#N2N

[st4rfvckerr]

do you ever think about Natalie who doesn't see Gabe but can feel his touch... because she has never met him yet she's all too aware of the immense grief looming over her family... she doesn't know who he is but she knows he's there...

[shamelesscollectivesublime]

I'm sick. Omg he should literally be in prison

jack wolfe falsetto appreciation cause holy shit he's so good at it

[gay-little-axolotl]

this seemed a lot funnier in my notes app

[shit-people-probably-didnt-say]

This is the most haunting Gabe ever looked

[ladiestown]

i know that Next To Normal is an unbelievable musical because what do you mean these songs all come one right after the other

[shamelesscollectivesublime]

Period!!

I don’t understand why people keep saying that Gabe goes away at the end of next to normal. In Light Diana literally says „some hurts never heal / some ghosts are never gone“ as Gabe stands on the stairs behind them all. Like. He‘s faded into the background and they‘re learning to live with his presence in a healthier way but he will never truly leave. You have to acknowledge your grief to process it but that doesn’t mean it just goes away. That’s the whole point I fear.

[curlymcclain]

next to normal (2024) // “sympathy for the abyss”, annette (2021)

[rowan-on-the-moon]

happy n2n west end cast album to all who celebrate

[very-tired-rat]

no because Diana is convinced that if she never grieves Gabe, she'll never really lose him, but dan thinks that if he just completely ignores Gabe's existence, now or before his death, he will never have to feel the pain of the loss. and then there's natalie, who experiences the grief her parents are incapable of feeling, passed down to her.

[starry-eyed-psychopomp]

Okay I totally get preferring one production over the other, and I really love the new Next to Normal, but I NEED new fans to understand that a lot of the choices made in the original were deliberate and had a purpose.

I see a lot of people criticizing Aaron Tveit’s performance for being “too malicious,” compared to Jack Wolfe who “actually felt like their dead son,” and I kind of want to push back on that?? Like you’re not supposed to come out of this show thinking Gabe is actually that dead baby. He’s certainly not supposed to be acting like a literal baby (what even is that interpretation). That maliciousness in Tveit’s performance did its job! The same can be said about the weirdo Oedipal nightmare of Diana and Gabe’s relationship: it’s meant to emphasize that that isn’t actually her son, it’s her mental illness. She never even calls him by her son’s name! I get that it’s uncomfortable, and you don’t have to like it, but that discomfort you feel is the intended effect.

Honestly, the increase in spiritual, even religious interpretations of Next to Normal is a little frustrating imo, because it always felt deliberate to me that this is a show about grief that doesn’t try to pull a “he’s watching over you from heaven 🥰” message. Death is absolute in Next to Normal; it’s grief that persists. Gabe is a looming presence over the Goodman family because they’ve all been personally affected by his death, but he’s still dead. He’s not there! It’s just that their grief wears his face.

[zephzephyrus]

“everything okay? i heard voices.” VOICES. VOICES. I DIDNT CATCH THAT BEFORE OH MY GODS.

[whitesunlars]

it's me, i'm girls

[thesongofpurplesummer]

“I’m gay” “I’m straight” “I’m trans”

Ok and I’m alive??? I’m alive??? I am so alive??? And I feed on the fear that’s behind your eyes??? And I need you to need me it’s no surprise??? I’m alive??? So alive??? I’m alive???

[dulcae]

no no no it's okay i'm Not thinking about dan cleaning up his wife's blood. i'm not. and i'm not thinking about how horrified he is as he does so, worried that one day his wife will succeed and be nothing but a stain, just like the life of their son....

[shit-people-probably-didnt-say]

[ahhcloudy]

"please look closely and find her before she fades away"

natalie goodman <3 my heart hurts when i think about her bro