Next to Normal the twitter performance

So the folks at Next to Normal are trying something fun.  At midnight, they begin a twitter performance of the entire show. 

This musical if you haven’t been following it has been following a unique path to being the new darling of Broadway.  It was developed at Second Stage in New York (GREAT company with a string of hits from Little Dog Laughed to Spelling Bee).  But it still needed work so after it already had a New York opening its producer, David Stone,  took the show out of town to Arena Stage to be reworked. 

The show re-opened in New York at the Booth (after the short lived Story of my Life) with great success as the show has been receiving RAVE reviews.  See Ben Brantley’s – one in a string of great reviews for current shows on the boards – I was beginning to think there was a conspiracy – The Times gave raves, thus making producers buy ads, thus keeping the theatre section and reviewers in business, but then I read the review of 9-5 which I won’t link to since I found the show to be a fun night out, although I agree with some point of the review, but I digress.

I haven’t seen the show yet – I am going at the end of this month (but maybe I will switch dates so I can experience the entire show via twitter and then see it).  This makes the twitter experiment a bit more fun for me.  It is the same experience someone might have if they whether they lived in Texas, Africa or any other place other than New York – exposure to a new Broadway show in a new media form.  I have been adamant that theatre folks need to explore different ways to use the internet and mix it with performance.  This certainly qualifies.  I am really excited to see how this plays out.  I will be tweeting and blogging my thoughts as I “watch” the show!

Click here for the show website. 

Click to follow Next to Normal.  Below are all of the tweets thus far leading up to the Prelude.

Starting May 5, follow the characters as they tweet their story – all the lows, all the highs – day by day, song by song.5:47 PM Apr 29th from web

Next to Normal: The Twitter Performance. For the first time ever, the full story of a Broadway musical will be told via Twitter.12:10 PM Apr 30th from web

Only 4 days until the N2N Twitter performance begins! Each day a new scene will unfold thru June 7th.1:44 PM May 1st from TwitterBerry

Next to Normal: The Twitter Performance36 minutes ago from TwitterBerry

Hear the Prelude - http://tr.im/ktuO35 minutes ago from TwitterBerry