<div dir="ltr">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Palatino;
panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Palatino;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Palatino;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
color:black;}
h2
{mso-style-link:"Heading 2 Char";
mso-style-next:Normal;
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:12.0pt;
margin-left:0in;
line-height:18.0pt;
mso-pagination:none;
page-break-after:avoid;
mso-outline-level:2;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none;
font-size:12.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Palatino;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:Palatino;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-noshow:yes;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
span.Heading2Char
{mso-style-name:"Heading 2 Char";
mso-style-locked:yes;
mso-style-link:"Heading 2";
mso-ansi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Palatino;
mso-ascii-font-family:Palatino;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:Palatino;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold;
mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<h2 style="line-height:normal"><br></h2><h2 style="line-height:normal"><span style="color:rgb(255,0,0)"></span><br></h2><h2 style="line-height:normal">Lakelands NEXT TO NORMAL:<span style> </span>compelling script, must see production</h2>
<p class="">Roy Berko</p>
<p class="">(<span style="font-size:10pt">Member, American Theatre
Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle</span>)</p>
<p class="">If you were an investor in Broadway shows and someone came
to you proposing a rock musical about a mother with worsening bipolar disorder,
that was going to be performed as an operetta (all singing, few spoken
sentences), with no show stoppers, no dancing, no chorus numbers, few laughs,
and an unnerving ending, written by an author who has never had a big hit,
would you invest?<span style> </span>Well, a group
did, and the result was NEXT TO NORMAL which won three 2009 Tony Awards and the
2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and had a smash 733 performance-run on Broadway,
and is now touring to sold out audiences.
</p><p class="">Yes, NEXT TO NORMAL, with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey
and music by Tom Kitt, is a unique musical which addresses loss, death,
suicide, drug usage, and the ethics of modern psychiatry, which is getting a
mind-blowing production at Lakeland Theatre.<span style> </span></p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:6pt">The Pulitzer Board credited the show with expanding
the scope of subject matter for musicals.<span style="color:windowtext"></span></p>
<p class=""><span style="color:windowtext">The story concerns Diana Goodman, a suburban
American housewife, who has a form of bipolar disorder coupled with what might
be schizophrenia.<span style> </span>The question
comes as to whether the condition is hereditary or was induced by a trauma
sixteen-years earlier.<span style> </span>Together
with her husband, Dan, she fights to keep her mind and their family on some
sort of normal path.<span style> </span>Maybe not
normal, but next to normal.<span style> </span>After
extensive therapy Diana decides to stop taking the pills, cuts off all mental
health help, including the electroconvulsive therapy, that caused her
short-term amnesia.<span style> </span>This decision
leads to an unsettling conclusion.</span></p>
<p class=""><span style="color:windowtext">As both a mental health professional and a theater
reviewer, when I saw the original staging on Broadway, and again in its
presentation as part of the Key Bank Broadway Series, I was totally caught up
in the show.<span style> </span>It is like no musical
I had ever seen.<span style> </span>I left the
theatre knowing that I had just experienced greatness.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class=""><span style="color:windowtext">The Lakeland production, under the adept direction
of Martin Friedman, with the set and light innovations by Trad Burns, is mesmerizing.</span></p>
<p class=""><span style="color:windowtext">Friedman and Burns remove the Broadway three-level
set and substitute see-through walls constructed of steel wires, which, like
the connections in Dianas brain, represent her being trapped in a spider web
of chaos, causing her to weave in and out of situations which she doesnt
understand and disrupt her direct flow of ideas and movements.<span style> </span>In addition, instead of traditional
stage lighting, the duo has substituted nearly a hundred lamps of various
descriptions to illuminate the set and simulate the on and off flow of ideas in
Dianas mind.<span style> </span>The concept is
brilliant and takes the script to a level not realized in the original staging.</span></p>
<p class=""><span style="color:windowtext">The composite cast is outstanding.<span style> </span>Amiee Collier wraps herself in the role
of Dianna.<span style> </span>She is so real that the
characters pain is Colliers pain.<span style>
</span>She sings meanings, not words.<span style>
</span>She makes us writhe in suffering, her suffering.<span style> </span>This is a performance which rivals
Clevelander Alice Ripleys amazing Tony winning Broadway presentation.</span></p>
<p class=""><span style="color:windowtext">Rich McGuigan, who, like the rest of the cast, has
a strong singing voice, is spot on as Dan, Dianas husband.<span style> </span>We experience his frustration in trying
to be an understanding support, but unable to cope with his wifes obsession
with a past trauma, her reluctance to move on, and his inability to deal with
the chaos around with any action other than emotional blandness.</span></p>
<p class=""><span style="color:windowtext">Hathaway Browns Emma Wahl, who appeared on
Broadway in CHITTY, CHITTY BANG<span style>
</span>BANG, captures the very essence of Natalie, the daughter caught between
the throes of teenage life and a chaotic home environment.<span style> </span>Pat Miller, as Natalies boyfriend,
Henry, creates a pot-headed, yet supportive safe place for the girl to turn.</span></p>
<p class=""><span style="color:windowtext">Ben Donahoo, as Natalies brother Gabe, has the
difficult task of creating a character of dual dimensions.<span style> </span>He does so with clarity and
understanding.</span><span style="color:windowtext"> </span>
</p><p class=""><span style="color:windowtext">Tim Allen, as several mental health professionals, is
quite believable.</span></p>
<p class=""><span style="color:windowtext">Though Jordon Coopers orchestra sometimes goes
overboard and drowns out the musical speeches of the performers, lyrics that
are so important to hear clearly, the musical sounds are well performed and
carry the feelings and moods of the story.</span></p>
<p class=""><i style><span style="color:windowtext">Capsule
judgement:<span style> </span>Does NEXT TO NORMAL
sound like a downer?<span style> </span>The script,
and the music, and this production are so well conceived, that there is no time
during the production that the audience is not compelled to watch with rapt
attention.<span style> </span>Lakelands production
is an absolutely, positive, MUST SEE!</span></i></p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:16pt"><span style="color:windowtext">For tickets to the NEXT TO NORMAL which runs
through February 17, and is being staged in Lakeland Community Colleges
theatre, call </span><span style>440-525-7134 or to
go </span><a href="http://lakelandcc.edu/academic/arts/theatre/index.asp"><span style="color:windowtext">http://lakelandcc.edu/academic/arts/theatre/index.asp</span></a></p><p class="" style="margin-bottom:16pt"><a href="http://lakelandcc.edu/academic/arts/theatre/index.asp"><span style="color:windowtext"><span style="color:rgb(255,0,0)"></span></span></a></p>
<p class="" style="margin-bottom:16pt"><a href="http://lakelandcc.edu/academic/arts/theatre/index.asp"><span style="color:windowtext"><br></span></a></p></div>