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| Matthew Redden with Lara Wright and Laura Galt (image: Kirk R. Tuck) |
Based on the Paramount Pictures film written for the screen by NORMAN KRASNA, NORMAN PANAMA, and MELVIN FRANKZach's staging of the Tom Kitt/Brian Yorkey work Next to Normal is stunning -- but not in the usual reviewer-speak meaning of the word. The intensity of the emotion, the huge volume of sound, the zig-zag of florescent lighting on the back walls of the set and above all the pitiless focus upon the mental illness of a suburban wife and mother -- all of these foster a numbness of mind that leaves you feeling as if you had swallowed a 200 mg capsule of Thorazine at the opening of the show.
That's not necessarily a bad thing. It shows that the Zach succeeds in setting the opera's message deep into the brain,down there where the limbic system controls emotion, memory and cognition. For a musical work about grief, disorientation and pharmacology, that's exactly the intention.
The Pulitzer committee that awarded the New York production of Next to Normal the drama prize for 2010 called it "a powerful rock musical . . . . that expands the scope of subject matter for musicals." My experience of the Zach production -- my trip along with housewife Diana and her family into her hell -- left me feeling that "rock musical" was an inadequate term for the evening. It isn't "rock" in the Elvis Presley sense or even the Pink Floyd sense, and although it was told almost entirely in sound and song, one couldn't really classify it as corresponding to most of the conventions of most American musical theatre. The score and story are complex and contemporary, all too relevant to our American experience. Let's be frank: let's call it a contemporary opera, even though that designation might be a drag at the box office.
Found on-line:
presents
Next to Normal
the 2010 Pulitzer Prize musical
Music by TOM KITT | Lyrics by BRIAN YORKEY
Directed by DAVE STEAKLEY | Music Direction by ALLEN ROBERTSON
Starring MEREDITH MCCALL, JAMIE GOODWIN (The Drowsy Chaperone), ANDREW CANNATA (Rent), JOSHUA DENNING (Hairspray), JOHNNY NEWCOMB (Spring Awakening) and KELLI SCHULTZ.
January 25 - March 4, Tuesdays - Wednesdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2:30 p.m.
Kleberg Stage, Zach Theatre, 1421 Riverside Drive at South Lamar (click for map)
Tickets $25 to $55 -- click to reserve and purchase on-line
Student Tickets: $18 One Hour Before Showtime (with Valid ID)
Bar opens 1 hour before showtime. Drinks welcome inside the theatre.Please come early for parking
GLBT Wilde Party is Thursday, Feb. 9
Next to Normal is an inventive, emotional powerhouse production about one family who is about to face the music. This multiple Tony Award-winning, groundbreaking work features a thrilling contemporary score. ZACH’s Producing Artistic Director Dave Steakley says, “I am so thrilled that we’ll produce the Central Texas premiere of what I think is the best piece of theatre in the past five years. Next to Normal is one of only three musicals to ever win the Pulitzer Prize – It knocks me out!”
Production Sponsors: Maria and Eric Groten - Farmer’s Insurance
For real-time updates on ZACH Theatre news, events and happenings, visit http://www.zachtheatre.org/blog, be a fan of ZACH Theatre on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/zachtheatre, and follow ZACH on Twitter @zachtheatre http://www.twitter.com/zachtheatre.
About ZACH Theatre ZACH Theatre is Austin’s leading professional producing theatre. Founded in 1933, ZACH is the longest running theatre company in Texas, serving more than 170,000 adults and youth annually. ZACH creates its own nationally recognized dramatic, musical and comedic productions that elevate, motivate and stimulate the human spirit under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Dave Steakley and Managing Director Elisbeth Challener. Now in its 78th season, ZACH continues to expand and engage with Austin, adding a third theatre to its Central Austin performance campus. The 420-seat, 26,000-square-foot Topfer Theatre will nearly double ZACH’s capacity while retaining its hallmark intimate theatre-going experience upon its completion in the fall of 2012 following a $22 million campaign. Visit www.zachtheatre.org for more information.
ZACH Theatre is sponsored, in part, by Applied Materials, Austin American-Statesman, Time Warner Cable, Austin News TV 36, The Dell Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Strong Events, OnRamp, The Mitchell Group Consulting, Kirk Tuck Photography and Holiday Inn, Lady Bird Lake. Also, by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division, which believes an investment in the arts is an investment in Austin’s future. Visit Austin at NowPlayingAustin.com.
Found on-line:
presents its latest production
Down the Drain
written and directed by A. John Boulanger
August 11 - 28, Thursdays-Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.
Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd Street at Guadalupe (click for map)
Click to purchase tickets on-line ($15 and $20)
When an earthquake in China (coupled with a bottle of vodka) forces Teddy to his bathroom floor, he doesn’t think his life could sink any lower. And then it does.
After the successful premiere of House of Several Stories, Boulanger teams up again with Austin sweethearts Martin Burke and Meredith McCall for the development of a new play, Down the Drain. The cast also includes Breanna Stogner (seen in Boulanger’s A Writer’s Vision(s)) and Judd Farris. Costume design by Jillan Hanel; set design by Ia Enstera.
Notification received via Twitter:
Received directly:
ZACH’s Original “Little Macy’s Elf” Returns !
ZACH Theatre presents
The 2010 Edition of David Sedaris’
The Santaland Diaries
Adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello • Directed by Dave Steakley
Starring Martin Burke and Meredith McCall, winners of The Austin Chronicle’s 2010 Readers’ Poll for “Best Actors,” with Jason Connor on piano.
November 26, 2010 – January 2, 2011
Wednesday-Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
ZACH Theatre’s intimate Whisenhunt Stage at 1510 Toomey Road (near Riverside Dr. and S. Lamar.)
When I got home, still bubbling from Zach's The Drowsy Chaperone, I was ready to write, "Run, don't walk, to the Zach box office to get your first set of tickets for this sparkling evening of music, comedy and light-hearted fooling, a clever reincarnation of Broadway at its wonderful beginnings."I must have been hearing Walter Winchell or Hedda Hopper in my head, even though I'm far too young ever to have listened to the Broadway gossip on a crystal radio set or on a cabinet-sized Philco in the living room. Though I can remember, just barely, the advent of the first color television broadcasts.
The Drowsy Chaperone is a zinger because Lambert, Morrison, Martin and McKellar lovingly spoof those energetic, naive and amazing beginnings of what became American musical theatre, admired across the world, while giving us a contemporary moderator and chorus -- in the Greek sense. Martin Burke as the anonymous Man in the Chair hosts us for an evening alone in his apartment with LP recordings of that mythical 1928 musical.
"The success of The Santaland Diaries rests in the cast’s ability to interact with the audience, which is aided by Zach Scott’s characteristically intimate stages. The stage itself is circular and surrounded on all sides by rows of seats, allowing Randolph and McCall to make use of its entirety and to mingle with the audience during the show. Due to this setup, members of the audience are unwittingly integrated into the development of the show while still remaining in their seats.
“The Santaland Diaries provides an appreciated counterbalance to the warm, feel-good classics such as It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story with Crumpet’s stark humor."
Click for ALT review of August 7
