Music Review: Next To Normal  – Original London Cast Recording

Next To Normal  – Original London Cast Recording (Ghostlight Records).

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Next to Normal may have closed in the West End back in September 2024, but the original London cast recording featuring Caissie Levy, Jamie Parker, Jack Wolfe, Eleanor Worthington-Cox and Trevor Dion Nicholas is here to fill the hole in fans’ lives ahead of the scheduled cinema screening later this year.

Following the story of Diana (played by Levy), a mother diagnosed with bipolar disorder and still grieving the death of her firstborn child, Next to Normal details the impact of her illness on the family and how each member deals with their own circumstances. It is by no means a typical musical in the classic, shiny-happy sense, but is no less captivating and deals incredibly effectively with its often dark and heavy subject matter.

This is almost entirely due to what must be one of the strongest total casts seen for a long time. Levy has already made her mark both on Broadway and in the West End, with a CV including Molly in Ghost, Elsa in Frozen, Sheila in Hair and Fantine in Les Misérables, to name but a few credits. She is equally phenomenal here as Diana, portraying the complexities of a hugely troubled character through her many and varied songs within the score. ‘I Miss the Mountains’, mourning the spectrum of emotions she once felt before her diagnosis, is powerful and moving. Similarly, ‘My Psychopharmacologist and I’, Diana’s discussion with her doctor in which she describes her gradual emotional and physical numbness, while he pronounces her ‘stable’), wonderfully represents the contradiction between doctor and patient experiences and is effectively used as a microcosm for Diana’s internal turmoil.

Similarly, Worthington-Cox gives a beautiful performance as Natalie, Diana and Dan’s musically talented daughter. Her voice is perfect for this characterisation and her Oliver Award nomination for the role, alongside Levy and Wolfe for theirs respectively, was thoroughly deserved.

Tom Kitt’s music and Brian Yorkey’s lyrics perfectly complement each other to propel the story forward via a superbly crafted score. The balance of rocky, belting moments are contrasted with edgy, dissonant melodies and timing changes, effectively depicting the mental turbulence and anguish experienced by many of the characters throughout the storyline, while also providing sensitive and articulate lyrics. This show is about so much more than artlessly memorable refrains, as its Tony Award for Best Original Score reliably attests.

Sorcha Exworthy