Immersive Next To Normal

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Sinopsi:

Si us agraden els musicals, potser voldríeu viure’n un que ha triomfat sonorament a Broadway... des de dins! El Grec presenta l’estrena absoluta d’una creació digital amb el protagonisme de la gran actriu de musicals Alice Ripley.

Els creadors d’aquesta proposta sorprenent i absolutament innovadora han portat a un format revolucionari Next To Normal, un muntatge estrenat a l’Off Broadway l’any 2008 i que només un any més tard ja havia fet el salt al Booth Theatre de Broadway. Relatava la història d’una família mitjana nord-americana amb un pare arquitecte, dos fills intel·ligents i una mare, mestressa de casa... que patia des de feia anys una depressió. Uns personatges retratats amb afecte, humor i simpatia interpreten a ritme de pop i rock les seves històries, deixen veure com l’afecció mental que té la mare afecta la resta de membres de la família i obre la porta a la crítica en posar sota els focus una societat en la qual els problemes no es resolen sinó que, simplement, es medicalitzen.

Aquesta reeixida història, premi Pulitzer teatral l’any 2010 als EUA, arriba ara a una nova etapa amb l’estrena d’Immersive Next To Normal, una adaptació de la història i dels temes de pop i rock que en formen part, ara convertida en un xou d’una hora de durada. Aquí, els decorats són digitals i el públic no s’asseu al pati de butaques, sinó que és al centre de l’acció, envoltat d’uns actors i actrius que hi interactuen. Les creacions audiovisuals digitals que veureu durant l’espectacle són obra de Desilence (duet amb base a Barcelona format per Tatiana Halbach i Søren Christensen), especialistes en la creació en directe d’escenografies visuals i instal·lacions digitals com les que s’han vist al Primavera Sound, al Sónar+D, a la façana del Teatro Arriaga de Bilbao (un encàrrec de la Fundación Bilbao 700) o al Copenhaguen Light Festival.

Crítica: Immersive Next To Normal

10/07/2022

A sensorial swirl

per Alx Phillips

Out of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway rock musical comes an experimental immersive 60-minute experience, an audacious attempt to combine art installation with cinema with concert with theatre.

When it first hit Off-Broadway back in 2009, the original Next to Normal raised eyebrows. Set to book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt, it tells the story of a woman suffering from bipolar disorder; it covers her attempts to overcome it, her relationship with her husband and children, the doctors she sees, and the treatments she tries. All this, with great tunes and a dry sense of humour. The show was a spectacular success, running until 2011 and triggering a number of international productions, it won a heap of awards including a Tony Award for Alice Ripley who played protagonist Diana Goodman. 

Fast forward thirteen years and in the post-pandemic world of multiple troubles our mental health is more precarious than ever. Rates of anxiety and depression are soaring and more people, including children, are on medication. According to Simon Pittman, British director of the production, painstaking care has been taken to treat the issue with sensitivity. The aim, he says, is to reduce the stigma of mental health rather than dictate any one response to it. 

With the audience dotted about around the action, surrounded by spectacular digital projections, this Next to Normal revival breaks up the narrative and compresses everything into a digestible hour. The talented Ms. Ripley, now in her late 50s, travels from America to reprise her role. In a piece where fiction and reality entwine, she breezes even-handedly through it; her age bringing resonance to persistent preconceptions of what a mother should be, and the alleged consequences should she be not.

Around her, a cast of needy family members whirl: well-meaning but patronising husband Dan (Andy Señor Jr.), clingy yet adorable son Gabe (Lewis Edgar), sullen, strong daughter Nathalie (Jade Lauren) and her love interest, the attentive stoner Henry (Eloi Gómez). Also dominent in Diana’s life is Doctor Madden (Adam Pascal), slick psychiatrist slash rock star who joins us over Zoom. 

The new Next to Normal is a different beast from the original. It is bigger but shorter, more spectacular but less glamorous. Its multisensory approach inevitably requires that parts of the plot and character dimenson be compromised. Sound reverberates in the cavernous space and following the lyrics can require aural gymnastics. Subtitles perched high on the wall that could have helped were sometimes out of sync. But it is early days in the piece, and there are retains and even gains from this explosion of imperfection: the art (Tatiana Halbach, Søren Christensen) is fabulous, while disorientating it never distracts, and enhances the emotional energy of the performances.