A new kind of musical theater emerges amid the jukebox sing-alongs and well-worn classics of the West End stage. It is the musical about mental health, a singing and dancing genre that foregrounds identity and personal crises. This means that many new musicals are preceded by trigger warnings that the upcoming performance could feature suicidal teens and sexual assault, as in the case of Spring Awakening; bullying and queer identity in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie; high school violence in Heathers the Musical; and even a bipolar mother undergoing electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in Next to Normal.
How has such dark, introspective material established itself in the West End and why is it gaining so much traction with audiences? After all, musicals are based on song and dance, which is not exactly conducive to exploring difficult and intimate mental health issues, especially within the modern British tradition led by the big, balladic sounds of the West End shows of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh.
Some cite the groundbreaking achievement of Next to Normal, a 2008 musical by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey about a suburban mother with bipolar disorder, a new production of which moves from Donmar Warehouse to the West End in June. The producer, David Stone, suggests that the musical format can make difficult and intimate themes even more powerful by appealing to the emotions through melody and song. When he first saw Next to Normal, with the characters’ lives set to music, he felt like the show “penetrated the soul of the audience in a way that was hard to describe.”
For Michael R Jackson, writer and lyricist of the multi-award winning A Strange Loop, an American musical about queer identity, homophobia, racism and fetishization of the black body, set to pop and R&B melodies, the form is suitable for any story. “I think anything can be made musical,” he says. Such musicals also do not have to sound dissonant: minor chords do not have to indicate sadness, and neither do major chords. His show depicts hookups and sex scenes through songs, with lyrics that talk about AIDS and bare-backing. These aspects likely engage the audience on a visceral and empathetic level precisely because they are set to music.
In 2007, Next to Normal built on the sharp, award-winning musicals that had come before it, such as Rent and Falsettos, about gay identity and HIV, and Spring Awakening.. Next to Normal, with its explorations of pharmacotherapy, child loss, addiction and depression set to a catchy pop and rock score, cemented the Broadway breakthrough of this new genre with critical acclaim (three Tonys and a Pulitzer Prize) and paved the way for programs like Fun Home, about sexuality and suicide, and Dear Evan Hansen, about young masculinity in crisis.
Next to Normal tells its stories more intimately than the average Broadway musical, tackling topics normally reserved for serious plays or indie dramas. It’s set in a family home and there are songs about therapy and grief, with references to Valium, Prozac and Adderall. In the rock song Feeling Electric, the main character undergoes treatment with electric shocks because of her bipolar disorder. “In our workshop [in 1998], there was a sense that we had never seen a story like this in musical theater,” says Stone. “We expected people to say, ‘You can’t do this,’ but instead they said, ‘Go on.’”
Stone, who also produced shows like Wicked and The Vagina Monologues, was notable for the way the songs tackled topics typically shrouded in shame. “This happens in everyone’s home, or if it’s not your own home, it’s next door. There is shame in it, whether it is a mental illness in the family or a physical addiction.”
I discovered Next to Normal when I was 13 or 14 through the cast recording. It made me uncomfortable – in a good way
Jack Wolfe
Actor Jack Wolfe was nominated for an Olivier Award for his role in Next to Normal as the son of the Goodman family, and will also soon star in a staged concert of Spring Awakening, playing the anxious character Moritz. His introduction to both shows came through their soundtracks. “I discovered Next to Normal when I was 13 or 14 through the original cast recording, which I listened to all the time,” he says. “I remember being not only electrified by the sound, but also haunted by the humanity in it. I didn’t know musicals could sound like that. It made me feel uncomfortable, in a good way.”
The growing success of such musicals may be due in part to younger audiences similarly connecting with the album before seeing the show. “We have access to the material and form an opinion about it. It’s a completely different experience than seeing the musical in the theater,” Wolfe says.
