By Dylan Warren
Next to Normal, Nebraska Communities Playhouse, Friday April 25, 2025
Timely, heavy, and beautiful are three words I can best use to describe Next to Normal. This rock musical brings to us an electrifying conversation of mental illness and intense grief. This story is about the Goodman family trying to live their lives the best way they can. JD Madsen and Laura Lynn Horst play Dan and Diana, the mother and father, architecture graduates and long-time loves at a young age who may have run into a slight snag with an early child. We meet them later in life with Dan in his career and Diana a stay at home mother. We meet Gabe, played by Eli Shane, their son who seems to like living life to the fullest. Then Natalie, played by Jacquelyn vonAschwege, their high school daughter and young music student. While preparing for her next recital she meets Henry, played by Christian Cardona, another high school student with a slight weed habit. We learn several things about the family showing us how next to normal the family really is. Diana’s process through her mental illness takes her to Dr. Madden, played by Bronson Gierhan, who prescribes some treatments and medicines to help Diana. The show displays intense, rich emotion with each character as they navigate the trials and tribulations of mental illness and grief.
Marikita Saure and the cast and crew earned a well-deserved standing ovation at the end of this evening’s show. I am not very familiar with the show beyond the soundtrack and certain tony performances, but I have to say, and my friend would agree, it’s easily a top 5 performance and new favorite show. I was indeed tricked by the many twists in the show and amazed at Marikita’s use of mirroring actions in her blocking. I also loved seeing the actors do things like picking up the trash and clearing the tables such as parents would do after dinner with the family. She also did an excellent job with her set design. A simple yet quite large static set was used perfectly with her lighting designer Corby Stolcpart to help separate spaces and move us from one scene to the next, expertly done. Another feather in Corby’s hat to give us such great visuals to let us know when Diana might be having a moment. A call out to the costume designer and prop master, Soren Tobey and Julie Enerson respectively, who worked well to give the characters and scenes action and life. Speaking of life, a shout to choreographer Kaia Anderson who created such interesting movements for a few numbers to help them stand out: keep an eye out during the show or you might miss something. Our stage manager for this show, Kaylee Rasmussen, did an excellent job calling our showing tonight and maintaining a well-paced show. Amanda Stemen is the music director and worked magic with the actors for these songs and created incredibly strong and heart wrenching moments for us to enjoy.
The entire cast brings such strong vocals and raw emotion it’s hard to ignore the heart being poured into each musical number. There aren’t many solo numbers as the musical is a true ensemble, which is used to maximum effect as I found myself gripped by the electrifying performances. Laura brings a broad range to Diana in songs like “I Miss the Mountains” and “Didn’t I See This Movie?” giving us a performance so real you find it easy to understand her decisions with her illness. JD gives us powerhouse performances and gives Dave the frayed yet hopeful emotion required for songs like “I Am The One” and “It’s Gonna Be Good”. Eli wows in songs like “I’m Alive” and “There’s A World,” bringing big rock vocals that fill the space. Jacquelyn and Christian combine their talents to bring us beautiful moments like “Perfect For You,” and give us such a difficult relationship. Bronson’s vocals were well controlled in songs like “Seconds and Years” showing how much he cares to help Diana get better. These are a few stand out performances from the show but as a whole the show works so perfectly as an ensemble there’s no way to do it justice.
If you go: Next to Normal is currently running April 26th -27th and May 2nd-4th at Nebraska Communities Playhouse. Curtain at 7:30, 2pm (on Sundays) Get tickets now before they’re gone.
Dylan Warren holds a BFA in theater and film design and has worked at many local theaters as a prop master and as a volunteer actor and stagehand.
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