Unraveling Next to Normal’s West End Success
Next to Normal, a musical that has been around for nearly two decades, gained sudden popularity over the summer when PBS released an official pro-shot of the West End revival. The West End is a UK theater district, similar to Broadway in the US. Following four Olivier nominations in 2024, the musical soon gained a substantial following online. But what exactly made Next to Normal’s West End production the success it was?
From the moment the words “Next to Normal” show on screen and the piano plays the prelude of the musical, viewers are immediately hooked. The first song, “Prelude,” introduces mystery into the story right off the bat, with Diana Goodman, our main character, awaiting her son’s late arrival at home, only to rush him to bed when her husband calls to her, claiming he shouldn’t see him.
The following song counteracts this strange interaction by establishing the Goodmans as “a perfect, loving family,” building the foundation of Next to Normal that the musical will spend the next two hours breaking, rearranging, and rebuilding. Warning— Slight spoilers ahead!
What Makes Next to Normal Unique?
“I really liked this musical; it’s very heavy emotionally, but I feel like it goes over important themes, such as grief, family, and resilience,” said sophomore Brisa Baez.
As the story progresses throughout the musical, we are introduced to two storylines. The main one follows Diana as she battles against her mental health. For years, she has been treated for bipolar disorder and dealt with hallucinations of her dead son. This has led her to neglect her daughter, Natalie, and strain her relationship with her husband, Dan.
The subplot follows Natalie and Henry, her boyfriend, as they kindle a sort of romance between one another, born out of a need for support and a convoluted view of love. This story closely parallels Dan and Diana’s early years and helps emphasize and illustrate themes throughout the musical.
There are several notable details about the direction of this production. Next to Normal has been praised for its meaningful stage direction, props, lighting, acting, and more. Fans have taken to breaking apart the musical to dissect these elements for meaning.
“There was so much to love about it. The set was fire and incredibly immersive. I could totally believe 2 former architecture majors lived there, for real. The lighting really enhanced the story as well. Lee Curran did his big one,” said senior Raquel Weaver. Lee Curran was the lighting designer on the show.
Smaller details also enhanced the show’s meaning. In the first act, Natalie wears her hair up, representing how she is stressed, emotional, and uptight. When she meets Henry, however, he begins to carry the prop for her, symbolizing how his support is in the end, when Natalie starts to feel stable, and he returns the item to her, helping her hold herself up but not taking the weight of her worries for her.
In other songs, like “I’m Alive,” this mise-en-scène and directing help to propel a greater meaning to the song. Gabe, Diana’s son, sings about what his hallucination symbolizes to each character— “I’m your wish, your dream come true, And I am your darkest nightmare, too.” His actions toward each character in this song differ. For example, Gabe prioritizes protecting Diana, his mom, who uses his hallucinations as comfort.
To further display his fluctuating role, Gabe mocks Dan and Natalie, who are greatly affected by Diana’s grief for him, by holding the mic to their face when they speak and laughing at their words. In the end, Gabe is the one to hand Natalie her mother’s bag, and in the process, start her drug addiction.
While in context, Gabe is not literally there to enable this, his directions to provide Natalie the items to do so in the musical portray his overarching and indirect role in Natalie’s declining mental health.
Next to Normal’s Achievements
While, of course, the technical aspects of Next to Normal are outstanding, it’s important to note the actors who brought the musical to life. Caissie Levy, leading as Diana, was nominated in the 2024 Olivier Awards as best lead actress in a musical. Her co-stars Jack Wolfe and Eleanor Worthington-Cox were nominated as best supporting actor/actress in a musical for their roles as Gabe and Natalie.
The cast of this revival has elicited many comparisons to the original Broadway crew. While both bring amazing factors into each character, many agree that the new revival is more heart-wrenching and conscious of the sensitivity that comes with the topic of mental health. Plays on several of the original casts’ choices enhance the musical to levels never-before-seen.
Evidently, a majority of new Next to Normal fans are teenagers and young adults, many of whom found the musical through social media. At the time, PBS funding was at risk of shutting down, and many took to promoting PBS shows, such as the PBS Great Performances series, where Next to Normal aired online.
It is thanks to the musical’s success on platforms like TikTok that fans were able to get a Cast Album from the West End, as well as experience Next to Normal uncensored across theatres in the United Kingdom as of September 11th. Some of the most successful songs of the musical have reached over a million streams on Spotify since their West End release.
