YMTC+ to Stage Rock Musical Next to Normal, May 4-13 at EC High

For the last 13 years, Youth Musical Theater Company (YMTC) has built a solid reputation for producing high-quality musical theater with primarily teen-aged casts. Now the company is introducing an all-professional wing, YMTC+, to provide an artistic home for alumni, teaching artists, and local professionals and to produce exceptional, relevant musical theater.

YMTC+ debuts with the acclaimed rock musical Next to Normal, running May 4–13 at El Cerrito High School Performing Arts Theater. Next to Normal explores how one suburban family draws on compassion and humor to cope with mental illness. 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 its music by Tom Kitt.

The show boasts two leading directors well-known to Bay Area theater audiences: Director Susannah Martin and Music Director David Möschler. Featured as family members are Danny Cozart, Husband; Jennifer Boesing (YMTC's Producing Artistic Director), Wife; Kevin Singer, Son; and Celeste Kamiya, Daughter. Daniel Barrington Rubio playing the doctors and David Crane, the boyfriend, complete the cast. Kamiya and Crane are both alumni of YMTC's training program for young theater artists. A full, live band under Möschler will provide the rock-infused accompaniment.

Martin notes, "This piece premiered 10 years ago. It was the first American musical of its kind, dealing so directly with mental illness. There's still so little our culture understands about mental illness, particularly the idea that taking care of your mental health is taking care of your health. Next to Normal addresses some of these issues."
True to the teaching mission of the parent organization, the production includes a shadow cast of current YMTC students, who auditioned for the opportunity to understudy the roles and sit in on the rehearsal process.
SubscribeBoesing explains, "Something I've been dreaming about is a professional production in which local professional actors—some YMTC teaching artists, some YMTC alumni—would perform in a show and have our current students shadow them. The students would be in on the process of a professional show from the ground up, watching, learning, under-studying (in the true sense of that word)."

PERFORMANCES
Thursday, May 3, 7:30 p.m. (pay-what-you-can preview, cash/credit at the door, open seating)
Friday, May 4, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 5, 7:30 p.m.
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. (followed by audience talk-back with directors, cast and local mental health professionals affiliated with 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.
Tickets: $15–$35. Student, senior, teacher, military, and group discounts available. Purchase tickets at http://www.ymtcbayarea.org or at the door; box office opens one hour prior to performance.
Note: Next to Normal portrays adult subject matter, contains strong language, and is not recommended for young children.

Photos courtesy of Dave Weiland