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The voices are incredible. The music is powerful.
But it’s the faces that pulled me so deeply into “Next to Normal,” the Paramount’s first production of its second Bold Series, that is now playing through Sept. 3 at the Copley Theatre.
Much has been said about art imitating life. But with performers only a few feet – sometimes even inches – away from the audience, this Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning rock musical that takes on grief, addiction, mental illness and all our human suburban frailties can’t help but hit even closer to home in this downtown Aurora theater.
I’m not just talking about the faces of the six incredibly gifted actors in this show, including Aurora’s own Jake Ziman, who, in my humble opinion, was born to play the part of the 17-year-old son whose life, through no fault of his own, threw his family deeper into chaos.
The vocal chops displayed by this 23-year-old West Aurora High School and Millikin University grad was bolstered by his theatrical charisma , whether belting out “I’m Alive” while leaping - quite literally - across the stage or angrily confronting his damaged, delusional mother in the play.
In an earlier interview about the show, Director Jim Corti praised the unusually close and supportive relationship that had developed among this small but mighty cast, especially between Ziman and L.A. actor Donna Louden, who plays his mother Diana.
Their scenes together, whether loving or dangerous, gave me goosebumps every time.
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And yet, it was that surprising moment of truth in Act II between father and son (Dad Dan is played by Barry DeBois) that nearly took my breath away.
All the actors - including Angel Alzeidan as the ignored sister Natalie, Jake DiMaggio Lopez as her boyfriend Henry and Devin DeSantis, who plays both Dr. Madden and Dr. Fine - are magnetic. Yet I occasionally found myself during their performances scanning the audience – easy enough to do in such a small theater – and wondering how each person sitting in those Copley Theatre seats was reacting to the story unfolding so intimately yet forcefully in front of them.
Who among them, for example, has mourned the loss of a child?
How many know loved ones struggling with bipolar disorder? With delusions? With dementia?
How many are personally familiar with the impact addiction has on lives? What about depression? Or suicide?
Who has ever ached for the love of a parent whose own demons made it impossible to give?
How many still feel the pain of rejection? Or have allowed grief to block all joy?
How many journey through life yearning to be like everyone else? As if we really know what everyone else’s life is really like.
To say much more about the narrative would take away from your “Next to Normal” experience. And I do hope you go see it, not just because it stars one of Aurora’s own, or even because I’m putting it out there as one of my all-time favorite Paramount productions.
Go see it to feel.
Go see it to better understand your family. Or your friend. Or your neighbor. Or yourself.
Or each other.
I now understand why Corti felt it necessary to bring on an expert in the mental health field as an advisor to this production. “Next to Normal” looks at this tough topic straight in the face and holds that gaze tight.
The Beacon-News
And from what I saw on Wednesday evening, the audience remained transfixed.
One Paramount patron later told me it was the sandwich-making scene, with Diana manically putting together school lunches, that had a surprising impact on her. “It was the complete helplessness and frenetic energy,” she said, “thinking a good lunch would do the trick” when other parts of your life are falling apart.
The production, she also told me, “checked every box” when it comes to performances: talent, power, humor, relevance. She could not stop thinking about it.
Nor could I.
And even though all those rock songs, as good as they are, may not stay permanently in your head, I do predict the passion and authenticity with which this entire musical was performed will haunt your thoughts long after the cast takes that final bow.
Such is the power of live theater. To help us face our humanness. To help us better understand that our frailties are, if not perfectly normal, then certainly next to it.
dcrosby@tribpub.com