Next to Normal

I saw the recording of the performance from West End from 2024.  I came in knowing the basic premise of the story involving mental illness and was impressed with how it was displayed.  I really like how the grief is treated like a ghost haunting the characters especially with the twist that was perfectly executed with the misdirection in the performance.  I like this metaphor because it is a method used in a lot of horror media that I like where instead of taking what is happening in the story in a literal sense, it's meant to be more metaphorical like where ghosts or demons are meant to be a reflection of a character's trauma whether it be Pyramid Head being James' guilt in Silent Hill 2, the ghosts in the Haunting of Hill House being embodiments of the characters' struggle with trauma they faced from their childhood coming back to haunt them in adulthood, or even the ghosts and hauntings in Kubrick's portrayal of The Shining representing the negative parts buried in American history and how it relates to the cycle of abuse at both a societal and a personal level.  When it comes to Next to Normal I don't want to say more as that will give spoilers for its story which is something that I feel is best experienced fresh.

One thing I really like was how the staging was done in making it feel like something you'd see in a rock music video from the 2000's when it came out originally.  But I also like how well they used the staging to project different locations.  With that, I'll say the music worked for the musical but not much of the songs stuck out for me with my favorite being Just Another Day.  But in the end it was still enjoyable but just not as impactful as classics from other musicals I've seen.  The performances were good but one thing that was distracting at times was the performance of the father where he sang some words with a resemblance similar to that of Kermit the frog so you can imagine when hearing songs at more dramatic parts of the story it would take me out of it.  So I would definitely love to see this musical again but maybe with other performers.