Review of Next to Normal at Iron Crow Theater

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

I used to live in New York City when I went to college, as I attended the Fashion Institute of Technology for my undergraduate degrees, but when I left the city because of the COVID-19 pandemic and never really returned, I knew that I was regretting my time in college not taking advantage of student deals for Broadway and Off-Broadway productions.

Granted, I had never been exposed to that kind of environment, or theatre at all, so when I started working in New York theatre and spent some time in that world, I jumped back into it. This blog has been a way to document my journey as a theatre lover and watcher, especially considering I don’t like to do short-form video. Written criticism has always been my thing more.

I’ve been wanting to explore the local Baltimore theater scene ever since I moved back here officially, but it was only recently I had the income and flexibility to actually do so. Right before buying my first theater subscription I saw there was a sale for a Next to Normal production at the M&T Bank Exchange, which is attached to the Hippodrome, I asked a friend and decided to go on the spot.

We bought seats on the left loge, which wasn’t ideal for this show—there were some scenes blocked by the balcony set, which was fine, so right loge would actually be more ideal for this set. It was fine though overall, so if you have no choice, then go for these seats! We had quite a bit of room because there was no one next to us.

Let’s get into the review!

An American family struggles with their mother’s bipolar disorder and psychosis worsening.

Some of the key trigger warnings in this show include the fact that the main character, Diana, is struggling with bipolar disorder, psychosis, and even has a suicide attempt. It can be a lot if you’re not expecting it, so go into this show with care if these subjects trigger you.

Anyways, as mentioned, this focuses on Diana and her family. We see in the very first song in the musical that’s she struggling with her mental state, and we are introduced to her family members’ problems. For her daughter Natalie, that’s the fact she’s forgotten by her mother in favor of her brother Gabe.

At the same time Dan, Diana’s husband, is struggling with the worsening effects of her bipolar disorder and often recalls the times when everything seemed good. Dan and Diana got married quite young and had Gabe, but there’s more to that story in the show. I definitely don’t want to give too much away!

This is show very much about how one person’s mental health can impact the people around them, especially for teenage Natalie. Her side plot is that she starts going out with a boy in her high school, but her new beau is quite patient as she navigates her mother’s suicide attempt and the fallout of everything going on.

This is paired with a rock-inspired soundtrack that works really well. There are some really emotional moments and beats throughout the show, with some numbers being louder than others. This production has a live band off to the side of the stage, which adds to the ambiance honestly—I love when I can see the musicians.

The set itself is also very minimal. The actors do wander out into the audience to perform, with Gabe chasing Diana through the stairs in one scene, and on-stage there’s the wooden balcony/stair situation along with a table that rolls to the side. It’s minimal but effective I would say!

Overall Thoughts

I was not familiar with Iron Crow before this production, nor their core group of actors and creatives, but I was deeply impressed! I thought everyone did a fantastic job in their roles and that they were immersing us in the world of the musical.

My only qualms actually tended to be the blocking of certain scenes and how exactly the actors were positioned, but that might be because of where I was sitting.

There wasn’t a fully bad seat in the house, but I don’t know if the balcony was a good idea, nor some random group scenes with the ensemble up there while the main dialogue happens downstage.

I would really recommend this production though! See it if you have the chance—my friend and I both enjoyed it.

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