Next to Normal

Last night, we went to a musical at our local high school called "Next to Normal."  Basically, it's the story of a woman who has bipolar and how she deals with her illness and how it affects her family.  I was very hesitant going to this musical.  I doubted that bipolar could be accurately portrayed on stage, and I was somewhat worried about how I would react to seeing a musical that relates so closely to what I experience.  I wanted to go and see how such a musical would be done, but I was sure that it would have some negative consequences for me.  I didn't think there was any way it couldn't.

But I was blown away!  The acting was incredible, especially for high school students.  The plot was so well-written, and the writers were able to find a way to address some very deep and emotional subjects in a way that was not offensive or inappropriately light.  It was seriously spot-on!  In fact, my husband and I often exchanged glances during the musical when the woman with bipolar would say some of the exact things I have said about how it feels.  It was amazingly well done in every way, and I am so glad I went to see it.

I hurriedly wrote down the things that I remembered after it got done, so I want to share some of the specifics about this musical that touched my heart.  Spoiler alert!!  I share many details of the plot, so you might not want to read this if you're planning on seeing the musical.

• Diana, the woman with bipolar, said that relaying her story to a counselor felt like telling someone else's story.  I have said that exact same thing to my husband before.  This doesn't feel like something that actually happens to people.  At least not me, right?  It seems so far from who I really am that surely it must be someone else's story, not mine.
• At one point, Diana was going to see a psychiatrist for several weeks as he kept changing medications, dosages, and combinations.  She felt frustrated that it wasn't ever a for sure thing that the medication would help, so she felt like an experiment.  Another spot-on moment!  
• Diana kept telling the psychiatrist about the side effects and how she was feeling.  After several weeks, she said that she no longer felt anything, at which point, he labeled her as stable.  It seems like that is the goal with mental illness often times-- get the person only to the point of feeling no ups or downs anymore, not to actually feeling good.  
• But as happened in the play and often happens in real life, Diana missed feeling happy and wanted to go back to feeling the ups and downs as opposed to feeling nothing just so she could feel good some of the time.  She got rid of her medications without talking to her husband or doctor.  Unfortunately, I have been there.
• At another point, her husband says that he understands, and Diana sings a whole song about how he doesn't know.  While I have had conversations similar to this with my husband about how it's impossible to really understand what it's like without experiencing it, I've also felt this same feeling repeatedly when others say that they understand how I'm feeling.  I know this is meant to be a comfort, but often, it does the opposite.  It makes me feel more alone.
• Diana said that she didn't want to be a shadow anymore, but she wanted to actually live.  Yes, yes, YES!
• One of the hardest parts about watching the musical was watching how the mother's mental illness affected her teenage daughter.  A couple of times, it made me tear up, and I had to remind myself repeatedly that everything is going to be okay.
• Diana's son died when he was young, and in the musical, he was her pull to commit suicide, not actually him, but what her brain told her as if it were him.  I thought the pull of suicide was so perfectly represented.
• Diana gives in to this pull and attempts suicide.  She is then admitted to the hospital for recovery.  The hospital part brought back so many memories of being in the hospital last December and was a very emotional part for me.  In fact, I started to cry just before the intermission started and all the lights went on.  It was great  :)
• The first part of the play was really hard to watch.  Honestly, it felt like it was rubbing on these super painful, open wounds, and I wanted to unsee and unfeel everything from that first half.  I thought I was going to go home and cry the rest of the night because of everything I felt while watching, but thankfully, it got much better.
• During the intermission, my husband and I talked about how impressed we were with the acting and the musical in general.  We wondered if other people in the audience were confused about what was going on, because so much of it had become familiar to us over the last year.  We both talked about what we thought would happen next and how it would end.  
• Diana tries ECT (electro-convulsive therapy) to heal and ends up losing a lot of her memory for a time.  Her and her husband talk about whether the symptoms or the cure are worse.  This is exactly how it feels.  Every treatment option has side effects and sometimes the side effects are worse than the original symptoms, and it's so frustrating!
• The musical portrayed a lot of marital conflict surrounding Diana's illness.  While we have had our fair share of heartaches surrounding my disorder, we have reached a really good place.  I am so thankful for my husband and for the support and love he gives me as we fight through this together.  He is an incredible gift in my life!
• One thing that really made my heart sink was when the psychiatrist told Diana that this is a chronic illness, and she would have relapses.  That has been one of the hardest things about this diagnosis is that it won't just go away on its own, even if we find a medication that helps for a time.  But I felt comfort in the doctor and Diana's family saying that they were here for the long run and would continue to help her through her whole life.
• In the end, I was totally bawling as the mom and daughter had a conversation about how their life was "next to normal" and that was alright.  
• The last song kept me bawling as there was no happy ending, but they basically sang that the light would come again and good days would be ahead.  I really appreciated there not being a happy, fix-everything ending.  That might sound odd, but in reality, that's not how it is.  It doesn't just go away or improve suddenly, and I feel like that would have given a false hope for handling mental illness.  Instead, I LOVED the message found in these lyrics:

Day after day,

Wishing all our cares away.

Trying to fight the things we feel,

But some hurts never heal.

Some ghosts are never gone,

But we go on,

We still go on.

And you find some way to survive

And you find out you don't have to be happy at all,

To be happy you're alive.

Day after day,

Give me clouds and rain and gray.

Give me pain if that's what's real.

It's the price we pay to feel.

The price of love is loss,

But still we pay.

We love anyway.

And when the night has finally gone.

And when we see the new day dawn.

We'll wonder how we wandered for so long, so blind.

The wasted world we thought we knew,

The light will make it look brand new.

Day after day,

We'll find the will to find our way.

Knowing that the darkest skies will someday see the sun.

When our long night is done, 

There will be light.

Sons and daughters, husbands, wives.

Can fight that fight.

There will be light.

While I'm not sure that I can recommend going to see the Broadway version of this musical as it was made more appropriate for a high school stage and was on the border of inappropriate in some parts, I think this musical has a wonderful message and brings understanding and hope to all.