Next to Normal Sing-Thru
On Tuesday, September 4th, >capsule members of the Sylvan Society came together for the first Sylvan event of our 25th Anniversary season! Guests enjoyed a family-style dinner with members of the cast and design team of Next to Normal. Dinner was catered by Fork, >sickness with homemade desserts provided by Arden staff members.
Sylvan Society Member Linda Glickstein and new Arden Board Member Eileen Heisman
The production’s co-conceiver, Jorge Cousineau, provided a design presentation featuring the set model and video projections.
Attendees observe the set model with Jorge Cousineau
The group then moved to the F. Otto Haas theatre to listen to the cast sing through the score of the show – a special sneak-peek into the rehearsal process!
The cast of Next to Normal enjoys dinner before the sing-thru
Sylvan members will be invited to the opening night of this production to see the final product on October 3!
We congratulate everyone associated with the production of “Next to Normal”, which we had the pleasure of seeing last night (9-27). We were completely drawn into this sensitive musical by way of its wonderful sets, visuals, excellent actors with terrific voices — and songs of such a sensitive nature. Jim and I feel this play has moved to the top of those we’ve seen! Thank you, thank you for making our evening a memorable one.
Sorry to say we did not enjoy ‘Next to Normal’. In fact we (there were 4 in our party) left after the 1st act. It is hard for us to understand why this show received a Pulitzer. The story was unoriginal and painful to watch, the lyrics were trite and predictable and the music was unmemorable. We sincerely hope the rest of the season will provide better theater experiences. Otherwise this group of long-time subscribers (we’ve been coming for > 10 years) may look elsewhere.