Nor-mal

I was looking around the internet at random shows the other day and came across Nor-mal, the musical. Nor-mal is the story of a "perfect family" who's world comes to a halt when they discover that Polly, their teenage daughter, has anorexia. The show seems to be mostly through the eyes of Gayla, the mother, but also shows how it affects everyone in the family.

This show seemed to be extremely well-cast. The cast members all seemed to blend together and really sounded right for the parts. It starred Erin Leigh Peck as Polly and Barbara Walsh as Gayla. It also included Nicholas Belton as Zachary, the son of the family, Adam Heller as Robert, the father, and Toni DiBuono, Nancy Johnston, and Shannon Polly as three women who each played numerous roles. They all seemed to do really well, and props to Shannon Polly for really making her scenes with Polly as another high schooler believable despite the fact that she's definitely been out of high school for awhile.

The show begins with Happy Family as the Freeman family sings of their perfect life despite arguing and normal sibling rivalry. As the show progresses we get to see Polly's school life in songs such as Got It? Good! and Gayla's life at her new job in songs like Good Morning. As they find out about Polly's eating disorder in Racing we hear how it affects the different members of the family. Gayla feels she's failed as a mother, Robert wants to become super-dad, and Zachary feels like he has to fix everything. In I'm Good, I'm Bad Zachary finally confronts Polly about everything going on, and she finally decides to work towards making things better.

I love the song Write This, but it's the only one that I'm really having trouble tying into the story. It's a duet between Polly and Gayla, but it doesn't sound as if they're with each other. Polly is singing about the journey she's taken throughout the show, while Gayla is singing about when Polly was born and how she's grown so fast. The finale number, Just a Day, is when the family takes Polly home from the hospital. It starts with Gayla singing about how they took her home and no one fought or felt that they had to do anything but just let things be peaceful. The rest of the cast joins in one by one, adding beautiful harmonies and finishing out the song with her.

I would definitely recommend this soundtrack. They offer all of the songs for free on the website so that's been extremely helpful. It's mostly clean, if I remember correctly, Robert cusses a few times, but it's not really too bad like some things are these days. It was originally Off-Broadway, and is now touring schools to help students struggling with eating disorders. It's a beautiful show both concept-wise and to listen to.