Next to Normal - A Case Study in New Productions of Things that Already Exist
A devastating musical that I somehow had fun watching.
There’s nothing I can say about Next to Normal that can truly capture how I feel about it. Premiering on Broadway in 2009, this musical tells the tale of an American family as they deal with debilitating loss and the devastating struggle of navigating mental health treatment in uncertain times. That description isn’t the most intriguing, I know, but if I say literally anything else about it, it will spoil the whole thing. So, before I get into the spoiler-filled section, let me take you through a brief history lesson about this musical.
Next to Normal was written by Tom Kitt (If/Then, Bring it On) and Brian Yorkey (If/Then, Freaky Friday), two frequent collaborators. It had its Off-Broadway premiere in 2008, and was reworked to have another production done by the Arena Stage. With more positive reviews coming out of the second production, it finally came to Broadway in 2009. The cast included Alice Ripley as Diana (a mother with bipolar disorder), J. Robert Spencer as Dan (the father trying to keep the family together), Jennifer Damiano as Natalie (the perpetually stressed daughter), and Aaron Tveit as Gabe (the beloved son). The show ran until January 16, 2011 after 733 regular performances. There was also a national tour, which ran from November 23, 2010 until July 30, 2011.
There have been a number of other productions, including independent international productions and a production at the Kennedy Center. Recently, one of the most notable new productions was produced at Donmar Warehouse in London, directed by Michael Longhurst. It transferred to the West End in 2024 and was filmed professionally. The production aired on PBS in the United States in May of 2025. The focus of this article is a comparison between the original Broadway production and the 2024 West End production. With fifteen years of mental health knowledge between the two productions, this is a fascinating case study in the art of revisiting shows and creating new productions. This production’s cast includes: Caissie Levy as Diana, Jamie Parker as Dan, Jack Wolfe as Gabe, and Eleanor Worthington-Cox as Natalie.
As I talk about both shows, please note that there will be spoilers from this point on. So, if you don’t want spoilers, feel free to click away now.
Okay… Here's the biggest spoiler, let’s just get it out of the way: Gabe is dead. He’s a hallucination of Diana’s and had actually died as a baby, before Natalie was even born. That recontextualizes everything I said about the premise, huh? This begs the question: With such a specific premise, how could these two productions be so different? A lot of ways, it turns out.
Naturally, I have a few examples to dig into.
First, let’s look at these two clips of the same song from both productions.
The original Broadway cast’s Tony Awards performance, featuring the song “You Don’t Know/I Am the One”:
The West End cast’s performance of “You Don’t Know/I Am the One”:
Both performances here are stellar, and both show very different and equally valid interpretations of the source material. But let’s look specifically at one of the biggest differences in these two performances: The way Diana and Dan interact with each other.
In the Broadway cast, Diana seems to feel mostly just angry at her situation and angry at her husband. Dan also seems angry here, and forceful in trying to convince Diana that he feels what she feels and that he should be the one to help her. And because of this, Diana seems almost afraid to let him in, afraid to show him what’s in her head and to let go of Gabe. The end of this song, with all three of them, ends up being a battle between Gabe and Dan, essentially fighting over who Diana can or should open up to. Fairly easily, she chooses Gabe.
The West End cast comes at this song very differently, despite coming from the same source material. In this performance, Diana seems both angry and in pure despair at the fact that she can’t seem to make Dan understand. As he continues to question her, she grows frustrated with him and dismisses his claims that he knows how she’s feeling with annoyance. Dan’s own actions also feel quite different. Instead of forcing her to listen, he’s pleading with her. He’s frustrated too, but he cares more about helping her than about having his own feelings tended to. When she pushes him away, it isn’t because of Gabe, it’s because she doesn’t want to be having this conversation with her husband and she doesn’t believe him.
I think these differences say quite a lot about what each production is trying to say about this story, but let’s look at two more examples first. A significant part of each production is the portrayal of Gabe. He’s not a ghost, rather a hallucination, a manifestation of what was or could have been. Since Gabe died as a young child, no one knows what he really could have been like. But, they can make him up, imagine him as they want him to be. Yet, Gabe is still a character in his own right, and the two portrayals of him in these two productions are also extremely different. Take a look at these two clips of the song “I’m Alive”, one from the West End production and one from Broadway.
Original Broadway Cast:
West End Cast:
To me, in the Broadway production, Gabe appears mostly a malevolent force, antagonizing and haunting the characters with a sort of mean-spirited nature. He’s taunting them. He is the cause for all of their mistakes and his role in their lives is what forces their hand. You can see this in the way that he acts, the way he smiles and smirks and is so sure of himself. You can see it in the way he taunts Natalie as she tries to think about anything else. It’s in the way he struts across the stage and plays around on the structures near him. He’s immortal and he knows it.
The West End production went a different route, and while I think it is more clear in other songs, this one is Gabe’s big song and makes for a better comparison. It was also the easiest to find clips from. In the West End production, Gabe still taunts them a bit and still influences their every move. But it isn’t entirely out of malice. His physicality reminds me more of a young teenager, a child. He’s confident, but he’s still got that teenage whiny-ness that one can’t get rid of until they grow up. He clutches the microphone to his chest when he’s not singing, curled into himself like a kid. He is still the reason for everything happening here (sort of), but it’s clear how differently they all interpret him and how he affects them.
I’m not going to say which of these productions is my favorite. I think both have their merits and are (as any art is) products of their time. The Broadway production is one that I was too young to see when it was on Broadway, and I wasn’t quite the theater nerd I am now. But over the years, it strangely became very important to me. When I found out there was a professionally filmed version of the West End production and that it would be aired on TV… Well, that was the best news I’d gotten all year. I could finally truly enjoy a musical that meant so much to me. One thing I will say is that I can’t wait to see what the young cast members of the West End production do next, because they were all phenomenal.