4 stars: Paramount Theatre's 'Next to Normal' examines mental illness with candor, compassion

Posted August 04, 2023 11:00 am

Donna Louden makes a memorable Chicago theater debut as Diana, a suburban mom grappling with mental illness, in Copley Theatre's emotional, unflinching revival of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical “Next to Normal.” Courtesy of Liz Lauren

“Next to Normal” - ★ ★ ★ ★

When it comes to sustaining our most intimate relationships - love no matter how profound and determination no matter how unwavering - may not be enough.

“Next to Normal,” Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's riveting musical about mental illness and the impact it has on a family depicts that reality with compassion and candor.

Artfully written, with wry humor and a rock-infused score punctuated by power chords and wailing guitars, the Pulitzer Prize-winning show is a wrenching examination of loss and grief, bipolar disorder and the efforts of a damaged family to repair itself.

It isn't easy to watch, but the show is worth experiencing. In the 12 years since the Tony Award-winning show toured Chicago, a handful of local theaters, including Drury Lane and Writers, have staged it. Add to that list Aurora's Paramount Theatre where artistic director Jim Corti's expressive, well-acted revival opened Wednesday in the Copley Theatre.

Paramount Theatre artistic director Jim Corti helms Copley Theatre's vigorously sung, beautifully acted revival of "Next to Normal," Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's bracing musical about the impact of a mother's mental illness on her family. Courtesy of Liz Lauren

Home to Paramount's Bold Series, the 165-seat theater is ideal for this show. Intimate, unflinching and hopeful, Copley's production benefits from Corti's lean, purposeful staging and outstanding singer/actors accompanied by conductor/pianist Celia Villacres' tight sextet.

There is nothing superfluous about Corti's production, which unfolds on Michelle Lilly's multilevel set whose minimalist design keeps the focus on the characters, an upper middle-class family hanging on by their fingertips to their version of normal.

Donna Louden (a commanding singer who possesses great emotional depth) plays Diana Goodman, a wife and mother who for years has battled bipolar disorder, which her psychiatrists (both played by Devin DeSantis) treat with a combination of prescription drugs, talk and electroconvulsive therapy.

Barry DeBois plays Dan, Donna's steadfast husband. Angel Alzeidan, who brilliantly channels adolescent fear and fury, plays 16-year-old Natalie, the couple's perfectionist, Yale University-bound daughter. Jake DiMaggio Lopez plays Henry, Natalie's jazz-loving, pot-smoking boyfriend, and Jake Ziman, plays Gabe, the couple's idealized, 18-year-old son. A boyish actor who possesses a beautiful tenor, Ziman brings a sharpness to the role that unsettles.

Donna Louden plays Diana Goodman, a woman struggling with bipolar disorder, and Barry DeBois plays her devoted husband Dan in Copley Theatre's revival of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical "Next to Normal." Courtesy of Liz Lauren

While Diana's struggle dominates, “Next to Normal” also chronicles her illness' toll on her family. In the plaintive “Song of Forgetting,” which ends on an exquisitely dissonant chord that echoes familial discord, Diana, Dan and Natalie contemplate the memories therapy erased from Diana's mind. In the poignant “I've Been,” the once fiercely committed Dan (the weary, unwaveringly devoted DeBois) acknowledges he is powerless to help his wife. And overlooked overachiever Natalie, angry at her apathetic mother, voices her resentment at living in the shadow of her older brother in the blistering “Superboy and the Invisible Girl.”

As for Diana, her story is rooted in loss, grief and a chronic condition treated with mind-numbing drugs that reduce her to a shadow of her former self. Louden (with whom Chicago audiences will no doubt become better acquainted) beautifully conveys Diana's longing for her nonmedicated past in the impassioned “I Miss the Mountains,” which posits the cure for bipolar disorder may be worse than the disease.

Angel Alzeidan, right, plays Natalie Goodman and Jake DiMaggio Lopez plays her boyfriend Henry in "Next to Normal," running through Sept. 3 at Aurora's Copley Theatre. Courtesy of Liz Lauren

But the most memorable number is “Maybe (Next to Normal),” a moving duet in which mother and daughter experience a reconciliation of sorts.

“Maybe we can't be OK, but maybe we're tough and we'll try anyway,” sings Diana, who confesses in a moment of clarity that she had no idea how to give Natalie a normal life.

“I don't need a life that's normal, that's too far away,” responds Natalie, “but something next to normal would be OK.”

Location: Copley Theatre, 8 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora, (630) 896-6666, paramountaurora.com

Showtimes: 1:30 and 7 p.m. Wednesday; 7 p.m. Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 1 and 5:30 p.m. Sunday through Sept. 3

Running time: About 2 hours, 25 minutes with intermission

Tickets: $40-$55

Parking: Limited street parking, paid lots nearby

Rating: For teens and older; contains adult language and sensitive subject matters, including mental illness and suicide

COVID-19 precautions: Masks optional

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