Feb 18 — Producers for Next to Normal, the Tom Kitt/Brian Yorkey musical which closed two months ago at Arena Stage, just announced that the show will move to Broadway’s Longacre Theatre with its DC cast intact. Previews begin March 27th with the official opening April 15th.
The unconventional musical about a family coping with mental illness originally opened Feb, 2008 at Off-Broadway’s Second Stage . While the show won the Outer Critics Award for Best Score, and numerous mentions for other awards, the writers realized it needed revision. It was Arena Stage’s offer of a ‘second chance’ which allowed Kitt and Yorkey to work on major rewrites and restaging, and it was Washington’s response to the reworked musical that convinced the producers it was ready for Broadway.
According to the Associated Press it was the unanimity of both the audience response and the critical response which persuaded producer David Stone to bring Next to Normal back to New York. “It was not just what the reviews said, but people who had seen the show in New York and then saw it down in Washington felt that we had really made all the right changes,” Stone added. “It became the show it always wanted to be.”
For more details, we recommend the BroadwayWorld feature posted today.
Related:
DCTS Review
DCTS Podcast with Alice Ripley
DCTS Interview with Kitt and Yorkey
I first encountered Next to Normal at Second Stage in the Spring of 2008. I was immediately attracted to the production because of its originality, powerful performances and the brilliant music and book by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey. When I inquired to the future of Next to Normal, I was told that the creators were looking for an opportunity to continue the development of the piece, and I immediately offered them the resources of Arena Stage. All too often, new works in the American theater aren’t given the appropriate time to fully develop, and the development process is something we value tremendously at Arena Stage. Often works take up to three productions to fully develop, but are cut short after the world premiere because too few theaters want to continue to develop work after another theater hosted the premiere. We recognize that many creators value the opportunity to continue to develop their work, until such time as they feel it is complete.
The Arena Stage production of Next to Normal was the second production of the musical, following its world premiere at Second Stage. While at Arena, the creative team of Tom Kitt, Brian Yorkey and Michael Greif were given four weeks of rehearsal and three weeks of previews for continued development. From this time, five new songs were added, several songs were deleted, and two new actors joined the cast—J. Robert Spencer (Dan) and Louis Hobson (Dr. Madden/Dr. Fine). In fact, this production has been given the longest rehearsal and development time of any production this year.
David Stone, producer of the Broadway production, said the following: “Anyone who has been involved with the creation of an original musical knows that much of the work happens in the rewriting. From the day after Next to Normal opened Off-Broadway through opening night at Arena Stage, Tom Kitt, Brian Yorkey and Michael Greif were committed to improving and rewriting this show with a level of dedication and focus I have seldom seen from a creative team. The path to Broadway for Next to Normal has been highly unconventional and, in retrospect, the best thing that could have happened to this musical.”
In its path to Broadway, Next to Normal went from a world premiere at an Off-Broadway theater to a regional theater outside New York for continued development, and then transferred directly back to New York for its Broadway debut. As David mentioned, this is highly unconventional, but in this case, very successful.
Moisés Kaufman’s 33 Variations went through a similar development series. It had its world premiere at Arena Stage in the fall of 2007, and then moved to La Jolla Playhouse for a second production where the writing deepened to include a fiercer more political Beethoven and a few of the actors were changed. The Broadway version marks the third production of the play, and it has seen more script changes as well as a few additional actors.
This is the brave new world of creating work for the American Theater. We are honored to have played a role in the development of both 33 Variations and Next to Normal, and look forward to their upcoming Broadway openings.
Molly Smith
Artistic Director
Arena Stage
I agree. The recent article in the post about Arena’s two Broadway bound productions was laughable. The production of Next to Normal was nurtured at Secondstage. The Arena production was essentially a road house. Molly and her team had nothing to do with the production.
It kind of annoys me that Arena is claiming some credit for this. True they housed N2N and made it part of their season, but the production team was not DC-based let alone Arena-based.
Arena’s press release today points out that 33 Variations is already in previews at the Eugene O’Neil Theater with Jane Fonda as musicologist Katherine Brandtand officially opens March 9th. While Arena has a history of supporting plays which open on Broadway (they report them as Execution of Justice (1986), Accidental Death of an Anarchist (1984), K2 (1983), Tintypes (1980-81), The 1940’s Radio Hour (1979-80), Loose Ends (1979-80), A History of the American Film (1978), Zalmen or The Madness of God (1976), Boccaccio (1975), Moonchildren (1972) and The Great White Hope (1968-70), this will mark the first time two Arena transfers are running at the same time.