A Next to Normal Life?

By Anton Diaz

Original Article can be found HERE

Life is Crazy

I realized that all of us live a crazy kind of life.

We turn into our own monsters at times, just  to cope with the pressure of everyday living.

The insanity is only made bearable by our family and friends.

When you are an employee, you long for the day when you own your own time and hit it big with your own business.

When you are an entrepreneur, you think of your more carefree employee days 

when you had a consistent salary and comfortable benefits.

You wish for a perfect family but instead you get a quirky one with little habits that annoy you at times.

You hate living a life of compromises.

We all have our personal crazy stories that we are afraid to share with other people because we might lose face.

Natalie sings it beautifully in the song, Maybe (Next to Normal): 

"I don’t need a life that’s normal.
That’s way too far away.
But something next to normal,
Would be okay."

Yes, I agree -- A Life Next to Normal is OK.

An Insanely Great Cast
Thank you to Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo, who played Diana Goodman (a woman struggling with bipolar disorder and grieving the loss of her son), for taking us on an emotional roller coaster ride that made us reflect on our lives.
Thank you to her powerful co-actor Jett Pangan (of The Dawn), who played Diana's ever-supportive husband Dan, for portraying our own hopes and struggles.


We are fans of Felix Rivera and have watched most of his shows. His performance as Gabe was chilling and crucial in the whole drama.
We were impressed with BlueREP alumna Bea Garcia's convincing portrayal of Natalie. It felt like the role was written with her in mind. Congrats to The not-so-invisible girl!


As for Pilipinas Got Talent’s Markki Stroem, who played Natalie's boyfriend Henry, we wished he could be at par with Bea. Anyway, there's always room for improvement.


Unexpected Plot
I was not expecting Next to Normal to be a rock musical-telenovela-drama. I was actually ready to laugh but I cried instead -- my first time while watching a musical.


The reason I love watching musicals is that I always look for that kurot sa puso. It's that feeling that hits you in your core and, if you are lucky, it can change you forever.


Next to Normal has that Rent-like kurot and the unconventional frankness of Avenue Q.


Maybe Brian Yorkey (author of the book and songwriter of the play) was right:

"What doctors call dysfunction
We tried to call romance
And true it's quite a trick
To tell the dancers from the dance
But rather than let chance take me
I'll take a chance"

Here's a toast to the crazies and to the chances we take in life!


Live an Awesome (but sometimes crazy) Life,

 


Full Disclosure: We watched a complimentary press, showbuyers and friends-of-the-theater preview of Next to Normal last night.


P.S. Next to Normal returns for a limited engagement beginning tonight, October 7, 2011, until the 16th at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium in RCBC.


This play is a testament to how powerful theater can be -- not only does it tug on your heartstrings, it also calls you to action. Don't miss it!


Buy that ticket now from your makulit spammer/showbuyer friend...you won't regret it.

Catch Atlantis Productions' NEXT TO NORMAL (THE REPEAT)

on October 15, 2011 / Sat / 2PM @ RCBC 

Contact Us:
Onay Sales (0918.536.2116)

RC Marzan (0922.888.5348)

Borgy Marzan (0922.888.5344)
or  email: watchplays@yahoo.com

Seat Plan can be viewed here:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Au4HQl0TAAC_dHR0OFpvWHZ2VUsxNzg2eTU1NWhFcmc&hl=en_US#gid=0