LOS ANGELES

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When you find tears streaming down your cheeks in the opening number of a musical, you suspect you’re in for a ravaging evening. This Pulitzer-winning musical about the trickle-down toll of one woman’s mental illness on an entire family receives a stellar staging from director Nick DeGruccio. DeGruccio handles his trust with unerring skill and compassion. There’s also no doubt that it is as uplifting as it is shattering. - Critic’s Pick LA TIMES

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LA Times view full article

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…absolutely captivated and moved me for almost its entire running time. Next to Normal infused me with a rush of suspense, fascination, and moral courage. Mr. DeGruccio assists his journeyman cast through a harrowing 40-number workout, making every performance a standout.  - Stage and Cinema

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Stage and Cinema view full article

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The Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical Next To Normal gets its very first locally-produced Southern California production at the La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts, directed by the SoCal genius that is Nick DeGruccio and featuring some of our most brilliant L.A.-area talents. Need I say more?

McCoy Rigby Entertainment couldn’t have made a more inspired choice to helm Next To Normal than two-time Scenie- winning Director Of The Year DeGruccio, who combines a command of big-stage musicals (Man Of La Mancha, Guys And Dolls, Rent) with expertise at directing intimate-stage plays and musicals (Caught, Thrill Me, Kiss Of The Spider Woman), making for a production that is visually exciting, gorgeously sung, and acted with astonishing power and depth.

As thrilling and profoundly moving as musicals get, Next To Normal makes for a production no musical theater lover will want to miss, and one that might even make those with an aversion to this quintessential American art form change their tune.
…a musical that will leave you entertained, shaken, better informed about mental illness, and profoundly moved. - Stage Scene LA 

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Director Nick DeGruccio capture the show’s raw, hard-hitting nature while showing that terms like “normal,” “sane” and “crazy” are often relative….poignant…heartbreaking - OC Register

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In the new McCoy Rigby Entertainment production at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, “Next to Normal” stands out for just that: its humanity. Beautifully performed, and directed by Nick DeGruccio with a balance of sensitivity and forward movement, the show becomes a sometimes painful, sometimes humorous, deeply touching window on a world which could use more empathy and more understanding.

You will have a long search to find a rendition of this groundbreaking piece better than this one. - Stage Struck

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Stage Struck view full article

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Heartbreaking. Gutsy. Intensely riveting. These are some of the words I jotted down in the dark—while simultaneously wiping tears streaming down my face—during the Southern California Regional Premiere of the Tony Award-winning musical NEXT TO NORMAL, now playing at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts for a limited run ending June 23. The winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, this thought-provoking, emotionally-heavy musical play—which features music by Tom Kitt and book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey—has now been revived locally in a top-notch, Broadway-caliber staging that truly impresses from beginning to end.

Featuring caring, confident direction by Nick DeGruccio and a barrage of vivid acting performances by its stellar cast, La Mirada’s sensible, superb production of this groundbreaking modern-day chamber musical somehow feels much more emotional than I remember—and in a very good way

La Mirada’s revival of this great show is indeed a stunner. - BroadwayWorld.com 

 

BWW Reviews: La Mirada Stages Intense Revival of Pulitzer Prize-Winning NEXT TO NORMAL

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SAN DIEGO

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THE PRODUCTION IS SUPERB.

Three members of the cast have already performed the show together, under the expert direction of Nick DeGruccio, last year at La Mirada Theatre. This revisit, a San Diego regional premiere, allows DeGruccio and the actors to dig deeper and sharpen the performances, which are honed to a fine edge. - Times, San Diego

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San Diego Musical Theatre’s staging is as good as you’ll see on Broadway

The production is well crafted by director Nick DeGruccio, it’s raw, heartbreaking, funny and contemporary in the best sense. - Union Tribune

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5 stars. This fine production is not to be missed.

Fortunately for us director Nick Degruccio, who also directed the La Mirada production as well, was available creating what ended up being a dream team for San Diego audiences… - Examiner

 

San Diego Music Theatre does a stellar job.  Credit to director Nick DeGruccio for making the regional premiere of Next to Normal such a success. - The San Diego Reader

 

…it is something you shouldn't miss!

San Diego Musical Theatre lives up to it's promise of being "the local way to see Broadway" with their current production of NEXT TO NORMAL at the North Park Theatre. - BroadwayWorld.com

 

… this small-scale rock opera is at heart a moving family story, wonderfully performed.

It is not to be missed. - SDGLN

 

…a near masterpiece. - The Daily Aztec

 

It’s a perfectly attuned cast in a show not to be missed. - Blogosphere