![\"Living](\"https:\/\/sandiegodowntownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/N2N_CPH_ConnorBoydDrMaddenRebekahRawhouserDiana.jpg\")
Chad Oakley directs Coronado Playhouse\u2019s lovely production of Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey\u2019s Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning 2008 pop\/rock musical \u201cNext to Normal,\u201d now playing through June 17.<\/p>\n
Bipolar disorder can\u2019t be cured, but it can be managed, at least to a certain extent. Dr. Madden (Connor Boyd) offers three possibilities: medication, hypnosis and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT \u2014 or in laymen\u2019s terms, shock treatments). Diana doesn\u2019t trust hypnosis and strenuously objects to ECT for a very real reason. It frequently results in memory loss.<\/p>\n
But she doesn\u2019t much like pills either, and after a while, like many bipolar patients, she just stops taking the medications. Her reasoning is summed up in the show\u2019s best song, the poignant \u201cI Miss the Mountains,\u201d in which she decries the leveling effect of the pills.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, 16-year-old daughter Natalie (Chloe Marcotte) has pretty much had to mother herself. Natalie is a budding pianist who could have used some motherly advice about classmate and new boyfriend Henry (Peter Armado).<\/p>\n Diana has another problem. She\u2019s never come to terms with the long-ago death of her infant son Gabe. In fact, she \u201csees\u201d and talks to him (SeeJay Lewis) often, even bakes him a 17th-birthday cake, much to Natalie\u2019s embarrassment (Henry had joined the family for dinner that night).<\/p>\n These are difficult issues to treat anywhere, let alone onstage, but Kitt and Yorkey give us such honesty and directness along with tenderness. And even humor in script and libretto, and this cast delivers at such a high level, we can\u2019t help but engage and care about this family.<\/p>\n Newcomer Rawhouser is a find as Diana, with a stunning voice and flawless delivery to go with her utterly convincing acting.<\/p>\n Lewis\u2019 phantom Gabe manages to be raw, scary, and heartbreaking all at once. He\u2019s a talent to watch, with a powerful, lithe voice. I last saw him in OnStage\u2019s fine \u201cSpring Awakening,\u201d and he\u2019s better every time I see him.<\/p>\n Marcotte is another heartbreaker as the virtually motherless Natalie, deserted even at the final recital that will determine her college offers. But she\u2019ll melt your heart when she sings to her mom in \u201cMaybe\u201d:<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t need a life that\u2019s normal<\/em><\/p>\n That\u2019s way too far away<\/em><\/p>\n But something next to normal<\/em><\/p>\n Would be okay.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Armado is charming as Natalie\u2019s persistent but often puzzled boyfriend Henry, who just wants to take her to the dance.<\/p>\n Donovan is convincing as Diana\u2019s loving but nearly broken husband Dan.<\/p>\n Boyd\u2019s voice isn\u2019t as powerful as the others, but he\u2019s convincing as the shrink who wants to help but knows he really can\u2019t \u201cfix\u201d this problem.<\/p>\n Kudos to music director\/bassist Mart\u00edn Martiarena\u2019s fine six-man band that plays from the rear of the stage, too.<\/p>\n Jacob Sampson\u2019s dual-level set looks great (and properly angular), and Josh Olmstead\u2019s lighting uses brightly colored, sometimes blinking lights to atmospheric advantage.<\/p>\n \u201cNext to Normal\u201d is an unflinching look at bipolar disorder and its effect on the Goodman family, with music to match. Sometimes unnerving (not to mention extremely difficult), sometimes lyrical, always appropriate. It will have its effect on you, too. The theater has appropriately placed tissues on each table. You\u2019ll need them.<\/p>\n![\"Living](\"https:\/\/sandiegodowntownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/SeeJayLewisGabeAnthonyDonovanDan-e1527873352564.jpg\")
![\"Living](\"https:\/\/sandiegodowntownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/SeeJayLewisGabeRebekahRawhouserDianaAnthonyDonovanDan-e1527873392815.jpg\")
sees an talks to often and her husband Anthony Donovan (Dan) who deals
every day with Daina\u2019s bipolar disorder.\u00a0(Foto cortes\u00eda de Coronado Playhouse)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n