Neighbor News
YMTC+ musical "Next to Normal": 2pm Sun 5/6 at EC High
Performances continue through May 13. Audiences are moved: "Amazing", "Powerful", "True to Life", "Electrifying"
YMTC+, a new professional wing of YMTC (Youth Musical Theater Company) opened the Pulitzer Prize winning musical Next to Normal Friday to a standing ovation, May 4 at the El Cerrito High School Performing Arts Theater. Performances continue through May 13, including a 2pm matinee May 6.
Next to Normal explores how one suburban family copes with mental illness with compassion, depth, and humor. Well-received on Broadway, the show won three Tony awards in 2009 and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2010. Its book and lyrics were written by Brian Yorkey, and music by Tom Kitt.
In the program notes for the production, director Susannah Martin (YMTC's first guest director, and a company member of Berkeley's Shotgun Players) notes:
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"What this musical does so beautifully is set-up the idea of the 'normal' family only to dismantle it almost as soon as the story begins. We watch a family struggle to put themselves into a box of normal only to discover abnormal is their--and most people's--normal."
The professional ensemble of six actors include YMTC's artistic director Jennifer Boesing (wife), Danny Cozart (husband), Celeste Kamiya (daughter), Kevin Singer (son), Daniel Barrington Rubio (doctors) and David Crane (boyfriend). The cast is supported by a live band conducted by resident music director David Möschler.
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Remaining Performances:
Sunday, May 6, 2:00 p.m.
Thursday, May 10, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 11, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 12, 2:00 p.m. (post-show audience talk-back with cast and local mental health professionals from The Psychotherapy Institute, Berkeley)
Saturday, May 12, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 13, 2:00 p.m.
Where: El Cerrito High School Performing Arts Theater, 540 Ashbury Avenue, El Cerrito. Walking distance from El Cerrito Plaza BART station.
Ticket Prices: $15–35. Student, senior, teacher, military, and group discounts are available. Purchase tickets at http://www.ymtcbayarea.org or at the door; box office opens one hour prior to performance. Light in the Dark pop-up cafe open pre-show and intermission.