National Tour of Next to Normal to Debut in Los Angeles

Next to Normal will launch a national tour at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles this fall, running from November 23 to January 2, 2011. The tour will then proceed to San Diego, Seattle, Hartford, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, St. Paul, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Washington, DC (where it played a pre-Broadway engagement at Arena Stage in 2008) and a dozen other cities to be announced in the near future, directed by Michael Greif. No casting has been announced.

With a Tony Award-winning score by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, Next to Normal is an emotional powerhouse of a musical about a family facing the challenge of the mother's bi-polar disorder. The Broadway production, which opened on April 15, 2009, continues its run at the Booth Theatre with a cast that includes Tony winner Alice Ripley, J. Robert Spencer, Jennifer Damiano, Kyle Dean Massey, Adam Chanler-Berat and Louis Hobson. Next to Normal was named one of the top five shows of 2009 by Broadway.com.

Next to Normal is produced by David Stone, James L. Nederlander, Barbara Whitman, Patrick Catullo and Second Stage Theatre. In a March 29 article in The New York Times, Stone revealed that the Broadway production has earned back its $4 million capitalization.