Review: NEXT TO NORMAL at SNAP! Productions Will Take You on a Wild Ride

SNAP! Productions has booked us a seat on a roller coaster and it’s an extreme ride! Hang on, because the ups and downs will leave you breathless!

NEXT TO NORMAL with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt, is a 2008 rock musical about a mother’s bipolar disorder and grief over the loss of her child. The musical won a 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and three Tony Awards.

SNAP! in this small Bellevue theatre deserves its own awards for its raw and real production of NEXT TO NORMAL. We are drawn into a whirlpool of feelings as we navigate the story of the Goodman family, a seemingly normal family on the outside. The inside is another truth. 

(Potential spoiler alert...)

Dan (Scott Van Den Top) is the stoic father with his feet on the ground. He struggles to understand his wife Diana (Analisa Swerczek) whose bipolar disease and grief keep her on a seesaw of emotions. One moment she is up and then next she is down. Their daughter Natalie (Audrey Saucier) is stressed to the breaking point and copes with energy drinks and later with drugs when she meets Henry (Anthony Mondragon), a self-proclaimed “lazy loner and bit of a stoner,” who falls for Natalie. Their son Gabe (Nick Knipe) is amorphous. He’s not there, but he is there for Diana. Diana gets psychological help from her doctors, (both played by Justin Parsley). They supply her with a cocktail of pills and subject her to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in an effort to get her to face reality without pain from the past.

This cast is so into the story, you will forget you are watching a theatrical production. 

The story is told largely through songs, which are skillfully directed by Nicholas Anderson. The complex music with integrated harmonies and disparate melodies is a challenge. This cast conquers it. Their voices are strong, but soft and sensitive when needed. They sing longing. They sing despair. They sing the story and not just the notes. They sing with their whole beings. Their harmonies are chilling and sometimes discordant, but when they combine their voices, the music blends into a chaotic, beautiful mess.

Director Joey Hartshorn has done an incredible job bringing this story to life. Her sensitivity towards this mental illness and the havoc it wreaks on the family is palpable. She has gathered the right cast, carved out their actions with reactions, and placed them in an environment with all the minutiae of suburban life.

The family lives in a purple and gray space, a kitchen which doubles as a psychiatric office or an operating room. Set Designer Dale Hartshorn built an eye catching set with an enormous print of Diana’s eyes looking down over the kitchen and the optical illusion painted floor. The counter serves as the operating table. Wooden cubes become podiums. 

Lighted boxes on the walls on either side of the set change color according to mood. Red lighting, flashing white lights, spotlights in the darkness change from peaceful to panic. Sam Neff connects the lighting changes to the changes in music for maximum effect.

Because this production uses a soundtrack and not a live band, sound is critical. Leviathan (Lex) Noxvul deftly controls the levels and the timing.

Olivia Cano’s choreography is really good. “It’s Gonna Be Good” is comedy gold with Van Den Top’s gallops across the stage in front of Diana who is maniacally cleaning the counter. “Who’s Crazy/My Pharmacologist and I” is a whirlwind of activity as the cast weaves in and out around Diana and jumps down into the audience dressed in white lab coats using pill bottles as maracas. There are several moments where the actors move up and down the aisles drawing us into their lives.

NEXT TO NORMAL is so well written! The more you see it the more you pick up on the little things. There are parallels between Natalie with Henry and Diana with Dan. There are sequences of songs with multiple meanings. “He’s Not There” referring to Gabe becomes “she’s not there” referring to Natalie or Diana. Who feels invisible? Who actually is invisible?

This superb cast of six understands the story. They share it with us in this intimate setting in an unforgettable way. It is a tough one…not necessarily happy. It isn’t a feel good kind of show. It’s deep. It’s meaningful. And it’s real life for so many. Be adventurous. Take the ride. 

Remaining performances are: March 29 and April 5 at 5:00 pm; March 27, 28, 30 (Industry Night), April 3 and 4 at 7:30 pm. You should be there.

Tickets are available at snapproductions.com.