We’ve always been a theatre family. I met my wife when I was a working actor, she and I performed in several amateur show
s together, and when the kids arrived they followed suit.
Last year my oldest — Verity — introduced me to Next to Normal—a Pullitzer Prize-winning musical about mental health. I was immediately captivated by the music, but without having seen the show itself I was missing a lot of context. Last year the show was produced in the UK for the first time at the Donmar Warehouse. I love the Donmar; it’s a small-ish space (250-odd seats) in the centre of London, and it produces some of the best shows around. It’s one of the most important theatre spaces we have. Verity saw Next to Normal at the Donmar, but I missed it. Luckily, they filmed a pro-shot, and I saw it earlier this year.
Not only did the show immediately jump to become one of my favourite musicals, but the role of Dan (the father in the show) instantly became one of the top three musical theatre roles I’d kill to play. Ok, maybe not kill, but maim, for sure.
And now a local theatre production company is mounting the show. I am auditioning. Although the competition for this will be fierce, so I’m not counting any clucking animals.
Verity (who knows musical theatre at least as well as I, and who never gives a compliment without absolutely meaning it) told me that they think I would be great in this role. Verity also said that the role will probably break me, because I’m already Dan. I live his life to a significant extent. Out of everything I’ve read, everything I’ve listened to, and everything I’ve watched, I understand this man more than any other character in fiction. When I sing along to his songs in the isolated comfort of my car I often briefly stop as a lump comes to my throat. This character —all the characters in this show — are real. They are so beautifully, tragically drawn.
And this morning I have been watching clips on YouTube, and finding the lumps keep returning. This is a deeply emotional show, though without the cynically manipulative edge of something like Dear Evan Hansen. DEH wants you to cry. Next to Normal knows you will cry, but what it wants is for you to understand.
This is entertainment, but it’s also truth. Perhaps more than any other modern-day musical. If you want to listen to the soundtrack the Broadway recording is great, but the London recording is better.
The pro-shot is coming to the streamer National Theatre At Home on 2nd December, and the local production (in York) is in late March/early April. If you’re nowhere close to York, watch the pro-shot. If you’re in Yorkshire in April, go see the show at Theatre @ 41 in York. If I’m not in it, I’ll be buying multiple tickets to see it, so either way I’ll probably see you there.
