Do you remember 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'? "Next to Normal" similarly turns the difficult problem of dealing with mental illness into a family drama with the power to send a demolition bomb.

The Goodmans are seemingly normal Americans. Diana takes care of the house, Dan earns a living. Their daughter Natalie is a musical genius and dreams of leaving her hometown, and son Gabe is a rebellious teenager and the apple of his mother's eye. But it turns out that beneath the surface of ordinariness lies a family tragedy, and Diana is struggling with bipolar disorder. The progression of the illness causes the Goodmans' orderly world to collapse like a house of cards, and the struggle to maintain a semblance of normality becomes a be-or-not for the whole family.

'Next to Normal' is a rock musical about the struggle with mental illness. In the United States, it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and three Tony Awards, the theatrical equivalent of the Oscars. The Broadway production caused a sensation and was hailed as a landmark work in the modern history of the musical. A powerful dose of rock combined with a compelling theme helped to revolutionise the entire genre and has been drawing crowds of audiences around the world for many years.

Director: Jacek Mikołajczyk

Cast: Katarzyna Walczak as Diana, Przemysław Glapiński, Damian Aleksander as Dan, Weronika Bochat-Piotrowska, Karolina Gwóźdź as Natalie, Marcin Franc, Piotr Janusz as Gabe, Maciej Dybowski, Michał Juraszek as Henry, Maciej Maciejewski, Marcin Wortmann as Dr Madden.

Author: Tom Kitt, Brian Yorkey
Translation: Jacek Mikołajczyk
Release date: 2019-04-06
Genre: musical
Set design: Mariusz Napierała
Music: Tomasz Filipczak
Choreography: Jarosław Staniek
Costumes: Bożena Ślaga-Śmierzyńska
Duration: 150 min