About Next to Normal
“With ‘Next to Normal,’ YMTC adds depth to its program and repertoire. (The play’s) critical acclaim puts it in the same category of some of the all-time greats like South Pacific, Sunday in the Park with George and Hamilton.”
—Berkeleyside, May 4, 2018
Read Berkeleyside‘s interview with YMTC Producing Artistic Director Jennifer Boesing and Next to Normal Director Susannah Martin.
Next to Normal explores how one suburban family copes with mental illness. This multi-layered rock musical is infused with compassion, depth, and humor. The production won three Tony Awards, including Original Score and Orchestrations, as well as the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
The show opened April 15, 2009 at the Booth Theater in New York and closed January 16, 2011.
Excerpts from reviews of the opening:
“Next to Normal does not…qualify as your standard feel-good musical. Instead this portrait of a manic-depressive mother and the people she loves and damages is something much more: a feel-everything musical, which asks you, with operatic force, to discover the liberation in knowing where it hurts…a work of muscular grace and power.”
– The New York Times, Ben Brantley, April 15, 2009
“…a prime example of the power of rock to tell heart-rending stories”.
– The Washington Post, Peter Marks, April 16, 2009
“Rock is alive and rolling like thunder in Next To Normal. It’s the best musical of the season by a mile, an emotional powerhouse with a fire in its soul and a wicked wit that burns just as fiercely.”
– Rolling Stone, Peter Travers, April 16, 2009
This page includes information about YMTC+’s production of Next to Normal:
- Rehearsals in action
- Study guide for Next to Normal
- Audience Talk-Back after the Saturday, May 12 matinee
- Resources
- Meet the Next to Normal Cast
- Meet the Next to Normal Production Team
Susannah Martin on Next to Normal
Next to Normal opening night audience reactions
Rehearsals in action
Watch this video of a YMTC+ rehearsal in action:
Here are photos from a recent Next to Normal rehearsal:
ATTENTION TEACHERS
Study Guide for Next to Normal
created by students at Tri-Cities High School in East Point, GA, under the guidance of a teaching artist from the AllianceTheater in Atlanta Georgia.
Permission generously granted to share the guide from the Alliance Theater Education Department, Atlanta Georgia
Audience Talk-Back after the Saturday, 5/12 matinee
Co-sponsored by The Psychotherapy Institute-Berkeley featuring Next to Normal Cast & Directors with
 Leslie C. Bell, PhD, LCSW President-Elect, The Psychotherapy Institute Private Psychotherapy Practice, Berkeley |
 Nancy Ebbert, M.D.Psychiatrist, First Hope Program Contra Costa County Health Services |
Resources for families and individuals coping with mental illness and grief
Counseling, Groups, Resources:
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, Berkeley, Chapter
Berkeley Bipolar Support Group – Peer support
Every Thursday, 7-9 pm & Saturday 11-1 pm, Herrick Hospital, Level A, 2001 Dwight Way.
berkbipolar@yahoo.com
Facebook
The Psychotherapy Institute – Berkeley
Clinic offers long and short term psychotherapy
NAMI National Alliance on Mental Illness
Mental Health Association of Alameda County
List of support groups in Alameda County for families of persons and individuals with a mental illness
Grief/bereavement counseling:
Crisis Support Services of Alameda County
East Bay Agency for Children—Circle of Care