Review: Next to Normal

Lightly full of stuff

I was sceptical beforehand: a small-scale, daring musical with a theme of bipolar disorder that has gained fame on Broadway. Do you have to tear entertainment out of everything? And the beginning of the play did not seem very promising. There is a basic family – the mother is caring, the son is a teenager, the father is the breadwinner and the daughter is a school hiccup. Life goes on like a dance and the song is fresh.

Soon, however, toasts began to fly, and the idyll took on humorously touching features. And it didn’t take long before I had to admit that this is quite interesting… Firstly, Vuokko Hovatta, Juha Junttu, Jonna Järnefelt, Petrus Kähkönen, Tuukka Leppänen and Antti Timonen know how to sing and move, secondly, the problems are close and thirdly, the plot even has elements of suspense. In fact, Lasse Hirvi’s orchestra swings as its name suggests.

Already by the intermission, I was completely impressed, and towards the end, things only got better. A little over two hours passed and I left the theater, touched, swallowing tears, the music still playing in my head. Things are so familiar to everyone, everyone has a family, most of them just “normal” and “normal”. How does a family member’s illness affect others? Can anyone help a person who doesn’t want help themselves? Who does self-sacrifice help? How much should I take care of? And what is actually normal?

This is better than normal, truly new musical theatre.