Next To Normal (The Arts Club at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Theatre in Vancouver) [review]

1 in 5 Canadians has suffered, at some point, of any form of mental illness. 4,000 Canadians per year end their life through suicide. 3% of Canadians live with a persistent or severe form of mental illness. About 1% of Canadians will experience bipolar disorder (or “manic depression”). And yet, mental illnesses are still VERY stigmatized. People are afraid of talking about their depression or bipolar or borderline personality disorder or anxiety, mostly because society ostracizes anyone who manifests a form of mental illness. It’s really hard to establish a conversation around mental health.

Photo credit: David Cooper. Used with permission.

Even more challenging is to portray mental illness (in this case, bipolar disorder) with any degree of mastery in theatre, let alone a musical. And The Arts Club’s production of Next To Normal, whose opening night I attended tonight, not only succeeds but goes beyond any expectations I could have had. Powerful voices, extremely good performances, a really beautiful, poignant and realistic portrayal of bipolar disorder and a cast where every single actor is the main protagonist, simply because the supporting actors pull off an extraordinary performance, all these elements make of Next To Normal a must-see production.

Mental illness stories NEED to be told, and The Arts Club succeeds in creating a powerful message of unconditional love and understanding while meticulously working at portraying bipolar disorder and the devastating effects it has on the family of Diana (a Caitriona Murphy that gives us her all, with a powerful and well-projected voice that can range from subtle to scream within seconds). Haunted by ghosts of her past, we see her interact with her son Gabe and daughter Natalie in a very complex set of circumstances. Eric Morin gives a stellar performance as Gabe, with pipes that rival some of the best singers I’ve heard out there. Diana has lived with bipolar disorder triggered precisely by some trauma in her early years. Along with Gabe, Dan (Warren Kimmel in an outstanding portrayal of the eternally-loving, always-understanding husband) and Diana have a daughter, Natalie (Jennie Neumann, who at times steals the show as the daughter struggling with keeping a next-to-normal life while her mother goes in and out of the hospital). The family members love each other but coping with Diana’s bipolar disorder has proved challenging for a long, long time.

While it is a musical, the stories told aren’t easy to handle and beautifully haunting songs with powerful voices and a superb musical accompaniment made the audience (my guests included, Anabelle and JT) cry quite a lot. I spent the vast majority of the second act crying, to be quite honest. Without being too mushy, I felt that I witnessed poetry made musical theatre.

Colin Sheen (whom I loved in Hairspray) is an adorable boyfriend to Natalie, and demonstrates that he is capable of siding with some of the top actors in this town. He’s definitely playing in the big leagues. Matt Palmer, also a Hairspray alumnus, is convincing at the psychiatrist. As I mentioned, I think everyone in this musical-theatrical performance simply outdid themselves. In fact, The Arts Club outdid themselves. At the end of the performance, a packed Stanley Industrial Alliance Theatre audience gave the actors a standing ovation that made them come back after they had already said their goodbyes.

Next To Normal is perhaps the best performance I have ever seen in all my years of attending theatre in the city of Vancouver. The degree to which The Arts Club and specifically Bill Millard, the Director of Next To Normal, treated with respect, love and emotion the task of telling a challenging story of love in the face of mental illness in such powerfully convincing way that I think I’m going to have to come back for another 2 hours of crying. Next To Normal shows us the realities, challenges and (in some ways) triumphs of love over an illness that affects more than 1% of the population of Canada. If there is a theatre show this year YOU MUST see, it’s Next To Normal at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Theatre.

Playing until October 9th.

Anabelle, JT and I attended on my media tickets courtesy of The Arts Club. I would totally have paid out of my own pocket as mental health is a key cause of mine. This review is neither paid for nor expected, but I think everybody should educate themselves on the realities of mental illness (to be more understanding, we need to be more educated about the issues). As always, I retain editorial control of whatever is published on my blog.

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