Director of musical "Next to Normal" Photo: Kurt Sneddon
Mental illness may seem an unlikely subject for a musical, but in the US Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt’s Next to Normal has won not only Tony Awards but a Pulitzer Prize. The rock musical centres on a family coping with a mother suffering a worsening bipolar disorder.
Director of its Christchurch production Hayden Tee (Ngati Kahungunu, Takatāpui) considers it one of the great musicals.
Tee is one of our most successful musical theatre exports. He’s worked on Broadway and the West End but is also, now as a director and chair of Te Manu Tioriori Trust, passionate about the development of original musical theatre in Aotearoa.
Next to Normal opens at The Court Theatre June 17.
Joel Granger, Juliet Reynolds-Midgely and Juan Jackson in rehearsals at The Court for Next to Normal. Photo: supplied
