Next to Normal
Next to Normal is a Tony and Olivier award-winning 2008 rock musical, with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt. The show is one of only ten musicals in history to receive the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Drama when it debuted on Broadway. In recent years the show had its first production in the West End in 2023. The musical follows a modern-day family dealing with the effects of a mother suffering from bipolar disorder and PTSD due to the loss of her first child and how this affects their day-to-day life.
Next to Normal has been described as ‘leaving audiences with a real, raw, and honest portrayal of what it’s like to be dealing with an illness that is all too often not taken seriously in media, despite the fact it affects so many seemingly “normal” families in real life – about 2.6% of the U.S’ (Louiseirpino, 2017). This portfolio seeks to discuss how this show has impacted society by becoming a much more accessible way for a modern-day audience to see a representation of a woman with bipolar in particular.
The book and lyrics were written by Brian Yorkey , and Tom Kitt wrote the music following their final assignment at the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, in which they had to create a 10-minute musical. However, they did not anticipate where it would go. During their research about the subject matter, they found how much a show like this was needed. Kitt said, ‘The more people talked about it, and it seemed to affect them, the more we realised we were onto something that was demanding the best of us and we were inspired to tell the story,’ (Theatre & Tonic, 2024).
At the time of the idea being pitched in 1998, bipolar disorder was more relevant than ever. According to the National Library of Medicine, between the years 1994 to 2003 in the US, ‘the number of diagnoses among adults almost doubled’ as well as ‘people aged under 20 years who received a diagnosis of bipolar disorder increased 40-fold’. (National Library of Medicine, 2007). Therefore, this musical was shining a light on something very prevalent at the time of writing. As well as bringing awareness to mental disorders such as bipolar, they also wanted to create a show that took people on an emotional journey with extreme highs and lows. Kitt and Yorkey wanted the show to feel like a ‘moving, emotional journey for the audience, maybe cathartic, maybe enlightening, hopefully hopeful.’ (Yorkey and Kitt, 2011). All of this is strongly reflected in the musical themes of rock weaved in between classic musical theatre moments throughout the show. They took inspiration from existing musicals such as Rent, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Tommy and Hair. In an interview with Kitt, he stated ‘we felt we wanted the show to have a rock energy, but also lean into Kander and Ebb and to Sondheim.’ (Theatre & Tonic, 2024).
Next to Normal has been described as ‘employing rock music to underpin themes of mental illness, grief, family dynamics, and self-preservation’ (Chandler, 2019). Rock music has been around for centuries and is one of the most expressive music styles, especially when it comes to extreme states of emotion: ‘The raw honesty and cathartic energy of rock lyrics resonate with listeners who may be grappling with feelings of anger, sadness or alienation.’ (Wolfe,2025). We see examples of this throughout the whole score, however it is particularly shown in songs of high stakes such as ‘You Don’t Know’, which is sung by Diana towards her husband Dan when feeling misunderstood about her mental state. The score effectively uses classic rock themes such as ‘riffs, intricate guitar solos, and rich, layered vocals’ (BraveWords – Where Music Lives, 2024) all throughout the show, amplifying the uncertainty felt by Diana and her family, especially when layered vocals are used. An example of this is in the show’s opening group number ‘Just Another Day’, where each character expresses their struggle, but wants ‘to hold it together to present a picture of a “perfect loving family” to the world.’ (Rank, 2024). The climax in the song is built through the layered vocals by each character, which allows for the focus to drop on to Diana at the end of the song, where she is left singing the main melody line by herself.
The show’s story centres around a mother, Diana, who suffers from bipolar disorder, a mental health condition that affects a person’s mood and energy expressed by manic and depressive episodes, and PTSD, an anxiety disorder caused by traumatic events in a person’s life – in her case, the loss of her son at a matter of a few months old. According to the National Institute of Mental Health in 2019 ‘bipolar disorder affects approximately 5.7 million adult Americans’ (Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, 2019). Diana is just a small example of a mental disorder that is more common than we are aware. Postpartum depression is very common in women, however if they already struggle with themes of bipolar, they are ‘at a high risk of postpartum psychosis’ (World Health Organization, 2024) which is what we see traits of in Diana when it comes to her hallucinations. Furthermore, as expressed in the song ‘I Miss the Mountains’, despite her family’s desperate attempt at getting her mental health under control and medicated, she does not respond well to medication and feels completely numb, lacking any kind of satisfaction and craves the highs and lows of everyday emotions. She gives into the hallucinations of her late son, which inevitably breaks the family apart as they try and mend what she does not want fixed as she believes what she feels is ‘normal’. This is very common in people with bipolar disorder and can sometimes lead to emotional blunting, which is ‘the inability to feel or express positive or negative emotions, often leaving people feeling flat or detached,’ (Childers, 2025) causing many to stop taking medication.