The Spring Awakening soundtrack had the same effect on him, he adds. “It wasn’t patronizing in its themes. As a young person, I was confused and angry about my identity and my place in the world—the changes I could or couldn’t make—so it was inspiring to hear these pieces. Both are about the mess of what it means to be human. They no longer blink and make you feel less alone.”
Actor Sophie Issacs saw young audiences connect with the story of Heathers the Musical, based on the film starring Winona Ryder. A black comedy about violent bullying and sexual assault at school, with songs in which characters take pills and contemplate suicide. The dark humor makes the subject less charged. It was performed off-Broadway in 2014 until British producer Paul Taylor-Mills picked it up in 2018 and developed it for the West End. It was a huge success and is back in the West End this spring. Issacs was part of the original cast and noticed how it facilitated difficult conversations for audiences aged 12 and up.
“Considering how taboo these topics were when the film came out, and still are, the fact that Heathers dealt with them explicitly meant that it became a way for young people to start conversations through music and relate to characters. ”
At every show she saw young spectators with parents or grandparents. “One father and daughter came every Sunday. It was all about the conversation on the subway home, and what came up there. There was also massive cosplay, with young boys dressed up as [the character] Veronica.”
I wanted to write about real emotions, things that people don’t talk about openly, feelings that people don’t necessarily share
Michael R Jackson
To allow the audience to connect in this way, the musical has to be well made, says Taylor-Mills. “The younger audience seems to be fascinated by dark subjects [and] I think there’s probably a lot of people thinking, “What’s the next musical that explores these dark themes?” but I think the art should be the first and most important thing.
When it premiered on Broadway, A Strange Loop was praised for its formal inventiveness and emotional depth, winning the Pulitzer Prize and two Tonys, among others. Jackson wasn’t trying to write a groundbreaking musical, he says. “I wanted to write about real emotions, things that people don’t talk about openly, feelings that people don’t necessarily share publicly. I didn’t think people would ever see it.”
What’s striking is how long it took for these shows to land in the West End after finding success in the United States (over 15 years in the case of Next to Normal). Perhaps that has something to do with Britain’s famous emotional reserve. However, the pandemic seems to have changed things. Wolfe, who is 28, certainly thinks that’s the case among his peers.
“There is a difference in language and understanding now,” he says. “We can talk about medication and therapy [much more openly]. We are learning to explore our psychology in a new way and you have the ability to see that in these shows. Many people longed for contact and humanity [during the pandemic] and now wants to know how others feel. These shows can start that conversation. They are not always easy watches, but they are definitely worth it.”
Related: ‘It’s so close to the bone’: Sheridan Smith on her very public meltdown – and reliving it on stage
Taylor-Mills has also noted the changing demographics of the target market over the past five years. “With everything that has happened socially and politically, theater and audiences are changing very quickly. The people who come are different and the work I am releasing now responds to that. Gone are the days of trying to find shows for us [only] We have over 45 female ticket buyers coming from the Home Counties… While we are rebuilding, this should not be seen as something we should resist. In this way we ensure a future for those who would normally watch a Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, or something more traditional, and a future for a new audience.”
And while the West End is embracing tried and tested musicals with such themes, British producer Nica Burns is fast becoming a champion of quirky homegrown productions, from Everyone’s Talking About Jamie, which she saw in its early guise in Sheffield and developed for West End, for The Little Big Things, about disability, mental health and family debt. “Developing a musical is much more expensive [than a play],” she says. “I am willing to take a risk and give chances.”
Young people in particular tell their own stories in the form of musical theater, she thinks, and the audience in turn responds to performances about today’s life and its daily challenges. “These contemporary shows appeal to everyone,” she says. “They don’t take anything away from the classics.”
Next to Normal is at Wyndham’s Theatre, London, from June 18 to September 21R. The Spring Awakening 15th anniversary concert is June 2nd at the Victoria Palace Theatre, London. Heathers The Musical is showing for a limited period of six weeks @sohoplace, London, until June 6.