Theater Feb 13, 2013 at 4:00 am

A Bipolar Musical About Bipolar Disorder

Comments

1
"If you're into musicals, a Balagan subscription may well be the best value in Seattle." There's no "IF" about this statement, considering they offered early bird subscriptions to all four shows for just $60 ($15 a show?!? Shit, that's cheaper than a 3D movie). It's been a joy watching this theatre company grow from that black box basement near cupcake royal, to their glorious (twice mounted) Spring Awakening at Erickson, and now watching this season continue that trend. I've yet to be disappointed. Shows have ranged from solid to the truly amazing. I'm excited to see where they go in the future.
2
I love the hell out of this show - it's easily one of the best musicals go big in the last 10 years, but have to agree with Goldy's assessment of the production: it's competent, but uninspired (things like the character costume matching are cribbed from the original staging) and unevenly performed. It also doesn't help that they're keeping with the "let's cast high schoolers to play high schoolers" gig, as the kids get upstaged by the adults every time and their vocal and acting limitations are obvious.

Also, someone needs to turn down the actors' mic packs. Not turn them down in the mix, but learn to set a mic so that it picks up the actor and not every little thing they do with the props.

Ambitious though this Balagan season may be, I've really gotten the feeling that, upon having seen this and Hedwig, they're writing cheques their talent on and off the stage can't fully cash. I'll be skipping August: Osage County and looking elsewhere.
3
@2 it's too bad you missed Avenue Q. THAT production fully delivered (as evidenced by the fact that the entire run sold out pretty dang quickly). And last year's Spring Awakening (especially the first production...it also sold out and was relaunched a few months later) was transcendent. But yeah, this Next to Normal as "competent, but uninspired" is pretty accurate. And our biggest complaint was ALSO issues with the mic packs and the mix (at the performance I saw, they started out too hot and then were too quiet so lyrics were missing).

The casting of actual teenagers worked wonderfully in Spring Awakening, but it's true that N2N's fresh, earnest performances were often swallowed by the band and upstaged by other actors. Still, I felt a fondness for them. Wished we could've heard Natalie's lyrics, though. *sad*

Still, at $25, I'm happy to give August: Osage County a go.
4
@3 I thought about seeing Avenue Q, but burnt out on it over the last few years thanks to a friend understudying in one of the sit down productions and it being a good way to introduce friends to musicals.
5
Goldy -- you've stumbled onto a fact that only very few people ever really find. NEXT TO NORMAL is a tedious little musical, a batch of dysfunctional family cliches with an entirely adequate rock n roll score. It was a snooze on Broadway with a fully functioning cast, it won't be any better anywhere else.

It isn't you, Goldy. It's the play. It sucks.

Please wait...

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