Devon A.A. Norris

I had the honor of seeing 'Next to Normal' with my daughter Madeleine at the Three Act Theatre Company.. Her first time seeing it, my gazillionth.

Three Act Theatre announces its production of NEXT TO NORMAL. This Pulitzer Prize winning musical written by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey will get a new staging in Pelham, NY this October.

Three Act Theatre announces its production of NEXT TO NORMAL. This Pulitzer Prize winning musical written by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey will get a new staging in Pelham, NY this October. Directed & Choreographed by Eric Mark Olson, Music Directed by Kevin A. Smith, and featuring a cast led by Cindy Finegan and Richard Lisenby. 

Open Bar Theatricals, a new Manhattan-based theatre company, will present a reading of 'Journeymen and Womyn (with a "y"),' by Mike Wirsch, on Monday, July 6th at the Barrow Group Theatre. 'Journeymen…' is the second installment in Open Bar's 2015 First Round Fellowship, a new program for young or established writers/directors/creators and their developmental works.

CRY-BABY is a smash, a musical and cultural send up of drape and square mores, while at the same time, a parody of the typical "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back" scenarios that we've all been exposed to in more traditional shows. At times, it's like watching a throwdown between Little Richard and Pat Boone over who really sings "Good Golly, Miss Molly" the best and most authentic. And, at other times, it's a completely over the top take off on shows of the past. For some reason, I was reminded of both The Music Man and West Side Story. Scott Miller and New Line Theatre have once again given us something outside the norm, and it's a joyous ride. This revision of CRY-BABY (I confess, I didn't see it on Broadway) is a sheer delight, full of characters and situations from the movie by filmmaker John Waters, but also standing on its own with a clever and hilarious score (music and lyrics by David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger), having jettisoned the tunes from the film itself. Go see this play now. It's wonderfully directed, smartly choreographed, and marvelously acted.

New Line Theatre, 'the Bad Boy of Musical Theatre,' continues its 21st season of rock theatre through March 24, 2012 with the American regional premiere of the Broadway rock musical CRY-BABY. Check out the production photos below!