Next to Normal

It was definitely hard to separate my reaction to the music and how much I enjoyed this play in order to analyze it.  However, I did the best that I could to listen to the music from a script analysis standpoint.  The two Horby elements I'd like to discuss in reference to this play are Irony/Ambiguity/Complexity and Sequence.

From the get-go, Next to Normal is filled with Irony, Ambiguity, and Complexity.  We as an audience do not initially know that Gabriel is dead.  It's not until the family sits down for dinner and Diana announces Gabe's birthday that we learn he actually died before Natalie was even born.  Although Diana is being treated for her psychological problems, we as an audience do not know if the Gabe that we are seeing on stage exists solely as a part of Diana's mind, as a ghost, or as something else.  It's particularly confusing because Gabe died when he was eight months old, but the character that we see has aged to seventeen. One particular moment that stood out as ambiguous to me was the very end of the play when Dan and Gabe sing "I Am the One (reprise)."  The music for this song changes drastically to a more sinister tone than the preceding "So Anyway."  If the seventeen-year old personification of Gabe only exists in Diana's mind, then why are Dan and Gabe singing this song together?  Gabe also addresses Dan at the end of the song after Dan says, "Gabe. Gabriel."

I'd like to talk about the Sequence of the music in Next to Normal.  Specifically, I'd like to talk about how the characters frequently sing simultaneously.  For example, the entire family sings "Just Another Day" and "Make Up Your Mind / Catch Me I'm Falling" together.  I found this to signify that they are all in a struggle together as a family, but things never seem to get any better for any of them.  One part in particular in which this really stood out to me was when Dan and Gabe sing "I Am the One" towards the end of the first act. The music and layering of lyrics in this song gave the feel that Dan and Gabe were battling each other for Diana's love and for their own existences.  They both feel as though they need her in order to be alive, and she can only choose one of them.  The shift to a rock score for this song also made it seem more like a battle to me. On a broad scope, I noticed that Act I was mostly filled with more upbeat music, and Act II mostly contained their reprises.  It was a natural progression for the music to take.