Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical rings in 2013.
Rochester, N.Y., December 12, 2012 – One family faces the music as Geva Theatre Center’s 40th Anniversary Season continues with Next to Normal with music by Tom Kitt, book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and directed by Scott Schwartz. This landmark musical begins performances on January 8 and runs in the Elaine P. Wilson Mainstage through February 10.
Diana seems to have it all: a handsome, loving husband and two talented, teenage children. It is soon obvious, however, that life for Diana is far more difficult than it seems. She has been dealing with severe depression and delusions since tragedy struck her marriage nearly 16 years earlier. As she continues to seek countless treatments, medications and therapies to help her return to a normal life, her family begins finding their own desperate ways to deal with her illness and their own loss. Featuring an electrifying contemporary score of more than 30 songs, this groundbreaking, Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical is an emotional powerhouse.
Next to Normal began life in 1998 as a ten-minute workshop sketch called Feeling Electric. By 2002, Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey had expanded it to a full-length musical and, after a series of workshops over the ensuing five years; Next to Normal was ready for its Off-Broadway debut in 2008. It was subsequently rewritten and re-launched later that year at Arena Stage in Washington, DC where it received rave reviews. The show transferred to Broadway’s Booth Theatre in March 2009 where it set box office records and played for over 750 performances. Next to Normal was nominated for eleven 2009 Tony Awards, garnering three, including Best Original Score and Best Orchestration. It won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and it is only the eighth musical to do so. In awarding the 2010 prize to Kitt and Yorkey, the Pulitzer Board called the show “a powerful rock musical that grapples with mental illness in a suburban family and expands the scope of subject matter for musicals.” According to Theatre Communications Group, Next to Normal is the most produced musical during the 2012-2013 regional theatre season.
Geva’s production of Next to Normal features Catherine Porter (Broadway’s Next to Normal, West End and Australian productions of Sunset Boulevard (the latter opposite Hugh Jackman), the international tour of The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber (opposite Michael Crawford)) as Diana; Broadway veteran Bob Gaynor (Broadway’s Leap of Faith, Catch Me If You Can, Sweet Charity, Boy George’s Taboo and Elton John’s Aida) as her husband, Dan; and Cary Tedder (Original Broadway casts of The Times They Are A-Changin’ and Memphis) as their son, Gabe. The ensemble cast includes Jordan Craig (Henry), Lyndsay Ricketson (Natalie), and Googie Uterhardt (Dr. Fine/Dr. Madden).
Next to Normalis a co-production with the Tony Award-winning Alliance Theatre of Atlanta and is directed by Scott Schwartz, who returns to Geva where he directed the world premiere of ROOMS: A Rock Romance (2008-2009 Season). The musical director is Don Kot with choreography by Michael Jenkinson, and the design team includes Kevin Rigdon (scenic design), Sydney Roberts (costume design), Mike Baldassari (lighting design) and Clay Benning (sound design).
The 2012-2013 Mainstage Season is sponsored by Nocon & Associates, A private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. Next to Normal is produced with lead support from First Niagara, co-produced by Woods Oviatt Gilman LLP and Rockcastle Florist with additional support from WARM 101.3, City Newspaper and CW.
Next to Normal begins performances January 8 and runs in the Mainstage through February 10.
For further information, photographs or to arrange interviews, please contact:
Dawn Kellogg, Communications Manager, (585) 232 1366 x 3059
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Previews: January 8, 9 and 10 @ 7:30pm
January 11 @ 8pm
January 12 @ 2pm (Open Captioned Performance*)
Opening: Saturday, January 12 @ 8pm
Performances: Sunday, January 13 @ 2pm and 7pm
Tuesday, January 15 @ 6pm
Wednesday, January 16 @ 7:30pm
Thursday, January 17 @ 7:30pm
Friday, January 18 @ 8pm
Saturday, January 19 @ 4pm and 8:30pm
Sunday, January 20@ 2pm (Sunday Salon) and 7pm
Tuesday, January 22 @ 7:30pm
Wednesday, January 23 @ 7:30pm
Thursday, January 24 @ 7:30pm
Friday, January 25 @ 8pm
Saturday, January 26 @ 4pm and 8:30pm
Sunday, January 27 @ 2pm (Audio Described Performance) and 7pm
Tuesday, January 29 @ 7:30pm
Wednesday, January 30 @ 2pm and 7:30pm
Thursday, January 31 @ 7:30pm (Sign Interpreted Performance)
Friday, February 1 @ 8pm
Saturday, February 2 @ 4pm and 8:30pm
Sunday, February 3 @ 2pm (Sunday Salon)
Tuesday, February 5 @7:30pm
Wednesday, February 6 @ 7:30pm
Thursday, February 7@ 7:30pm
Friday, February 8 @ 8pm
Saturday, February 9 @ 4pm and 8:30pm
Sunday, February 10 @ 2pm and 7pm (closing performance)
TICKET PRICES: Tickets start at $25.
RESERVATIONS: (585) 232-GEVA (4382), Website: www.gevatheatre.org
LOCATION: Geva Theatre Center , 75 Woodbury Blvd , Rochester , NY 14607
* Open captioning is being provided, in part, by TDF and TAP Plus which is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature
GEVA THEATRE CENTER
Founded in 1972, Geva Theatre Center is a not-for-profit, professional theatre company dedicated to creating and producing professional theatre productions, programs and services of a national standard. As Rochester’s leading professional theatre, Geva Theatre Center is the most attended regional theatre in New York State, and one of the 25 most attended in the country, serving up to 160,000 patrons annually, including more than 16,000 students.
The 552-seat Elaine P. Wilson Mainstage is home to a wide variety of performances, from musicals to American and world classics. The 180-seat Ron & Donna Fielding Nextstage is home to Geva’s own series of contemporary drama, comedy and musical theatre; Geva Comedy Improv; Geva’s New Play Reading Series and the Hornet’s Nest - an innovative play-reading series facilitating community-wide discussion on controversial topics. In addition, the Nextstage hosts visiting companies of both local and international renown.
Geva Theatre Center offers a wide variety of educational, outreach and literary programs, nurturing audiences and artists alike. Since 1995, the organization has been under the artistic direction of Mark Cuddy.
