Next to Normal

Next to Normal is a rock musical by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey that was on Broadway in 2009. The musical is about Diana Goodman and her struggles with mental illness and how it weighs down on her family. Her husband, Dan, and daughter, Natalie, have lost almost all hope but try their best for Diana. Her illness, specifically, is bipolar and was caused by the death of her son, Gabe, 16 years before the events of the musical. However, because of the delusions caused by her illness, she still sees Gabe in the present day as a 17 year old.

Quotes

Gabe: Hi, dad.

Dan: How could she leave me on my own?

Natalie: Mozart was crazy. Flat fucking crazy.

Diana: We're the perfect loving family, so adoring.

Gabe: You just don't know who I am

Dan: Who's crazy? The husband or wife? Who's crazy? To live their whole life believing that somehow things aren't as bizarre as they are?

Henry: Perfect for you. I could be perfect for you.

Natalie: And this is one fucked up seduction.

Diana: He knows my darkest secrets, I know his name.

Dan: He's not here.. He's not here... Love, I know, you know.

Gabe: If you don't grieve me, you won't leave me behind.

Dan: Take this chance, 'cause it may be our last. Or to try to be husband and wife and let love never die.

Natalie: Superboy and the invisible girl. Son of steel and daughter of air. He's a hero, a lover, a prince, she's not there.

Diana: Do you wake up in the morning and need help to lift your head? Do you read obituaries and feel jealous of the dead?

Gabe: I'm alive, I'm alive, I am so alive, and I feed on the fear that's behind your eyes.

Dan: I've been here for the show, every high, every low; but it's the worst we've ever known. She's been hurt and how, but I can't give up now. 'Cause I've never been alone... I could never be alone.

Dr. Madden: Make up your mind, this is clarity. Make up your mind, let the truth be revealed.

Natalie: Can I hide my stupid hunger, fake some confidence and cheer? Wish I were here... Wish I were here.

Diana: And they told me it would change me, but they don't know how it does.

Gabe: There's a world where we can be free... come with me...

Dan: We'll get back what we had, and maybe more!

Natalie: What a lovely cure! She's a medical miracle! With a mind so pure that she doesn't know anything.

Diana: And your swim meet just last year, I'm in the pool.

Gabe: Your son is gone forever though, of that the doctor's sure... The memories are gone, the aftershocks live on... But with nothing to remember, is there nothing left to grieve?

Dan: God, I was so upset.. Diana don't! You think it'll help, but it won't.

Diana: Someone simply said... your child is...

Henry: So tomorrow's the dance.. It's annoying I know, but let's go.

Natalie: You remind me of me.. and how fucked up I can be.

Dr. Madden: Have you talked about your depression and your son?

Diana: My son?

Gabe: Until you name me, you can't tame me. This is one old game that I can play so well.

Dan: A promise a boy keeps forever.

Henry: A promise that I made to you.

Natalie: Why stay?

Gabe: I'm alive, I'm alive, I am dead with pride, I'm alive

Diana: What happens if the cut, the burn, the break was never in brain, or in my blood, but in my soul?

Dr. Madden: Make up your mind.

Diana: I see me in you. A girl full of anger and hope. A girl with a mother who just couldn't cope.

Natalie: Thanks for all this sharing, no really, I'm all ears. But where has all this caring been for 16 years? For all those years I prayed that you'd go away for good... half the time afraid that you really would. When I thought you might be dying, I cried for all we'd never be, but there'll be no more crying for me.

Diana: We tried to give you a normal life... I see now I have no idea what that is.

Natalie: I don't need a life that's normal. That's way too far away... But something next to normal would be okay.

Henry: I will be perfect for you... So you could go crazy, or I could go crazy, it's true.

Diana: I loved you once, and though, I love you still I know, it's time for me to go. So... goodbye...

Dan: I am the one who loved you, I am the one who stayed, I am the one and you walked away... I am the one who waited and now you act like you just don't give a damn.. like you never knew who I am.

Gabe: 'Cause I'm holding on.. and I won't let go.. and I just thought you should know. I am the one who held you, I am the one who cried, I am the one who watched while you died.

Dan: Gabe... Gabriel.

Natalie: We need some light... First of all we need some light. We can't sit here in the dark all alone... It's a scary sight.

Gabe: And when the night has finally gone and when we see the new day dawn, we'll wander how we wandered for so long, so blind.

Diana: But some hurts never heal, some ghosts are never gone. But we'll go on. We still go on.

Dr. Madden: The price of love is lost, but still we pay.

Dan: When our long night is done... There will be light.