Reviews

Next to Normal by Tom Kitt, Brian Yorkey

pbraue13's review against another edition

4.0

A bop of a musical about pain, trauma, and mental illness. It also brought us Aaron Tveit so for that I’m eternally grateful.

tarareads517's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I love a libretto. This was a great one.

joebooks's review against another edition

emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

levc's review

emotional funny sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

thansplace's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Grief

Moderate: Drug abuse, Medical content, and Drug use

lillygm's review against another edition

5.0

Saw the show several years ago, but it felt like time for a reread. Sometimes the lyrics are simplistic, but that lends itself well to the show, as its topics are often so difficult to describe. Recommended for anyone who has dealt with mental illness or an unconventional family life.

"I am the one who held you / I am the one who cried / I am the one who watched while you died"

Gets me every time.

unusualsoda's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad fast-paced

5.0

megancrusante's review against another edition

5.0

Read this at the airport as well. Good choices by my mom this christmas!

marenkae's review against another edition

5.0

This is my favorite musical so I really can't give it any less than 5 stars. It's so, so, so good and so important to me. I've seen it on tour, watched several bootlegs (shhhhh), and I listen to the cast recording all the time. But still, there were many moments of revelation for me in the actual text of the script. I loved reading this so much and would highly recommend other fans of the show to do so as well.

If you don't know anything about this musical, I definitely still recommend reading the script. But I think you should get a copy of the soundtrack first and maybe listen along with it. There are a lot of overlapping lyrics and it can be hard to figure out how they work if you've never heard the actual songs before. Or, better yet, find a production near you and see it!

johnbat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0