Next to Normal Cast Album Review
Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's new Musical comes to iTunes!
Apr 8, 2009
Next to Normal is a challenging musical at best: it looks at the dark side of suburbia and the ways a suburban family copes with mental illness in the face of tragedy. It also manages to present a realism and gravity to the situation while not ignoring the black humour also present within. Due to the nature of the show, the author will be avoiding spoilers in the review.
As the show prepares to open on Broadway after a ten year development cycle including a run at the 2005 New York Musical Festival and productions off-Broadway at 2nd Stage before a significant revision at Arena Stage in Washington DC. The cast recording, made between the Arena and Broadway production, reflects the final revision of the show.
Technical Details
The Next to Normal cast album comes on two CDs spanning 37 tracks. While the physical album is scheduled for release in May 2009, Sh-K-Boom have released it a month in advance on iTunes, where it is available for download in 256kbit DRM free AAC for $11.99. Though promised in advance, the download edition does not include a digital copy of the insert booklet.
Cast
As stated above, the cast recording utilises the talents of the Arena Stage (and subsequently Broadway) cast: Alice Ripley is stunning as bipolar lead Diana, and J. Robert Spencer shows his own, quieter pains as long-suffering husband Dan. Following a run as an understudy in Spring Awakening, high school aged Jennifer Damiano excels as neglected overachiever daughter Natalie. Rounding out the principles is Aaron Tveit as the menacing son Gabriel.
In more thankless roles are Adam Chanler-Berat as Natalie’s stoner boyfriend Henry and Louis Hobson in a dual role of Diana’s psychopharmacologist Dr. Fine and the sympathetic therapist Dr. Madden.
Representation
Next to Normal is a pop-rock musical, and the album is an excellent sounding but at times iffy presentation of the show as performed. Dialogue has been removed from a number of songs (e.g. the introductory song “Just Another Day”) and the flow is often broken up as a result and story elements become obfuscated. While some plot twists are revealed by the recording, many others - including character introductions and the actual conclusion - are not. The result is a recording which serves as good promotion for the show but a questionable artefact from a historical standpoint.
Another result of cutting dialogue and transitions is awkward and showtune-y song introductions - the aforementioned “Just Another Day” transitions onstage from the “Light” prelude but as the linking dialogue was cut the underscoring was as well.) The end product is uneven, neither a cohesive unit nor a genuinely independent album.
Summary
That said, the album has a lot going for it between the top notch cast performances and a parade of quality songs including “You Don’t Know/I Am The One,” “I’m Alive,” “I Miss The Mountains,” and “Superboy and the Invisible Girl.” For those wishing to sample the score without risking spoilers, all of the aforementioned tracks are in the first act and the recording cuts any spoiler causing dialogue.
At $11.99, it’s easy to recommend this album to Next to Normal fans and as an inexpensive way to sample the material before committing to a ticket. At $25 MSRP for the physical CD, the value becomes questionable for non-fans.
