"Next to Normal" is unusual because it's a musical about divorce. As common as divorce is, it doesn't often get the "pop culture" treatment. Shows like "Parenthood," "The Sopranos," and "Breaking Bad" flirt with the idea of separation--but then the protagonists end up reunited, or semi-reunited, under one roof.
"N2N" is pretty brutal in establishing that its two characters are trapped; American family life, which is so often finessed as "good," immediately "good," is in fact a kind of prison in Yorkey's musical. Notice how blunt York's characters can be:
Everyday, this act we act
Gets more and more absurd.
And all my fears just sit inside me--
Screaming to be heard.
I know they won't, though--
Not a single word...
And notice the wife:
It's like living on a cliffside--
Not knowing when you'll dive.
Do you know? Do you know--
What it's like to die alive?
As flawed as "N2N" is, it has a deeply satisfying "tentpole number." This is an electrifying moment in the First Act--when it's revealed that (from minute one onward) Diana has been an extremely untrustworthy narrator. The first time you see the show, the "reveal" makes you gasp. The extent of Diana's misery suggests that a dramatic rupture needs to occur--but her spouse, Dan, can't tolerate this. The thought of a rupture is scary! So he fights. And the fight is ineffective. Diana retreats to her delusion, and she makes her message clear:
You don't know--
I know you don't know.
You say that you're hurting--
I know it ain't so.
You don't know.
Why don't you just go?
You don't know....
For its bleakness and ballsiness, "N2N" is my favorite Tonys performance. I wish that Yorkey would finish more work.
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