bpenn

[bpenn]

I don't know what hurts more...Gabe pleading with his eyes or him hesitantly reaching for his father after Dan pulls away.

[bpenn]

Ok one more theatre post. You can now watch the proshot of the donmar warehouse next to normal revival on PBS through the end of June. Thought provoking, Pulitzer winning etc etc definitely worth the watch even if you’re a casual musical theatre enjoyer

[bpenn]

Teaser for portraits of the Goodman siblings from Next To Normal. Gonna post the full versions whenever INPRNT gets back to me about joining so I can post prints.

[bpenn]

Who's crazy the one who'll still hope?

NEXT TO NORMAL (2024)

[bpenn]

Dizziness, drowsiness, sexual dysfunction

Headaches and (Diarrhea) Tremors and (Constipation) Nightmares and (Nervous Laughter) Seizures (Palpitations)

AnxiousnessAngerExhaustionInsomniaIrritabilityNauseaVomiting

Odd and alarming sexual feelings

OH AND ONE LAST THING

Use may be fatalllllllllll

[bpenn]

But she did because she had to. And so would Natalie when she heads off for university. So Dan, whose biggest fear is to be alone, will be left alone in that big house with nothing but his grief.

"i am the one who won't walk away"

and he didn't.

[bpenn]

"The French Brothel Scene" - The History Boys (National Theatre Live: 50 Years On Stage)

The original cast of the much lauded play "The History Boys" returns to the stage with its esteemed playwright Alan Bennett stepping into the late great Richard Griffiths' shoes as Hector, a teacher whose irreverent teaching style and love for poetry and literature help a young group of Oxbridge candidates prepare for their university entrance examinations.

(x)

[bpenn]

The one and only! Well, not only...but the original! The one that essentially forced casting directors of future productions to either hire an actor that can skillfully play the piano or cast an extra non-speaking History Boy whose sole purpose is to be Posner's musical accompaniment.

Fellow fan here checking in. Lurking is my specialty so I'll stay anonymous for now. You don't know how happy I am to see another N2N AND THB fan. That's my favourite musical and play right there!! It has been quiet out here for THB yes and to be honest I'm really only still here for N2N. The proshot has been a godsend and OMG Jamie?! I didn't know he was in it playing my favourite character so just imagine my surprise. He's 2 for 2 now Dan AND Scripps!! If it's alright with you, I do have a question because it looks like you might be able to help. I've been searching for ages for their NTLive Anniversary performance. I used to see it on some random streaming site but I can't find it no more. A link would be most favourable if you have it. Also - Scosner forever!!

Staying anon is perfectly fine but yay to finding another fan. He's maaaybe 2 to 2 1/2 for favorite characters for me just because he shares that honor with Dakin and Posner and Gabe. He's definitely my favorite Prince Hal/King Henry V though (I have his Henriad on constant rotation for my family's movie nights). I know the math ain't adding up but yeah, he plays a bunch of really cool characters.

I do have a file for their NTLive bit. It's in one of my hard drives, not sure which one, so I may have to go look for it. But don't worry, I'll put it up once I find it.

[bpenn]

He's so wet cat coded i love him

[bpenn]

Fellow fan here checking in. Lurking is my specialty so I'll stay anonymous for now. You don't know how happy I am to see another N2N AND THB fan. That's my favourite musical and play right there!! It has been quiet out here for THB yes and to be honest I'm really only still here for N2N. The proshot has been a godsend and OMG Jamie?! I didn't know he was in it playing my favourite character so just imagine my surprise. He's 2 for 2 now Dan AND Scripps!! If it's alright with you, I do have a question because it looks like you might be able to help. I've been searching for ages for their NTLive Anniversary performance. I used to see it on some random streaming site but I can't find it no more. A link would be most favourable if you have it. Also - Scosner forever!!

Staying anon is perfectly fine but yay to finding another fan. He's maaaybe 2 to 2 1/2 for favorite characters for me just because he shares that honor with Dakin and Posner and Gabe. He's definitely my favorite Prince Hal/King Henry V though (I have his Henriad on constant rotation for my family's movie nights). I know the math ain't adding up but yeah, he plays a bunch of really cool characters.

I do have a file for their NTLive bit. It's in one of my hard drives, not sure which one, so I may have to go look for it. But don't worry, I'll put it up once I find it.

