Next to Normal Broadway Revival?- Page 2
Next to Normal Broadway Revival?
MadsonMelo
Broadway Star Joined: 3/24/14
#25Next to Normal Broadway Revival?
Posted: 4/19/24 at 4:09pm
Jordan Catalano said: "Caissie was/is remarkable in this. My dream was that she would have surprised everyone and won the Olivier last week over Nicole. I can’t wait for this summer to see her again. Along with Jamie Parker who is the best Dan I’ve ever seen."
If the show really transfer next spring, she'll likely lose the Tony too. Would it be the first time this ever happened?
#26Next to Normal Broadway Revival?
Posted: 4/20/24 at 3:24am
What I find fascinating was that before Sunset opened, this show was the buzz in town. The entire run was sold out. The production and performances were brilliant. Levy felt like an unstoppable force to win the Olivier. Even after Sunset opened it took some time for the attention to shift to Nicole.
I think many here might prefer the craft of this production and performances than Sunset - there is no doubt in my mind that if there is a Broadway revival it will be this.
Alice, Marin and Levy are the best Dianas I have ever seen. Of the three, I would say Alice and Marin had this raw emotion that I’ve never seen since - but Levy is the most polished. Every mannerism, line reading, song has been carefully constructed and perfected. The idea that she ‘screams’ the score in my opinion is not accurate - she might have among the most subtle and touching ‘I miss the mountains’ and ‘how could I ever forget’, ever. Also, unlike say Eden in Lempicka - Levy’s vocals were always so precise and on pitch. It was like listening to a studio recording there was never any roughness (the same of course cannot be said for Alice). And it’s amazing to hear the show work with the different voices of Marin, Alice, Levy.
And I continue to be touched at how much global success this show has had and continues to have since that original production of Broadway - and I remember we were all wondering here if it would find an audience during those early previews.
It is a joy to have this show in our lives. And I have loved being there for most of the journey - including being able to see Alice reprise the role in Barcelona around 2022 and even watch her tear through ‘I Miss the Mountains’ last year in a practically empty room at the green room in NYC or whenever it’s called. Seems that her fans have disappeared.
When old friends opened in London SJB who was in town for her concert described it as like going to church. Well next to normal and watching ‘light’ is like going to therapy. You can really feel it every time in the audience. And it makes me emotional to think of seeing it at the booth with Marin, who is no longer with us. Or Alice on tour screaming through it with the very last ounce of what was left in her vocals. Or in Barcelona in a tiny room where everyone is surrounded by projections on all of the walls around us. Or at the tiny Donmar where the intimacy is absolutely unmatched by any other venue I’ve seen the show.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
Updated On: 4/20/24 at 03:24 AM
#27Next to Normal Broadway Revival?
Posted: 4/20/24 at 3:29am....
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
Updated On: 4/20/24 at 03:29 AM
#29Next to Normal Broadway Revival?
Posted: 4/20/24 at 8:37pm
Jordan Catalano said: "Caissie was/is remarkable in this. My dream was that she would have surprised everyone and won the Olivier last week over Nicole. I can’t wait for this summer to see her again. Along with Jamie Parker who is the best Dan I’ve ever seen."
Thank you! For me, Jamie Parker was the heart of this production of N2N. Completely different to how it's been played before. Literally watching him and his world fall apart, after trying to keep everything together for so long, was heartbreaking. I have no idea how he did that every night and I was shocked that he wasn't nominated for the the Oliviers. Some people said his voice wasn't up to it but I disagree. Broadway Dan's didn't have anything like the emotional arc and therefore it was all sang very nicely and clean, but give me emotion and storytelling over a clean vocal anyday. I was far more emotionally invested in Dan, than I was anyone else. He even brought me to tears each time i saw it. In some ways, it made Levy's Diana a bit shallow. She really did sing it amazingly well, but I wasn't get any real emotion. I havent seen the Broadway version for years, but when Diana says 'So anyway, i'm leaving...' did she always come across as cold and hard faced?
DBAK
Swing Joined: 9/30/11
#30Next to Normal Broadway Revival?
Posted: 4/22/24 at 4:46pm
Apart from some regional/community productions, I had only gotten to see the 1NT live with Alice Ripley way back in 2010 prior to embarking on my first ever trip out of the country to see the Donmar production last year. I am so grateful it's back this summer and have tix to see it 4 times in August. I'm curious to see how it translates to a bigger theater, but I hope they don't change up the staging much. I wish I had gotten to see Marin in person to have seen all of what I feel is the holy trinity of Dianas, but Caissie has made the role her own. She taps into a different side of living with bipolar that I recognize in my own history. She/Alice sit easily in the top 5 performances I've ever had the privilege of seeing live. I cried for the last 20 mins of Act 1 and all of Act 2. Jamie Parker also made me see Dan in a completely different way. I'm a little sad this won zero Olivier's. I would have seen Sunset to compare Nicole/Caissie but booked the trip before it was announced and missed it by a week. If we're lucky enough to get a Broadway transfer next year, I'm there!
Updated On: 4/22/24 at 04:46 PM
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#31Next to Normal Broadway Revival?
Posted: 4/22/24 at 4:58pm
Truth be told, I don't care if this is a hit or not. I'm dying to see this again, and my son is itching for it to be mounted again. He was a bit too young last time.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
