebook.com

Subscribe for upcoming reviews!
Loading
© 2022   All Rights Reserved.