Ghostlight Records is releasing a newly remixed and remastered edition of the original Broadway cast album of Next to Normal, marking the show's 15th anniversary. The album will get a digital release August 9, with CD and vinyl editions dropping later this year on a date to be announced.
Get a first listen to the musical's finale, "Light," above.
With music by Tom Kitt and a book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, Next to Normal is a rock musical about a suburban mother struggling with bipolar disorder and the effects of that on her family. The work premiered Off-Broadway in 2008, making the jump to Broadway the following year. The musical won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2010.
The original Broadway cast featured Alice Ripley, J. Robert Spencer, Jennifer Damiano, Aaron Tveit, Adam Chanler-Berat, and Louis Hobson. Ripley went on to win a 2009 Tony Award for her performance, with additional wins going to Kitt and Yorkey for their score and Michael Starobin and Kitt for orchestrations.
Kitt says this new release was a chance to revisit one of the first cast albums he produced after years of honing his skills on numerous other projects in the intervening years. "Originally, the strategy was to get the album out as soon as possible," Kitt says in a statement. "Now, the goal is to create a timeless iteration of the musical that will live on far beyond the run of the show. The craft of curating a true album—one that is fully representative of the musical—has evolved.”
Kitt returned to the original recording sessions' multi-tracks working on this new release. “I knew we could embrace the album’s tonalities more, specifically the rock sound,” he says. “We dialed up the instruments to make them feel more rich and propulsive. The guitars have more bite, and now really crackle. We were also able to finesse the balance, finding new elements in the vocal blend. Even though the ballads have a different sensibility, it all feels cohesive. The strings soar and deliver huge dramatic moments where needed. You feel how they create heightened emotion throughout the album. In ‘I Miss the Mountains,’ the drums feel more dynamic, and the acoustic guitar delivers an enormous lift in that last chorus."
The project was a collaboration between Kitt and co-producer and mixer Derik Lee, who Kitt says executed a lot of his general goals for the remix. "With the addition of 15 years experience and new technology, we’re mixing in a more modern way, digging a little deeper," says Lee. "We were able to bring the album into the sonic space of today, even though the songs retain their nostalgic feel. We tried to mix it more as an album than a cast recording. Tom gave me a lot of liberty to do that, saying the band should pop just as much as the vocals. The essence of the songs has been retained. The score sounds great, but it’s always been great. The revamp of the album just helps fill out Tom’s vision for how he originally wrote it. I tried to let the music guide me and stay out of the way.”
The show is currently playing its West End debut at Wyndham's Theatre through September 21, a transfer from an earlier run at Donmar Warehouse. Broadway favorite Caissie Levy leads the company. Kitt says both this new production and the remaster of the musical's first album gave him a unique opportunity to revisit the show 15 years later.
"When Next to Normal opened 15 years ago, it struck a chord," Kitt says. "I was curious to see how it would feel so many years later, so it was comforting to see the show resonate with the new audiences discovering it in the U.K. I am still struck by the themes and emotions that my co-writer Brian Yorkey explored, and how personal Next to Normal continues to feel. While working on this new version of the album, listening multiple times, I was struck by Brian’s poetry and his ability to speak so eloquently about the human condition."
Pre-save the 15th Anniversary Edition of Next to Normal here.