Diana’s battle with her psychopharmacologist’s attempt at medicating her is unsuccessful, with him claiming he’s never experienced a case like hers, which is why the final option ends up being electro conclusive therapy (ECT). ECT is ‘A treatment that involves sending an electric current through your brain. This causes a brief surge of electrical activity within your brain. The aim is to relieve symptoms of some mental health problems.’ (Mind, 2019). This treatment is used when a patient is drug resistant, like Diana. However, it is unsuccessful. The National Library of Medicine evaluated how effective ECT is as a form of treatment for bipolar disorder for patients who are drug resistant in 2017, they found that ‘94 (31.9%) BD depressive patients were considered nonresponders and 201 (68.1%) responders.’ (Perugi et al., 2017). This shows that Diana was an extreme case as she initially responded, but then relapsed when reminded of her late son.
The effect that bipolar disorder can have on those around the person themselves is addressed in Next to Normal in a lot of depth from both her daughter, Natalie and husband Dan. Natalie is an example of how the disorder can be hereditary, whether that be through witnessing her mum’s struggles or it being genetic. We see glimpses of Diana’s traits in the way that Natalie acts. In a study done by the National Institute of Mental Health they found that ‘more than two-thirds of people with bipolar disorder have at least one close relative with the illness or with unipolar major depression, indicating that the disease has a heritable component.’ (Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, 2019). An example of this is the way Natalie responds to receiving love from Henry, the guy she starts seeing. She’s very closed off and struggles to reciprocate, which is a common trait of someone who may suffer from bipolar or depression; this may be a trait she has picked up from her mum. Dan on the other hand is the pinnacle of how supporting someone with an extreme mental disorder can affect you and that no matter how much you can love someone it cannot change them. Dan holds a strong front for the majority of the musical, however ‘there is always a creeping indication that all is not as well with him as he tries to make it seem.’ (The Theatrical Board, 2018).
In terms of portrayal of bipolar disorder in the media, it has consistently been shown in its most extreme forms under a negative light. The lack of positive representation means that the disorder itself ‘remains shrouded in stigma and is consistently misrepresented and misunderstood.’ (O’Mara, 2023). Although Next to Normal also shows bipolar in an extreme sense when it comes to Diana, it is shown in a common location like the family home where they are trying to live a mundane life.You see the family’s desperate attempt to keep some sense of normality amongst the chaos. This is represented in characters such as Dan as he leaves for work everyday and tries to hold together some kind of routine as well as trying to mend a broken relationship with Diana. It is also seen in their daughter, Natalie, who continues to try living a ‘normal’ teenage life, attending high school and attempting to get into a relationship. All of these normalities get tested by Diana’s illness, but the relatability of the home life context allows for the show to be much more accessible to a modern-day audience.
Next to Normal initially went viral in its debut run on Broadway as it was one of the first shows to ‘actively sterilize its narrative on social media, specifically Twitter, when the platform was in its infancy’ (Andrew Adam Newman, 2009). Producers of the show ran a Twitter campaign, which roughly told the plot of the musical over 35 days, leading the account to gain over a million followers. These tweets were ‘told entirely through the voice of the characters, each character would tweet their thoughts on their daily events, effectively taking followers through the musical’s storyline as if it were happening in real time’ Coleman, 2025). These performances were branded as ‘The Next to Normal Twitter performances’ and were a huge reason as to why the show is as popular as it is today. The show itself has quite a dedicated cult following in response to this and the pro shot release in May 2025 in the US. Due to this cult following, there is a lot of discussion on platforms such as Reddit where people debate the accuracy of the musical’s representation of bipolar or speculate why certain plot points are written the way they are. Social media can be a blessing and a curse for musicals; it opens them up for much more criticism, but also allows them to be more accessible than ever before. For Next to Normal it’s become a blessing and has brought it many more fans.
In conclusion, Next to Normal has brought the normality of a conventional family home and confronted that with a mental disorder that is stereotypically presented in the media as extreme and dehumanising. It uses rock music to represent the noise in Diana’s head and the complex relationships within the household. It allows the audience to experience the effects of severe mental health on a familiar family environment.
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