I just came back from watching a local production of Next To Normal by Pangdemonium and I would just like to simply say that it was a brilliant performance by such a stellar local cast alongside West End star, Sally Ann Triplett.

For those who do not know what the musical is about, it tells the story of Diana Goodman who’s battling with bipolar disorder and on top of that, having hallucinations of a tragedy happened sixteen years before. Her husband, Dan, tries to help her while still keeping the family stable but proves that the task was difficult. What’s happening to Diana also has a tremendous effect on her own daughter, Natalie, who feels invisible despite all her efforts to be acknowledged by her own mother, who sucks all the attention in the family.

I came into the theatre with a certain expectation for this production to be good because of the impressive performance of Spring Awakening, also produced by Pangdemonium. I came out of the theatre not disappointed at all. It was a brilliant performance from all the cast members. The show was heart-wrenching yet beautifully done.

The musical itself is not locally developed and Pangdemonium did not try to make it their own. But even so, with the local cast (with the exception of  Sally Ann Tripplett), they did not make it awkward. And I guess it could be due to the story itself. Mental illness is not just happening in one country. It is an illness that’s happening everywhere, whether you’re in USA or Singapore. Similarly here in Singapore as it is in the USA or everywhere else in the world, you cannot talk about having a mental illness without being dubbed “crazy”. At times, it is even a taboo topic to talk about. As such, there is rarely any education or talks about mental illness. If you even say that you talk to a psychologist or a counsellor, you will be looked upon differently, like you’re not “normal”. The creators of Next To Normal, Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, brought this topic out into the world and touched on it with such sensitivity. They do not make light of the topic.

I said so much about it that you might be wondering if there’s anything negative that I have to say about the local production of this musical. The answer to that question is yes. It is not perfect. Nathan Hartono’s voice cracked at one point but they had done this since early this month so I cannot blame him at all. And at times, I find that when they sang as a whole cast, it doesn’t sound as good as they did individually. And sometimes, their voices were buried under the background music. But that is more technical, I feel, rather than anything. And the crew bringing in and out the props were pretty distracting. I think they should have worn all black so that the attention did not shift to the movement of the backstage crew. (The backstage crew did wear a black polo shirt but I don’t think the apron was really black and the top they wore is not all black. There is a strip of colour at the collar. Yes, I know. I observe these things.)

Otherwise, their performance was really great and I enjoyed it very much. It was worth the bucks and if you are reading this and from Singapore, please do catch the show. It’s going to end on 22 September 2013. The ticket is reasonable and not super duper expensive. Trust me, I have paid more for worse (Looking at you, Dirty Dancing). So, be sure to catch it if you can!

And because Adrian Pang, one of the producers for this musical, told the audience to take a picture of them on stage, I decided: “Why not?” and took a picture:

(I was dumb and I used the flash on my phone. Pardon my bad photo-taking skills.)