"Vallium is my favorite color"

is the catchphrase from the Broadway musical Next to Normal. I saw it last Sunday when I was in NYC. Sort of an unlikely topic for a rock muiscal...mental illness.

I don't want to give away too many plot points, but the mother in this small cast is suffering from mental illness due to a past family tragedy. So why blog here about it? Much to my surprise, they featured Next to Normal on Science Friday last week (listen streaming or download the free podcast). Ira Flatow interviewed the creative team behind the musical and talked to them about how they portrayed mental illness as well as their consultations to mental health professionals during the creative process.

I enjoyed the show when I saw it and now I appreciate it a little more. I sure hit the jackpot as each of the shows I saw (Mary Poppins being the other) yielded a bog entry!

Just for a sample, here is the Next to Normal number from the Tony Awards (which is a large part of the reason I choose to see this show).

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicsist Blog.