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Today we are off to Washington DC.
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One thing I have to say, the Next to Normal reviews were very good (and reflected mine as well)
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.What we’re reading (and watching) on Thursday morning.
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Reviewing the Broadway transfer of the musical “Next to Normal” in Thursday’s New York Times, Ben Brantley says that the show has improved substantially since its run at Second Stage Theater last year, writing: “With an astounding central performance from Alice Ripley as Diana Goodman, a housewife with bipolar disorder, this production assesses the losses that occur when wounded people are anesthetized — and not just by the battery of pharmaceutical and medical treatments to which Diana is subjected, but by recreational drugs, alcohol and that good old American virtue, denial with a smile.” Writing for Bloomberg News, Jeremy Gerard says that after the show’s Off-Broadway run, “many of us were left perplexed by composer Tom Kitt and librettist Brian Yorkey’s hard-driving score. Several memorable songs and scenes didn’t add up to a memorable show.” A year later, he writes, “The result is a better show, though still one that’s easier to admire than love.” In The Chicago Tribune, Chris Jones notes that the show’s lead producer, David Stone, “made his money on ‘Wicked.’ In the artistic universe, this is how you are supposed to spend it.”