[bpenn]

Seeing Jack Wolfe and Eleanor Worthington-Cox hug during their bows both healed something in me and broke me to pieces

[bpenn]

A fellow History Boys fan just found me and I know you'd rather keep lurking but I just want you to know that it's really awesome to "meet" you and that I'm making a post here just to hopefully find others who might be fans as well. Because I miss talking to someone about this play and all the posts about it that were seemingly never ending at the time.

[bpenn]

get to know me meme ♡ favorite musicals → next to normal

the price of love is loss, and still we pay. we love anyway.

[bpenn]

[bpenn]

You're our little pride and joy, our perfect plan You know I love you

[bpenn]

I am what you want me to be And I'm your worst fear, you'll find it in me I am flame and I am fire I am destruction, decay, and desire

Jack Wolfe in Next To Normal (2025)

[bpenn]

Been thinking a lot about the use of Gabe in "I've Been" especially when paired with the interpretation of Gabe being that of the manifested grief that each member of the Goodman family possesses.

For the first part of the song Dan is alone on the stage as he moves about preparing to clean his wife's blood from off the floor. He takes towels, gets a garbage bag ready, picks up the box of items and the toy car that had belonged to Gabe. As he does this he sings about not knowing how to help Diana, even though he knows he needs to. He expresses that he has fears that will go unheard, and wonders both how Diana could choose to leave him and that if the proposed ECT will even work if they try it, but he's become so weary and feels so helpless at this point that he's willing to try. He's always played the part of the grounded one because that's the role he's needed to play.

It's at this point in the song just as the end of the lyrics "oh now I need a lift, and there's no one around" that Gabe enters from the side. He's still dressed as we last saw him during I Dreamed a Dance and There's A World. He moves to his knees staring at the blood and then at Dan as he cleans it up before moving back and staring at the blood that's on his hands.

I've seen some interpretations of this moment being Gabe seeing what he's done/caused. I'm not here to say any of those are wrong, art can be interpreted many ways, but I wanted to talk about my own interpretation that I haven't really seen (it's possible someone else has made this same observation/interpretation and I just haven't come across it yet.)

This Gabe isn't Diana's Gabe. It's Dan's. It's Dan's manifestation and the representation of his grief and even guilt. It's his grief over his wife's attempted suicide which is tied to her grief over the loss of their son, the grief he has been repressing all these years. It's his guilt that he doesn't know how to help her and make things better. The guilt that he hadn't been able to stop it from happening.

With this I can't help but view the blood on Gabe's hands as a representation of Dan feeling some sense of blaming himself for not having seen the signs that led to this moment. That somehow Diana's blood is on his hands. Even in a prior moment / song in the show, I Am the One, we hear Dan ask "how can something go wrong that I can't see?" after it's revealed at the dinner that Diana is still seeing Gabe (and the reveal to the audience that the Gabe on the stage isn't real). You have to wonder how many times over the years has Dan blamed himself for not seeing the signs when something went wrong?

So as Dan wipes the blood up off the floor, now physically getting her blood on his hands, we, the audience, see him sitting there with a physical manifestation of his grief and guilt next to him on the stage as the two harmonize and wail in Dan's despair at the situation and in his sense of helplessness. There's even a moment during this where their body language even mimics each other, hands turned up with their palms red with Diana's literal and figurative blood

He laments "mine is just a slower suicide" and as the song continues we see Dan trying to slowly pull himself together as he pushes those feelings of grief that he's allowed himself for just a few seconds down and away. This being physically represented by Gabe no longer on the ground with him, but rather standing and moving towards off stage/out of the scene. He doesn't leave the stage/scene completely though. He remains now standing and looking down at Dan as Dan's focus goes back to focusing on Diana and how she's been hurt, while placing the trash bag of bloody towels at Gabe's feet. Dan's Gabe who encompasses his grief and guilt just staring down at them as Dan says that he can't give up now.

If he does there's no telling when this will happen again, and if that time it would be too late to save her. Because if he gives up and that does happen that means being alone. Something he hasn't been in all these years after Gabe's death. Something he fears, something once again reflected in the song I Am the One where he asks "Could you leave me? Could you let me go under?"

It's here we start to see Gabe leaving again as Natalie enters the scene to ask why he didn't take her with him (to the hospital.) Instead of answering Dan quickly collects himself, puts on a face, and does what Dan does and that is change the subject and turn the focus onto someone else. In this instance asking Natalie if Henry is a good influence. By this point Gabe is no longer there with them in the scene, instead standing in the darkness on the stairs, because Dan has repressed his grief once again.