After a sell out run in July, "Next to Normal", a 3 Tony award winning musical written by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt, will be revived at the Suter Theatre during mental health awareness week. The musical will be performed by teens from Nelson's own Off Broadway Performing Arts School.
"I'm seldom lost for words but this outstanding, hard hitting production left me stunned...The Pulitzer prize winning musical opens in a kitchen where a mother waits for her teenage son in the early morning. Nothing unusual there but cracks soon show in the veneer of ordinariness as lives in parallel generations unravel... This PG 13 performance is real, confronting, no-holds-barred stuff that's also sensitive and ultimately uplifting... The raw intensity and emotion from the *four is palpable...The standing ovation reflected the triumph of how they made it speak to us." Judith Paviell, Nelson Mail July 5, 2014.
*four is in reference to Nelson teens: Georgia Chapple, Natalie Davies, Nick Erasmuson, and Myer van Gosliga.
A musical about depression may sound like a weird mix, but "this is the musical we want to perform," says the students. "we see it as important to share, especially in our culture - sweeping big feelings under the carpet is dangerous and we want to say that no one is alone... we feel that we barely scratched the surface with the first run, meaning there are so many more people in our community to reach - we need to perform 5 more shows."
They certainly are not alone as the community had such an overwhelming response to the production that Next to Normal is on again for a second run.
Directed by Tami Mansfield, at The Suter Theatre, and thanks to some support from NMDHB and Health Action Trust.
Off Broadway Performing Arts School
